You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton? CHARACTER TRAITS AND THEMES GRADES: 3 AND 4 OBJECTIVES GRADE LEVEL CONTENT EXPECTATIONS

Transcription

1 Jean Fritz CHARACTER TRAITS AND THEMES GRADES: 3 AND 4 Character Traits: Respect - Acting in a way that shows that I am valuable, you are valuable, and we as a group are valuable Getting Along - Contributing to and gaining from positive relationships Core Democratic Value: Equality Basic Needs: Power - The need for power is to achieve, to be competent, to be skilled, to be recognized for our achievements and skills, to be listened to and to have a sense of self-worth OBJECTIVES The learner will: Develop an understanding of respect, and then use historical events to determine how respect has played a part in our country s history Develop an understanding of Getting Along, and then apply the concept to their own interactions at school Understand how the need for power can change laws and beliefs Learn how to determine important events in a biography and create a timeline Identify important historical figures in the women s rights movement GRADE LEVEL CONTENT EXPECTATIONS Third Grade R.CM Students will retell in sequence the story elements of grade-level narrative text and major idea(s) and relevant details of grade-level informational text. R.MT Students will plan, monitor, regulate, and evaluate skills, strategies, and processes to construct and convey meaning, and use graphic organizers to deepen understanding of problem/solution and organizational patterns. (creating a timeline) S.DS Students will respond to multiple text types by reflecting, making connections, taking a position and/or showing understanding. Fourth Grade R.IT Students will identify and describe the structure, elements, features and purpose of a variety of informational genre including autobiography/biography, personal essay, almanac and newspaper. R.CM Students will connect personal knowledge, experiences, and understanding of the world to themes and perspectives in text through oral and written responses. S.DS Students will respond to multiple text types by reflecting, making connections, taking a position and/or showing understanding. 1

2 RESOURCES Trade Book: by Jean Fritz Other Trade Books: If You Lived When Women Won Their Rights by Anne Kamma Women's Right to Vote (Cornerstones of Freedom, Second Series) by Elaine Landau When Esther Morris Headed West: Women, Wyoming, and the Right to Vote by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie "Peanut" Johnson by Michelle Y. Green Other Resources: Timeline for students, with an overhead for the teacher to use for modeling Discussion Web ESTIMATED TIME PARAMETERS One day More than one day Mini-unit INTRODUCTION During a morning meeting, tell students that your classroom community needs to make a decision about something as a whole group (i.e., a current issue, for example I may ask my class to vote on choosing our next read aloud, what treat to have for a holiday party, or whether to allow certain activities during indoor recess, etc.). Then, tell them that only brunettes (or blonds, girls, or nine year olds) may vote. After the uproar dies down, ask students to discuss how it felt when they found out that they could or couldn t vote. Explain to them that there was a time in our history when some groups of people were not allowed to vote based on factors they had no control over (e.g., cultural origin, gender). Ask students why they think some groups of people were not considered equal. Tell students that you will be reading a biography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a woman who felt that women and slaves should have the same rights as white men had in the mid-1800s. Lesson One INSTRUCTION Introduce the book by telling the students that it is a biography about Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Remind them that a biography is the study of a person s life written by someone else. It is based on facts and research. Have students prepare to take notes about Lizzie Stanton in a reading log by paying attention to what she is like, what her goal is, and what events in her life move her towards her goal. On a full page in a reading log, ask students to create a list of these things, including page numbers. On another page, have students begin a timeline of important events in the story. As you read, stop and guide students in adding the events to the timeline. On a separate page, have students label the margin, My Response American Literature 2

3 Read Chapter One. Stop and add Lizzie Cady s birthdate to the timeline. You may want to add her graduation from Johnstown Academy as well, considering that she was the only girl. Also, add Emma Willard s Female Seminary to the list of Lizzie Stanton s facts as well as the timeline. Then, ask students to share any details they read in the chapter that help to describe Lizzie. Students should add these to their reading log list or other graphic organizer. Read Chapter Two. Add marriage, involvement in abolition, meeting Lucretia Mott, attending the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London but not being allowed to participate in the convention to list and timeline. Remind students of the definition of respect: Acting in a way that shows that I am valuable, you are valuable, and we as a group are valuable. At table groups or in pairs have students discuss: Were women being treated with respect? Support your answer with details. Then share responses with the whole group. Connect the idea of respect to the core democratic value of equality. Are they the same? Make a prediction: Will people change their minds about women s rights? What might it take to convince lawmakers to change the laws, and then for people to change their beliefs? Have students respond in their reading logs. Lesson Two Review what has happened so far by looking at the timeline, and then ask students to review their prediction concerning changing beliefs about women s rights. Read Chapter Three and Chapter Four. Add Seneca Falls Convention, meeting Susan B. Anthony, the births of her children to list and timeline. Discuss: Elizabeth chose to put her children first; do you agree with her decision? Why or why not? Have students respond in their notebook, and then give them time to discuss their answers in a small group, or as a class. Elizabeth finally gets help by hiring Amelia Willard. How do you predict this will change things? Write a prediction in the response section of your notes. Lesson Three Review predictions, and then read Chapter Five. Continue to add important events to the timeline, thinking aloud, or asking students to justify their reasons for putting certain events on the timeline. In their reading log, ask students to think about how the fight for abolition was similar to the fight for women s rights. They can make a T-chart or a Venn Diagram. Ask: Why is equality so important in a democracy? Give students time to discuss their responses. Optional: Work ethic can also be discussed here; Elizabeth faces many obstacles, but perseveres: the opposition of her family and society, her responsibility to be a good mother, and her sadness at not having her father s approval. What do you think is worth fighting for? Lesson Four With the election of Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. is thrown into turmoil. Ask: Will putting abolition and women s rights together help or hinder Elizabeth s progress? Then read Chapter Six to see how the Civil War affected Elizabeth s work. Discussion and reading log prompts: 3

4 The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments clearly spelled out that slaves that had been born in the U.S. were citizens, and that the states had to let all male citizens vote; according to these two factors, slaves right to vote would not be denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. (p. 48) Clearly, women were still not being granted the same rights as men. Does this fit with our ideal of equality? This spurred Elizabeth on, and she and Susan B. Anthony traveled to Kansas as it was considering adding women s suffrage to its state constitution. They eventually voted against it, as well as Negro suffrage. Even though it wasn t a success, Elizabeth was glad that she had her Kansas adventure (page 54). What does this tell us about Elizabeth? Lesson Five Read Chapters Seven and Eight. Continue to add events to the timeline, including the fortieth anniversary of the Seneca Falls meeting of 1848, and Lizzie Stanton s death on October 26, Point out that the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, was passed in 1920, eighteen years after her death. Respond: How do you feel about Elizabeth s fight for women s rights? Was she successful? Look at your timeline. The events should show the steps Elizabeth took toward women s rights, along with some of the obstacles (children, family obligations, and society s resistance to change). Are there any events to add? Take out? Optional: use the timeline to write a summary. MAKE CONNECTIONS Use the following questions during a class discussion or morning meeting to connect the ideas in the book to the character traits Respect and Getting Along. What is respect? Did Elizabeth feel respected? Who respected her? Who did not respect Elizabeth? How do we show respect for other groups? Has a lack of respect ever affected you? What happened? Were you able to change the situation? Is one group of people more entitled to vote than another group? Think about our vote at the beginning of the unit. How did it feel not to be allowed to vote? Did you have any control over the criteria? (Can you change that you were born with brown hair?) What can you do to create a sense of respect in our classroom? Our school? In addition to respect, Elizabeth worked to help different groups of people get along (women, slaves, and later blacks that had been freed). How did getting along with other men and women help Elizabeth in her fight for equal rights? Two groups, the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association, were both working on women s rights. They did not agree on some issues. Can you get along with people you do not agree with? How does it help us work together when we all get along? What kinds of problems can you have if you can t get along in your group? What are some ways we can improve our ability to get along with others? American Literature 4

5 When in your life is it important to get along with others? Our need for Power is based on feeling in control, having a sense of self-worth, competence and achievement. Elizabeth felt that women were smart enough and strong enough to handle having the same rights as men (p. 58 has some good details). People opposed to women s suffrage had arguments to support their opinion. Were they valid? How does a sense of self-worth help us fight for what we believe in? How does society try to keep some groups from achieving power? (Discuss slaves not being able to learn to read, make decision, have personal freedom; women not attending some colleges, not being allowed to vote, etc.). Are there groups of people today who may be denied some power over their own lives? How do you feel when you have a sense of power? Have you ever felt powerless? How can you achieve a sense of power? Can other people give you power? How do power and responsibility, and power and respect go together? Does having a sense of power help you get along with others better? Timeline ACTIVITY IDEAS Make a timeline of important events. Do this as a whole group as you read, or go back over the book after reading it through once. Think-aloud as you determine which events are important and which are not. (Stay focused on her fight for suffrage; ask yourself, does this help Lizzie get closer to her goal? Keep her from her goal? Does it matter if I know this or not? For example, it is important that Lizzie met Susan B. Anthony, but maybe not so important that she wore bloomers for a few years). Use the timeline to write a summary of Elizabeth s fight for women s suffrage. Character Web Create a character web to describe Lizzie Stanton, using details from the biography. It may help students if they take notes as you read. In a small group, have students work together to write a proposal asking for women s suffrage. Have students give reasons why women should be allowed to vote, attend any school, and own property. Use the discussion web with small groups to have students think about equality Have students think of other times in our history that groups did not feel respected (colonists, Indians, settlers, blacks, other immigrants). How did those groups fight for respect, equality, and power? Small groups can do research, and present their findings to the class by doing a PowerPoint, a short speech, a comic strip, or an activity of their choice. 5

6 EVALUATION/ASSESSMENT 1. Completed timeline and notes 2. Written summary of Elizabeth Stanton s life 3. Completed discussion web (I have each student fill in their own as they work with their partner or small group) 4. Proposals 5. Additional research report 6. Oral responses during discussions American Literature 6

7 Name _ Date Discussion Web Read the following statement in the center. List reasons that someone may use to support each position. In the bottom section, explain your position. Do you agree or disagree with the statement? Explain why, using some of your reasons from the chart. Yes Women and men are different; they have different roles and responsibilities. As such, men should be responsible for the goings-on out in the world, while women take care of their homes and families. No My position: (remember to use part of the statement in your response, along with reasons from your chart) 7