Plan for a panel discussion regarding the validity of the Lincoln Administration

This lesson encourages students to investigate all sides of the issues within the context of the Civil War era. Students will become “experts” on the Lincoln administration and accept the responsibility of sharing their expertise with their classmates through oral communication in a panel discussion.

A lesson plan for grade 8 Social Studies

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Many of the events surrounding the American Civil War era have become national myths rather than accurate historical facts. This paradigm can be rationalized as a need for national healing. This lesson encourages students to investigate all sides of the issues within the context of the Civil War era. This will contribute to an understanding of the actual events that were catalysts for Lincoln’s executive decisions. Students will become “experts” on the Lincoln administration and accept the responsibility of sharing their expertise with their classmates through oral communication in a panel discussion. They will also be responsible for turning in the written work produced as a result of their research, as well as developing a handout and perhaps a visual aid, as they see fit.

Learning outcomes

Goals

• Introduce students to historical research skills
• Increase students’ ability to use the school’s media center independently
• Have the students realize the importance of recognizing the talents of their peers when forming a cooperative group
• Have the students recognize how one subject area in school can influence another

Objectives

• Students will learn the skill of panel discussion for disseminating information to a group.
• Students will recognize the importance of primary resources.
• Students will work in cooperative groups to become “experts” on the Lincoln Presidential Administration.
• Students will use visuals to enhance their presentation and also to develop a handout for their classmates to use as a study guide.
• Students will develop questions for their fellow members.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

10–15 hours

Materials/resources

Suggested Beginning Resources:

• Abraham Lincoln Preserving the Union (Film)
• The Presidency by Andrew Bronin
• Our Nation’s Archive: The History of the United States in Documents by Erik Brunn and Jay Crosby
• Lincoln: The Last Full Measure by J.G. Randall and Richard N. Current
• Lincoln the President: Volume two; Midstream to the Last Full Measure by J.G. Randall and Richard N. Current
• The Speeches of Abraham Lincoln (Film)

Technology resources

Students will need internet access for research. All finished work should be word processed. The Library of Congress American Memory website is an excellent place to begin.

Pre-activities

This has been written and used for students who have been curriculum compacted out of 8th grade North Carolina History. It is assumed that they have shown an understanding of the basic informational overview that is to be presented to the class as a whole. The classroom teacher has a choice of assessing this knowledge through conferences with the student, testing the student, or requiring the class assignments to be turned in at a quicker pace in order to gain time for this lesson.

Activities

Day 1

Begin by letting the students know that they will be researching the validity of the Presidential Administration of Abraham Lincoln. They will understand that we as teachers realize that they have already been introduced to some of the history of the American Civil War through their textbooks. We will act as coaches for this project and they will complete their reading independently.

Tell the students:

The students will then be asked to review the members of a cooperative learning group (leader, recorder, etc.) and the panel group will be formed. The list of research questions will be introduced. These following questions will be thoroughly discussed so that the teacher is sure that they are understood by the group.

Research Questions:

1. Discuss the events that led to the presidential election of Abraham Lincoln. What was his calling to this office? What was the political threat that loomed over his winning? What would have been the changes to our current situation had Stephen Douglas had won? How might this election be compared to our most recent presidential election?
2. What was the philosophy of the Republican Party at its beginning? What was the reasoning for nominating Abraham Lincoln for its presidential candidate? What party was the Republican Party replacing and why? What drew Lincoln to the Republican Party?
3. What were Licnoln’s true feelings on slavery? Did he favor segregation or intergration? What was Lincoln’s solution for the freed slaves after the Emancipation Proclamation? What was the importance of Lincoln’s timing of the Emancipation Proclamation?
4. What was Abraham Lincoln’s relationship with the press? What sort of influence did the press have over the public at that period? How does that compare with the press’s influence today?
5. How did Lincoln fair as Commander in Chief during the Civil War? What was Lincoln’s military experience? How did his Cabinet choices affect the Civil War? How well did he do in his choices of Generals?

Day 2

Students will be given a list of their responsibilities and the time line for the project. They will also be given a grading rubric to show how they are to be scored. The students will be invited to add reasonable options to the scoring rubric if they feel that their panel has something extra to add to the assignment. All forms will be discussed and work will begin.

Each student panel will be responsible for the following:

1. Assign each panel member a responsibility. Perhaps each member could take a different question to investigate. Perhaps someone could be in charge of visuals or the handouts. All members must participate in the oral presentation for a grade!
2. The panel members will have to request classroom time to research in the media center. It will be assumed that the panel members are working on their own time as well.
3. The panel presentation should be at least twenty minutes, and all members are expected to take part orally. Students may use the chalkboards, hang charts or maps, or use the overhead if they wish.
4. The panel must have a handout containing all of the important facts about their subject area as well as the group’s bibliography. The handout will be asked for two days before the presentation so that copies may be made for the entire class.
5. The panel must have at least six quality resources for their research. These may be books, magazines, television shows, videos, interviews or on-line resources.
6. One word processed paper will be handed in by the group. Individual credit will be given to each section in the paper’s table of contents.

Timeline for group panel presentation

There will be six periods for the lesson introduction and research. At that time the panel must hand in a word processed rough copy of their presentation. The panel members will be given some classroom time for this work but they will also be expected to do some homework as well. These rough copies will be edited by the teacher and handed back by the next school day.

The panel will be given three periods for rewrites, as well as visuals and handout production. Panel presentation will be made and the audience is expected to listen carefully and take part in the question and answer period at the end of the presentation.

Assessment

This rubric should contain a possible score for each element as well as a blank for the earned scores which should total 100 percent. Set the rubric up in any format that is comfortable for you.

Scoring Rubric for Panel Presentation:

Supplemental information

After the final copy of the group paper is handed in, time should be given to coach the panel as to how to present in that format. The student members should be shown how to interject questions to other panel members. The moderator should also rehearse how to cue up the other members with appropriate questions from the research paper. The students should understand that they will need to know their area well enough to speak to it in an extemporaneous manner. They should also be made comfortable enough to be able to admit when their knowledge is scant without embarrassment.

Comments

This panel format has also been used for discussions on new technologies and how we have grown from the Industrial Age to the Age of Communication. It has been used for students to report of individuals of eminence as well.