Category: American Revolution

American Revolution, Assignment Ideas, Civil Rights, Cold War, Colonial America, Colonization & Settlement, Colonization to Civil War, Help for New Teacher, Post-World War II, Presidents, Progressive Era, Reconstruction, Rise of Industrial America, Roaring Twenties, Roaring Twenties and Depression, Vietnam War, Western Settlement, World War I, World War II

Two Exciting New Products! Lots of US History Help!

I’ve been slaving away behind the scenes to finish something I’ve been working on for a while! The first is a massive list of US History Assignments. I ended up with over 211 assignments and 15 printable templates! I’m breaking them up into 2 separate products based on time period. The first is 101 Assignments for Colonies to Civil War. I’m still putting the finishing touches on the second part, 110 Assignments for Reconstruction to 9/11. I hope to have that one available within the month!

I also have a set of 180 discussion starters and bell ringers I’ve been working on. You can find that here which also includes a link to a free sample download.

Use the code BLOG20 to get 20% off of your purchase!

 

American Revolution, Videos

Benjamin Franklin’s Role in the American Revolution

Most historians agree that the colonies probably would not have defeated the British during the American Revolution were it not for the support of France. While Washington was fighting in the colonies, Franklin was schmoozing aristocracy in France trying to get support for the Patriot’s cause. Imagine trying to convince a monarch to support the overthrow of another monarch. That’s just what Ben Franklin did. The video below does a great job of explaining Ben Franklin’s work in France during the American Revolution.

 

American Revolution, Test Prep, World War II

Great Declaration of Independence Meme to Use in the Classroom

I didn’t post on July 4th because I was enjoying my holiday. USA! USA! USA! BUT, I did come across several memes, and this one in particular made me laugh. I thought I’d share it.

Can you use this in the classroom? Totally!

  • You could put this on your board the day after you talk about the Declaration of Independence and see if your students get it…and if not, it’s a good way to remind them of THE most important date in American history (as well as who wrote most of the Declaration of Independence).
  • You could also use this as a bonus question for a test. “Explain what this meme means and why it is funny.”
  • You could round up a bunch of historical memes and use them as fun test prep reviews!

I think memes are actually a great way to help students practice analysis and critical thinking. Memes force students to recall information they know and then apply that knowledge to the meme to figure out what the meme is implying and why it the meme is funny.

While I’m on the subject of memes, did you know that the Keep Calm and Carry On memes were based on a British World War II motivational poster? It’s a good reminder to your students that history is everywhere!!!

 

American Revolution, Assignment Ideas, Teaching Tips

My First Video Post! Free Digital Pamphlet Template and Two Free Assignments

I’ve decided to start doing some video posts! Watch the video below or read the summary after the video for the basics.

Download your free template and assignments here!

An easy and creative way to let students showcase a large amount of knowledge on a subject is to have them create pamphlets. The most popular design for a pamphlet is the trifold layout.

A tri-fold pamphlet can be tricky for students to design, especially when creating it digitally. It’s hard to visualize which part will be the front. So, I created this free digital template to help your students create a trifold pamphlet! It works as a PowerPoint file, or you can upload it to Google slides and share it with your students. If your students create a hard copy at their desks, display the PowerPoint on your board to help them get started.

Tips
  • Make sure you give your students a subject for which lots of information is available. The students have six panels to fill, and you want to make sure they have plenty of information to fill those panels. So, rather than assigning a pamphlet on a single event, like the Boston Massacre, you might assign students a pamphlet on the Continental Army or one on major battles in the American Revolution.
  • When you give the assignment, be specific about the details you want students to include. Do you want pictures? How many pictures should students include? Should they be in color? How many facts do you want? Are there certain people, places, or things you want students to mention? Should the pamphlet be typed or hand-written?
  • Does your school have a career center? Stop by and see if they have an example of a pamphlet that you can show your students. (Next time you are traveling to a different state, stop by the rest area to get pamphlets to show your students. Bonus: Look for pamphlets about historical sites and experiences if you have time.)

To give you an idea of what this might look like, I’ve included two sample assignments to use with the template. One covers the Continental Army, and the other covers Jamestown.

Download your free template and assignments here!
American Revolution, Videos

Valley Forge Video

This a great video explaining the importance of Valley Forge! It not only talks about the hardships and disease, but it also the strategic reorganizing and training of the army during this time. It also gives a great summary of the events leading up to the winter at Valley Forge, so the students have some context as to what has been happening in the war. My one criticism is that the guy at the beginning says the war has been “waging” rather than “raging.” While you can “wage war,” I’m pretty sure that is not correct in this context. I’m sure it was probably just a slip of the tongue. You may or may not want to mention that to your students. Still it does not diminish the value of the information in the video. It’s really interesting and only about four minutes long.

 

American Revolution, Colonial America, Colonization & Settlement, Videos

I’m Back! Benjamin Franklin Video and Activities

So, I’ve decided to start the blog up again. I don’t have plans to resume the podcast any time soon though, because it is too time-consuming. After stepping away for a while and working on some other projects, I think I can carve out a chunk of time here and there to write a post. I don’t know how often I’ll write. Originally, when I stared the podcast, I tried to make sure I posted every ____ days. I didn’t like that, though, because it felt forced. So, now I’m doing it more for fun, and when I get inspired. The good news is that inspiration has been steadily creeping back in over the last few weeks. I’m preparing to teach a class called American Inventors for my homeschool co-op and I’ve come across some fun resources that get me excited and make me want to share with someone. And to save my non-history-loving mom friends from my rantings about history, I will share my thoughts here.

Speaking of which, the video below from the History Channel is a good one to show when you are studying Benjamin Franklin. You know, that time when Benjamin Franklin stood out in a thunderstorm with a kite and got struck by lightning? Oh yeah, that didn’t happen! At least, it didn’t happen the way so many people think it did. This is a good video for clearing up the myths surrounding his famous lightning experiment.  (Don’t forget to look below the video for classroom uses!)

Classroom Uses:

  • You could do a quick K-W-L before the video to see what your students know. (If you don’t know what a K-W-L is, this sheet gives the basic idea.)  A K-W-L is good to use with a topic that your students already know about or have misconceptions about.
  • Watch the video and create a two-column chart comparing the myth vs. the reality of the experiment.
  • Use the video to reinforce the importance of Franklin as an Enlightenment figure.
  • Use the video at the beginning of class to get your students interested in Franklin before a lesson on the Enlightenment in the US.

Another great activity to use when studying Franklin is a word web.  Word webs are great to use with people who are multi-faceted and/or have many different roles in US history.  After you have discussed Franklin, divide students into groups and have them create word webs about him.  (Make sure you show them an example of what a word web is.  Here’s an easy Halloween word web that your students would easily understand.)  You may need to prompt them or give hints as to how to divide up his life.  Here’s a very quick example of how a word web about Franklin might be structured.  Also, a simple word web could also be used as an exit ticket to reinforce content at the end of class.

American Revolution, Colonization to Civil War, Help for New Teacher, Miscellaneous, Teaching Tips

Great Example of Connecting Students to Content

This!  Yes!  Yes!  A thousand times YES!  This teacher is doing it right!  If you don’t establish relevance or allow your students to form a connection to the material, they either won’t remember it or won’t care about it!  Think about it.  Have you made things so interesting or gotten such an emotional reaction out of your students that one of them actually posted about it later?  Let that be your goal today…and every day!

wifitax

American Revolution, Colonization to Civil War

Declaration of Independence Memes

I know that I haven’t posted in a while. I took a little time off for vacation and then life got crazy. Anyway, I came across a few memes today on Facebook that would be GREAT to use in class when you are discussing the American Revolution.

The one at the top is funny and most teenagers (and people in general, I think) would relate to this. I know it’s not historically accurate…but it’s still funny.

FB_IMG_1467670652361

I LOVE this one also, because it shows history from a completely different perspective. It’s good to stretch students’ minds and demonstrate how different a historical event can seem depending on which side is telling the story. It would be a great discussion starter or a prompt for a freewrite on historical perspective.

Click here to see a previous post about some of my favorite history meme’s to use in class.

Also, don’t forget about my Declaration of Independence Fun Facts Quiz that addresses some myths surrounding the Declaration of Independence.

I’ve also got a podcast episode about teaching the causes of the American Revolution.

Happy Independence Day! In honor of today, I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes about independence:

“Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present Generation to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make good use of it.” – John Adams

God Bless America!!!

American Revolution, Miscellaneous

Great History Memes

I came across this meme last night and thought it would be a great thing to use at some point when you are studying the American Revolution.  Students need to know that, yes, they will hear about this stuff again…even if it is the form of an Internet meme.  This person used their historical knowledge to come up with an awesome comeback that, I’m sure, gave countless other people a good chuckle.

tea tumbler

Classroom Uses:

  • Put it on the board at the beginning of class to grab students’ attention (the day after you study the Boston Tea Party)
  • Add it to a test as a bonus question and have students explain the meaning for extra credit
  • Use it to remind students that historical references pop up in the most unlikely places
  • Challenge students to come up with their own history meme

Here are some of my other favorites that I came across after the above meme inspired me to do a search.

thomasjefffranz

homingpiggenerallee

American Revolution, Podcast

LTH 003 – Causes of the American Revolution

In this episode, I discuss over 20 resources that will help you teach about the causes of the American Revolution!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

Show Notes and Resources:

Bell Ringer, Brainstorm, and Exit Ticket

Important Terms to Cover

Guided Notes and Answer Key

American Revolution PowerPoint

Colonists Protest British Taxes – History Channel Video (4 min.)

Sons of Liberty – History Channel Video (2 min.)

Sons of Liberty and Boston Tea Party – History Channel Video 9 (2 min.)

US History Released End of Course Test 

US History Released End of Course Test Answer Key (scroll to page 5)

Propaganda Poster Assignment

Examples of Propaganda Posters

Stamp Act Blog Post Assignment

Stamp Act Activity – How to Source and Contextualize a Historical Document

Create a Front Page of Boston Newspaper Assignment (scroll to last page)

Road to Revolution Bingo Review Game

American Revolution Jeopardy Game (for end of unit review)

Causes of the American Revolution Parody of Kesha’s Die Young

Huntington Trouble in Boston Lesson Plan (reader’s theater, analyze political cartoon, poems, etc.)

American Revolution Review ActivBoard Flipchart

Immediate Causes of American Revolution Test (use as quiz or review)

 

Photo The Bloody Massacre, Public Domain
Intro music clip of “I Dunno” by Grapes CC BY-ND 3.0
American Revolution, Colonization to Civil War

Interesting Person: Sybil Ludington – The “Female Paul Revere”

In between publishing podcasts, I thought that I would post some cool articles or information from time to time that might help spice up your classroom.  I came across this article today about Sybil Ludington, a sixteen-year-old girl who many describe as the “female Paul Revere.”  It’s such an interesting story!

Classroom Uses:

  • This would be a great attention-getter or even something to read as filler at the end of the class while students are waiting for the bell.
  • Read it aloud and have students do a brief freewrite or sketch as an exit ticket.
  • You could do a short activity where students read an account of Paul Revere’s ride and Ludington’s ride and them compare and contrast them.  I threw together a chart that you can download here to give you an idea of what you could do.  There is a lot of great information in this link about Paul Revere, but if you have students do the reading, have them start at the paragraph beginning “Unlike some historical events…”  Everything before that compares Longfellow’s poem to the actual events and can be confusing.
Photo by Anthony22 CC 3.0