Lesson 1 Colonial Dissatisfaction
Objectives
Students will be able to:
· Understand that as Great Britain expanded control over the American colonies, many colonists became dissatisfied and rebellious.
· Explain Great Britain’s reasons for controlling and taxing the colonies.
· Identify how Great Britain controlled the colonies.
· Identify sources of colonial dissatisfaction with Great Britain.
· Identify what the colonists did to rebel and protest against Great Britain.
Standards
· USI.1
The student will demonstrate responsible citizenship and develop skills for historical and geographical analysis, including the ability to
e) evaluate and discuss issues orally and in writing;
· USI.6
The student will demonstrate knowledge of the causes and results of the American Revolution by
a) identifying the issues of dissatisfaction that led to the American Revolution;
c) describing key events and the roles of key individuals in the American Revolution, with emphasis on George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry;
Materials
Smartboard, computer, the first episode of Liberty’s Kids, social studies notebooks, pencils, a word-wall, Words to Remember page, Liberty's Kids Episode 1 Worksheet, and the Magic Tree House Research Guide: American Revolution book by Mary Osborne (A copy of the Words to Remember page and Liberty's Kids Episode 1 Worksheet can be found and downloaded at the bottom of this page).
Procedure
1. Start off by telling students that they will be learning about the Revolutionary War. Then ask students “Why do you think I want to teach you about the Revolutionary War?” Have students raise their hands and pick on students to share their opinions. After that explain that wars impact people and that even though Revolutionary War happened over 200 years ago it has impacted how we live today.
2. Explain to students that through this unit they are going to learn about how the Revolutionary War impacted people during the time of the war and how it continues to impact us today. Ask students if they know what the word impact means. If students cannot give an answer define the word for them, write it on the smartboard, and then ask them to write the word down in their social studies notebook on their Words to Remember page.
3. Tell students that before they start learning about the Revolutionary War you want to know what they know about the Revolutionary War and its impacts. Ask students to turn to a new page in their social studies notebooks and tell them to write the word Revolutionary War in the middle of the page and create a mind map that reflects what they know about it and its impacts.
4. Tell the students that in order to find out about the impacts of the war they will need to first learn about what led to the start of the war. Remind students of their previous knowledge of people living during the colonial era and the relationship between Britain and the colonies.
5. Next tell students that they will be watching a cartoon that takes place right before the Revolutionary War and that you want them to pay attention for the answers to the questions listed on the worksheet that you will be giving them. Handout the worksheet to the students. Tell students that they may write down or draw information they find out from the cartoon on the worksheet. Show students the first episode of Liberty's Kids.
6. After the episode is over hold a debrief with the students while going over the worksheet. As you go over each question from the worksheet write down the answers that students provide on a copy of the worksheet that is displayed on the smartboard. The Stamp Act, The Tea Act, taxation without representation, the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre should be mentioned by the teacher if not mentioned by the students and then added to the Words to Remember page in the students’ social studies notebooks.
7. Tell students that you will be reading to them a portion of the Magic Tree House Research Guide to help them learn more about these things. Have students come down to the carpet and have an interactive read aloud with the students using pages 37-45 of that book. During the read aloud ask students questions like “what made the colonists unhappy with Great Britain?” “Why do you think Great Britain did these things to the colonists?” Make sure to focus on and then explain sources of the colonists’ dissatisfaction and Great Britain’s reasoning for taxing and controlling the colonists. Explain to students that the colonists were very frustrated with Great Britain and viceversa. Remind students that the colonists frustrations led them to rebel and protest against Britain.
8. Have students them go to their seats and open their social studies notebooks to a new page. The students will draw a line going down the middle of the page vertically and a line going down the middle of the page horizontally so that it will be split it into four equal squares. Students will label the upper right square “what Great Britain did to the Colonists” and label the lower right square “why Great Britain did what it did.”On the upper left square students will write “what Colonists did to the British” and on the lower left square students will write “why the colonists did what they did.” Students will then use what they learned today to fill in the squares. Students can draw in the squares but they must label their drawings.Tell students that tomorrow they will be looking at how these frustrations built up and led to the Revolutionary War.
Assessment
The four squares page in their social studies notebook is used to check that students understood and are able to identify colonists’ reasoning for dissatisfaction and Great Britain's reasoning for taxation and controlling of the colonies. It also is used to check that students are able to list what Great Britain did to control the colonies and what the colonists did to protest Britain.
The squares on the right about Great Britain should include some of the following:
· Great Britain desired to remain a world power.
· In the American colonies, Great Britain‘s desire to remain a world power resulted in a conflict with the French known as the French and Indian War.
· Great Britain imposed taxes, such as the Stamp Act, to raise necessary revenue to pay the cost of the French and Indian War.
· Great Britain taxed the colonies to help finance the French and Indian War and to help finance the maintenance of British troops in the colonies.
The squares on the left about the colonists should include some of the following:
· The colonies had no representation in Parliament.
· The colonists were angered by the Boston Massacre.
· Some colonists resented the power of the colonial governors.
· Great Britain wanted strict control over colonial legislatures.
· The colonies opposed the British taxes.
· The Proclamation of 1763, which followed the French and Indian War, restricted the western movement of settlers.
· The colonists protested through the Boston Tea Party, liberty trees, mobbing British soldiers during the Boston Massacre, and boycotts of British goods.
Differentiation
Students who are auditory learners are reached by this lesson’s read aloud. The read aloud also facilitates ELL students and students with low reading ability. The ability to draw information on the worksheet and four square assessment helps accommodate ELL students and students with weak writing skills. The Liberty's Kids episode helps accommodate visual learners. This lesson has a lot of individual work to reach intrapersonal learners because the rest of the unit is quite heavy with group work.
Extensions
- You could have students deeply investigate in detail all of the different taxes the British imposed on the Colonists.
- You could do a simulation with students in which they are being forced into having rules without having a say in the matter. This would allow students to better sympathize with how the colonists felt.
- You could discuss with students what other alternatives other than going to war did the colonists have.
words_to_remember.docx | |
File Size: | 13 kb |
File Type: | docx |
liberty_kids_episode_1_worksheet.docx | |
File Size: | 14 kb |
File Type: | docx |