The students working in groups and as a class will produce a documentary about the United States Civil War period. The documentary will demonstrate the causes, key events and consequences of the American Civil War.
California Academic Standard(s)
- 8.10 - Students analyze the multiple causes, key events and complex consequences of the Civil War
- Three to four weeks
The students will develop critical thinking, social, organizational, writing and technical skills while gaining a deep understanding of the causes, key events, and consequences of the American Civil War.
Learning Styles
- Linguistic
- Auditory
- Physical
- Social
- Logical
Anticipatory Set (10 min)
The instructor will write a question on the board that states, "What do you think makes a good documentary?" The instructor will allow the students two minutes to think about the question. The instructor will call on random students and write the answers on the board.
Direct Instruction (25 min)
The instructor will show a few clips from different documentaries. NOTE: The documentaries do not need to be about the Civil War. The instructor will tell the students that as a class they will be making a documentary about the Civil War. The instructor will provide the following handout to begin the process.
Causes, Events and Consequences of the American Civil War
In your team, you will research the following items, events and people relating to the Civil War period of United States history:
- William Lloyd Garrison
- Daniel Webster
- John C. Calhoun
- Abolitionist
- Industries of the Northern and Southern United States in mid 19th Century
- Uncle Tom's Cabin
- Kansas Nebraska Act
- Bleeding Kansas
- Dred Scott Supreme Court Decision
- John Brown
- Nullification and Secession
- Fort Sumter
- President Lincoln's House Divide Speech
- Emancipation Proclamation
- Battle of Gettysburg
- Battle of Vicksburg
- Gettysburg Address
- Ulysses S. Grant
- Jefferson Davis
- Robert E. Lee
Once your team completes the summaries, you will discuss them and prepare for a quiz.
Modeling (5 min)
Using the computer and overhead, the instructor will complete a summary for any other Civil War items...Ex: First Battle of Bull Run.
Guided Practice (50 to 100 min)
The instructor will place students in their teams. The teams will complete the lesson summaries and discuss them to prepare for the quiz.
Checks for Understanding (40 min)
The instructor will provide a quiz about the Civil War vocabulary. NOTE: Instead of a traditional quiz, the check for understanding could be part of a game format such as the Basketball Academic League ( http://activehistorylessons.blogspot.com/2012/10/basketball-academic-league.html)
Direct Instruction (15 min)
The instructor will provide the students with the following handout:
Civil War Documentary
As a class, we will complete a documentary about the Civil War. To produce this documentary, each team will be assigned a topic of the Civil War. The topics include:
- The Debate over Slavery
- Period of Compromise
- The Crisis Deepens
- The Civil War Begins
- Emancipation of The Slaves
- Turning Point of the War
- The Legacy of the Civil War
- Step One - Each team will develop an outline of items, people and events that are relevant to your topic area.
- Step Two - Once the outline is approved, your team will develop ideas on how to present items, people and events in the documentary.
- Step Three - Once the ideas are approved, your team will write a script for your section of the documentary.
- Step Four - Once the script is approved, your team will develop the scenery and props necessary to produce your section of the documentary.
- Step Five - Once the scenery and props are approved, your team will rehearse and prepare to film your section of the documentary.
- Step Six - Once, your rehearsal and preparation is complete, Your team will film your section of the Civil War documentary.
The instructor will model each step in the process. The modeling should be done as most if not all groups are ready to move on to the next step. NOTE: This is the most critical part of making this lesson work.
Guided Practice (100 min for each step)
The instructor will place the students in their teams and the teams will complete their section of the documentary. Once each section of the documentary is complete, the instructor will merge them together. NOTE: There are a myriad of easy to use software programs to complete the editing of a movie)
Checks for Understanding (Ongoing)
The instructor will check, provide feedback and approve each section of the process. To assure that the steps are being completed, the instructor may provide grades for each step completed.
Direct Instruction (30 to 100 min)
The instructor will show the documentary to the class and provide a copy to the students. The instructor may also show each class all the documentaries completed from other classes. NOTE: If the lesson works well enough, the documentaries could be voted on to see who's is best and the best one could be shown to the entire school.