Kate Wolicki
Americana Intermediate School
Queen Bee District 16
Glendale Heights, IL

Lesson Reflection
Lincoln Who? Separating Myth from History using Primary Sources

Lesson Goal:

Students will develop a better understanding of Abraham Lincoln by using primary and secondary sources to think about the accuracy of myths about Lincoln.

Objectives:

Students will become aware of myth and truth surrounding Lincoln.
Students will evaluate sources critically and draw conclusions.
Students will work with primary sources to increase their understanding of Lincoln
Students will make connections between their own experiences and individuals and events important in Illinois/U.S. History.

American Association of School Librarans Standards

1.1.6 Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning.
2.2.3 Employ a critical stance in drawing conclusions by demonstrating that the pattern of evidence leads to a decision or conclusion.
1.1.9 Collaborate with others to broaden and deepen understanding.

Illinois State Social Studies Standards

16.A.2c Ask questions and seek answers by collecting and analyzing data from historic documents, images and other literary and non-literary sources.
16.D.2c Describe the influence of key individuals and groups, including Susan B. Anthony/suffrage and Martin Luther King, Jr./civil rights, in the historical eras of Illinois and the United States.
14.F.2 Identify consistencies and inconsistencies between expressed United States political traditions and ideas and actual practices (e.g., freedom of speech, right to bear arms, slavery, voting rights).

Background:

These students were well prepared for this lesson. They have been studying Illinois in Social Studies all year, and during the week the library Lincoln lessons took place, they were also reading about Lincoln in Language Arts. The classroom teacher also read books about Lincoln to the students and some students practiced and performed a song to go with Jim Aylesworth’s book Our Abe Lincoln.

Lesson Summary:

For the first half-hour session, students spent time in groups brainstorming things they knew about Lincoln. Then, as a whole group, the class created a list of things they knew or thought they knew about him. The librarian provided brief instruction about primary and secondary sources, and the differences and overlap between myth and history. The class-created list was kept in the classroom all week to be corrected or added to by the class as they read about Lincoln.
The second half-hour session, students went back over the list of Lincoln facts and told what they found out over the week. The librarian introduced the primary sources and the activities that would take place during the last session. Students were able to interact with the primary and secondary sources laid out on tables freely.
The final session was an hour long. Students were grouped and visited the tables of Lincoln primary and secondary sources sequentially and thought about the guiding questions on the worksheets. The librarian and teacher circulated and worked with groups as necessary. Students changed tables about every 10 minutes. We rounded out the hour with some discussion of what we’d learned and what surprised us.

Observations & Adjustments for Future:

Students were very enthusiastic to handle the sources. I wish I had been able to provide more realia for students to use. They also needed more time to look at the artifacts than I allotted – either decreasing the number of sources at each table or increasing the amount of time for students to explore would help. A few of the questions on the guiding worksheets were too difficult for the students – either the vocabulary needed explanation or the questions required more guidance from an instructor than the small group exploration format allowed.
The students did enjoy the hands-on nature of the lesson and they did a great job of relating Lincoln’s life and experiences to their own – which they seem to have used to enlighten themselves about Lincoln, which was the goal of the lesson. The groups were useful because students could help each other. This particular class doesn’t suffer from the worksheet mentality (we must FINISH FILLING IT IN THAT IS THE GOAL,) but other classes might need more oral guidance to encourage them to think deeply about concepts rather then getting the answers.
As always in the library, there was not enough time to get as deeply into the topic as there can be in the classroom. Because the classroom teacher was willing to take time in other subjects studying Lincoln, the students were able to fulfill the goals of the lesson. Still, time seemed short for the students who were enjoying looking at all the neat sources.
It would be great to adjust this lesson a bit to include some of the video and audio resources available through American Memory or NARA. Students could use the library computers to view those resources as one of the tables/stations.