U.S.

History
Unit Four: Identity
Chapters 10, 11 & 12 (B Frank)
Stage 1 Desired Results
ESTABLISHED GOALS
Transfer
State Standards to Address:
Students will be able to independently use their learning to
1a. Evaluate a historical source for point
- Analyze how beliefs and disagreements create and split political parties
of view and historical context
- Hypothesize potential outcomes of conflicts based on the resources and
1d. Differentiate between facts and
advantages of the conflicting parties.
historical interpretations, recognizing that
- Annotate and decode written primary sources.
a historians narrative reflects his or her
- Assess and track impacts of major historical events.
judgment about the significance of
- Evaluate the effectiveness of political movements.
particular facts
- Assess the values in policy proposals and create respectful, evidence based
2f. Investigate causes and effects of
arguments for or against policies.
significant events in United States history.
Topics to include but not limited to WWI,
Meaning
Great Depression, Cold War
UNDERSTANDINGS
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Analyze the complexity of events in
Students will understand that
1) What caused the American Civil War?
United States history.
- The causes of the Civil War were
- At what tipping point do
2g. Examine and evaluate issues of unity
deeply rooted in U.S. History and
differences cause rebellion?
and diversity from Reconstruction to
exasperated by events leading up
2) What characteristics and values define
present.
to the war.
a nation or a region? How do
3c. Evaluate the historical development
- The Union had many economic
conflicting values cause tension?
and impact of political thought, theory
and social advantages that helped
and actions
3) After a civil war, how can a country
to secure their success.
3d. Analyze the origins of fundamental
- Experiences for Americans
both heal and reunite and bring justice
political debates and how conflict,
following the Civil War were
to aggressive parties?
compromise, and cooperation have
extremely diverse, and
4) How did the leadership of the Civil
shaped national unity and diversity.
reconstruction efforts had mixed
War shape the way it was
3e. Analyze ideas critical to the
and highly regionalized effects.
fought/resolved?
understanding of American history.

Acquisition
Students will know
Students will be skilled at
- What events escalated the tensions
- Evaluating cause and effect
that caused the Civil War
relationships of events leading to
major change.
- How values and life for the North
and South (Homefront and
- Comparing opposing policy plans
soldiers) were different.
- Comparing and contrasting
differences that can lead to victory
- The purpose and impact of the
Gettysburg address.
or defeat.
- The major battles and leaders
- analyze historical sources (context,
during the Civil War.
bias, reasoning).
th
- The content of the 14
amendment, and what occurred
during reconstruction and the
results.
Stage 2 - Evidence
Evaluative Criteria
Assessment Evidence
PERFORMANCE TASK(S) (FORMATIVE):
Students can define the events that
Match Worksheet: Students will take notes on events leading up to the civil war, create
escalated tensions culminating in the Civil a graphic to symbolize these events, and assign matches to each event to symbolize
War.
the events importance in inciting the war.
Students can explore the significance of
key Civil War leaders and battles.

Battle Chart: Students will complete a note-catcher about primary Civil War battles.
They will record this information during direct instruction and with their neighbor
create an argument for which battle had the greatest impact on the outcome of the war.

Students can analyze Lincolns

After reading and annotating the Gettysburg Address, students will create their own
brief Address, commemorating or celebrating a crucial event in their lives that served
as a prominent turning point, and their hopes for how it will have an impact.

Students can identify the social and

Headlines: After being assigned different states, students will each create newspaper
headlines for a newspaper that was printed in the days, months, and year after the
civil war. They will convey the tone of the state following the war, as well as the social
and economic events occurring following the Civil War and linking them back to the
war.

Students can analyze the political

Timeline: Students will be divided up into groups and as a group will research (during
class time) a political party (some prominent, some fringe). On the board we will create
a timeline, 1850-1870, and one group at a time will come up to the board, explain the
core values and goals of their political party, and add its existence to the timeline,
noting the years it ended and began if they fall outside the timeline.

Students can create a plan for

After we have a brief group discussion about Justice and Healing and how they
were values that politicians used during Reconstruction to create their plans, students
will be divided into two groups. One will be told to value healing, the other, justice.
They will create specific, detailed plans for reuniting the country while prioritizing
their value. After arguing for their plan, they will create a full class plan with elements
of each, compromising where possible.
SUMMATIVE ASSESMENT:
Students will show their ability to think like a historian by answering four open note,
short answer questions. The questions will ask students to do the following things:
1. Describe how three events leading up to the Civil War directly incited the
conflict.
2. Analyze a written primary source and explain the authors intended purpose.
3. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of either the Union or Confederacy
and apply them to one battle.
4. Make an argument about whether Reconstruction succeeded or failed its
intended goals with at least three pieces of supporting evidence.

Unit Four Test