Unit Authoring Guide – Microsoft WORD Version

Directions:  Simply add the appropriate parts of your unit under each heading below, save your work, and e-mail it as a WORD attachment to your team leader, instructional support specialist, then to Richard Benjamin  richardbenjamin7@gmail.com for comments and suggestions.

Remember to start with rigorous academic standards in History and Civics, so that the high levels of student engagement coming with the use of the Artful Learning Model will always be linked to important student learning…….

CTSL Units should exemplify the use of The Bernstein Artful Learning Model with the use of Service Learning and Character Education, and focus on History, Civics, and Civic Engagement.

Also, please make use of the self-assessment rubrics available for each element of your unit.  They can be useful both in developing and in refining your unit, and will be an important part of any editing or feedback process.

Name:  Thomas Panter                                       

School: Durham Middle School                                                         

Date: 9/17/06                                             

E-mail Address:  Thomas.panter@cobbk12.org

Grade: 8th

Other authors of this unit:                             

Academic Standards:

-                      A1 Knowledge:

PS6: EXPANSION - RECONSTRUCTION

The learner will be able to make connections with major events in U.S. History and Georgia from western expansion through reconstruction.

PS3: HISTORY

The learner will be able to make connections with major events in U.S. History and analyze their effect on Georgia.

PS4: FOUNDATIONS OF GOVERNMENT

The learner will be able to identify influential Georgians and analyze their role in development in a state and national government.

PS5: GOVERNMENT

The learner will be able to investigate the relationship between government and the people of Georgia.

-           A2 Skills:

PS5: GOVERNMENT

The learner will be able to investigate the relationship between government and the people of Georgia.

PS7: 1877 TO 1945

The learner will be able to analyze the historical development of Georgia from 1877 to 1945. 

PS8: 1945 TO PRESENT

The learner will be able to analyze the historical development of Georgia from 1945 to present

-                      A3 Character / Dispositions

-                      Integrity

Broad Significant Question:

Why study history?

Concept: History

Focus Statement:

We study history because it is one the best ways to acquire good judgment and it allows us to define who we are and where we are going.

Deepening Questions:

What part in history do we play?

How is history our story?

Why is history important to all of us?

What affects our view of history?

What makes history and why?

Engagement:

-                      E1 Experiencing the Masterwork

-                      Masterwork – The Preamble to the Constitution

-                      E2 Engagement Strategies – Different ways to experience the Masterwork

-                      1 – Read and interpret the Preamble

-                      a. Students will be informed that the United States was founded on the basic principles of the Preamble to the Constitution.

-                      1. What are basic principles?

-                      2. Why would we need a constitution?

-                      a. Students will be broken into groups of four. The preamble will be given to each group with each phrase of the preamble highlighted with a different color. Students may want to visit the Constitution web site for help in interpreting the phrases at http://www.constitutioncenter.org

-                      b. The students will then be asked to read each phrase that is highlighted and interpret what it says. The teacher will need to help with the first phrase in order to help get the activity started.

-                      c. Students will then rewrite the passages using their own words.

-                      d. Students will then use the stained paper and black pen provided to create their own preamble.

-                      e. Students will present to the class their preamble for display in the room.

-                      f. After completing their preamble, each group will use Photo Story 3 to create a visual representation of how their interpretation of the preamble is used today in our government and community. Each group will use images, music and narration in their own words to create the presentation.

-                       

E2 Engagement Strategies - Movie clip: The Andy Griffith Show (Episode clip entitled, “Oppie’s Ill-Gotten Gain”)

Experiencing the masterwork is assisted by a famous clip from the Andy Griffith television show from season four. The clip involves Deputy Barney Fife’s attempt to show how much he had remembered from his 8th grade history class. After bragging about how smart he was in the 8th grade earlier in the episode, Barney attempts to prove to his colleague his knowledge of history. He attempts to prove to Sheriff Andy Taylor that he memorized the preamble to the United States Constitution in the 8th grade and he still remembered it. The clip shows the frustration Barney has in his attempts to recite the preamble and the patience the Sheriff Taylor has in helping him “remember”.   The students will watch the clip from the Andy Griffith Show and answer the following questions:

1.         How do you feel about Barney’s statement that, “Once you learn something you never forget it”?

2.         Why do you think Barney had difficulty remembering the preamble to the U.S. Constitution?

3.         Why do you think Barney could remember details of his 8th grade year in school but not the preamble?

4.         Why do you think Barney kept his history book if he already knew it?

5.         If you wanted Barney to truly understand the Constitution, what would you have done if you were Sheriff Andy Taylor?

6.         How did both Barney and Andy exhibit and not exhibit the character word of integrity?

7.         Do you think it is important to remember something like the preamble to the Constitution? 

INTEGRITY (Character word of the month)

Steadfast adherence to a strict code of moral, ethical or artistic values;

to consistently be truthful, sincere, and fair. Keeping one's word.

Focus Statement:

We study history because it is one the best ways to acquire good judgment and it allows us to define who we are and where we are going.

Gaining Original Creations:

The students will work in groups of four to research about figures from history and to create a lesson for their own class and for use in other classes. Each group will use the information gathered from their research in the inquiry centers to create a lesson for the class that includes a visual and/or timeline, activity for the students, and will answer the question, “Why study history?” 

Inquiry:

Inquiry Center #1A (Hook - Bucket of sand)

Students will complete the following tasks using the bucket of sand and turn in their responses:

a.         Each student in the Inquiry Center will stick their hand in the bucket until it reaches the bottom.

b.         The student will then pull his or her hand out and rock the bucket back and forth once before the next students attempts the activity.

c.         Each student should then answer the following questions:

1.         Describe the sand before and after?

2.         What happened to the sand once you rocked the bucket back and forth once?

3.         How does the sand represent our history?

4.         If a piece of sand represents a person in history, what does it say about your role in history and its significance?  

Inquiry Center #1B (Understanding history) 

Students will work in groups to explain the following in their own words and share their responses with their group:

a. Quotes:

1. Maya Angelou – “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”

2. George Santayana – “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

3. Abraham Lincoln – “History is not history unless it is the truth.”

b. Make your own quote:

1. Working together, students in each group will create their own quote about the role of history and its importance and explain it to the class.

-          

Inquiry Center #2

Students will use prior knowledge or lists of ‘most’ influential people to list three people from history, including at least one from Georgia that they most admire. Using facts from their prior knowledge, explain the choice for each person and event.

-          

Inquiry Center #3

Students will use prior knowledge to list three people from history they least admire. Using facts from their prior knowledge, explain the choice for each person and event.

Inquiry Center #4

Students will read portions of the article by Paul Gagnon published in the Atlantic Weekly entitled, “Why Study History?”. The students will work together in groups of four to explain the following quotes from the article:

a. Do you think history textbooks allow students the opportunity to think for them selves or are students being told how to think?

b. Analyze and write your belief about the following passage from Gagnon’s article:  “Since the American history course must serve the dual purpose of informing students about history and shaping approved civic attitudes, texts also fall into a tendency toward “presentism”, in which people and actions of the past are judged by today’s fashions rather than by the different circumstances and prevailing ideas of their time.”

c. How can looking at people or events from the past and judging then by our beliefs be unfair to those we wish to evaluate?

d. Analyze and write about your belief about the following passage from Gagnon article:

“United States history texts treat women, minorities, and ordinary people much as Parson Weems treated George Washington: they can do no wrong.” (Background will have to be provided on Washington’s biographer and the events he included in his book that were invented to characterize Washington)

e. How should the history and the accomplishments of women, minorities and ordinary people be presented to students in textbooks and classrooms today?

f. In the article, Gagnon states that, “although the textbooks sometimes suggest the importance of individual character in politics, they rarely draw a character in full dimension.”

1. Why do you think Gagnon believes it important to truly understand an important person from our history by understanding his or her character?

2. What does the writer mean by full dimension of a person’s character?

3. How is individual character important in your view of people you admire or don’t admire from history? (Give examples)

Inquiry Center #5 (Judgment)

Students will read from quotes about judgment, stories that demonstrate judgment, and read an excerpt from the book by Howard Gardner entitled, “Changing Minds”.  

Students will then work together in groups of four to create a lesson that will analyze and explain the following:

a. Some say that judgment means to make good choices. What is judgment to you?

b. In the popular books about Harry Potter, his headmaster is quoted, “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster Hogwarts.

1. What does he mean?

2. How do you think judgment is displayed by people?

3. Why do we demand judgment from doctors, lawyers, politicians, teachers and even athletes?

4. Why do you admire people from history with good judgment?

5. Give examples of people from history who had bad judgment and explain why?

c. Students will read together the story of the relationship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (pages 163-168) from the book entitled, “Changing Minds” and answer the following questions:

1. How do you think Jefferson and Adams displayed good judgment in the last years of their lives?

2. Were there moments in the life of Adams and/or Jefferson where poor judgment was displayed?

3. What are some lessons you learned from reading the passage about two of our founding fathers that could be taught to students about character?

d. Using the information gathered in this center, explain why judgment and character is vital in answering the question, “Why study history?”

Inquiry Center #6

Students will analyze the following thesis:

“We study history because it is one the best ways to acquire good judgment and it allows us to define who we are and where we are going.”

1. Students should write what they think the statement means in their own words.
2. Students should give examples of the statements meaning from events from the past or current events.
3. Students should then create an antithesis statement and explain its meaning.
4. Students will create their own synthesis in the teaching part of the unit. They will clearly state in writing the thesis, antithesis, and their own synthesis, and defend their synthesis.

.

Inquiry Center #7 (Uncovering the truth)

-                      Students will use the books and internet to find out the historic facts about the people and events described by the student in Inquiry Centers #1 and #2. Students should list in red the mistakes he or she made in the facts. Students should analyze the information and explain the following:

-                      a. How did each person display or not display the character trait of integrity?

-                      b. How did each person you researched display or not display good judgment?

-Inquiry Center #8 (Time-line)

Perhaps use Howard Gardner ‘Leading Minds’ the section with the charts at the back, where he describes where famous people fell short of their goals.

Students will complete the following tasks using the time-line paper provided:

a.         Students will place the three people they admired the most on a time-line in the year that was their most important and explain their decision.

b.         Students will place the three people they least admired the most on a time-line in the year that was their most important and explain their decision.

c.         Each student will then add to their time-line the three biggest events in their life up to now

Inquiry Center #9 (Create a lesson)

Students will work together in groups of four to create a lesson that will explain the following:

a.         What are the two most admired people in history from your group and why?

b.         What was uncovered about each person that was surprising?

c.         What are the two least admired people in history from your group’s research and explain why?

d.         What was uncovered in the research about each person that was surprising?

e.         Using a visual and/or time line, explain their location, time in history and how each demonstrated or did not demonstrate integrity or other related character traits.

f.          Using examples from their research, explain how each of their choices displayed good or bad judgment in history.

g.         Each lesson will contain a short activity such as role playing the person chosen at a critical moment in history for the class to do to reinforce the lesson.

f.          Using the information gathered in this unit, each lesson must conclude by answering the question, “Why study history?”

*A rubric will be provided for each student in the class.

Reflection:

Each student will complete a written reflection on the unit that will contain the following questions:

Helping Reflection:

Observation:

1. What you thought they knew about the importance of history before the unit.

2. What were some surprises that were uncovered in your research?

3. Explain the decision-making process used when the group had to select two most admired and two least admired people from history for the lesson.

Interpretation

4. Explain why you now think we need to study history.

5. Might it really work to learn good judgment by the study of history? 

Application / Prediction

6. What might we do in the study of history to make it more likely that students would actually learn good judgment? 

7. Explain how they would teach history so that students would remember and truly understand it, and actually benefit from it.

Joining with Arts Partners:

Keeping with the School Improvement Plan:

-           K1 - No Child Left Behind & State Requirements

o          Comprehensive School Reform CSR

-           K2 - Local System / School Plans

Improve reading and writing across the curriculum. 

Learning Through Service

-           Community Service

Students will teach other students in their class and in other classes the importance of studying history and how integrity has played a role in our history. 

-           Community Exploration

Students may want to write their history textbook company to explain why character and judgment should be important parts of any future edition.

-           Community Action