Civil War Unit of Study
Essential Question Template
Maribeth Whitehouse
Clarissa Lynn
Rob Schneider
Justin Czarka
Presentation Agenda
• Civil War Unit of Study Overiew
• Resource Walk Through
• Sample Lesson Plan
– Aim: How did technology change during
the Civil War?
• Possible Culminating Projects
Essential Question:
How did the Civil War change America?
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Focus Questions
Was the Civil War (CW) a war for national supremacy, to end slavery, or another reason?
What parts of society were involved in the CW? And how?
How was the CW fought?
What was the role of New York State in the CW?
Why did Lincoln free the slaves?
How were civili ans affected by the CW? What were the roles of slaves, free blacks, and women?
How were battles fought?
Who were the central figures during the CW?
How did artists depict the CW? (Photographers, poli tical cartoonists, etc.)
What were the key battles?
How did both sides motivate support for the war? (Positive and negative)
What was the outcome of the Civil War?
How were songs im portant during the Civil War?
Vocabu lary
Civil (war), habeas corpus, dysentery, measles, amputation, musket, soldier, Confederacy, states rights, emancipation (proclamation),
comm ander, battle, freed men, rations, army, casualty, nullifi cation, Union, copperhead, national supremacy, conscription, ironclad
Student Outc omes
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Content
Causes of the Civil War
Role of immi grants, blacks,
women, chil dren, Cherokee
Battles as turning points
Copperheads and suppression of
habeas corpus
Identify role of the media
(newspapers and cartoons)
Technology of the Civil
War (submarines, camera, bull ets)
The NYC Draft Riots
Emancipation Proclamation
Medicine of the Civil War
Understand the end and imm ediate
effects
Identify who fought North vs.
South
Identify symbols (Blue vs. Gray,
confederate flag)
Identify why they fought (preserve
the Union, end slavery)
Identify the presidents (Lincoln,
Davis)
Identify why the North wins
(factories, population)
Identify roles of women in war
(nurse, soldiers, clothing, spies,
factories, farming)
What was slave lif e li ke?
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Process
Begin with, and incorporate
throughout, fil m and music to
motivate students on topic
Use maps and graphs early on to
famili arize students with the basics
Use reading strategies such as
Holi stic Reading Comprehension,
QtA, triple-entry notation, highli ght
and revisit, SOAPS, and 5-3-1 (see
worksheets) to maximi ze reading
comprehension
Debate issues li ke the draft and
suppression of habeas corpus
Create annotated/ill ustrated
tim eli nes to sequence accumulated
information
Possible culmi nating projects:
o Living Newspaper through
various perspectives
o Museum Exhibit featuring
original student historical
fiction, artif acts, art, curator
reports and captions
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Skills
Mapping the Civil War
Graphing war casualties
Document analy sis
Categorization of information
Cause and effect relationships
Sequencing events
Argumentation and debate
Reading comprehension
Note-taking
Organizing ideas with supporting
detail s for HS, Regents-style essay
writing
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Possible Stude nt Projects/Products:
Social Studies
Literacy
What were the roles of slaves, free blacks, and women?
 Letters and diary entries from different mili tary and
What causes war?
civili an point of views
o Brainstorm reasons why people fight each other.
 Develop reading comprehension skill s through focused
Create a cluster map. Organize into categories
CW passage reading.
(power, wealth, values or morali tyΣ)
 Compare diff erent writing genre styles used during t he
To what were the Draft Riots a response?
CW (letter, speech, newspaper article, memoir, etc.)
Compare fighting styles from CW (Gettysburg/PBS series)
 Create own writing piece based on particular genre.
and three worlds meet (Journey to New World)
 Script writing for the creation of a video
Use berry ink to write letter/diary as CW soldier.
cli p/sli deshow/reenactment of key CW idea.
Be a speechwriter helping Abraham Lincoln with
 Living newspaper of various groups affected by CW
Gettysburg Address.
(Freed men, immi grants, New Yorkers, women, soldiers,
Technological advances:
government offi cials)
o Trenches, subs, iron sides, medicine behind
 Museum: artif acts, curator reports, historical fiction
weaponry, rifle muskets with grooved barrels.
writing as if they were from the CW tim e period, display
o Musket ball (round) vs. grooved barrel (football )
labels, maps, charts, and graphs created by the student
led to snipers
curators
Symbols of the CW: American flay, Grey vs. Blue, Johnn y
Reb, Damn Yankee
Drama
Mathematics
View and/or create video cli ps of key events
 Create graphs (li ne, bar, or circle graphs) based on
Battle Hymn of the Republi c
statistics on CW fatali ties, etc.
Drum corps reenactments
 Use maps and numbers to create a statistical understanding
Reenactments/role play of Civil War battles
of where the CW battles and deaths prim arily occurred,
Living Newspaper from multiple perspectives
based on states (i.e. electoral map).
 Devise grid maps with scales based on CW battles.
Materials
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Video
Gangs of New York cli ps
PBS Civil War series cli ps
Gettysburg cli ps
Glory cli ps
Gone With the Wind cli ps
Red Badg e of Courage cli ps
Images
Photographs of the battlefields from CW photographers
Civil War Extra from New York Tim es photo archives teaching
kit
 http://www.s onofthesouth.net/Thomas_Nast.htm
 http:// memory.loc.gov/amm em/cwphtml /cwphome.html
(Library of Congress photos)
 Harper's Weekly covers during war
o http://www.s onofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil -war1863.htm
http:// memory.loc.gov/amm em/ndlpcoop/nhihtml/cwnyhshome.html
(photographs, drawings, prints, posters, manuscripts)
Books
Read Alouds
 Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
 Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara
 Maritcha by Tonya Bolden
Independent Reading
 To Be A Slave by Juli us Lester
 Vicksburg by Mary Ann Fraser
 Clara Barton and the American Red Cross by Eve Marko
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Audio
Gettysburg soundtrack
Abraham Lincoln address
Battle Hymn of the Republic
When Johnny Comes Marching Home
o http://www.c ivil warmusic.net/songs.php
(music)
http://www.c ivil warmusicstore.com/ (music)
Documents
Letters and journals from soldiers and civili ans
Emancipation Proclamation
A House Divided Speech , Gettysburg Address, Second
Inaugural Address
Conscription laws
Newspaper accounts
Battlefield maps
Poli tical cartoons
Additional Resou rces
The Historical Atlas o f New York City by (TAH)
Grant and Lee Teaching Binder (NYHS)
New York Divided: Slavery and the Civil War Teaching
Binder (NYHS)
Slavery in New York (NYHS)
Civil War for Kids: A History with 21 Activities by Janis
Herbert (great photo s and some activities)
Jackdaws broadsides of Civil War poli tical cartoons at:
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Webquests
http://www. todaysteacher.com/Civil WarWebquest/Civil WarWebquest.htm
http://www.c ooll essons.org/c ivil warpaper. htm
http://c oe.west.asu.edu/s tudents/hcarter/webquest.htm
http://www.sds t.org/s hs/li brary/civil warwq.html
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Websites
http:/ /www. nps.gov/gett/ (Gettysburg National
Park)
http://www.c ivil war.com/
http://www.c ivil -war.net/
http://www.p bs.org/c ivil war/ (excell ent
classroom activities)
http://www. historyplace.com/civil war/index.html
http://www. newyorkdivided.org/
http:// vall ey.vcdh.virginia.edu/
http://www.c ivil warpoetry.org/
Lesson Plan Aim:
How did technology change during
the Civil War?
This is a lesson on cause and effect.
1. Repercussions of the rifled bullet.
2. Glory film clips on war technology.
3. Reading assignment on naval technology.
4. Extension Activity
Ideas for Extension/ HW
Assignment
• Writing time!
• Using notes and memory write one of the
following:
– A letter from the battlefield
– A journal entry
– A section for a textbook
• This could be a preliminary draft towards
the culminating project (Living Newspaper
or Museum Exhibition)