Letters from the Civil War
NCSS Standards:
MMSD Standards:
2. Give examples of the importance of multiple viewpoints for understanding people, events, and issues
3. dentity the role and status of individuals and groups in the United states, past and present, in family life, religion, and other cultural activities
UW Teaching Standards:
Materials Needed:
Objectives:
Lesson Context:
The students have completed all of the unit lessons on Wisconsin and The Civil War, have listened to a civil war re-enactor presentation and have gone on a fieldtrip. Now they are going to apply everything they have learned by writing a Civil War letter.
Lesson Opening:
At the beginning of this lesson, I will express how much I appreciate the students’ hard work throughout the unit and that they should be proud of how much they’ve learned so far. I will explain to students that they will be creating a pretend ‘primary source’ from the Civil War. We will review what a primary source is and discuss that letters are often used to learn about a specific era in history. The students will be writing letters as if they are real people from the time of the Civil War. We will have a brief discussion about how their letters are pretend primary sources, and are therefore actually secondary sources.
Procedures:
Closing:
After students have completed their letters, we will share them as a class. I will read the letters aloud to the class (so that they’re anonymous and students can focus on listening to the content than on who wrote it.) After we read the letters we will discuss as a class what topics, opinions, and feelings they noticed in the letters. Students will be encouraged to provide positive feedback about each other’s letters- what they liked, what the author did well, etc.
Assessment:
I will formally assess students on how their letters met the criteria- did they contain the necessary elements I specified on the letter planning sheet. I will use a rubric to assess each letter for quality, accuracy, authenticity, and voice.
- Standard 3: People, Places, and Environments
MMSD Standards:
- Students will:
2. Give examples of the importance of multiple viewpoints for understanding people, events, and issues
3. dentity the role and status of individuals and groups in the United states, past and present, in family life, religion, and other cultural activities
UW Teaching Standards:
- Standard 5: explains and justifies educational choices
- Standard 7: understands and adapts to multiple forms of communication
- Standard 8: employs varied assessment processes
- Standard 12: accommodates for all students
Materials Needed:
- Books, articles, and websites specified in my resource list
- Laptop and speakers to play Civil War era songs (http://www.civilwarmusic.net/songs.php)
- Letter planning sheet
- Formal letter paper
- Computers (if needed for additional research)
Objectives:
- Students will write a letter from a specific person’s perspective
- Students will incorporate information that they have learned about various people’s involvement in the war, what life was like during the 1800s, the time frame of the war, etc. into their letter
- Students will write a letter using correct letter formatting
- Students will share their letters with the class
Lesson Context:
The students have completed all of the unit lessons on Wisconsin and The Civil War, have listened to a civil war re-enactor presentation and have gone on a fieldtrip. Now they are going to apply everything they have learned by writing a Civil War letter.
Lesson Opening:
At the beginning of this lesson, I will express how much I appreciate the students’ hard work throughout the unit and that they should be proud of how much they’ve learned so far. I will explain to students that they will be creating a pretend ‘primary source’ from the Civil War. We will review what a primary source is and discuss that letters are often used to learn about a specific era in history. The students will be writing letters as if they are real people from the time of the Civil War. We will have a brief discussion about how their letters are pretend primary sources, and are therefore actually secondary sources.
Procedures:
- I will explain that our letters will focus on people from Wisconsin.
- As a class, we will generate a list of people from Wisconsin who we have learned about in our unit so far.
- I will pass out the letter planning sheet and together as a class we will read over the instructions and requirements. I will ask for any questions.
- Then the students will select an individual from the list to use for their letter writing assignment.
- Students will use their letter planning sheet to research their individual and plan the details and topics they will include in their letter.
- During work time, I will have multiple resources (books, articles, website pages) available for students to use to research their person and any topics or information they need.
- While students are working, I will also be playing Civil War era music (Battle Hyme of the Republic, Dixie’s Land, Battle Cry of Freedom, Tenting Tonight, etc.) to help students become more familiar with the culture of the time
- Students are to complete their plan and write a rough draft of their letter to be edited with the teacher.
- After their letter is edited, revisions have been made, and they have approval from the teacher, students may write a final copy of their letter.
Closing:
After students have completed their letters, we will share them as a class. I will read the letters aloud to the class (so that they’re anonymous and students can focus on listening to the content than on who wrote it.) After we read the letters we will discuss as a class what topics, opinions, and feelings they noticed in the letters. Students will be encouraged to provide positive feedback about each other’s letters- what they liked, what the author did well, etc.
Assessment:
I will formally assess students on how their letters met the criteria- did they contain the necessary elements I specified on the letter planning sheet. I will use a rubric to assess each letter for quality, accuracy, authenticity, and voice.
Sample Planning Sheet and Guidelines
Before you begin writing decide:
Your letter must include:
Use the books to help you research a person or topic.
Make your letter sound as authentic as possible!
- Who are you?
- Who are you writing to?
- Where are you writing from?
- Why are you writing to them?
- What topic are you writing about?
Your letter must include:
- Parts of a letter- correct beginning, paragraphs with indentation, correct ending with signature
- Appropriate date (pre civil war or during depending on person/event)
- Correct location- makes sense for the person you chose
- Civil War or slavery topic we discussed in class
- Your person’s feelings or opinion about a topic- and why do they feel/think that?
Use the books to help you research a person or topic.
Make your letter sound as authentic as possible!
