Understanding by Design
2 Page Unit Template
(p. 36-37 in UbD Professional Development Workbook)
Title: ___American Revolution__________________ Subject/Course: __US History____________
Topic: _American Revolution__________ Grade: __10____ Designer(s):__Brian Blackham_______
Stage 1 – Desired Results
Established Goals:
6120-05 Students will understand the
significance of the American
Revolution in the development of the
United States.(Utah State Core)
Understandings:
Students will understand that…
The American Revolution was caused by the
colonists’ sometimes violent reaction to the
British government trying to tighten its control
over the colonies following the French and
Indian War.
George Washington’s early victories and British
mistakes were able to keep the colonists in war
long enough to enable the Continental Army to
become a formidable fighting force.
Essential Questions:
Were the colonists justified in declaring their
independence from Great Britain?
Was the American Revolution inevitable or could it
have been avoided?
Which side, in the beginning of the Revolutionary
War, had the biggest advantages to winning?
Why?
What was the American Revolution really about?
The war for American independence was part of How Radical was the American Revolution?
a larger world war, which in part helped the
Americans win.
Despite all the hardships in the early years of the
revolution, how was Washington able to keep the
The Americans until 1776 were still fighting for
army together?
theirs rights as citizens inside the British
empire, not until after King George III rejected
How effective was Washington as a military
the Olive Branch did they assert their
commander? What were his greatest
independence.
achievements? What were his biggest mistakes?
Students will know…
Stamp Act, Sugar Act, Townshend Act,
Navigation Acts, Mercantilism, Tea Act, Boston
Tea Party, Boston Massacre, Sons of Liberty,
Committees of Correspondence, Stamp Act
Congress, 1st and 2nd Continental Congress,
Salutary Neglect, Sam Adams, Thomas
Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington,
Ben Franklin, Marquis de Lafayette, Baron von
Steubon, Nathaniel Greene, General Gates,
Battles of Trenton, Princeton, Saratoga,
Monmouth Courthouse, Charleston, Cowpens,
Yorktown, Brandywine Creek, War in the South,
Lord Cornwallis, Johnny Burgoyne, Lord Howe,
Treaty of Paris 1783, Thomas Paine, Common
Sense,
Students will be able to…
Analyze Primary Documents
Use Cause and Effect
Read maps
Take effective notes
Predict
Understanding by Design
2 Page Unit Template
(p. 36-37 in UbD Professional Development Workbook)
Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence
Performance Tasks: Summary in GRASPS form
Goal:
Your goal is to help Europeans understand what the American Revolution is all about for both sides.
Role:
You are writing these articles from the perspective of an outsider of your choice. Some examples
include but are not limited to a well traveled Frenchman, a recent German immigrant, etc. Be
creative but make sure you are able to write from that perspective.
Audience:
The newspaper will be printed in a neutral country so make sure you cover both sides of the
Revolution in your articles
Situation:
You have been sent to the British North American Colonies to report on the events, feelings,
temperament, the causes, the colonial reaction, etc. Focusing closely on why things are the way they
are.
Product Performance and Purpose(Also includes Standards)
You have been asked to create a brochure on the American Revolution. You need to write five
different articles; two on the causes of your choice, one on a battle that the colonists lost, one that
they one, and an article on how the American Revolution effected the foreign affairs of Europe. Your
articles should focus on why the colonists responded the way they did to the cause, why the king or
parliament instituted it in the first place, and how the king or parliament reacted to the colonist’s
reaction. You will also want to include pictures, diagrams, charts, etc. The purpose of your brochure
is to educate the Europeans as to what the Revolution is really about.
Key Criteria
 Accurate
 Insightful
 Original
 Attractive.
 Coherent
 Convincing
Other Evidence
American Revolution Quiz
Declaration of Independence Annotation
Revolutionary War Timeline
American Revolution Questions
Boston Massacre Reading
Spreading Conflict Questions
Journal writings
American Revolution ID’s
Book report
First American Christmas Reading
Surrender of Burgoyne Reading
Understanding by Design
2 Page Unit Template
(p. 36-37 in UbD Professional Development Workbook)
Stage 3 – Learning Plan
Learning Activities Consider WHERETO elements.
1. Introduce Salutary Neglect and why the colonists were so upset about Britain beginning to tax
them. This is a journal prompt. The metaphor is that their parents give them a lot of freedom
when they become high schoolers, give them the key to the car, no curfew, etc and only ask
that they stay out of trouble, get good grades, and keep working at their job. Other than that
the students can do what they want. Go to bed when they want, eat what they want, etc.
Then when they are seniors their parents change their minds and give them very strict rules.
They have to pay for their car insurance, get straight A’s, go to bed at nine every night, work
thirty hours a week and the parents get most of their money, and get to tell them what they
can spend the rest on. The writing is how would you feel, and what would you do about it?
After a discussion on how the students would fee, and what they would do about it there is
a introductory period on the enduring understandings and the assessment to make sure the
students know where we are headed. The students should be working on the identifications
and the book report every night. This unit almost takes up my entire second term give about
two weeks where we are studying the French and Indian War. The students have been given
the book report assignment in advance a week or so to make sure they can get one and to
make sure they have enough time to read it. Remind them daily about reading their books and
working on the identifications. It may even be better when you get to the identifications that
you have ten due every couple of days depending on the age and responsibility of the
students. These will come into play on the third day.
2. To begin the day the students are going to do set up a journal as a KWL chart. What they
Know about the causes American Revolution, what they Want to know and what they Learned.
Then there is a Lecture on the first part of the Causes of the Revolutionary War. (Entitled:
American Revolution 1) After which the students will finish filling out their charts about what
they learned. For homework the students will create a timeline on the American Revolution.
The assignment is just title Revolutionary War Timeline. Encourage them to be creative as
possible using pictures, drawings, technology etc to bring it to life. This will help the students
have a sense of how the revolution played out.
3. The journal for today is: In US History we are taught two very different examples of protest.
During the American Revolution the Colonists protested often violently against the king and
parliament while in more modern times men like Martin Luther King Jr. are praised for their
peaceful protests. What is the best way to get your message across? The students are going
to get some background information out of the textbook today using a set of questions I
created to focus their attention. The textbook my class uses is America: A Narrative History
written by George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi. The assignment is entitled: Causes of
the Revolution 177-180. We also have the second half of the lecture on the causes of the
American Revolution entitled American Revolution 2. I also hand out the American Revolution
Identifications to them for them to start on. They should already know about half of them from
the unit on the French and Indian War and the last two days. They need to write a paragraph
on each of them stating what they are and why they are important.
4. The journal entry for today will be to answer the essential questions: Could the American
Revolution been avoided?
The students will analyze two different documents in class, actually the class will split in two
groups and each group of students will analyze one document. The first group will read the
Understanding by Design
2 Page Unit Template
(p. 36-37 in UbD Professional Development Workbook)
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
newspaper article on the Boston Massacre. They will be using a primary source analysis
sheet from the national archives located at:
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/ . The second group will be analyzing
the painting of the Boston Massacre by Paul Revere. Then after they are done they will do an
inside out circle where the inside group is the group that read the article and the outside group
is the group that analyzed the painting. They will each share two things off of their papers that
they learned with the person across from them. They will rotate three or four times until it is
obvious that they have covered most of the material.
There will be a pop quiz today to make sure the students have a grasp of the causes to the
Revolutionary War so far. It is entitled American Revolution Pop Quiz. You can warn the
students about it or not but I prefer not to so that I get a better understanding of what they
know rather than what they just cramped in their head ten minutes before class. The students
are going to do a short reading on the Battles of Lexington and Concord using the primary
source analysis sheet from the national archives website. Then the students will watch a short
video on the same event to get a different perspective. The video is The Revolution series
from the history channel entitled Boston Bloody Boston and it will be the chapter on the Battle
of Lexington and Concord. It is only a few short minutes. The students will do a short journal
write to end the day comparing the version they read with what they saw portrayed in the
movie.
The students are going to be reading out of our textbook and answering some questions.
Today is a simple day but still important. The topics include Washington taking command,
Battle of Bunker Hill, the Olive Branch Petition, etc. (Spreading Conflict Questions) As the
students all take different amounts of time to finish I have left it open for them to use the rest of
the day to work on their ID’s.
As a class we are going to go over the Declaration of Independence. We will each read a
section of it and take time to make sure the students understand what each section means. I
like to break it up into three sections. The first two paragraphs contain the unalienable rights
and the times when it is ok for men to rise up against their government. The next section are
the reasons why they are declaring their independence. The final paragraphs are where the
colonists are actually declaring their independence. I like the students to take note on it as we
go paying particular attention to these three areas. This also helps show the students how the
causes that we talked about help fit into place in the mind of the colonists as most of them are
written in to the Declaration of Independence.
Take a stand day (or at least my version of it). The students have to decide where they would
fit in the American Revolution. Would they be Loyalists or would they be Patriots. Give the
students some time to decide if they would be a loyalist or a Patriot. They should be able to
use the background knowledge they have gotten so far. The question they need to ask
themselves is “Are these causes all enough for us to want to be independent from the most
powerful empire in the world?” The question can be altered but I like the students to take the
devil’s advocate position to be able to give different perspectives. The students then move to
opposite sides of the room and have to come up with three concrete ideas of their own as to
why they chose what they chose. Then we have a class discussion using a Venn diagram to
outline what the possible reasons were for choosing which side. After the students will do a
journal write to see if they changed their mind and why or why not.
For this day you will need The American Revolution Jackdaw. The students will do group work
using the documents in the Jackdaw and design a short presentation to the class on what they
discovered. Each student needs a specific role in order for this to work well. The Facilitator:
Makes sure everyone in the group understands the task at hand and makes sure everyone
has a chance to participate. The Recorder: keeps an official record of the group’s proceedings
Understanding by Design
2 Page Unit Template
(p. 36-37 in UbD Professional Development Workbook)
and makes sure all the members have the info they are going to need. Materials Manager: the
only person who goes to get materials and he manages and keeps track of them. The
Reporter: Organizes the group’s presentation and should see that all the individual efforts are
coordinated. The Harmonizer: Listens and observes and makes sure everyone’s needs and
concerns are met. (Cutting Edge Education 2009) This activity is going to have to be adapted
to the class size and personality and so it is left open for the individual teacher to choose
which documents out of the Jackdaw to use. The groups may need to altered maybe one
added or taken away to make sure the groups fit the class size. For a smaller class each
group may work over a few documents while a large class will take longer to present and may
only go over one. After the students get a chance to read through the document they will fill
out a primary source analysis sheet on it and then present their findings to the class.
10. Today is going to be a work day for the students to complete their Identifications and their
book reports. It is important before going into the final stage of the unit that they have those
done so they can focus on the next group project and the final assessment without worrying if
they got those done or not. They should be able to complete any ID’s they already haven’t in
class and those that are done can use the day as a reading day or a day to write their paper.
These two assignments it is important that you stay on top of these two assignments so they
don’t pile up.
11. This activity may take a few days to complete but it is up to the teacher how long. The
students will be researching the main battles of the Revolutionary War, putting together a
presentation for the rest of the class, and then presenting to the class about their battles. The
amount of students in each group is going to depend on how many students in the class. The
groups will be assigned one of the following battles, Long Island, Trenton and Princeton,
Brandywine Creek, Saratoga, Monmouth Courthouse, Charleston, Cowpens, and Yorktown.
This ends up in my classroom three in each group or sometimes four. In the smaller classes I
may end up teaching a few of the battles just to ensure that the groups keep maintain three or
four students. Each group must put together a presentation that includes what happened in
the battle, why it was important, how it changed the outcome of the war, etc. They must
include a map of the battle field, it can be in whatever form printed, digital, etc as long as they
make the arrangements necessary before hand. They also must incorporate at least one
primary source document in their presentation. Because I like this to only take two days with
the presentation each member of the group is going to have to maximize their time in order to
get this done. It is best if the group split up and each member do a different task. I like to
have the students divvy they duties this time. They had an example from the last activity on
how to spread things out so they can choose to do it that way or they can do it so that every
member has something else to find. An example is student 1 finds out the battle strategy and
the map. Student 2 finds the primary source they are going to use. Student 3 finds out why it
was important and how it changed the outcome of the war. This way when they present each
student is responsible for his/her own part and the whole group isn’t dependent on one student
not showing up to class.
12. For our final activity we do a History Line Up. (Cutting Edge Education 2009) There are
several ways to do this but I have adapted it a little. I write on an index card around 30 events
from the Revolutionary War ranging from the Treaty of Paris of 1763 to 1783 and the class has
to put them in order. I give them three chances to get it done before I step in and help them.
They can ask me how many are in the wrong place but I won’t tell them which ones and they
have to work through the story to figure it out. To make it even a little more exciting offer 20
extra credit if they get it right the first time, ten the second, and five the third. This works as a
fantastic informal assessment. Just sit back and listen as the students try to retell the story of
the American Revolution. This is also a great place for the students to show their cause and
Understanding by Design
2 Page Unit Template
(p. 36-37 in UbD Professional Development Workbook)
effect skills they should have been working on. The events I use are as follows: Treaty of
Paris 1763, Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Repeal of Stamp Act, Townshend Act, Repeal of
Townshend Act, Declaratory Act, Tea Act, Boston Tea Party, Boston Port Act, Quebec Act,
Lexington and Concord, Battle of Bunker Hill, Olive Branch Petition, Declaration of
Independence, Ticonderoga Falls, British evacuate Boston, Battle of Long Island, Trenton,
Princeton, Brandywine, Saratoga, Monmouth Courthouse, Charleston, Cowpens, Yorktown,
Treaty of Paris 1783. The rest of this day can be used to tie up any loose ends that you have
found over unit and if you need to revisit some items that they misunderstood.
13. Today is a work day for the students to work on their final assessment. Make sure to go back
over in detail what the assignment is and what is expected out of them. If it is possible it would
be best to get a computer lab for the students to work in as they begin to create their
newspapers. The day they turn their papers in I like to share a few of them. The students put
a lot of hard work into this assignment and have a lot of pride in how they turned out. It is well
work taking a half an hour of class time and have them trade assignments a few times to see
what their classmates did, have them read through them and even give a short critique of how
they could have made it better. Just informal to get another set of opinion besides the teacher.