Scott Mcanally TOPIC FOR THE LESSON: ROLEPLAY - PATRIOTS VS LOYALISTS Grade Level/Course: 7th US History Unit: American

War of Independence

Lesson Objectives (information, disposition, and skill objectives): 1) Students will research the opinions and attitudes of various people groups surrounding the proposition of an armed conflict to create a new nation separate from Great Britain. 2) Students will collaborate and synthesize their findings with peers to create a uniform and concise argument supporting the cause of the Patriots or the Loyalists. 3) Students will defend their positions and vote to go to war with Great Britain or remain loyal subjects of the crown. Assessment Tools: completion of research worksheet, participation in collaboration activity Initiation/Opening <lecture or activity on late colonial period> "Now that we have established some background knowledge of the events and opinions that led to the movement by many American colonists to defy the King's power in North America, we will be acting out a debate tomorrow in class to simulate the decisions and compromises that had to be made by the American colonists." Teacher's Activities Student's Activities <deliver lecture on late colonial period> <listen to lecture on late colonial period> Use questioning strategies throughout lecture Jot down notes on provided guided to keep students engaged and connect notes sheet content with present day issues <Provide students with an overview of home <at home activity> work and tomorrow's activity> Research character at home and prepare Students will be assigned different roleplaying a list of 3 resources you used to characters based on colonial society. determine your character's decision. Characters include: o A Quaker farmer in rural Pennsylvania o A businessman from New York city trading with countries around the world (France, Great Britain, Germany, the Dutch, China, India) o An American Indian tribe leader living in the foothills of the Appalachian Mts. o A French diplomat doing business in the colonies Time Day One 45 mins.

Day One 45 mins.

Day One 10 mins.

Scott Mcanally A plantation owner in South Carolina growing cotton for export to Europe o An American Indian tribe leader living in modern day Canada o A small business owner from the port of Boston who relies on the import and export of various goods. o An African slave seeking freedom o Many more possibilities... Students are tasked with researching their role at home using any credible resource. The assignment is to determine if their character would support the American Patriots or the British in the American War of Independence. Students must list three reasons to support their decision. <next day in class> <in small groups> Group students with the same or similar Actively participate in small group characters. (There will be overlap, some discussion about character decisions. students will have the same character) Challenge peers on their reasoning. Instruct students to discuss their findings with Consider alternative decisions and what the group and challenge one another with their arguments may be to joining one their decisions. side or another. <transition to full class discussion> <in full class discussion> Direct a full class discussion that allows each Report out to the class a summary of student to present a description of their your character and what your stance is character and what they decided with their on the issue of American independence. reasoning. Allow all students your group to speak, Once students have provided their positions, assigning one person to describe the take a quick hand vote for alliances. Engage character and the others to each share students in a small debate over what the class one justification should do to resolve the disconnect. Try to get Debate classmates and try to win other students to convince one another to join a characters over to your cause. different side. Closure "I hope you guys can see from this activity that people throughout history and up until the present can view an event or decision different depending on their own experience. It is very difficult to get a large group of people to agree on certain issues such as war, religion, politics, or favorite sports teams. As you can image, people today still fight about these types of issues and for many of the same reasons as the early Americans and others involved with the American Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, these disagreements sometimes lead to armed conflict that results in many lost lives and broken relationships. We'll continue tomorrow with our discussion of the American War of Independence." o

Day Two 20 mins.

Day Two 30 mins.

Day Two 5 mins.

Scott Mcanally Materials/Resources: ___ Camcorder ___ DVD _X_ Worksheets ___ Computer Lab _X_ Handouts _X_ Notes ___ Other (list items needed):

Instructional Strategies to Be Used: ___ Discovery Learning ___ Cooperative Learning _X_ Simulations _X_ Debate _X_ Discussion _X_ Concept Formation ___ Questioning _X_ Lecture ___ Inquiry ___ Other

Reflections/Notes: I actually feel really good about how this lesson might go. The only caveat is the age level. The American Revolutionary War is usually covered in 6th or 7th grade and I am not sure how well that age group would handle this activity as described in the lesson plan above. I would have to modify this idea if my class was particularly disruptive or didn't have access to many resources at home. Another idea for a follow up for this activity would be to have each student write a short narrative from the perspective of their character describing who they are, what they do for a profession, and what factors influenced their decision to side with the Americans or the British. I would tell students to be creative with names and would definitely need to model the style of writing I'm looking from them. This could be a homework assignment or an in-class warm up for the next class period. As an aside, this lesson would also be very suitable for ELLs because of the degree of interaction with other students and opportunity to use images and narratives to understand the overarching concept: resolving differences. If I had ELLs in my classroom I would probably provide them with a list of resources I already reviewed for them to use.