Social Studies
discovering the power to influence tone, mood, style, voice, and meaning
Standard:
Literacy: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary
sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
Reading: Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal US texts, including the
application of constitutional principles and use legal reasoning and the premises, purposes, and
arguments in works of public advocacy.
Writing: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and
style are appropriate for the task, purpose, and audience. (Grade specific expectations for writing types,
standards 1-3.)
Featured Skill: Students will be able to assess how and why the United
States has influenced world affairs. Students will be able to analyze
seminal US documents to determine the strategies authors used to
convince their audience of their position.
Featured Text
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=56&page=transcript
Secondary Text:
 Monroe Doctrine – James Monroe
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=23&page=transcript
“White Man’s Burden” – Rudyard Kipling
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/kipling.asp
Instruction
Process
11
Theme and/or Essential Question
Primary Text:
 Roosevelt Corollary – Theodore Roosevelt

Grade Level:
 What is America’s role in the world?
 Why has the US taken the lead in world
affairs?
 Why do some believe they are better than
others?
 How do policy makers make language
choices that manipulate their audiences to
accept their positions?
Activity
Instructional Steps
Modeling
and
explaining
the featured
grammar
skill
1. Background: In grade 9, students should learn about the history of
imperialism and the reasons why the United States and other
countries decided to take on colonies during the 1800s. Students
should also be familiar with the areas Europeans focused on
colonizing. Students may not be as familiar with US imperialism, as
their background will be more focused in European imperialism.
2. In this particular lesson, the teacher will not model the featured skill.
Students will engage in a close reading of the Roosevelt Corollary to
determine how President Roosevelt expanded the United States’ role
in the world, and how his actions reflected the historical course of
American foreign relations and the political culture of the era. For
students to become well acquainted with the text, multiple
opportunities to read the selection will be necessary.
Language  Page 1
Process
Activity
Instructional Steps
Reading 1: Student reading
3. We encourage reading the entire speech excerpt before the close
study in order to provide a context for the particular ideas in this
lesson. Independently, students will read and annotate the speech.
Practice
in Context
Reading 2: Teacher or fluent reader reading
Reading text
and
identifying
deliberate
use of the
featured
grammar
skill
4. Teachers may want to read the excerpted section aloud while being
careful not to deliver the speech. Students need to hear all the words
pronounced correctly; delivery includes deliberate choices that could
begin to rob students of the opportunity to make meaning based on
the word choice, word order, and punctuation. Students will want to
translate the text. As students gain understanding, they will want to
make adjustments to the translation.
Reading 3: Answering questions to engage in the text
5. Students will read the excerpt from Roosevelt’s annual message to
Congress introducing the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.
6. Students will continue to annotate the speech and answer questions.
The questions are intended to promote understanding/
comprehension; however, these are not questions that are all
necessarily ‘right there’ types of questions. The questions all require
students to return to the text and potentially locate additional
information to increase understanding.
Analyzing and Evaluating : Rereading to discover
7. Students will use the second set of questions to direct their attention
to specific elements of the text. Students will also use Kipling’s
“White Man’s Burden” to expand their understanding of the culture
of imperialism.
Writing: Use the features skill(s)
Application
in Writing
8. Use the skills in a meaningful way. Evaluate the use of the skill in
other works.
Writing text
and applying
the featured 9. Students will, based on the multiple encounters with the focus skill,
grammar
determine the historical basis.
skill in a
10. Students will choose one of the writing options available.
deliberate
way
Language  Page 2
Process
Activity
Instructional Steps
For extension: (Students could be provided options for
extension activities)


Extensions and Interventions



Additional
Resources
Teachers introduce political cartoons from the era. Students can
assess whether the cartoonist or editor supported imperialism. The
teacher may also want to use these as a way for students to answer
the essential questions and form their own opinions.
Teachers may want to utilize articles from the New York World and
New York Journal leading up to and during the Spanish American
War. Editors Pulitzer and Hearst used yellow journalism to advance
the cause of imperialism, and their articles may help students further
understand the culture around imperialism.
As extensions of the idea of America’s role in world affairs, students
may read excerpts from the United Nations Charter, the Marshall
Plan, or the Truman Doctrine. These documents demonstrate the
evolution of the United States’ international involvement from
imperialism to more peaceful and subtle ways of manipulating other
nations.
To counter the pro-imperialism argument, students can research and
read arguments from the American Anti-Imperialist League.
If students need assistance in focusing their speech, they could use
the SOAPSTone technique for a prewriting exercise.
For Intervention and support:


Teachers should review the questions for the excerpt carefully. The
questions are intended to help the students attend to the reading for
comprehension. The use of the questions should be determined by
the students in the room. If students are able to read and
comprehend without questions that direct them line by line, then
these supports can be taken away. Always remember that the
purpose of the questions is to promote close reading of the selection;
the removal of the direct questions should not remove the opportunity
to read carefully and closely. The questions should only be reduced or
removed once students are equipped with the annotating and close
reading skills necessary to question the text naturally. (See the
attached handout).
To support students, students should be encouraged to work
collaboratively. The first reading should be done by students
independently—we want students to have the opportunity to try to
find some elements first. Reading aloud is an opportunity for a
second reading and to hear all the words pronounced correctly. As
students become more intimate with the selection, working
collaboratively allows them to build on the ideas of others and
negotiate the meaning of particular elements.
Language  Page 3
Process
Activity

Potential
Confusion





Teacher
Notes



Additional
Resources
to Consider



Instructional Steps
Students may be confused by the reasons for imperialism, and the difference
between imperialism and colonization. They will be more familiar with
colonization, more frequently used by European nations.
Students may struggle with applying poetry to history.
Students should be made aware the Kipling was a British author, but his
poem, “White Man’s Burden”, is frequently applied to reasons for American
imperialism. It was written in response to the United States’ acquisition of
the Philippines after the Spanish American War.
Answer keys are not provided. The lessons are intended to create
opportunities for students to rely on the text to gain independence in reading
complex texts. In this instructional model, the only wrong answers are those
that are not well supported or engage in fallacious reasoning.
It is best for teachers to engage in conversations and make instructional
decisions with a PLT about this lesson, its content, and student outcomes.
You may have noticed that providing background information is not part of
the beginning of the lesson. Within the Language Lessons, students will
need to rely upon the words and punctuation to create meaning without the
assistance of the teacher or other background building activities prior to the
learning experience. As students progress through the activities, they will
need information and build the background that we typically provide up
front. When students enter the world of college and career, they will need to
be equipped with the necessary skills to determine context, question a text,
determine the information they will need to know to increase understanding,
and know where to locate that information.
Teachers can choose the specific excerpts for the documents as they see fit
for their class reading levels and the specific subjects they wish to address
with their students.
Stanford History Education Group, American Imperialism:
http://sheg.stanford.edu/node/33
William Randolph Hearst Biography: http://www.notablebiographies.com/GiHe/Hearst-William-Randolph.html
Joseph Pulitzer Biography: http://www.notablebiographies.com/PePu/Pulitzer-Joseph.html
For opposing views, students could analyze Wilson’s 14 Points for the ideas
of the League of Nations and self-determination.
Students could make modern-day connections by viewing current events
concerning US Foreign Policy actions in the Middle East.
Language  Page 4
Text: Roosevelt Corollary, Monroe Doctrine, “White Man’s
Burden”
Step One: Read the excerpt of the Roosevelt Corollary with a partner and annotate the
text.
Read the speech excerpt to yourself. Make note of words or phrases that intrigue you in some way.
Look for examples of imperialism that you readily recognize and identify them under the
headings below. (Complete on the attached worksheet).
Foreign Policy: (List examples of US foreign policy identified in the speech)
Role of America: (What has been America’s role in the world? What is its role now?)
Goals of America: (What does Roosevelt identify as reasons for US international involvement?)
Related to the Monroe Doctrine: (How does Roosevelt/Kipling relate his policy to Monroe?)
American Culture: (What aspects of American culture are being emphasized?)
Unknowns: (I don’t know what that means. Or I don’t know what that means in this context.)
Step Two: In this step your teacher or a classmate will read Roosevelt’s speech aloud.
Listen carefully to the words being read. As you listen, add to your initial list from Step One.
After the speech is read aloud, the class should discuss Roosevelt’s meaning and resolve any
misunderstandings or unknowns for the class.
Step Three: In this step, you and your partner will carefully read the Monroe Doctrine.
These questions are designed to promote understanding of the excerpt.
As you read, annotate the text, as you did with the Roosevelt Corollary. Record your responses in
the attached chart.
After everyone in the class has had an opportunity to review the Monroe Doctrine, they should
discuss student responses and answer any remaining questions or misunderstandings.
Step Four: Written in 1899, Rudyard Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden” is a poem about what
he considered to be the positive reasons for imperialism. The questions are designed to
promote your understanding of imperialism and how the Roosevelt Corollary was indicative
of a broader culture of domination.
As you read, annotate the text, as you did with the Roosevelt Corollary. Record your responses in
the attached chart.
After reading, the class will review the poem, discuss student responses, and answer any
remaining questions or misunderstandings.
Discussion should be driven by the following questions:
1. What does Kipling mean by the phrase “white man’s burden”?
2. Why does Kipling believe imperialism is necessary? Write a specific line to support your
claim.
3. How does Kipling reflect the growing influence of imperialism in international affairs?
4. Does Kipling’s poem accurately exhibit reasons for imperialism? Explain.
5. How can you relate Kipling’s poem to Roosevelt’s speech? Give quotes from each to support
Language  Page 5
your answer.
6. Are Kipling and Roosevelt accurate representations of America’s culture at the turn of the
20th Century? Why or why not? Give quotes from their pieces to support your claim.
7. Do the goals of imperialism, as identified by Roosevelt, support the principles of the
Constitution? Use evidence from his speech to support your answer.
Step Five: Writing
Option 1: After reading Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden”, students can write their own poem about the
reasons for imperialism and events of the era. Include specific evidence from each text.
Option 2: Answer one of the essential questions in a well written paragraph, citing evidence from
multiple sources to substantiate your claim. Include specific evidence from each text.
Option 3: Write a speech supporting a position on imperialism. Why do you (not) support the imperialist
policies of the US? What are the positive (or negative) effects of imperialism for the US? For the nations
the US is becoming involved in? You must use specific evidence from the primary sources provided.
See student materials on next pages.
Language  Page 6
Monroe, Roosevelt, Kipling, and Imperialism
Foreign
Policy
Roosevelt
Corollary
Monroe
Doctrine
Evidence
Evidence
Explanation
Explanation
“White Man’s
Burden”
Goal of
America
Language  Page 7
Role of
America
How Related
to the
Monroe
Doctrine
Influence on
American
Culture
Unknowns
Language  Page 8