Declaration of Independence: Rough Draft to Proclamation

Teaser

How did the final version of the Declaration differ from Jefferson's draft?

lesson_image
Website
Library of Congress
Description

Using carefully prepared excerpts, students compare and analyze differences between Jefferson's original rough draft of the Declaration of Independence and the final version of the document. They read closely and gain experience in document analysis.

Article Body

We love the way this lesson challenges students to closely read and analyze the two versions of the Declaration of Independence. The two versions of the opening paragraphs of the Declaration are placed side-by-side, in small, manageable chunks of text. Even if a teacher were not using this particular lesson plan, this presentation would be especially useful in helping all students access an otherwise difficult text. Other reading and analysis supports include guiding questions and a step where the teacher models the process of comparing the juxtaposed texts.

The lesson begins with students looking at the first pages of the original documents and answering questions that get at the historical context of the documents, before doing careful analysis of the transcribed prose. These procedures potentially convey the necessity of slowing down to read, question, and understand primary sources. And they do so using the Declaration of Independence, a document that all students SHOULD read!

As it stands, the lesson has plenty of opportunity for reading and discussion, but requires very little writing. Teachers may want to enhance the writing component of this lesson by having students write responses to some or all of the discussion questions. There is also an engaging extension activity that could be enhanced by requiring written responses.

Topic
Declaration of Independence, American Revolution
Time Estimate
One day
flexibility_scale
4
Rubric_Content_Accurate_Scholarship

Yes

Rubric_Content_Historical_Background

Yes The lesson includes links to background information on the writing of the Declaration of Independence, but it assumes some familiarity with the political events of the time leading up to the Declaration.

Rubric_Content_Read_Write

Yes This lesson focuses almost entirely on closely reading the two versions of the document. It calls for some student writing, but there are many points in the lesson at which teachers could easily insert additional writing tasks. For example, students could write responses to most of the lesson's discussion questions.

Rubric_Analytical_Construct_Interpretations

Yes This occurs primarily in the final task, where students suggest possible reasons for the changes between the rough and final drafts. Given sufficient background information, it could also occur as part of the discussion in step three regarding historical context.

Rubric_Analytical_Close_Reading_Sourcing

Yes Discussion questions are structured so students must read both versions of the Declaration closely and carefully in order to answer them.

Rubric_Scaffolding_Appropriate

Yes Some vocabulary may be challenging for some students, but it is well scaffolded: students have an opportunity to identify and define difficult vocabulary before analyzing the document itself, and the text is presented in small, manageable chunks.

Rubric_Scaffolding_Supports_Historical_Thinking

Yes This lesson includes excellent discussion questions to support students' analysis of the documents, and the documents themselves are presented in an accessible format. Also, the teacher models the process of comparing the two versions of the document before students do it on their own.

Rubric_Structure_Assessment

No The final task at the end of step five could be used as a closing assessment, but no assessment criteria are provided.

Rubric_Structure_Realistic

Yes The text on this site is very small; teachers will want to adjust computer or browser display settings to enlarge it for easier reading.

Rubric_Structure_Learning_Goals

Yes

A Look at Slavery through Posters and Broadsides

Teaser

How to identify the author, audience, date, and message of historical posters.

lesson_image
Website
Gilder Lehrman's History Now
Description

Using historic posters, this lesson engages students in analyzing primary sources by identifying their author, intended audience, date, and message.

Article Body

This well-planned lesson, which uses posters on slavery and abolition, teaches students to ask important questions as they read a primary source. First, the teacher models the task by analyzing a representative poster in front of the classroom. In small groups, students then analyze additional posters, locating such information as author, audience, purpose, and message. They use this information to consider the attitudes towards slavery that the posters convey.

One strength of the lesson is that the primary sources are given in two formats: students receive historically evocative reproductions of the original posters along with easy-to-read typed transcriptions. Some teachers may choose to highlight important text, particularly for beginning readers; other teachers will want to leave it up to students to locate and identify this crucial information.

This lesson appears in the December 2004 issue of History Now, a quarterly journal of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Topic
Slavery and Abolition
Time Estimate
1 day
flexibility_scale
2
Rubric_Content_Accurate_Scholarship

Yes Lesson is accurate and up-to-date.

Rubric_Content_Historical_Background

No The lesson plan's Teacher Resources section includes links to information about historical context. It's up to teachers, however, to decide how much background students will need.

Rubric_Content_Read_Write

Yes In class, all students read, and one student per group records information on a Poster Inquiry Sheet. In the suggested homework assignment, students each write a news story about their assigned poster.

Rubric_Analytical_Construct_Interpretations

Yes The Poster Inquiry Sheet provides students with a method for identifying and interpreting historical facts.

Rubric_Analytical_Close_Reading_Sourcing

Yes During the modeling and the group work, students learn and practice how to read primary sources.

Rubric_Scaffolding_Appropriate

Yes Some language in the posters may be difficult, but teachers can choose to highlight sections of text to reduce the amount or difficulty of necessary reading.

Rubric_Scaffolding_Supports_Historical_Thinking

Yes The teacher's modeling step provides a helpful scaffold, as does the Poster Inquiry Sheet.

Rubric_Structure_Assessment

No Although the lesson plan does not include an assessment rubric, teachers can check in with small groups to assess student learning.

Rubric_Structure_Realistic

Yes The modeling provided in Steps One, Two, and Three is pedagogically useful. However, reading every single poster before the class may be excessively time-consuming. Teachers may want to discuss just one poster and then go around the classroom to check in with small groups as needed.

Rubric_Structure_Learning_Goals

Yes The lesson plan helps students to learn about slavery and abolition while providing a method for analyzing primary sources.

American Presidents

Teaser

Analyze letters written by America's presidents to learn more about these men.

lesson_image
Website
American Presidents: Life Portraits
Description

Critically analyze letters written by America's presidents to learn more about these men.

Article Body

With a nice set of analytic questions to use with each president’s letter, this lesson is sleek, yet its content coverage is broad. Questions ask students to think about a letter’s audience, purpose and tone and are phrased in student-friendly language. Using several letters across instructional units or in several class periods will provide students with multiple opportunities to develop their ability to critically examine letters as historical documents. The letters for each president vary in both content and difficulty level, some may be more appropriate for your class than others. Students may also need help with considering the President’s words in his own time and contextualizing the letter.

The lesson provides several writing assignments for a closing activity. Assignments 1 and 2 ask students to write about the letter’s purpose and content. These tasks only require students to summarize the information from the earlier part of the lesson so we recommend assignments 3, 4 and 5. Assignment 3 asks students to assess the historical value of the letter and assignment 5 asks students to respond to the letter from the point of view of the letter’s original recipient. Teachers may want to remind students to use quotes and information from the examined letter to support their claims in these writing assignments.

Topic
The American Presidents
Time Estimate
1 class session per letter; 41 letters available.
flexibility_scale
2
Rubric_Content_Accurate_Scholarship
Yes.
Lesson focuses on primary sources.
Rubric_Content_Historical_Background

Yes Limited background information about each president's public and private life is available on the the website.
Some of the writing assignments, #4 in particular, will require teachers to provide additional information.

Rubric_Content_Read_Write

Yes Students read a primary source and write in response to that source.

Rubric_Analytical_Construct_Interpretations

Yes Questions require students to use evidence to support claims.

Rubric_Analytical_Close_Reading_Sourcing

Yes Great set of questions guides students through this analysis.

Rubric_Scaffolding_Appropriate

Yes Several of the letters will be difficult to comprehend for some middle and high school students.

Rubric_Scaffolding_Supports_Historical_Thinking

Yes Questions in the lesson are designed to help students think about the perspective, intent, and audience of the letter.

Rubric_Structure_Assessment

No Students write answers to questions and use those answers to complete a final writing assignment. Options 3, 4, and 5 require that students use their analysis and evidence from the letter to make a case. Assessment criteria absent.

Rubric_Structure_Realistic

Yes Materials are web-based but can be printed for classroom use.

Rubric_Structure_Learning_Goals

No There are clear skill objectives. Teachers will need to establish objectives regarding specific content.

Using Maps as Primary Sources

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Article Body

This website shows a 4th-grade teacher in northern Virginia teaching a lesson focused on a map drawn by John Smith that was published in 1612. Source Analysis, a feature created for the Loudoun County (Virginia) (TAH) website, has three sections focused on this primary source: scholar analysis, teacher analysis, and classroom practice. The latter two sections show a standards-based lesson that asks students to answer the question: What is important to John Smith? The teacher carefully plans activities so students look closely at the map and consider how this primary source helps them answer the central question. The site provides examples of two promising practices:

  • Engaging young students in close, careful observation and reading of a primary source document (using student pairs and a comparative document); and
  • Using students' observations to inform and guide analysis and connect the source to larger questions and topics in the curriculum.
The Lesson in Action

In the Classroom Practice section, we see the lesson in action. The teacher introduces the lesson question and then takes time to ensure that students understand the question by introducing synonyms for "important" and reviewing word meanings. She passes out the maps to assigned student pairs and asks them, "What do you see?" Students have time to look carefully at the map and notice words (e.g., "Jamestown" and "Powhatan"), the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, living structures, trees, how particular words vary in size and spacing, and so on. The teacher further facilitates the students' observation by juxtaposing the 1612 map with a contemporary textbook map of the same region. This juxtaposition helps students see the choices John Smith made in drawing this map that they might have missed without the comparative source. The teacher then uses what students notice about these maps to help them think about what the details and differences mean. Students start to identify what was important to John Smith and subsequently to the Virginia Company, given the evidence in front of them. Throughout this instruction, the teacher uses feedback, a logical sequencing of activities, and clear and accessible questions to ensure access to the learning activities for all of her students.

Thinking Like Historians

This teacher shows how carefully structured lessons that use primary sources can engage students in the process of thinking like historians. Students slow down and carefully read and look at the map, noticing things that they might otherwise have missed. They then consider what the contents of the map mean and what the map tells us about John Smith and the Virginia Company's worldview. The 1612 map becomes a window into the past that only reveals its slice of the landscape with close reading. Also on this site is a Teacher Analysis section in which the teacher explains some of what preceded this lesson and her instructional choices—a useful complement to the classroom videos. Each of these sections presents information in a set of videos that are clearly titled and visually interesting.

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