LESSON 8.24 Tensions in the West
Learning targets
(clear, understandable versions of standards in
student friendly language)
1. Evaluate effects of 19th century westward
migration, particularly on native populations.
2. Evaluate the impact of U.S. expansion from
1787 to 1900 on other nations and peoples.
Language objectives
(identified cognitive functions correlated to the
learning targets, such as sequence,
compare/contrast, cause/effect, infer, and argue,
as well as the signal words to be deliberately
taught/used in discussion and writing; sentence
frames in support section)
Description
Elaboration
History Alive! Preview activity
(builds background; links to student experience)
Preview 23, p. 167 in ISN
Write about a time when someone made a
promise to you and then broke it. Tell what the
promise was. Why did the person break the
promise? How did you feel when the promise
was broken?
Pre-assessment activities/documents
(serves as self-assessment for students; informs
instruction for teachers; charts or documents
may be used as a place to gather
concepts/information throughout lesson through
debriefing; may include visuals, lesson
questions, lesson vocabulary, language
objectives, and/or learning targets)
See lesson questions
Lesson questions
(drive instruction; may create links to previous
learning; may be included in pre-assessment)
1. What motivated so many Americans to move
west, onto and beyond the
Great Plains? What challenges did this
movement present to settlers,
Native Americans, and the nation?
2. How and why did American agriculture and
industry develop so dramatically
in the late 19th and early 20th century? What
role did climate, natural
resources, and trade play in this development?
3. How did the growth of agriculture, mining,
railroading, and industry
contribute to a change in federal Indian policy in
Modified from History Alive! 2010
SUMMARY OVERVIEW
History Alive! lesson plan
In this lesson, students learn about the
expansion of the American frontier after the
Civil War and about the Native Americans’
response to this expansion. First, students
will listen to the song “The Heart of the
Appaloosa,” a song that describes the
displacement of the Nez Perce with settlers.
Then, students will read and take notes
about the groups that have settled the
West—railroads, miners, ranchers, and
homesteaders—and the Native Americans’
reactions to them. Finally, students apply
their learning in a processing assignment.
Recommended changes to HA! lesson
plan
I would skip the experiential exercise and
music video project noted in the HA lesson
guide. These take a lot of time which you
will likely not have at the end of the year.
Instead, pick supplemental videos, clips,
songs, and literature noted in the section on
additional background building.
In Beyond the Oregon Trail, Lesson 6:
Closed Doors, Close Minds: Asian
Exclusion in Oregon (pg. 53-67), students
learn a brief history about the migration of
various groups to Oregon and their
contributions. Students also learn about the
early exclusion of Chinese and Japanese
people in Oregon, as well as Japanese
Internment during World War II. However,
as World War II is covered extensively in
high school, and we are only teaching up
through 1900, you might focus more on the
experience and contributions of Chinese
and Japanese immigrants up until 1900.
(Koreans and Filipinos did not move to
Oregon until the early 1900s).
Since the text is inaccessible at an
independent reading level for many ELL
students and students reading below grade
level, I had to read most sections of most
chapters aloud.
1
the 1860s?
4. What actions did the government take to
encourage business growth in
the late 19th century?
5. Why were entrepreneurs, industrialists, and
bankers significant figures in American politics
and business in the late 19th century?
Additional background building
(streaming video segments, DVD, map review,
read aloud of a related piece of fiction, etc.)
Please see document with this lesson for some
awesome video clips, songs, movie, and
literature suggestions!!
Key content vocabulary (italicized words
assessed)
1. subsidy p. 340
2. homesteader p. 340
3. transcontinental railroad p. 340
4. Surveyors, p. 341
5. Graders, p.341
6. Tracklayers, p. 341
7. Spikers, p.341
8. Buffalo, pg. 342, 345
9. Mining pg. 343, 344
10. Vigilantes p. 344
11. Stockyards, p. 345
12. Cowboys p. 345
13. Cattle drive, p. 345
14. the “long drive” p. 345
15. Homestead Act p. 340
16. Sod houses, p. 347
17. reservation p. 337
18. Nez Percé p. 338
19. Appaloosa p. 338
20. treaties p. 338
21. Chief Joseph p. 339
22. Battle of the Little Big Horn p. 350
See additional vocabulary for ELLs and
struggling students
Helpful supplements include: A Young
People’s History of The United States,
Beyond the Oregon Trail, Discovery
Streaming, etc. I’ve included an extensive
list of video, song, movie, mini-series, and
literature links in the “background building”
section.
If you’re in a time crunch at the end of the
year, you can have students read the
chapter summary at the end of the book,
instead of the whole chapter, and show a
video or two from the list provided under
additional background building.
Flexible grouping pattern of the lesson
Whole class
Reading
Partners
Independent
READING SUPPORT
Lesson-specific instructional supports http://groups.teachtci.com/
* see Enrichment Plan for Compacting/Extensions
Suggested strategies for
Focus pages/paragraphs for
Thinking/Processintroduction Interactive Readguided reading group
Related Words
Aloud
(for example, Bloom’s,
etc.)
p. 351, paragraphs 1-6
Compare/contrast
Cause/effect
Problem/solution
Modified from History Alive! 2010
2
Elaboration
Resolve
WRITING SUPPORT
Lesson-specific instructional supports http://groups.teachtci.com/
* see Enrichment Plan for Compacting/Extensions
Sentence frames for parts of the
lesson
______ is significant because
___________________________
___________________________
_______.
DISCUSSION SUPPORT
Lesson-specific instructional supports http://groups.teachtci.com/
* see Enrichment Plan for Compacting/Extensions
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS (for student and teacher use)
“Check for understanding”
Checkpoints in Interactive Student
points during activities
Notebook
24.2 The Nez Perce
1. Where did the Nez Perce live and
roam for centuries?
2. What happened when horses
arrive din the Northwest in the
1700s?
3. How did the Nez Perce get along
with whites?
4. Why did miners swarm Nez Perce
land in the 1860s?
5. What did some Nez Perce bands
agree to in treaties with whites?
6. What terrible choice did the U.S.
government present Chief Joseph in
1877? What choice did he make?
7. Why did the Nez Perce end up at
war with whites?
8. Where did the Nez Perce flee to
for safety? How did the U.S. Army
respond? What was the result?
24.4 The Railroad Builders, p. 168
Draw a symbol to represent this group
that settled in the West. Note groups
involved, why they moved West,
problems, and the role in western
development. Explain your picture in
the space provided at the end of the
notes.
Questions
for
exit and
entrance
slips
Please see
“Check for
understanding
” points during
activities.
24.5 The Miners, p. 168
Draw a symbol to represent this group
that settled in the West. Note groups
involved, why they moved West,
problems, and the role in western
development. Explain your picture in
the space provided at the end of the
notes.
24.6 Ranchers and Cowboys, p. 169
Draw a symbol to represent this group
that settled in the West. Note groups
24.3 New Interest in the West
involved, why they moved West,
1. What was the Homestead Act?
problems, and the role in western
What was its impact?
development. Explain your picture in
2. What was the Pacific Railroad Act? the space provided at the end of the
Modified from History Alive! 2010
3
What was its impact?
notes.
24.4 The Railroad Builders
1. Why did the U.S. want to build a
transcontinental railroad? What were
the difficulties? How were these
challenges faced?
2. Why did workers take jobs working
for the railroad?
3. When did the East and West
railroad lines meet?
24.7 The Homesteaders, p. 169
Draw a symbol to represent this group
that settled in the West. Note groups
involved, why they moved West,
problems, and the role in western
development. Explain your picture in
the space provided at the end of the
notes.
24.5 The Miners
1. What led to the miners’ move to
California in 1848?
2. What was the result of miners
moving to mining sites?
3. How did mining change the West?
24.6 Ranchers and Cowboys
1. What was the railroad’s impact on
the buffalo? How did this impact the
Plains Indians?
2. How did the railroad help
ranchers?
3. What was life like for cowboys?
4. When did the cattle industry
collapse?
24.7 The Homesteaders
1. How many homesteaders had
moved onto the Great Plains by
1900?
2. Why did people move to the Great
Plains?
3. What challenges did farmers face
on the Great Plains?
Geography Challenge
1. Identify at least four interesting
details on the four maps.
2. Approximately what percentage of
the land in the continental United
States was held by Native Americans
in 1850? 1865? 1880? 1990?
3. What are some of the reasons
Native Americans lost so much land
between 1850 and 1990?
4. How do you think Native
Americans responded to this loss of
land?
Modified from History Alive! 2010
4
24.8 War on the Plains
1. Why did federal policy toward
Native Americans change? How did it
change?
2. What was life like on the
reservation?
3. What is another name for The
Battle of Little Big Horn?
4. What was the result of this battle?
5. What had happened by 1887?
REVIEW
Processing Assignment
Games
Other
(also serves as a formative assessment)
Processing 23: p. 170 in ISN:
Students will complete two acrostics using the
word frontier. One acrostic should reflect the
attitude of the white settlers toward the
settlement of the West. The other should reflect
the attitude of the Native Americans toward the
settlement of the West. Each acrostic should
contain three images of illustrations and should
have no spelling errors. Part of each acrostic is
completed for students. Students will also add
pictures.
Posters
Have each student complete
a poster for each of the
following topics: Nez Perce,
The Homestead Act, The
Pacific Railroad Act, The
Transcontinental Railroad,
Miners, Ranchers and
Cowboys, The
Homesteaders, Reservation
Life, The Battle of Little Big
Horn (Custer’s Last Stand),
Each poster should
summarize the key issues
around each topic and
include a drawing that
represents that topic.
The Life of the Immigrant Farmer, p. 460 in
HA!
After reading excerpts from Willa Cather’s novel,
My Antonia, and Ole E. Rolvang’s novel, Giants
in the Earth, students will complete a chart about
the difficulty that immigrant farmers faced in their
lives: Imagine that you are a historian studying
the West. You want to write a book about the life
of immigrants in the West that proves the
following statement: The life of the immigrant
farmer was dangerous and challenging. What
important information about this statement can
be drawn from these two literary excerpts? Make
a chart that lists the six terms (relevant,
irrelevant, essential, incidental, verifiable,
unverifiable), along with examples that you find
in My Antonia or Giants in the Earth. You may
use the same fact of information in more than
one place on the chart.
RECOMMENDED CHANGES TO LESSON ASSESSMENT AND KEY
Assessment
Key
Modified from History Alive! 2010
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