Lesson Reflection

Objective:

Students will understand the meaning of the Declaration of Independence

Lesson:

Analyze the Declaration of Independence by:
-Responding to questions about the document’s four parts
-Completing an interactive opportunity to choose selected wording in two portions of the Declaration and then compare student edited version with actual document

District 200 standards:

14.A.2b Explain the importance of major documents including the Declaration of Independence and its commemoration on July 4
14.D.2 Explain ways that individuals and groups influence and shape public policy (colonists) Understand the importance of citizens having and supporting common democratic values and principles expressed in the nation’s core documents
14.G Determine causes of the American Revolution
16.A.2 Ask questions and seek answers by collecting and analyzing data from historic documents (primary sources)
16.F Evaluate the choices made and roles undertaken in the American Revolution by different groups and what they hoped for or feared from revolution

Background:

Prior to the lesson, the students read If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution by Kay Moore to build background knowledge about challenges faced by the colonists during this historical period.

Lesson:

The lesson began by recalling the morning’s Veteran’s Day ceremony. The principal thanked veterans for helping our country
uphold the core beliefs set forth in the Declaration of Independence. The students were reminded that the concepts of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are values that continue to be important to citizens today.
Students were instructed to work with a partner to view the document and answer questions. They were then to “peek over the shoulders” of the Continental Congress to choose wording for two paragraphs of the Declaration using the interactive opportunity in myloc.gov.

Observations:

The children were engaged in the task for 60 minutes.

They asked questions of one another as well as of the adults in the computer lab. Their questions seemed more related to vocabulary than content. They had ideas about why the Declaration was written and the risks that the members of the Continental Congress were taking by signing the document. They were challenged by the wording of the list of complaints, even though we had discussed some of these previously in class.

The students reported that they most enjoyed the interactive lesson where their task was to choose between Thomas Jefferson’s wording and the wording of the Continental Congress for two portions of the Declaration of Independence. The class discussion about the wording they chose demonstrated their understanding of the intent of the Declaration. This also provided for a lively interaction when students did not agree. In this way, I feel that they were in a limited sense recreating the work of the Continental Congress. Part of the class discussion centered around how Thomas Jefferson might have reacted to the proposed edits. We ended the discussion with a reading of The Hatmaker’s Sign retold by Candace Fleming, a story told by Benjamin Franklin to help Thomas Jefferson accept the edits of the Congress and “to heal the hurt pride of the author of the Declaration of Independence.”

Overview:

I feel that the lesson accomplished the goal of having the students work with a primary source document and understand more of what the colonists hoped for and feared from revolution. Their written responses and later class discussion suggest that their understanding of the Declaration of Independence, as well as the challenges faced by the colonists, was deepened through this activity.

Adjustments:

I plan to spend more time previewing vocabulary. I believe that the lesson will progress more smoothly with that preparation, and the students will be able to focus more on the higher order thinking involved in understanding concepts and less on word meaning.

Some students did not have time to complete the two lesson activities. I plan to make this a two-session lesson and include an analysis of the painting Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull. Adding this component to the lesson would afford both verbal/linguistic and visual/spatial learners opportunities to work within their multiple intelligence strength. It would also create a time frame within which most, if not all, students would be able to complete the tasks.

Summary:

It is important to provide learning activities that meet curriculum standards as well as engage the learner in meaningful interaction
with the content. The Library of Congress website afforded my students an opportunity to interact with a primary source and
deepen their understanding of the historical significance of the Declaration of Independence.