Women's suffrage movement and constitutional amendment analysis

Interdisciplinary Social Studies Lesson

Lesson 1: Women's Rights Movement

Standard

This current lesson will satisfy the requirements set by the state in the standard, SS.S.11.02 Civics. Essentially, this introduces 11th grade students to the civic nature of democracy and the United States Government. The lesson will help students "outline and evaluate and analyze the origins and meaning of the principles, ideals and core democratic values expressed in the foundational documents of the United States (Ideals of United States Democracy)" (Teaching History, 2014). It is crucial within 11th grade to introduce students to the democratic process through examination of the nation's history. Students will be able to understand how laws are made and altered as they are needed based on a changing national population. The specific standard within this larger set that will be addressed is SS.O.11.02.01. Here, students will be able to "explain the reasons for amendments ratified since 1900 and analyze their effects on American society" (Teaching History, 2014). By examining the women's suffrage movement, students will be able to understand the process of suffrage and how the Constitution can be changed to fit the needs of a changing public.

In order to satisfy an interdisciplinary approach, the lesson here will also use RLA.S.11.3. Listening, Speaking and Media Literacy in English and Language Arts. Here, the standard has expectations that "students will apply listening, speaking and media literacy skills and strategies to communicate with a variety of audiences and for different purposes" (West Virginia Department of Education, 2014). The lesson will require students to analyze the historical documents and films they are exposed to in a debate and essay format. Thus, the lesson is satisfying the following standard:

RLA.O.11.3.1

communicate using the transactional process to include the components of speaker, listener, message, channel, feedback, and noise

(West Virginia Department of Education, 2014)

Objectives

Overall, the objective of this lesson is to expose students to the democratic process by examining a specific event in history when women fought and won the right to vote in national and local elections. The lesson focuses on the adaptation of the Constitution as a living document to really meet the needs of the American public as they continue to change and develop. Students will "research changes in the Constitution and evaluate their impact," as well as "judge changes in the Constitution" in order to make their own assumptions about its nature (Teaching History, 2014). By combining English requirements into the lesson, students will also be exposed to argumentative style writing so that they can take historical information and generate their own educated opinion about key political and historical issues. From this perspective, "students will grow in their literacy experience as they learn to research, analyze, and cite textual-based evidence from multiple sources to support an argument or viewpoint" (Williams et al., 2013). It is the creation of the students' own views that is so essential within the context of this lesson plan objective. The final assessment essay will force students to have to acknowledge an opposing opinion and then disprove it utilizing facts and evidence to secure their own opinion as superior to the opposing opinion.

Rationale

The lesson helps expose older students to the process of government. The concept here is that in 11th grade, students are almost at the age to actually start participating within the democratic process. It is important to show students that their participation can help make crucial changes that can impact their own lives for the better. Essentially, "exploring the content at the conceptual level will lead to higher level thinking by students because concepts require them to process at a higher intellectual level" (Hillburn, 2011). This is a perfect lesson to help students make connections to their own lives and how they have been advanced through the democratic process.

Content Summary

The content to be covered in this lesson is the women's suffrage movement. Here, students will be introduced to the era before women could vote as a way to help them understand how this put women in a place of second-class citizenship. The lesson will then turn to evaluating the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 as the beginning of a serious and successful women's suffrage movement. From there, content will be discussed up until World War I, where "students [will] have the opportunity to look at primary documents from the movement to develop an understanding of changing women's roles within the workforce" (Williams et al., 2013). Then, the lesson will examine the democratic process that got the Nineteenth Amendment passed, and with it secured women's role as participants in American democracy. Primary documents for both sides of the argument will be available so that the assigned group debating against women's suffrage will have evidence to draw from.

Materials

The textbook The Americans (Danton et al., 2008)

The PBS documentary Not for ourselves alone: The story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (Burnes & Barnes, 1999)

Primary Sources

Procedures

Day 1: Students will watch the documentary and review the content from the text. They will then be assigned primary sources to read as homework in preparation for the next day's activities.

Day 2: Students will be broken up into groups, one of which is arguing for women to have the right to vote, and the other against this position. Students will be given a perspective based on the popular opinions of people from the 1800s. The class period will be allocated for each group to structure their debate.

Day 3: Groups will debate each other from their unique perspectives and evidence from documents and other sources.

Day 4: Students will be required to write their own personal essay describing who they thought won the debate and why, utilizing primary sources and information from the text. The structure of the essays will be outlined, with a four paragraph structure including and introduction, opposition paragraph, argument, and finally a conclusion. The structure of a thesis will be reviewed and then half of the class period will be devoted to allowing the students to start their essay. The remainder of the essays will be completed as homework and turned in the following school period.

Evaluation and Assessment

The final essay will serve as a method for assessing students' participation and engagement. Thus, "at the end of the activity, the learners will need to be able to develop a written reflective essay that incorporates their understanding of the topic and supports their claims" (Williams et al., 2013). This will be graded based on the evidence provided and the strength of their arguments for who won the debate. Students will have to explain the positions of the two sides, putting the opposing opinion first within their structured essay and then appropriately disproving it using evidence from the primary sources and the text. Thus, these essays will help assess the student's internalization of the text and primary sources as well as their ability to make and defend a claim against an opposing opinion. The essay will be graded on the strength of the thesis, use of evidence from the texts and PBS documentary, and overall cohesiveness and appropriate discussion of the topic.

Student Accommodations

Students with ESL and learning disabilities challenges will be paired with higher performing students. This will help them get the support they need to perform well in the debate. Every student will be responsible for presenting a piece of the debate, which will ensure that these more challenged students are not being sidelined by other students in their group. For the essay, a sample essay will be provided to students so that challenged students have a model from which they can draft their own versions.

Lesson 2: Social Studies in the News

RLA.O.11.1.10

use knowledge of the history, cultural diversity, politics, and effects of language to comprehend and elaborate on the meaning of texts, to expand vocabulary, and to draw connections to self and to the real world

(West Virginia Department of Education, 2014)

Objectives

Students will gain a mastery of how to find, use, and interpret contemporary research sources in order to make their own opinions about the world around them. Here, they will learn how to "research actions and reactions of citizens to historical and contemporary situations" and "compare and contrast arguments on significant contemporary issues" (Teaching history, 2014). They will also begin to gain key research and citation tools that they will need in order to continue researching at a college level. Thus, the lesson is not only a constant way to evaluate current events, but it is also a crucial practice activity for the type of analytical skills needed to write at a college level.

Rationale

Current events often go unnoticed by teenagers today, even if they may have relevant ties to topics discussed in social studies courses. Many of these current events may also have an impact on the daily lives and experiences of students. Thus, it is crucial to demonstrate how social studies is not just about the past, but learning lessons from the past in order to make better decisions in the present and future. Here, the research suggests that "current events help to get students in the practice of reading the newspaper on a weekly basis in order to find a Social Studies related article, and fill out a worksheet on the article to better figure out what the article is saying" (Irey, 2013). This forces students to stay active in understanding what is going on around them. Ultimately, this

"will aid field-dependent learners because concept-based interdisciplinary teaching exposes students to macroconcepts in multiple contexts" (Hillburn, 2011). Working with current vent worksheets and the final essay assessment will also require students to make inferences between the current event they are reporting and a link to a historical period or event that has been covered in class. This close reading thus provides students with practice for English and writing skills that is necessary in a variety of other contexts, especially as they begin to start their college careers. The demand to practice APA citation is also practice for the type of expected researching abilities needed for success in any college course.

Content Summary

This will be a weekly activity that continually requires students to stay active in the reporting of current events. Beginning in the second week of classes, students will be given a lecture about APA citation and then required to finish weekly current event activities that are described in the following sections. Class time will be set aside, but not in large chunks, thus forcing students to keep engaged in the weekly activity on their own time. Then, each Friday, essays connecting the current event to a historical period or event will be turned in and graded based on originality, researching skills, and overall interpretation of the event from a historical perspective.

Materials

APA Citation Guide Handout printed from http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/apa

Students will be given the option to look for articles on one of many websites. They will be given the extensive list on the website https://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/cevents.html (Meyers, 2011). This allows them to link to appropriate current event news articles.

Procedures

Every Monday, students will be required to turn in a topic idea or statement they wish to research based on what they have seen or heard on the news or other media over the weekend. The strongest two student essays from the previous week will be printed and handed out to students and discussed for a short time in the beginning of class. This will allow the teacher to provide feedback and discuss successful interpretation practices.

Every Tuesday, they will be required to find an article that suits that topic and to turn it in the teacher for approval.

Every Wednesday, the teacher will approve the articles, or provide recommendations for ones that are more appropriate for the desired chosen topic.

Every Thursday, a period of class will be set aside to fill out the Document Current Event Worksheet (See Appendix A).

Then, every Friday, the student will be responsible for handing in a paragraph discussion of their article and how it relates to one or more historical topics that have been discussed in class so far.

Evaluation and Assessment

Assessment will come in the form of teacher comments on the essay that is turned in every Friday. This essay will only be a paragraph, as it needs to have a strong topic sentence or thesis and then three following subsequent points that back up that claim. Assessment will be passed on the organization of the paragraph's structure, but also of the creative inferences made within regards to other historical topics discussed in class. The strongest two student essays will then be shared with the class on Monday in order to strengthen and reinforce expected requirements and how to successfully execute the organizational structure of the paragraph. Each essay will be 5 points, making them a significant portion of the final grade throughout the year.

Student Accommodations

Accommodations will be made for ESL students by allowing them to choose an article that is written both in English and their native language. Students will be required to read and annotate both translations, beginning with the language of their choosing and then in English. This will also reinforce crucial reading skills for non-native English speakers.

(Irey, 2013)