American Presidents
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periods will provide students with multiple opportunities to develop their ability to critically examine letters as historical documents.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.
Notes
Teachinghistory.org Lesson Plan Rubric
| Field | Criteria | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Historical Content | Is historically accurate? | Yes. Lesson focuses on primary sources. |
| Historical Content | Includes historical background? | Yes. Limited background about each president’s public and private life is available. |
| Historical Content | Requires students to read and write? | Yes. Students read a primary source and write in response. |
| Analytic Thinking | Requires analysis/construction of interpretations using evidence? | Yes. Questions require students to use evidence to support claims. |
| Analytic Thinking | Requires close reading and attention to source information? | Yes. Great set of questions guides students through analysis. |
| Scaffolding | Appropriate for stated audience? | Yes. Several letters may be difficult for some students. |
| Scaffolding | Includes scaffolding materials and strategies? | Yes. Questions help students think about perspective, intent, and audience. |
| Lesson Structure | Includes assessment criteria focused on historical understanding? | No. Options 3, 4, and 5 require evidence-based arguments. Assessment criteria absent. |
| Lesson Structure | Defines clear learning goals and progresses logically? | No. There are clear skill objectives. Teachers will need to establish content objectives. |
| Lesson Structure | Includes clear directions; realistic for classrooms? | Yes. Materials are web-based but can be printed. |
