Patriots vs. Loyalists 1776 (Lesson 1)
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Concept & Academic Vocabulary:
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Loyalist
Patriot
Parliament
Taxation without representation
Liberty
Intolerable Acts
Target Learning Objectives/Outcomes:
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1. Students will be able to explain the differences between a Patriot and a Loyalist
during the American Revolution.
2. Students will be able to describe tensions and hostilities between Patriots and
Loyalists during the American Revolution.
3. Students will be able to explain why Loyalists wanted to stay connected to Great
Britain and why Patriots wanted independence.
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Essential Questions:
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1. What are the major differences between American colonists who are Patriots and
those who are Loyalists?
2. How did Patriots and Loyalists feel about one another? In what ways did they act
violently toward one another?
3. Why did the Loyalists want to stay connected with Great Britain? Why did the
Patriots want to be independent?
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Standards addressed (WMAS):
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• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.6 Evaluate authors’ differing points of view on the
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same historical event or issue by assessing the authors’ claims, reasoning, and
evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of
information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as
well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.8 Evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and
evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.
Materials/Resources
The materials required for this lesson are: a PowerPoint, one primary source
account of Patriot/Loyalist violence, a KWL Graphic Organizer, two sheets of
poster board, colored markers, tape, whiteboards, and 8 debate prompt cards.
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Anticipatory Set (Hook):
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The anticipatory set will consist of a guided imagery activity in which
students close their eyes and listen to a scenario in which they must choose to be either a
Loyalist or a Patriot.
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Activities (Step by Step Procedures):
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1. After the anticipatory set, we will pass out KWL graphic organizers to the
students. After passing out the graphic organizers we will explain the purpose
behind the graphic organizer and instruct the students how to fill out the first
two sections. The students will have a small amount of time to fill out the K
and W sections of the KWL graphic organizer. The purpose behind this is to
prompt their prior-knowledge of anything they might know or wonder about
regarding the topic of the lesson.
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2. Following the KWL graphic organizer activity. We would share a brief
PowerPoint lecture on the differences between Loyalists and Patriots. This
small lecture would serve to convey basic need-to-know information about the
topic: who were the Loyalists/Patriots, what did they believe, how many
Loyalists/Patriots lived in the 13 colonies, etc.
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3. The PowerPoint lecture would segue into a brief examination of primary source
pictures found in newspapers depicting Loyalist/Patriot violence. This segue
would serve to introduce students to our next activity: creating a newspaper
cartoon/ political cartoon depicting Loyalist/ Patriot violence.
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4. One half of the class would be assigned to the Loyalist group, the other half to
the Patriot group. Each group would be given one sheet of poster paper upon
which to draw their cartoon. Before they could start drawing however, we
would explain that the Loyalist group could only draw from the Loyalist
perspective (i.e. anti-Patriot) and vice versa. Students would then be allotted inclass time (5-10 minutes) to draw their newspaper cartoon. After both groups
had finished drawing, they would bring their cartoons to the front of class and
elect a member to explain what they drew and why.
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5. Students would then be sent back to their seats but would stay in their Loyalist
and Patriot groups. We would tell the students that the next activity would be a
debate. Four members from each group would be elected to debate whether or
not to pursue independence from Britain. The remaining students would come
together as a Continental Congress to reach a verdict on independence after
each side had debated the issue. After the instructions of the debate have been
made clear to the class, we would hand out the debate prompt cards. Each
group would be given 3-5 minutes to review their prompt cards before starting
the debate.
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6. Debate activity.
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7. After the debate is finished we would bring the class together as a group and
lead a small discussion on the debate. (What did you learn about Patriot and
Loyalist beliefs from this exercise? Why did Loyalists want to stay connected
to Britain and Patriots want independence?)
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8. After the small in-class discussion we would instruct students to take out their
KWL organizers from earlier. We would tell them to fill out the L portion of the
graphic organizer. They should write everything they had learned about Patriots
and Loyalists during the lesson. After each student was finished writing, they
would turn and talk to the person next to them about what they learned.
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Closure (at the least must include a formative assessment):
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This final part of the KWL would serve as our formative assessment. The KWL
graphic organizer should indicate to us whether the students came away with additional
knowledge and whether it was relevant to our lesson objectives. As further closure to our
lesson we would have the students informally tell us two roses and one thorn regarding
the lesson (i.e. what were two parts that you enjoyed or learned from and what was one
confusing part). This should help us assess whether our teaching was clear and whether it
pointed directly to our lesson objectives.
Extensions/Adaptations:
This lesson is adaptive to student needs and learning styles because it incorporates
a variety of instructional strategies. We incorporated a graphic organizer, a traditional
lecture, a picture drawing activity, a debate and an informal turn-and-talk discussion.
These instructional strategies appeal to students who are extraverted, introverted, artistic,
visual and auditory—or any combination of them.
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