Lesson+Plan

 Lesson Plan Outline Title: A Not So Civil War Subject: U.S. History Author: Chase Fults Grade Level: 8

**Objectives:** - Students will identify the states involved and categorize them as union or confederate with 80% accuracy. - Students will analyze the confederate and union armies in the film “Red Badge of Courage” and explain their strengths and weaknesses with 85% accuracy. - Students will compose letters from the perspective of Confederate or Union soldiers with 90% accuracy. - Students will locate the correct answers to the Scavenger Hunt questions with 80% accuracy - Students will identify the correct answers to the “Red Badge of Courage” online quiz with 80% accuracy. Bloom's Taxonomy Levels Targeted **Media and Materials Needed:** - DVD player and Television - Film “Red Badge of Courage” (1951) by John Huston - Computer lab - Internet - Word Processor - Tea candles - Normal classroom materials (paper and pencil, etc.) **Utilize Materials:** - Use DVD player and TV to watch film Monday and part of Tuesday - Reserve the computer lab for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday - Use Internet for Tuesday’s Movie Quiz and Wednesday’s Scavenger Hunt - Use Word Processor for students to write letters **Require Learner Participation:** Monday: Students will begin the John Huston film “Red Badge of Courage” based on the civil war novel written by Stephen Crane. (69 min. runtime) (SS.8.A.1.6), (SS.8.A.5.5)

Tuesday: Students will finish watching the film “Red Badge of Courage” and take an online quiz to test their knowledge of the film content.

Wednesday: Students will do an online Civil War scavenger hunt in groups of 3-4.

Thursday: Students will examine a map of the U.S. during the Civil War and participate in the “A Classroom Divided” activity. (SS.8.A.1.6), (SS.8.A.5.4)

Friday: Students will type “letters from the home front” by candlelight (instead of classroom lights) from either a confederate or union soldier’s perspective and e-mail them to each other to simulate receiving a letter from the recipient’s perspective. (SS.8.A.1.6) **Assessment:** - The film Red Badge of Courage was excellent and the students enjoyed it very much despite the age of the movie. I will definitely use it again in this lesson plan in the future. - The quiz worked well and the class did surprisingly well on it so I will definitely leave it in next year's lesson plan. - The Online scavenger hunt went well, but next year I will reserve laptops for the students so that they can complete the project in the classroom rather than having to reserve the computer lab. - The "A Classroom Divided" activity went very well once it got started, but it took too long to get the students settled once we started moving desks. Next time I would like to implement a "no-talking while setting up" rule. - The "letters from the home front" activity ended up making quite a mess with wax melting on the computer tables so if I do the activity again I will try battery powered fake candles. - ** * Standards Defined: ** SS.8.A.1.6 - Compare interpretations of key events and issues throughout American History. SS.8.A.5.5 - Compare Union and Confederate strengths and weaknesses. SS.8.A.5.4 - Identify the division (Confederate and Union States, Border states, western territories) of the United States at the outbreak of the Civil War.