Eighth Grade Social Studies Curriculum Guide provided by the Teaching American History Grant for the Winthrop Olde English Consortium South Carolina: One of the United States Unit Title: Antebellum and the Civil War Pacing Suggestions: Three weeks Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions: Discuss the economic, political, and social divisions of antebellum America. How were the economic and social systems of the North, South, and West different? What political issues led to mistrust between the North and the South? Analyze the roles, interests and values of the various people involved in the American Civil War. How did the political and military figures of the North and South impact the outcome of the war? What were the roles of women and African Americans during the Civil War? Examine the impact that the Civil War had on the home front. What affect did death from disease and battle have on families in the North and South? How did the war affect literature, music, art, and photography? Compare the political and military strategies. Which side had the best strategies for winning the war and why? Why do you think that the Civil War could be referred to as the first modern war? Standard 8-3: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the causes and events leading to, and the course of, the America Civil War.
Assessment #1 Introduction: In order to understand cultural diversity, and to see this particular time period from many perspectives, students develop a scrapbook project. Students can choose to compare women s home front and battlefront roles, the role of slaves and free blacks, and the daily life experience of Confederate and Union soldiers. This leads to student understanding that societies vary depending on the cultural background and experience of their members. Students are able to relate to how the past, present and future are interconnected. With this activity, the Civil War becomes more real and relevant to today s student. Students use the temporal structure of the time period to construct a historical narrative in the form of a scrapbook. They obtain historical data from a variety of sources. This activity considers various perspectives in addressing historical and current issues, thereby providing an arena for reflective development of concern for the common good, application of social mores, and individual responsibility. At the same time, students have the opportunity to express their thoughts in the form of poetry, song, and illustration. Timeframe: In reality, this is many lessons, not just one. This is intended mainly as an outside project, while the teacher leads students through many lessons that will help them build the background needed for their scrapbook. This culminating activity is a valuable tool in assessing the overall knowledge that students have gained from their research and classroom study of the Civil War. It forces students to synthesize what they have learned by developing a particular perspective. Materials: Only the first two are mandatory for the project. The teacher should keep in mind that the more exposure students have to various materials in different formats, the better the student understanding and resulting products will be. 1. Civil War Scrapbook direction sheets (attached) 2. Civil War Scrapbook Rubric (attached) 3. Lest We Forget by Velma Maia Thomas 4. Focus on U.S. History: The Era of Civil War and Reconstruction by Kathy Sammis, J. Westin Walch Publisher, 1997 5. The school library 6. A Civil War reenactor and his/her artifacts 7. The Ken Burns Civil War Video Series 8. Paper, tea, container, water, 9. Colored Pencils 10. Personal scrapbooks Instruction: When explaining the idea of a scrapbook, it is recommended that teachers use a wonderful book, Lest We Forget by Velma Maia Thomas, which contains threedimensional presentations of old letters, private thoughts and creative ways to include information in different formats. Teachers should spend some time with the class discussing what a scrapbook from that period would look like and helping students
choose a perspective they are interested in. Teachers may have the class brainstorm suggestions but students will still need quite a bit of teacher direction. Possible guidelines for the scrapbooks: Writing should be in black, brown, or blue ink and in manuscript. The pictures should be pencil sketches Typed or computer-generated material would be inappropriate unless used to supplement (such as a playbill, a newspaper article or music for a song). Students can be shown how to make their paper look aged by dipping paper in strong tea and allowing it to dry before starting to record their journal. Students can be given three weeks to work on their scrapbooks. While students develop their product outside of the classroom setting, the teacher continues to teach regular classes on the events important to the causes and course of the American Civil War. Students will benefit from trips to the library to research their perspective. Teachers will want to bring in primary source letters for students to read and learn from. Teachers may also discuss how the Civil War was the first photographed war and show students the many famous photographs available. Resulting class discussion may cover the reaction of those loved ones back home to these photos and how it might change the way people perceive war. Students can relate this to the conflict going in Iraq and the way that different countries portray the war in their news. It is suggested that teachers plan at least one conference with each student on his or her progress during the three-week period. At the beginning of the project, teachers should hand out the rubric they will use to grade this project. Establish expectations and allow for questions. When it comes time to turn in projects, the rubric can be attached to the project with students evaluating themselves using the rubric. Students are asked for information about problems and solutions that developed from their project. This forces students to take a good look at the rubric and what they did to achieve the grade. Teachers can then use the rubric to grade projects and give comments. Differentiations for Diverse Learners: The biggest challenge for slow learners is following directions and understanding expectations. For this reason, be very specific in your directions and provide students with many examples. This project is designed to be one that any student could do without expensive supplies and it levels the playing field for students in low-income households. Teachers may want to have paper and colored pencils available to students. A classroom demonstration can be done on how to dye paper and make things look authentic. The English teacher can help by discussing what makes good historic fiction. Most students have experience with making their own scrapbooks or diaries by this age. Teachers can motivate the class by holding a share day where students could bring in their own photo albums or scrapbooks. Advanced students can get creative by including artifacts in their scrapbooks or researching real people and events to include in their stories. Scoring Rubric: See the attached rubric
Assessment #2 Introduction: Students will read the young adult novel, With Every Drop of Blood, by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier. This book is about two young boys who are enemies when they meet, but become reluctant friends as the book progresses. It does an excellent job of describing the many views on the Civil War and explaining that most people were fighting for a variety of reasons. This assessment connects Language Arts to History and can be used with either or both classes. Timeframe: This novel can be read in a three-week period. Materials: Only the first two are mandatory for the project. 1. With Every Drop of Blood, by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier. 2. Study questions that follow the format of the book (attached) 3. Focus on U.S. History: The Era of Civil War and Reconstruction by Kathy Sammis, J. Westin Walch Publisher, 1997 Instruction: Teachers can implement a variety of reading strategies with this novel. They may use paired reading, silent reading, and journal responses or use this book as a whole class read-aloud. Pre-reading and post-reading strategies are provided. Art activities such as illustrations are also suggested. Teacher instruction on Civil War events and personalities helps to supplement the novel. Through historic fiction, students become empathetic with the characters and can easily see that there is always more than one perspective to any issue or event. The discussions that result from reading this novel help the teacher evaluate student understanding of the diverse viewpoints that effected the era and its events. These discussions can also help students analyze the roles, interests and values of various people involved in the Civil War. Differentiation for Diverse Learners: Teachers need to evaluate the reading abilities of their class and use appropriate strategies. Scoring Guidelines: The study questions can be checked for a grade. Student understanding may be evaluated through tests, journals, discussions, and art activities.
Content 1. Lest We Forget by Velma Maia Thomas 2. Focus on U.S. History: The Era of Civil War and Reconstruction by Kathy Sammis, J. Walsh Publisher, 1997. 3. With Every Drop of Blood by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier 4. Civil War Scrapbook direction sheet 5. Civil War Scrapbook Rubric 6. Study Questions for With Every Drop of Blood 7. A Lesson on Different Perspectives student sheet 8. Sectional Differences pages 1-3 9. Activity 3, Chapter 18 student sheet 10. Notes sheet: Nullification as Explained by John C. Calhoun 11. Notes sheet: Causes of the Civil War 12. Dred Scott handout pages 1-2 13. Civil War Strategy sheets pages 1-4 14. Food in the Civil War pages 1-3 15. Civil War Slang 16. Student group work evaluation sheet 17. Civil War letter #1 18. Civil War letter #2 and 2.5 19. Lewis Douglas Letter 20. Mary Brown Diary pages 1-3 21. Civil War Correspondence Student Sheet 22. Writing a Bio-Historical Poem