The American Revolution and War for Independence: 1776–1783
Subjects: History; English/Country Studies; IT.
Level: Grades 8-12
Equipment: computers; web access; e-board
Time: 2–3 lessons, depending on the students’ level. The first lesson will be dedicated to data search and accumulation; the second lesson will be dedicated to students’ reports.
Teacher Level: teacher of history with good knowledge of IT, foreign language a plus but not a must; EFL/ESL teacher with good knowledge of IT. The lessons are conducted by one teacher.
Teacher Notes
1. This is an integrated lesson of history, foreign language (English) and IT. It presupposes that the teacher possesses all the skills needed. Nota bene: a teacher of history does not necessarily have to know English well, but they have to be able to find the information needed, and to help their students use a search engine and select the relevant data. If you have little or no knowledge of English, but you are sure that your students have solid language skills, delegate. Let them find the data independently and explain to them that later, they will have to make reports in their mother tongue. If you are a language teacher, you may of course conduct the whole lesson(s) in English.
2. To make the lesson more effective, divide your class into groups of 4–6. Explain to students that every group is responsible for a certain aspect of data search and reports. Every group may have their own topic. This will create additional motivation. Allow your students a certain degree of freedom; let every group decide whether they are going to have one presenter, or whether they prefer to make a group report all together. While all the students work at their tasks, the teacher may circulate around the room, taking part in the activities in turn, and showing them what else they might pay attention to.
Introduction to the Lesson. 5 minutes. Teacher talking.
The city of Boston, Massachusetts, is situated on the East Coast of the USA. The first settlers’ ship Mayflower arrived on the East Coast in 1620. The Founding Fathers, as they were later called, had to land near what later became known as Plymouth. The ocean and the shoreline near today’s Boston were too dangerous, so the ship could not dock there. Boston is the place where much early American history was created. It was there in the Boston Harbor that the famous Boston Tea Party took place. It is considered to be the event which started the American Revolution and the War for Independence. Boston is the city where many famous people were born; their names are known to every school child today. Many tourists from all over the globe visit Boston to walk along its Freedom Trail. Now we are going to separate into groups and to work with various sites, collecting data for our future reports. Please remember to take notes in your notebooks, or save the information on your flash discs. During the next lesson, we shall listen to the reports, and thus a full picture of the glorious epoch will be formed.
Lesson. 30 minutes.
Group 1. Guides
We are traveling around Boston. Site www.google.com, Maps. When you see the line “Search”, enter the name Boston, MA USA, and also the name of one of the streets, e.g. Charles Street.
Let your students study the city plan, street names first. Allow them some time to find all the historical places marked on the map. Show them the river; explain that on the other bank, the famous town of Cambridge, home to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Harvard, is situated. They can then see the streets and actual buildings by clicking on the relevant links. It is a great virtual journey which allows children to imagine that they are pedestrians who cross Longfellow Bridge, walking from Boston to Cambridge and back. An interactive e-map will show them historical buildings and streets, as well as squares and the Harbor. Suggest that they choose an interesting route, take notes, make bookmarks, and decide what they wish to show the whole class during the next lesson. Be sure that they know how to use the e-board.
The maps used give a lot of links, so the students may use the so-called star method of research. Having studied one web page to their content, they may click on any link and continue their virtual journey in any direction. Then they may return to the primary page and repeat the procedure.
Freedom Trail, the famous red-brick road, was created in Boston in 1958, thanks to the efforts of William Schofield, a local journalist and passionate lover of history. If your GUIDES walk (virtually) all along the red-brick road, they will visit 16 places of interest. By the way, tell them that little children walking along the road with their parents keep asking why it is not the Yellow Brick Road, which of course was the road that led to the Emerald City in the beloved children’s book “The Wizard of Oz”.
Traveling from one exciting place to another, your students will enjoy the lesson and remember the material well.
Group 2. Chroniclers
Distribute a short list of important historical dates to this group.
1620, the Mayflower arrived on the East Coast.
Students can browse through the web pages which tell about the history of Boston, Salem, Plymouth, and Cambridge. The easiest site to use is probably Wikipedia
1773, December 16, the Boston Tea Party. The image of the giant tea packs which were tossed straight into the harbor will definitely make a lasting impression on the students’ imagination. Eye-witnesses testified that for some time, the water itself had the color of tea! The act, which was a protest against the new huge taxes and duties imposed by the British government, provoked the wrath of Great Britain directed at the colonies. The conflict grew rapidly, and in 1776, the War for Independence began. In 1778, an alliance of America with France was signed, which played its role in the events. (Explain to the class that the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the USA, made in 1876 to commemorate the centennial of the revolution.) In 1783, the War for Independence ended with the victory of the thirteen American colonies, which formed the future USA. George Washington was the leader of the army, and then he became the first American President.
Please remember that students may find a lot of web pages about Puritans, as well as about the infamous Salem witch hunts. Remind them the topic of the lesson is the War for Independence. If they have many questions about this phase in American history, make a promise to tell them more later, and keep it.
Group 3. Biographers
Distribute a short list of important historical names to this group.
You may wish to start the list with George Washington. Be sure to tell them that in Boston, probably the first name they will hear is that of Benjamin Franklin, who was the best-known celebrity of the epoch. Wikipedia will tell them the most salient facts about his life and achievements. There is a slight discrepancy about his birth date, which is listed as either 1705 or 1706. This is a neat little detail which allows you to remind the students that three centuries ago, there was no Internet, no centralized records. Benjamin Franklin was a truly Renaissance man. The encyclopedia uses a rare word, polymath, which means “a person of many interests, or a person talented in various fields of knowledge”, to describe him. He was an American journalist, a publisher and a politician. He was one of the leaders of the American Revolution. He is considered to be one of the most prominent Founding Fathers of the new republic, the only one to sign all the three major documents which laid the foundation of the modern United States, the documents being The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and The Versailles Peace Treaty of 1783, which effectively ended the war. He was one of the early abolitionists (the people who were against slavery). His portrait has been on the $100 bill since 1928.
Besides being a prominent politician, Franklin was a gifted scientist. His name can be found in any textbook on physics, as the first person to make important research in the study of electricity. The picture of Benjamin Franklin and the lightning, which is supposed to play the same role in his understanding of electricity, as the proverbial Newton’s apple in Sir Isaac’s understanding of gravity, is familiar to any child and adult around the world. Franklin also invented bifocals, lightning rod, Franklin stove, odometer (a device to measure the distance traveled by a carriage), a musical instrument which he called “armonica”. He founded the first public library in the USA, and organized the first fire brigade.
Curiously, he was also the first foreign member of the Russian Academy of Science.
Lesson Summing Up. 5 minutes.
It is advisable to demonstrate to the students that all the data found by the groups and individuals complements each other, helping to create a portrait of the epoch studied.
For example, Group 1 may have found the old cemetery in the center of Boston, where Benjamin Franklin’s parents were buried.
Group 2 may have found stories and pictures of the Boston Tea Party.
Group 3 may have found the famous people’s biographies.
Explain to the class that they can look through their own notes at home, as well as surf the web again. They can prepare short reports, either as a group, or as individual presenters from every group. They can also make short presentations, to be shown on the e-board to the whole class.
Visual aids play a great role at any lesson.
A Word to the Teacher
Do not be afraid to embark on such a lesson which combines several subjects and various techniques. Before you conduct this lesson in your own classroom, be sure to find some time to try it out independently, or with a colleague. Browse the web sites, experiment with the e-board, and be sure you feel comfortable with any and every aspect. Imagine that you are walking along the Red Brick Road in Boston. Or maybe you are following a guide who is dressed up as a soldier of the War for Independence. Feel the breath of history!
Last but not least, if you are teaching English as a foreign (or second) language, be sure to show your students the first web page of Wikipedia. As of today, it says that there are about two and a half million pages in English, while in other languages, e.g. in Russian, there are only three hundred thousand pages. Tell your students that they can be the people who will enlarge the encyclopedia in the future, so that more and more people can use Wikipedia in their own mother tongue.