Riding Into War!
SS 350
Dr. Cantu
Fall of 2005
December 5,  2005

Objectives

• Identify the role of Paul Revere and William Dawes.
• Describe the significance of the battles at Lexington and Concord.
• Identify the actions taken by the Second Continental Congress.
• Identify key players on the British and American side of the war.
• Describe the significance of the Battle of Bunker Hill to the American Army.
• Identify those involved in the development of the Declaration of Independence.
• Compare the differences between the Loyalists and the Patriots.

Background

          After the First Continental Congress’ failed attempt to explain the American colonists’ intentions and eagerness for peace with the British Parliament, they decided their best bet was to take up arms. On April 18, 1775, after hearing rumors that the British General Thomas Gage was planning on sending British soldiers to Concord with intentions of capturing the colonists gunpowder and guns as well as arresting Samuel Adams and John Hancock, Paul Revere and William Dawes spread the news that the redcoats were coming. This news led to the battles at Lexington and Concord where the colonists got their first taste of what the American Revolution would be like.

            From September, when the First Continental Congress met, till May when the Second Continental Congress met, things had drastically changed. Now, all thirteen colonies met to establish George Washington as the military commander of the Continental Army, in hopes to have a form of protection. Even though the American colonies were defying Parliament by building an army, they still hoped to avoid war with Great Britain and made this clear to King George III by sending the Olive Branch Petition. Once again, the colonist’s attempt at peace failed with King George’s rejection of the Olive Branch Petition, and once again the colonists prepared themselves for war.

            While Great Britain had a strong army of nearly 50,000 men, George Washington struggled to put together an army of less then 20,000 inexperienced and ill-equipped men. The British added to their strength with the help of the Hessians, while the American colonists added to their effectiveness with bands of rebels, such as the Green Mountain Boys, under the leadership of Ethan Allen. Allen combined his rebel forces with those of Benedict Arnold on May of 1775, to attack the British at Fort Ticonderoga. Sneak attack strategy gave them a victory and a much needed supply of ammunition and cannons. The cannons were hauled to Boston, where they were eventually placed on Dorchester Heights after the American victory at Bunker Hill.

            As King George kept refusing the American colonist’s desires, more and more Americans favored the idea of breaking all ties with Great Britain. Prompting this idea in his pamphlet Common Sense, Thomas Paine was a great influence in many American’s desire to push for freedom. Richard Henry Lee also spoke strongly about the importance and seriousness of breaking ties with Great Britain. A Group of Lee’s supporters formed a committee, in which they chose Thomas Jefferson to write a Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. On July 4, 1776, the committee approved the Declaration of Independence, which  faced some opposition from the Loyalists who supported ties with Great Britain, while others known as the Patriots, favored the document and the split with Great Britain and were ready to take up arms and fight for their freedom.

Standards

Indiana Academic Standards

8.1.3 Identify and explain the conditions, causes, consequences, and significance of the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763), and the resistance and rebellion against British imperial rule by the 13 colonies in North America (1761 - 1775).

8.1.4 Identify fundamental ideas in the Declaration of Independence (1776) and analyze the causes and effects of the Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783), including enactment of the Articles of Confederation and the Treaty of Paris.

National Standards for History

Era 3
Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)

Standard 1: The causes of the American Revolution, the ideas and interests involved in forging the revolutionary movement, and the reasons for the American victory 

Standard 1A The student understands the causes of the American Revolution. 

Standard 2: The impact of the American Revolution on politics, economy, and society 

Standard 3: The institutions and practices of government created during the Revolution and how they were revised between 1787 and 1815 to create the foundation of the American political system based on the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights 

Syntax

          Hunter’s Mastery Learning

1.     Anticipatory Set: At the beginning of class, after every student is seated, begin playing a five minute segment from the movie “The Patriot.” The segment will be focusing on the disagreement between colonists over going to war with Great Britain. After the segment has been shown ask students what they thought was the main point the segment was trying to convey to its audience. Give the students a moment to think and then call on them at random to give their opinion. When this question is done being addressed, ask the students if everyone in the video was in favor of war. Why or Why not? Ask the students to name some of the reasons given by colonists within the movie, for not wanting to go to war. Do you think these are valid reasons? Would you want to go to war if you were in the colonist’s shoes? Leave time for a brief discussion.

2.     State Objectives and Purpose: Put a list of questions (Document 3-1) on the overhead. Go through the questions with the students and see if they can answer any of them without having learned the material yet. Remind the students that it is alright if they aren’t familiar with some of the questions and that after today, they will be able to answer each of these questions. After going through the list, hand out a copy of the questions to each student, reminding them that knowing the answers to these questions may be helpful in studying for a future test.

3.     Provide Input: Conduct a brief lecture (Document 3-2), (Document 3-2.1) (teacher copy) in which students will fill in the blanks for certain people, places, and events. Show pictures of people like George Washington, events like Bunker Hill, and documents like the Declaration of Independence throughout the lecture. Before conducting the lecture, get the students excited about the topic they are going to be discussing by putting on a wig like the one George Washington might have worn and carrying a fake gun similar to that of a minuteman during the Revolution.

4.     Model Ideal Behavior: After the lecture, the teacher will read through the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow entitled “Paul Revere’s Ride (Document 3-3).” This poem very accurately portrays Paul Revere and his companion’s, Doctor Joseph Warren and William Dawes, plan to warn American colonists that the British are coming. Each student will be given a copy of the document and the document will also be placed on the overhead. The teacher will read through the document, pausing at certain points to analyze what is being said. To analyze certain paragraphs more thoroughly, the teacher will answer the questions at the bottom of the document that coincide with the correct paragraphs. After the teacher has given her analysis of the paragraph students will be asked to give their opinions. Leave time for student feed back. The students should also be encouraged to keep the document to use as a study aid for a future test.

5.     Check for Comprehension: Hand out the Revolutionary Bingo sheet (Document 3-4) and a handful of M&M’s to every student. Read over the directions with the students and ask if they have any questions. If not, begin Revolutionary Bingo by saying phrases and statements that go with the subjects listed in the options box (Document 3-5). Go through the list of statements until each one has been read. Give each student, who has a Bingo, a mini Crunch bar, to remind them that the Americans were trying to “crunch” the British forces. When the game is finished go back through the phrases with each student having them say out loud the correct answer.

6.     Guided Practice: Hand out the map worksheet (Document 3-6) to every student and put one on an overhead for all the students to see. Read through the directions with the students. After the directions have been read trace the route the British soldiers took with the students so they are able to see how to properly do the worksheet. When done, ask if the students have any questions; then allow time for them to complete the worksheet. When each student is done with the worksheet, have them come up to the teacher’s desk to pick up two handouts to be used later in the class, signaling that they have finished the assignment. When each student has grabbed the two handouts and is seated, go over the maps by asking the students some questions (Document 3-7). Encourage the students to keep the maps to use as study tools for an upcoming test.

7.     Independent Practice: Have students pull out the two handouts they picked up earlier off the teacher’s desk; one handout being the Declaration of Independence before it was revised (Document 3-8) and one of the Declaration of Independence after it was revised (Document 3-9). Ask a student to read the first paragraph of the original Declaration then ask another student to read the first paragraph of the revised Declaration. On the overhead show a picture of the original Declaration (Document 3-10) and the revised Declaration (Document 3-11). Ask the students what things have been changed in the first paragraph between the original Declaration and the revised Declaration. If time is permitting, write the answers they come up with on the blackboard and ask them the questions, “If the changes weren’t made and the original Declaration was kept, how would it have affected the colonist’s lives and how would it affect your personal life, today?”  Otherwise, briefly discuss the answers they came up with and have them move on to working on the assignment. Have the students skim through the original Declaration and the revised Declaration on their own. On a piece of notebook paper have each student individually write at least five differences between the original Declaration and the revised Declaration and list how these five differences, if kept in the revised Declaration, would have affected their lives today. Monitor each student’s work by walking around the room. Remind the students that if the assignment is not completed in class, they are welcome to take it home and finish it there. Inform the students that the paper is worth 20 points. 10 points for including five differences (2 points for each difference) and 10 points for including a reason to how the five differences would affect their lives today (2 points for each reason).

8.     Closure: Put a quote about women and their impact on the Revolutionary war, on the overhead (Document 3-12). Ask the students to think about what ways women could have contributed to the war effort during the Revolution. Have the students try to put themselves in the place of a woman during the late 1700’s when thinking about the question. Encourage them to be thinking about this question for the next class session.

     Dr. Antonio Cantu comment: I do not have comments from Professor Cantu, because he is currently teaching at a different school and has taken my scoring rubric with him. However, I do remember scoring very high on this lesson plan, which is the reason why I have chosen to use it has my artifact.

Peer Comments: My peers graded my lesson according to how well I taught it in a simplified twenty minute version. The link leads to the worst grade I received from one of my peers and the best grade I received from one of my peers, along with their comments.

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