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Primary Source Lessons: Exploring Civil War Primary Sources

Exploring Civil War Primary Sources

Julie McPherson

Sherman Elementary School; Sherman, IL

Overview:

Students will use primary sources to review information learned in their Civil War studies and further explore the Civil War Era. They will also develop an understanding of primary source analysis and use their critical thinking skills to make inferences about the information presented by primary sources. After analyzing the sources students will put the photographs in sequential order to form a timeline. Students will write a paragraph demonstrating an understanding of primary sources.

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

Understand the importance of primary sources.
Analyze primary sources from the Civil War Era.
Sequence primary source pictures from the Civil War Era.
Write a paragraph demonstrating an understanding of primary sources.

Time Requirements:

Two 45 minutes class periods

Recommended Grade Level:

5th-6th Grade

Standards and Assessment Anchors:

State Goal 16: Understand events, trends, individuals and movements shaping the history of Illinois, the United States and other nations.

A. Apply the skills of historical analysis and interpretation.
16.A.2c Ask questions and seek answers by collecting and analyzing data from historic documents images and other literary and non-literary sources.

B. Understand the development of significant political events.
16.B.2d (US) Identify major political events and leaders within the United States historical eras since the adoption of the Constitution, including the westward expansion. Louisiana Purchase, Civil War, and 20th century wars as well as the roles of Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Resources:

Library of Congress Web site:

An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera

Lincoln Presidential Ticket

Reward Poster

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1875

Journal of Confederate Congress

Selected Civil War Photographs 1861-1865

Group of Federal Soliders in Confederate fort on heights of Centreville with Quaker Guns

Appomattox Court House, Va. Federal soldiers at the courthouse

Procedures:

Anticipatory Set:

I am lucky enough to have access to some real Civil War relics. My father has a collection which includes bullets (used during medical procedures for the soldiers to bite down on and having the actual teeth marks), buttons, canteens, requisitions for supplies, belt buckles and various items from this time period. I will use these items to introduce primary sources and go over how we can learn information and make inferences using these things. Teachers without access to these items could do the same thing with the artifacts and pictures on the Library of Congress web site.

Activate Prior Knowledge:

What were some of the reasons for the Civil War?
Why did the Southern States secede?
Who were the leading generals for both the Confederate and Union sides?
What were some Union advantages?
What were some Confederate advantages?
Where was the surrender signed?
What were some of the important battles of the war?
Who assassinated Abraham Lincoln?

Before putting students into their groups for the jigsaw activity the teacher will go over the evaluation rubrics with the whole class to let students see what will be expected of them in their groups.

Jigsaw Activity:

Students will be divided into groups of four or five. Each group will be given a picture along with a set of teacher generated questions. Students will be asked to work cooperatively to answer these questions and share ideas. These will be considered the expert groups. After approximately 20 minutes, the teacher will send one person from each expert group to form new groups representing all five primary source documents. In these groups the students will take turns presenting their picture and the questions and answers to the questions they discussed in their expert groups. They will also allow the other members an opportunity to give their ideas and add to the questions.

Timeline Activity:

After reviewing all five primary resources, the teacher will put the students back into the expert groups representing only one of the documents. As a whole class project, students will decide which primary source document would be first on a timeline of the Civil War. They will then continue to put the documents on the timeline sequentially.

Writing Activity:

Students will select a primary source and write a short paragraph describing its importance to the Civil War. Paragraphs should contain direct references to the primary source and evidence of the use of higher thinking skills to make inferences about the material.

Evaluation:

The teacher will allow students in the expert group to fill out an evaluation rubric for each member including themselves. These rubrics will help the teacher assess each student's level of understanding. Rubrics are included in this packet. The teacher will also observe the small group interaction of the students as they complete the jigsaw activities. The writing activity will be graded by the teacher using a Writing Rubric.

Adaptations:

Special Education Students-
Students needing additional help will be given extra time to work on the primary source analysis. Students can be assigned only a portion of the worksheet to complete or allowed to dictate answers as needed. Students could also dictate their paragraphs to the teacher rather than write them.

Gifted Students-

Gifted students might be allowed to gather primary sources of their own in order to develop their own timeline. These students might also be given the opportunity to write about these sources for their paragraphs

Lesson extensions:

The teacher could bring in more primary source documents and allow students to find their spot on the timeline. Students could given the opportunity to write newspaper articles or draw pictures depicting important events and add these to the appropriate area on the timeline.

Worksheets for the Primary Source:

Congress of the Confederate States of America

Presidential Ticket

Centreville Fort

Appomattox Courthouse

Reward Poster

Rubrics:

Cooperative Group Rubric

0	1	2	3	Score
Does not cooperate or interact with other group members.	Seldom cooperates or Interacts with other group members. Sometimes interrupts other members.	Shares ideas and adds to group discussions. Polite listener. Allows all members to share their ideas.	Served as a leader in the group. Voiced opinions while allowing others to agree or disagree. Good listener encouraging all members to participate.
Gave no information or ideas for questions on the worksheet. Slowed group process.	Shared few ideas simply copied the ideas of others in the group. Kept pace with the rest of the group.	Offered ideas and was able to keep up with the group in filling out their questions.	Contributed much information to the group. Not only kept pace with the group, but also helped others who were having difficulty keeping up.
				Total

Writing Rubric

0	1	2	3
No written project was turned in to the teacher.	Paragraph gives little or no information about the primary source or its importance to the Civil War.	Paragraph shows evidence the student was able to understand concrete information about the primary sources and its importance to the Civil War.	Paragraph shows evidence of student was able to use higher thinking skills in order to make inferences about the primary source and its importance to the Civil War.
Student did not complete written project.	Writing does not reflect an understanding of organization using main ideas and details.	Writing includes a main or gives details about the primary source, but does not include both elements.	Writing includes both main ideas and details to support the importance of the primary source to the Civil War.
Student does not show any evidence of correct capitalization and punctuation.	Student uses capitalization or punctuation, but does not use both in their writing.	Student uses capitalization and punctuation appropriately most of the time.	Student has no capitalization or punctuation errors.

Teaching with Primary Sources Project

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