revolution

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Overview:
The key figures of the American Revolution are the focus of these two lesson plans for first and fifth grade students. In addition to informing each group of students about the leaders of the American Revolution the lessons are also meant to inspire them to come up with their own ideas or questions. The lessons will encourage them to find their own answers through the exploration and evaluation of resources and information. Students will use traditional resources and media as well as online databases to guide them on their inquiry. They will share their progress with their fellow inquirers and will persuade them with their conclusions. Their products will come together in an organized collection that will demonstrate their work and will allow for self and group evaluation. As they work through these lessons the students will acquire skills that will help them mature as learners and as investigators.

**I. Academic and Information Literacy Standards: **


 **Indiana Academic Standards:** ** American Association of School Libraries: Standards for the 21st Century Learner ** ** 1.1.6 ** Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning. ** II. Overview: **
 * 1.1 ** Students will identify continuity and change in the different environments around them, including school and neighborhood communities, and identify individuals, events and symbols that are important to our country.
 * 1.1.5 ** Identify people and events observed in national celebrations and holidays. (Core Standard)
 * 1.7.10 ** Use visual aids, such as pictures and objects, to present oral information.


 This lesson plan is designed to promote first grade students to learn more about America’s founders. Students will learn to recognize important individuals associated with the nation’s independence. They will be expected to view visual images and to use visual images to demonstrate their recognition of these key figures. ** III. Objectives: **  <span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">** IV. Materials: ** <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">** V. Lesson Activity: **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Students will be able to recognize and identify key figures from the American Revolution
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Students will be able to orally communicate information about an American Revolutionary
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Pictures of American Revolutionary figures [[file:heckaman, portraits.docx]]
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> [|KWL charts] for group work
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Notepads and pencils

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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Introduction: (First Day) 1. Generate discussion about people who the students consider leaders today. Ask who they think are leaders and what they do that makes them leaders. Create a list on the board of all of the qualities the students provide. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Day 2: 2. Create a chart on the board with the list of qualities provided by the students the day before. Use the qualities as the header of the columns and enter the names of several American Revolutionary figures into the beginning of each row.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Ask about the principal to get the discussion started and then ask the students to provide examples of why he/she is a leader.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Consider other leaders like the President, fire chief, business owner, etc…

3. Present the class with pictures of each of the people you have listed on the chart and then divide the class into groups of three or four assigning each group one of the people and giving them the picture.

4. Explain to the class that each group will be finding information about their assigned person with the resources at the school’s media center. To help them know what they are looking for each group will also fill out a KWL chart.

Day 3: 5. The class will take a trip to the media center and use the resources provided to locate information about their historical figure. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> 6. When the class returns the groups will meet together and write a short paragraph about their person.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Each group should work to address the questions from their KWL chart
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> The teacher will assist the groups and work among them to be sure everyone understands what they are working on

Day 4: 7. Each group will present their information to the class and use the chart on the board to check off the characteristics that their person exhibited.

<span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">** VI. Assessment: **

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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The students’ work will be evaluated according to their KWL charts, participation in group work, and their demonstration of understanding of the characteristics their leader possessed.

<span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">** I. Academic and Information Literacy Standards: **

<span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">** 5.5.5 ** Write for different purposes (information, persuasion, description) and to a specific audience or person, adjusting tone and style as appropriate. (Core Standard) Select a focus, organizational structure, and point of view for an oral presentation. (Core Standard) <span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> <span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">** II. Overview: **
 * Indiana Academic Standards: **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">5.1 **<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Students will describe the historical movements that influenced the development of the United States from pre-Columbian times up to 1800, with an emphasis on the American Revolution and the founding of the United States.
 * 5.1.10 ** The American Revolution: 1763 to 1783. Identify major British and American leaders and describe their roles in key events of the war for independence.
 * 5.5.4 ** Write persuasive letters or compositions that:
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">state a clear position in support of a proposal.,
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">support a position with relevant evidence and effective emotional appeals.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">follow a simple organizational pattern, with the most appealing statements first and the least powerful ones last.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">address reader concerns. (Core Standard)
 * 5.7.4 ** Organization and Delivery of Oral Communication:
 * 5.7.5 ** Clarify and support spoken ideas with evidence and examples. (Core Standard)
 * 5.7.6 ** Use volume, phrasing, timing, and gestures appropriately to enhance meaning. (Core Standard)
 * 5.7.13 ** <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Emphasize points in ways that help the listener or viewer follow important ideas and concepts. (Core Standard)
 * American Association of School Libraries: Standards for the 21st Century Learner **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1.1.8 **<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Demonstrate mastery of technology tools for accessing information and pursuing inquiry.
 * 1.1.9** Collaborate with others to broaden and deepen understanding.

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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">This lesson plan is designed to instruct fifth grade students how to navigate a databases, locate desired information, analyze pertinent material, and to apply their work in the creation of a final product to be presented to the class. History in the fifth grade is focused upon American colonization and the development of American independence. The //Indiana Academic Standards// clearly indicate the necessity for the students of this grade level to acquire a competent understanding about the American Revolution and its key leaders. In addition to these history standards, the language arts standards for these students specify the need for them to be able to write and speak persuasively. This project is meant to help the students meet these expectations by allowing them to apply their knowledge of revolutionary figures towards a persuasive argument. Students will be instructed on how to use the Biography Resource Center database of INSPIRE. They will learn to navigate and search and be allowed to conduct their own research for information about a revolutionary figure of their choice. The media specialist will also provide instruction about how to analyze the information provided and to choose appropriate material for their presentation. Students will then need to implement their research into the creation of a persuasive argument that suggests why their chosen figure should be included in an American Revolution Hall of Fame. <span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">** III. Objectives: **

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<span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">** IV. Materials: **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Students will learn to navigate and search the Biography Resources Center database
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Students will identify a key figure from the American Revolution and gather information about them
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Students will organize their information and determine the importance of their figure
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Students will present arguments about the value and role of their figure

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> > <span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Computers with internet access
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Access to INSPIRE
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Pencil and paper
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> [|Evaluation Rubric]
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">[|KWL Chart]
 * V. Prior Student Knowledge: **

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<span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Students should have prior knowledge about the American Revolution and the key figures in the events that led to American Independence. They should have a basic understanding about research and note taking that will be expanded upon during this project. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">VI. Lesson Activity: **

<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Introduction: Day 1: 1. Explain Hall of Fames and ask for examples like; <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">2. Discuss the methods that candidates are chosen for induction into these Halls
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> College Football Hall of Fame
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Baseball Hall of Fame
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Basketball Hall of Fame
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

3. Explain the role of the institutions and how they serve to recognize the achievements of their members

4. Ask students about an American Revolution Hall of Fame and who should be included. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> 5. Students will choose a figure from the American Revolution that they think belongs in its Hall of Fame.

6. Students will create a list of questions to demonstrate why their figure belongs in the Hall of Fame. They can use a KWL chart to help them stay organized. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Day 2 and 3: 7. With figure and questions in hand the students will go to the media center or an available computer lab to research, through INSPIRE, to determine more about their figure and their questions
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> What were his or her accomplishments?
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> What was his/her role in the Revolution?

8. A media specialist will introduce the students to INSPIRE and specifically to the Biography Resource Center database within it.

9. Instruction should include navigation, searching, and sorting. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> 10. Students will conduct their own research using this database and, if available, will consult resources suggested by the content.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Students will be shown the advanced search features and the Biographical search features
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The media specialist will follow-up with students during their research to help them recognize important elements of information within their research material and to summarize their findings. The specialist will also help students look for any resources suggested by their research.

11. Students will gather information from their research to support their suggestion of induction.

Day 4 and 5: 12. Students will compile their information and write their persuasive argument for the induction of their chosen figure into the American Revolution Hall of Fame <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Day 6 - (This may take more than one day) 13. Students will present their final arguments to their class in the form of a persuasive speech that suggests why their candidate should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">VII. Assessment <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The students' work will be evaluated on a 20 point scale that is based upon the provided rubric.

<span style="display: block; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; text-align: center;">Lesson Comparison:
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">While both lessons are focused upon the American four fathers each caters to different groups of learners who are at different levels of learning. The groups targeted exhibit levels of maturity and skills in information inquiry that make their lesson best suited to them.

For the first grade students a controlled approach is used that also encourages group work. Even among students in a single classroom there will be a variety of skills that when combined may be beneficial to one another. The controlled approach uses traditional sources and visual media that helps to introduce these novices to the process. The process takes advantage of the students' natural curiosity to encourage the students to begin to develop their own questions and want to find answers. Direct instruction and supervision during the research phase will help the students develop better habits on their way to becoming experts.

The fifth grade students are expected to come into the lesson with greater understanding and prior knowledge about the subject. They are given less information but expected to find more and to use additional resources that the first graders are not expected or even encouraged to use just yet. This demonstrates that these students have already matured and acquired an understanding of the materials used by earlier students and the addition of new resources will help promote their continued development as information scientists. The students are given greater freedom in their guided inquiry and are given general instruction about use of databases but then are expected to demonstrate their own understanding with little supervision. Finally the requirement of a persuasive argument as their final product should increase motivation. Interest can sometimes be difficult to capture and especially hard to keep, but when you are asked to convince somebody about your convictions you will stay motivated and work hard to change someones mind.

**Stephanie Fies**

To continue progress, I have adapted the lesson to be appropriate for high school students, specifically tenth graders in US History. The information standards would continue to mature as students gain more strategies for accessing and evaluating information. In this lesson, students will need to summarize their findings and present the information to the class while justifying its significance. ** Grade: ** Tenth – US History ** Unit: ** Revolutionary War ** Lesson: ** Key Figures of the Revolutionary War ** Goal: ** Students will identify key people and events that shaped the outcome of the Revolutionary War. ** Objective: ** Students will be able to create a timeline of a key figure of the Revolutionary War. ** Indiana State Standard: ** USH1.1 Read key documents from the Founding Era and explain major ideas about government, individual rights and the general welfare embedded in these documents. <span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> ** AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner: ** **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">1.1.6 ** Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·   Several Computers with Internet Access <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·   Timeline Sheet <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·   Long Strips of Butcher Paper Instruction: 1)    After covering Revolutionary War materials in the textbook, discuss the cause and effect relationship of the war.     2)     Allow students to discuss the major event of the war and how they were shaped. This should generate the names of key figures involved in the war. 3)    Generate a visual list of names and places throughout the discussion for the class to see.      4)     Now eliminate a name and ask the class to think about how history would have changed without that specific person. 5)    Let the class discuss so it is clear that the outcome of the war would be radically different without the key figures.      6)     Explain to the class that they will be creating a timeline of a key figure involved in the Revolutionary War. They may focus on the person that interests them the most. The focus of the timeline will be “Events that never could have happened without me”. 7)    Give everyone a basic timeline outline to begin. Each student will be responsible to adding at least 2 more events to the timeline. Extra credit can be given for additional events.      8)     Students will use the Internet to gather information about their specific person. Have the students search sites such as: [] [] [] 9)    Once students have gathered the information, give them a long sheet of butcher paper to create a horizontal timeline. Instruct them to include the year and a description of each event.    ** Conclusion: ** Each student will present their timeline for their specific person to the class. They will need to discuss the events listed and explain how history would have been different without this person and his or her efforts during the Revolutionary War.
 * Materials:  **