Lesson Topic: Gettysburg Address: “Words as Inspiration”
Grade level: 4-5
Length of lesson: 4 days
Author: Kathryn Notarpole
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to explore how a leader uses public speaking as
a tool to lead. By looking at Abraham Lincoln’s words in the Gettyburg Address (or other
Lincoln speech), students will learn about Lincoln as a leader, and how effective public
speaking can shaep the beliefs and actions of others. Students will also be introduced to
basic public speaking skills and will learn how to use multiple media to communicate
their understanding of content.*
Stage 1 – Desired Results
Content Standard(s):
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.4-5.4
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on
grade 4-5 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.4.C-5.4
Consult reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to
find the pronunciation and determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.rl.5.1
Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.2
Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or presented in diverse formats
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL4.5-5.5
Include multimedia components and visual displays in presentations to enhance the development
of main ideas or clarify information.
Understanding (s)/goals
Students will understand:
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Abraham Lincoln’s words inspired a
nation to continue toward the goal
of reuniting the union. Leaders
often use oratory to inspire or as a
call for people to take action.
A person’s choice of words can
shape what others believe/do.
We express our understanding in a
variety of ways, including word,
images and sound.
Effective communicators recognize
the power of using multiple media
to convey their message.
Compelling Question(s):
 How does a speaker’s word choice
affect the emotions and actions of
his/her audience?
 How can images help portray the
meaning of a message?
Student objectives (outcomes):
Students will be able to:
Close Reading Skills/Literacy
 identify key words, phrases and ideas that are meant to inspire.
 use evidence and vocabulary from the text to make inferences about the speaker’s intent
and message.
Speaking & Listening/Public Speaking Skills
 apply public speaking skills to communicate the speech’s message.
 apply background information to communicate the emotion and message of the speech
in performance.
 describe and discuss the effect a person’s choice of words can have on the actions and
beliefs of others.
Integration of Multimedia
 use images and audio to create a video that demonstrates and conveys understanding of
the speech.
 use video creating/editing software (iMovie, etc.)
Performance Task(s):
Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence
Other Evidence:
Large Group: Create a video of the class
reciting Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address that
includes images relating to the themes of the
speech.
Small group: Create a “remix” of the speech in
modern language, demonstrating
understanding of Lincoln’s words.
Each student will create a vocabulary chart of
unknown words from the text.
Stage 3 – Learning Plan
Learning Activities:
Day One
Hook: Understanding the power of word choice to inspire others, shape actions and
choices

When introducing the lesson for the day, tell the students that the reading that
will be used is labeled at a high lexile and that they will probably fail in
understanding it. As you quietly do something at your desk, give them a minute
to reflect on that statement.
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Then ask the students how telling them they would fail up front made them feel.
Identify what words/ideas they found bothersome. Ask for words that would
have conveyed the lesson in a positive way.
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Briefly discuss how words impact how people perceive things and restate the
day’s objective reflecting words that will inspire the students’ interest/efforts.
Introduction to Speech: Historic context
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Show an image of the battle site to give them context. Do a brief looking
exercise with the photograph. Ask: What do you see in this picture (descriptive
words)? What do you think is happening? What more do they see?
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Provide context for the Battle of Gettysburg, e.g. it was a three-day battle in July
1863, in Gettysburg, PA, fought between Union and Confederate forces during
the American Civil War. It resulted in the largest number of casualties during the
war, and some consider it a turning point in the war.

Discuss the need for a cemetery to bury and honor the dead. Share with them
that unlike modern times, soldiers’ bodies were not sent back to the families. Do
they have ideas as to why?
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Ask why Lincoln might have been asked to speak there. As the class begin the
process of analyzing the speech, tell the class they will be exploring the
speaker’s/author’s purpose for the speech. What did President Lincoln want the
listeners to understand or do as a result of listening to his speech?
Closing Reading Part I: Vocabulary
 Hand out the vocabulary chart. Read the address out loud to the students.
Students should listen for the identified vocabulary words and place a check
mark in the appropriate box of awareness.
 After the first reading, add any other words students feel are unfamiliar, e.g.
score, liberty, dedicate, proposition, conceived, consecrate, hallow, detract,
devotion, resolve, perish.
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Have students work in small groups to look up the definition of two of the
identified words. (Group one has words one and two, Group two has words three
and four, etc.)
Each group will share out their definitions with their classmates so everyone can
fill in their charts.
After each definition is shared, a student should read the line from the text
containing said word to help with understanding.
Day Two
Close Reading Part II: Remix and Language Analysis
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Using the Remix Graphic Organizer, each group should read the speech and
rewrite the vocabulary words in language more familiar to them*. As an
example, complete the first line together and discuss the historical context of
that statement. (i.e “Four score and seven years ago” becomes “87 years
ago.”). Have several groups stand and share their rewritten version of the
Gettysburg Address. Check for understanding.
*To save time, give each group only one section of the speech to paraphrase.
Write the entire speech on large poster paper, combining each groups’ portion.
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Class Discussion: Ask the class what words in the speech do they consider to
be inspirational words, that would encourage the people to continue fighting for
the cause of the Civil War (they do not need to be vocabulary words). Ask
students why they think Lincoln chose the words he did in giving this speech.
Ask students to look at the date of the speech. Do they know what happened in
our country 87 years prior? Why might Abraham Lincoln have made this
reference? What is the speaker’s/author’s purpose?
Public Speaking Skills: The Podium Points
 Using the Ford’s Theatre Podium Points document, introduce the public speaking
skills.
 Explain that the skills are divided into verbal and physical skills that provide the
foundation for effective public speaking.
 If possible, watch the Ford’s Theatre Oratory Tips and Tricks videos available on
the website: http://www.fords.org/home/education/school-programs/oratorytips-and-tricks
 If time is available, students might also watch video examples of effective
orators, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Winston Churchill or Barbara Jordan.
Speech examples may be found here:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speechbank.htm
Practice the Podium Points:
 Focus first on the verbal Podium Points (Pace, Emphasis, Diction, Tone and
Volume)
 Pair the students up.
 Give each pair the same line from the Gettysburg Address.
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Give each pair a podium point to demonstrate, with each student in the pairing
demonstrating contrasting extremes. Examples: for pace, one student in the pair
will say the line quickly, the other very slowly; for tone, one student says the line
angrily, the other happily.
Each pair should demonstrate its Podium Point at the front of the class for the
class to guess and discuss.
As a class, discuss how using a podium point helps the audience to understand.
If one speaks too quickly or too slowly, or if one’s tone is inappropriate for the
words, how does that affect the message of the speech?
Repeat process for physical Podium Points.
Discuss how physical choices (posture, gesture, eye contact) can help us to
understand the speaker’s intent and the ideas they want us to remember. Would
you trust a speaker who never makes eye contact, or a speaker whose gestures
seem awkward?
Day 3
Podium Points and Performance
Podium Points Word Card Activity:
Revisit tone using the Word Cards strategy. The goal of this activity is for students to
become understand how important the speaker’s tone is to communicating the message
or desired impact of speech.
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Several student volunteers should be given a card with a line from the speech
and an emotion.
Each volunteer student should demonstrate their line in keeping with the
emotion. As an example, if a student is given the line “Four score and seven
years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in
Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” and
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the emotion “sad” they should demonstrate that line as sadly as they possibly
can.
The rest of the class should guess the emotion.
At the end of a few rounds of this activity, discuss the effects of tone on the
speaker’s/author’s purpose.
Stage a class performance of the speech. Staging decisions may include:
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The class performance could be tandem (one by one, line by line).
Students may be paired or grouped to say lines or words. Certain lines or words
can be said as an entire class, to add emphasis or to highlight important ideas.
Students could stand in clusters or shapes (tableaux). Just be sure voices are
clearly heard.
Once staging is set, rehearse as a class two to three times before recording.
Record the Performance:
 Note: This could be done on Day 4. Students could be asked to practice their
lines as homework.
 Using technology available to you, record the performance. If you prefer, you
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can also record each student speaking a line from the Gettysburg address.
Upload video clips to video editing platform of your choice. (iMovie, etc.)
Day 4
Creating The Video
Selecting Images and Sound:
 Review the themes of the speech.
 Discuss as a class how images can help us to understand Lincoln’s message.
 Present some images from which the class can choose:
o Images are available on the Ford’s Theatre My Lincoln Video project
page, http://www.fords.org/my-lincoln-video/media-to-use/images, or
you may use images from the Library of Congress collection,
http://loc.gov/pictures/. The LoC has a Civil War Collection
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/civwar/ .
o As a class, storyboard the images with the speech text or clips of student
performance, to finalize video design.
 Note: The teacher or tech-savvy students could create the video, after the
whole class has chosen images. Seeing the program in action would be a great
introduction to those who have never used it.
 Upload the chosen images and insert them into the video.
 Upload completed video to Ford’s Theatre website, http://www.fords.org/mylincoln-video
Extensions:
 Talk with the students about what they learned about President Lincoln by
studying the Gettysburg Address.
 Have students write a paragraph, giving a specific example, when they used a
poor choice of words to share their thoughts and how choosing other words
could have better conveyed their message. Ask volunteers to share their
paragraphs out loud.
*A Ford’s Teaching Artist may be requested for a fee, to work with students on the skills
needed for successful oration.
Resources
Gettysburg Address text and images: www.fords.org
Adapted vocabulary scale:
http://wvde.state.wv.us/strategybank/KnowledgeRatingScale.htmlPossible image for use during background of battle:
http://www.nps.gov/gett/historyculture/gettysburg-cyclorama.htm-