1800s Growth & Conflict
Period:
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Topic:
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Group Members:
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Group #:
The first half of the nineteenth century (1800-1850) was a time of huge economic and territorial
expansion of the United States. Believing in Manifest Destiny – a popular term signifying the
“obvious” fate of the U.S. to rule the continent from sea to sea – the U.S. government either supported
or directly acted to provide better “opportunities” to Americans. This, however, was often at someone
else’s expense. The result was a rapid transformation of the continent in several capacities:
 the building of infrastructures (e.g., highways, canals)
 the changing of authority in different regions
 population changes (growth and distribution)
 cultural changes (that follow the population)
In this unit, you will be the teachers for most of our content. Working in groups, you will
each plan a lesson (about 15 minutes per group) to teach the rest of the class. Those lessons will be
based on themes of growth and change from the 1800s (a list of choices is provided separately).
It is very important that you design a lesson that really teaches the content well. You
will ALL need to participate equally in the discussion of the material, the design of the lesson,
and presentation of the lesson. The entire class will be assessed on your information, so it’s
expected that you will teach it well.
Preparation is the key to a good presentation. You will be provided handouts, pictures and/or
charts to help you plan your lesson. Of course, you must make certain critical decisions as a group.
Complete the guide that follows to outline your lesson. Feedback will be provided afterwards.
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Step One: Overview of Topic
Write out the MAIN IDEA(S) of your content in a clear statement below (the way the class will
understand it in your lesson). Then list the most important FACTS that the class must learn from your
presentation (30+ items). Then, articulate the CONCLUSION you draw from this information.
MAIN IDEA(S) and THEME(S)
* Do not just repeat statements from the topics list. Instead, elaborate on those.
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20+ FACTS
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CONCLUSIONS
(i.e., How did these events transform the nation?)
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Step Two: Plan the Presentation
Describe how you will present this material:
Create a preliminary outline of your presentation by listing
the order of the topics you plan to cover.
If you plan to have a PowerPoint slide show, break it down by individual slides.
If you’re planning a different format (puppet show, games show, skit, mock news broadcast, etc.),
then list the scenes, segments, songs, speeches, etc. in the order you plan to present them.
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What primary sources will you include? (speeches, documents, etc. – whole or excerpts?)
What will they teach the audience?
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What visual aids will you include? (maps, pictures, graphs, videos, etc.)
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How are you going to make this lesson interesting and engaging?
How will you avoid just reading aloud from notes/slides?
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Describe how your time (12-15 minutes per group) will be used.
Be sure to give reasonable estimates – you are expected to be thorough.
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Will you need any equipment (computer, projector, etc.)?
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Step Three: Evaluation
The grading for this activity will be divided into the following:
1. Planning/Organization (20 pts.)
 counts in the homework/classwork category
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Criteria
list of theme/important facts/conclusion
outline of presentation
inclusion of primary source(s)
estimates of time
equal participation among all group members
Value
20 pts.
TOTAL 
2. Group Presentation (50 pts.)
 counts in the test category
Criteria
 equal participation by all group members
 presentation skills (eye contact, clear speech, etc.)
Value
5 pts.
 engagement of the class (interesting?)
 effectiveness/quality of teaching (clear? understandable?)
 historical information (people, events, terms, etc.)
*** this is the who? what? where? when? (etc.)***
 is it relevant?
 is it clear/accurate?
 is it thorough/complete?
 discussion of themes/significance (aka, “So What?”)
 was it related to Manifest Destiny? (if so, how?)
 how was the country changing?
 what caused the changes?
 do you see any parallels between your topic and
recent/modern events? (see below)
10 pts.
25 pts.
10 pts.
TOTAL 
Here’s an example of parallel events from different time periods:
“In 1798, President Adams ignored the First Amendment in his attempt to increase national security during our
unofficial war with France. Trying to protect the U.S. during World War II, President Roosevelt ordered the internment of
Japanese-Americans, which was also a violation of their constitutional rights.”