Civilian Conservation Corps
The strength of this 2–4 day lesson is that it presents students with primary source documents representing multiple perspectives. These documents can help build students’ understanding of the issues surrounding African American employment in the CCC. The documents also provide an excellent platform for students to explore the sticky political and civil rights issues facing the Roosevelt administration as it attempted to hold together a precarious political coalition that included both large numbers of African Americans and conservative Southern Democrats opposed to civil rights reforms. The lesson is comprised of four activities. Each activity is well structured and provides detailed procedures for classroom teachers. Teachers will use class discussions to assess student learning. The lesson closes with a solid writing prompt that encourages students to use documentary evidence to construct a historical argument. The lesson plan does not, however, provide resources for teachers to help students construct a high-quality historical essay. We suspect that teachers may need to provide guidance and assistance for writing the essay beyond that which is described in the lesson.
Notes
Teachinghistory.org Lesson Plan Rubric
| Field | Criteria | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Historical Content | Is historically accurate? | Yes. Detailed and accurate. Most documents from the Library of Congress. |
| Historical Content | Includes historical background? | Yes. Brief overview included for students. |
| Historical Content | Requires students to read and write? | Yes. Centered on reading and interpreting documents. Ends with a writing assignment requiring textual evidence. |
| Analytic Thinking | Requires analysis/construction of interpretations using evidence? | Yes. Students use primary documents to build understanding of the African American CCC experience. |
| Analytic Thinking | Requires close reading and attention to source information? | Yes. Guiding questions require close reading of both source and perspective. |
| Scaffolding | Appropriate for stated audience? | Yes. Appropriate for 9-12. Could be adapted for higher-level middle school. |
| Scaffolding | Includes scaffolding materials and strategies? | Yes. Excellent guided questions. Activity 3 provides primary document analysis strategies. |
| Lesson Structure | Includes assessment criteria focused on historical understanding? | No. Assessment through discussion. Final essay encourages historical evidence. No evaluation criteria. |
| Lesson Structure | Defines clear learning goals and progresses logically? | Yes. Four well-structured activities that progress logically. |
| Lesson Structure | Includes clear directions; realistic for classrooms? | Yes. Clear and explicit. Teachers may need to adapt for student needs. |
