Lesson Plan: American Wars: Can You See the Difference?

VS.1 - The student will develop skills for historical and geographical analysis including the ability to

a. identify and interpret artifacts and primary and secondary source documents to understand events in history

c. compare and contrast historical events

d. draw conclusions and make generalizations

e. make connections between past and present

f. sequence events in Virginia history

USI.1 - The student will develop skills for historical and geographical analysis, including the ability to:

a. identify and interpret primary source documents to increase understanding of events and life in the United States history to 1877

b. make connections between past and present

c. sequence events in United States history from pre-Columbian times to 1877

f. analyze and interpret maps to explain relationships among landforms, water features, climatic characteristics, and historical events

2 class periods of 45 minutes each for the basic lesson introduction, activities, and assessment.
Additional time is needed for the ThinkDots projects (2 -3 class periods) and the extension, (at least 3 sessions of 45 minutes in length).

Students will be introduced to visual discovery and visual interpretation by using the “What is it?” PowerPoint that uses the “zoom in” technique.
Next, students will examine with the teacher markets from 2 different time period, noting similarities, differences, and change.
Students will be divided into small groups and provided with a variety of images, documents, and maps that are representative of the Revolutionary War or the Civil War periods.
Using the activities provided, students will be guided with questions and graphic organizers to assist development of visual literacy, observation skills, and classification of the images.
For lesson assessment, students will summarize findings regarding the technology, weapons, clothing, architecture, leaders, and locations of each war.
For an alternative project-based assessment, students will choose from Think Dots projects that vary by multiple intelligences preferences.
An extension will then be made available to students who need an extra challenge. These students will select two other events studied in class, and search the Library of Congress site for additional photos that could be used with the analysis activities.