Lesson Plans

Colloquium III "Creating a Nation"

Amy Love
Gautier Middle School
Gautier, Mississippi

UNIT IN WHICH THE LESSON WILL BE INCLUDED

Conflicts in the British Colonies

MISSISSIPPI CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK COMPETENCY, Eighth Grade

1c. Identify the causes and effects of the American Revolution.

4g. Analyze information using social studies tools.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

1.How did the Boston Massacre demonstrate the colonists’ willingness to defy British authority?

2.How did the colonists’ interpretations of the Boston Massacre demonstrate the use of propaganda against the British?

HISTORICAL CONTENT OF LESSON

People: Governor Francis Bernard, Sons of Liberty, General Thomas Gage, Redcoats, Crispus Attucks, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, Josiah Quincy, John Adams, Thomas Preston, Dr. Joseph Warren

Events: Townshend Acts, seizing of the ship Liberty, arrival of British troops in Massachusetts (1768), Boston Massacre

Places: Boston, Massachusetts

Key terms, dates, etc.: 1767, 1768, March 5, 1770, Townshend Acts, writs of assistance, and propaganda

HISTORICAL CONCEPTS AND THEMES

Values, beliefs, political ideas, and institutions

HISTORICAL SKILLS/PROCESS

Historical skills/processes for this lesson:

1. analyzing primary sources
2. detecting bias
3. relating past to present
4. analyzing visual sources such as photographs and artwork
5. evaluating primary sources from Internet sources

TEACHER RESOURCES

Web sites:

American Treasures of the Library of Congress: The Murder of Crispus Attuckss

The History Place: American Revolution

Paul Revere’s Engraving and the Account of The Boston Massacre as reported in The Boston Gazette and Country Journal

BOOKS/PERIODICALS

Greer, David L. and Jan F. Spreeman, Causes of the American Revolution: Focus on Boston, California, Organization of American Historians and the Regents, 1998.

(Correspondence of General Thomas Gage and Dr. Joseph Warren’s Commemoration of the Massacre)

Stuckey, Sterling and Linda Kerrigan Salvucci, Call to Freedom: Beginnings to 1914, New York, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2000.

STUDENT RESOURCES

Virtual Marching Tour of the American Revolution

Liberty! The American Revolution

The Library of Congress Learning Page

National History Day

BOOKS/PERIODICALS

Forbes, Esther, Johnny Tremain, New York: Yearling, 1987

Rinaldi, Ann, The Fifth of March: A Story of the Boston Massacre, Florida: Harcourt, Brace, & Company, 1993

INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES

Based on a 95-minute class.

1)Warm-up: Students will write the definition of the words “propaganda” and “massacre” on a piece of paper. The students will orally state forms of propaganda they encounter (answers could be commercials, political speeches/campaigns) and the purpose of propaganda. Students will orally define the word massacre and be instructed to keep that definition in mind when they examine the evidence from the event. Their focus questions are: “Why do you think that some colonists propagandized this event? Was the Boston Massacre a true massacre? Why/Why not?” 5 minutes

2) Review: Students and teacher will orally review material from the previous class based on the following question: Why were the British troops stationed in Boston, Massachusetts? Answers should include passage of the Townshend Acts, the British use of writs of assistance to search ships, the seizure of the ship Liberty, and the active protesting of the Sons of Liberty. 15 minutes

3) Activity Description: Students will orally recall what a primary source is (eyewitness account of an event) and different types of sources (diaries, newspapers, letters, photos, interviews, political cartoons, paintings, autobiographies, etc.). Teacher will instruct the students that they are going to use different primary sources today—a newspaper article, an engraving, a letter, and a speech. Each group will examine the sources, write their version of the events based on the sources, and then present their findings and evidence to the class in relation to the focus questions. 5 minutes

4) In small groups of 4, the students will examine the newspaper article from The Boston Gazette describing the event , a letter from General Thomas Gage to the Earl of Hillsborough, a speech given by Dr. Joseph Warren commemorating the massacre in 1772, and Paul Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre. The students will write a group version of the events based on the sources, explain why they believe the colonists propagandized this event, and explain whether or not they believe the Boston Massacre was a true “massacre.” 30 minutes

5) Each group will present their findings and their answers to the focus question. 25 minutes

6) Students and Teacher will orally discuss how historians describe the event. 5 minutes

7) Wrap-up: Students will orally discuss why they believe the colonists labeled the event a “massacre” and propagandized the event. 10 minutes