The Truth and Nothing But…
By Julie S. Gillis
Burgwin Elementary School

The children of the new millennium are victims. They are victims of a widespread media blitz, which disregards a child’s development and a child’s lack of understanding of what is fact or fiction. This unit plan will provide an opportunity for students to explore print media, analyze the differences between fact and fiction, research different types of advertising, determine what is important and unimportant information, and produce a class newspaper that demonstrates their understanding of the workings of the media.

My students are ten and eleven years old and in the fifth grade. According to Piaget’s theories of development, students of ten and eleven begin to pass through two major stages of development – concrete and formal operational thought. Concrete operational thought suggests that a child needs to have clearly available perceptual and physical supports. The concrete operational thinker does not have the ability to imagine the steps in the solution to an abstract problem. However, concrete operational thought allows for the ability to classify or divide things into different sets and consider their interrelationships. Formal operational thought, on the other hand, allows for abstractness, idealism and an understanding of possibilities rather than what is concretely real, as well as an advanced understanding of language and perspective taking. Children in this stage are able to look beyond themselves and their own experiences to determine what is real. Piaget’s studies suggest that children need to be guided through these stages and are no longer rely exclusively on mere experience to understand the connections necessary for formal operational thought.

In terms of this unit plan an understanding of these stages is necessary because older elementary students must be guided to understand the perspective necessary for analyzing what they see in the media. In other words, at first elementary students can only understand what they have experienced. If the media presents a story with a certain bias, students of this age will believe what they see because they lack the experience and developmental skill to imagine a different perspective. However, as they begin to go through the formal operational thought stage of development they have an ability to draw conclusions themselves, but whether they use this ability is dependent on specific learning experiences. So it is important that late elementary students receive the educational experience to enable them to utilize and develop formal operational thought.

I have found with my own students that this research (which we thought we would never use after the test in college) is truly valuable. It answered for me whether it was worthwhile to teach my students higher level thinking skills at their age or if I should just "spoon feed" the information to them. I am convinced that, given the right circumstances, my students not only rise to the occasion but also far exceed my expectations in drawing conclusions about what they read and see in the media. This is not to say that fifth graders are not gullible. There is a fine line between concrete and formal operational thought development and this line is best crossed when the students are taught to cross it. I am focusing on fact and opinion because the students should question what they see and read in the media and they should look for further information if what they are presented with does not make sense to them. They need to know that the media is not always presenting them with factual information and that this information is not always presented without ulterior motives. Much of what is in the news is presented to sell products – newspapers, television, or advertising time not to mention soda, sneakers and sex. Students need to look at this information that bombards them with open eyes as well as an open mind.

I have limited my study of the media to newspapers in order that the students will have the opportunity to view primary and secondary sources through their social studies curriculum. The fifth grade social studies curriculum explores early American History up through the Revolutionary War. Therefore, this unit will focus on 18^th century sources as well as secondary sources that involve that era. The students will have the opportunity to question the news media but also question common conceptions about major historical figures. They will be able to determine the validity of these conceptions and decide why some of these conceptions took hold at the time.

I have split the unit into two main sections. In part 1, I will present the basic information and objectives for my students to understand and acquire information about how a newspaper works. They will explore primary and secondary sources, fact and opinion, and advertisements as presented in today’s world. They will explore what they already know about the media - they are bombarded with it on a daily basis and will begin to analyze what they are seeing and hearing. They will also develop a simple newspaper based on school activities and issues that would include all of the elements of the newspaper that they have studied.

In part 2, I will present students with a project that will involve the elements they have explored in part 1 of the unit. The project will require them to develop a newspaper that covers the major events of the Revolutionary War. They will develop news articles pertaining to the Revolution as well as advertisements, letters to the editor and personal profiles. They will be required to use a variety of sources for their information and a variety of techniques in presenting this information. Because this part of the unit will be student driven, many of the decisions about what topics will be covered in the newspaper will be decided upon by the children from a list of possible topics. This follows along with the concrete operational stage of development that many of my students will be entering in the later part of the fifth grade school year. This decision-making will help them feel ownership of the project.

Objectives:

1. The students will be able to identify and define primary and secondary sources and distinguish the similarities and differences between them.

2. The students will identify several sources of secondary materials.

3. The students will determine the how each type of secondary source can be used and in what circumstances and determine the appropriate uses of primary source material.

Procedures:

1. Define primary and secondary source utilizing the definition in the social studies book. (U.S. History – Macmillan)

2. After breaking the students into groups of four, pass out several examples of primary and secondary source materials to each group. The students should identify the source and determine whether it is a primary or secondary source based on the definition. Examples of primary sources should include memoirs, letters, and autobiographies. Example of secondary sources should include encyclopedias, almanacs, biographies, and books of events of early colonization of America. The students should be familiar with these source materials as they are a part of the genres of literature that are a part of the Pittsburgh Public Schools’ 25 book requirement.

3. After determining the type of source, the students should fill in a chart that shows what information each source includes. (Appendix A) Discuss what would be the best use for the various sources. This step will entail asking leading questions so that the students who have had very little research experience will understand the limited nature of such secondary sources as encyclopedias and almanacs. Sample questions may include:

a. Who created or is responsible for this source?

b. What might the author’s purpose be in writing this piece?

c. Does the author see the event he is describing from a personal point of view or a more global one? In other words, does the author see the big picture?

d. Why is this source important to a topic? What topic would include this information?

e. Why would a researcher want to use this information?

f. Is this information as accurate as it can be?

g. Where did the author get their information? – eyewitness accounts? -exact mathematical data? – many second hand sources?

The students should be led to the conclusion that using many different types of sources is the most effective way of presenting a complete view of a subject.

 

Objectives:

1. Make a list of words or phrases that flag opinions.

(I feel, I believe, great, worst, most exciting, least likeable, etc.)

2. Read some editorials and letters to the editor from the newspaper and identify the opinion words and phrases.

3. Write a letter to the editor that includes opinion words and phrases.

Procedures:

1. On chart paper (so that this can be posted or brought back for use at a later time in the lesson), make a list of words or phrases that show the author is giving an opinion. In fifth grade this skill should be review from the language arts curriculum.

2. Pass out some examples of editorials and letters to the editor from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette or other area newspapers. Students should circle or underline the opinion words and discuss as a group why the author is presenting a biased viewpoint.

3. Pointing out the format they have witnessed in the examples, students should write their own letter to the editor concerning a topic important to them for instance, the homework policy or the dress code. They should utilize at least 8 opinion words or phrases.

4. Students will trade papers with a partner and count how many opinion words they can find. This can be a game, whoever has the most opinion words will win a trip to "Opinionated Island" and has to argue their point of view in front of the class. Determine if the more opinion words that are used make an argument more convincing. The answer to this question depends on the class and the topic. Generally, however, the most forceful argument will be the more convincing and will be backed up with the most facts with fewer stated opinions.

Objectives:

The students will be able to define at least two types of advertising techniques.

The students will be able to identify at least two types of advertising techniques in advertisements.

The students will analyze the advertising techniques and determine what the ad is really selling.

The students will create their own ads without using advertising techniques.

Procedure:

1. In this lesson the students explore print advertising. The students read "How to Be An Inventor" by Barbara Taylor. This story shows the inception of several famous inventions such as the gas mask, earmuffs and Frisbee. The story also includes a description of some products that children have patented. The students will discuss the various advertising techniques used in this story to sell each invention such as loaded words and bandwagon techniques. After determining what type of technique the ad is using, the students will determine if the advertisements use the same list of opinion words and phrases we explored in lesson 1.

2. Give the students several examples of loaded word and bandwagon ads from newspapers and magazines. Have the students then break up into groups and decide how the various products in the sample ads are selling their product. Is the ad truthful or is it stretching the truth? Have the groups choose one ad to present to the class and explain what it is really selling. In order to have all the students in the group have a job and a chance to speak in front of the class you can assign each one a specific question to address in their presentation. For example:

a. The advertising technique being used in this ad is ____________. Evidence of this is _____________.

b. This ad is really selling…(sex, beauty, the American Dream, etc.)

c. This ad is geared toward ___________audience.

3. The students will make their own advertisement that is truthful. They should avoid all advertising techniques and just try to sell the product as it is. They will then present this to the class.

a. This new ad is truthful. We are only selling the product _________.

b. The evidence that no advertising technique was used is __________.

c. Would you buy this product with this "truthful" advertising technique? Why or why not?

The students will undoubtedly be frustrated by this exercise because these advertising techniques permeate our society. The students will most likely have to be given several chances to create such a foreign advertisement. The students will become aware of how difficult it is to create a "truthful" advertisement and therefore will come to the realization that advertisements are meant to manipulate their audience into buying a product. Point out that cigarette ads and other advertisements that are selling something that is known to be harmful to the consumer’s health usually depict the products promoting an active lifestyle. For example, the Marlboro Man is a healthy, active, good-looking, strong cowboy. Have the students think of some advertisements from television or magazines that sell products that they enjoy that are examples of manipulation.

Objectives:

1. From given texts the students will be able to distinguish what is important information and what is unimportant information.

2. The students will be able to interview an important person in their lives.

3. The students will evaluate what information that the person they interviewed was important and what was unimportant.

Procedures:

1. Give students a worksheet that includes a topic and several paragraphs of information. (Appendix B) An article from magazines such as People or even news stories that give background information on a subject but ignore the main point of the article can be used. Through class discussion the students will cross out what information is important and what information is unimportant to the topic. Point out that interesting is not always important.

2. Give the students the worksheet on how to conduct a personal interview. (Appendix C) They should interview three people of their choice within a given time frame. (I suggest three days not including weekends). They can choose to interview friends, parents, teachers, administrators, custodians, children and adults at schools with playgrounds, school officials, city council members, public works representatives, or parks and recreation leaders. The students may develop their own questions or utilize the questions in the appendix. The students should not be made aware of the topic before the interview, since the point of this exercise is to determine what information they have gathered is important and what information is unimportant. Initially they will be asking more personal questions. After they have gathered information from this first interview they should be given a specific topic that will require their interview subjects to state an opinion. The students should then return to their interview subjects and follow up with appropriate questions to discover these pieces of information. They should ask questions that will lead them to this person’s opinion of the topic. The students will realize that personal information may be unimportant, however interesting, to the topic at hand. In my example, the students should be finding out if having playground equipment is important to a school. The students may discover that they need to interview different people than they originally considered in order to collect the information that they need. In the first interview they may have asked questions concerning interesting topics such as the nature of school lunches and the age, hometown, type of elementary school the interviewee attended, if the interviewee is married and how long it took to interview each person. Although this is interesting information, it is not always what is important in the writing of a newspaper article that is trying to convey an interview subject’s opinion and information on a certain issue.

3. After having conducted the interview, the students will compile the information that they have gathered and determine what information they have that is important. They should write their results in a short paragraph that identifies the person interviewed and the opinion they have about school playgrounds.

 

4. This exercise will show the students just how much information a reporter can obtain can be useful and how much of it can be useless to the point of the article. Pull that class back together and discuss how "interesting" is not always "important." Use some popular tabloid articles from the National Enquirer, and Star tend to make the unimportant information their headlines.

Objectives:

1. The students will be able to write their own news articles for a class newspaper.

2. The students will be review the parts of a newspaper and the functions of each part.

3. The students will write their own advertisements for imaginary products.

4. The students will write or edit previously written editorials and letters to the editor.

Procedures:

1. Acquire enough copies of the local newspaper for a classroom set. Review with the students the various sections of the newspaper. They should review the definitions of the following words: by-line, headline, column, editorial, letter to the editor, cartoon, political cartoon, human interest story, personal profile, obituary, classified ad, regional news, etc. Have the students highlight with a crayon or marker an example of each of these words.

2. Break the class up into groups based on what part of the newspaper they would like to create. Limit what is included in the newspaper to the number of groups that you have in the class. For example, with six groups you might have the first group work on a front page of news, the second group work on advertisements and classified ads, the third group work on editorials and letters to the editor, the fourth group work on a simple cartoon, the fifth group work on a person profile, and the sixth group work on typing up the articles as they are finished.

 

Because this lesson is meant only as a starting point for understanding the making of newspapers, only a few days should be used on the creation of the class newspaper. The students will have the opportunity to spend more time on creating an historical newspaper in part 2 of this unit.

In this portion of the unit students will create a historical newspaper based on the news of the American Revolution. This section of the unit can be done in tandem with the fifth grade social studies curriculum or as a separate unit. The students will have to have a basic knowledge of the key personalities of the Colonial times, access to computers and other resource materials, as well as an understanding of the major events of the American Revolution.

Objectives:

1. The students will be able to write a news article based on Benedict Arnold’s battle of New London, Connecticut.

2. The students will be able to use various resource materials.

3. The students will create their own news article about some other event in the American Revolution of their own choosing.

 

Procedures:

1. Have the students discover some basic facts about Benedict Arnold from their social studies book or the encyclopedia. They should write down this information as background notes on their article.

2. The students should then read the articles on Benedict Arnold at the following website http://home.ptd.net/~revwar/index.html. They should take notes and answer the five "w" questions – who, what, where, when, how.

3. Break the class up into two groups. The first group will be acting as a Colonial newspaper that is sympathetic to the rebelling colonists. The second group should be acting as a British newspaper with loyalty to the king. Each person in the group should then write the news article about this event being especially careful not to include any opinion about what they are writing but being mindful of the readership of the newspaper. (Therefore, the article will really give an opinion and this will show the students that newspapers do have bias even if they profess to be impartial.)

4. Have the students write a headline for their article.

5. Students should type their article into the computer and utilize any artwork that would help illustrate their news article.

If the students are not aware of why the colonists were rebelling and what England’s opinion of their rebellion was, this would be a good time to discuss this as a class lesson. Make clear that most of the colonists were ambivalent about being under British rule, but many of the more influential and wealthy colonists such as Samuel Adams, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Paul Revere saw that following the trade policies and tax policies of the British hurt their businesses and seriously infringed on their ability to acquire wealth (or the "pursuit of happiness"). Their powerful voices and influence brought to the forefront the main issues of the American Revolution. These educated men who had such strong personalities were able to push their ideas out to the public and feed the fire of rebellion. It was the newspapers that helped to spread the fire of rebellion and this fire was largely unchecked because to do so would be futile. "Governments had discovered that the newspapers spoke the voice of the people, and that to put them down would require an army, no a few crown counsel."

On the other hand, the British saw the colonies as a daughter to the motherland. The colonies were established as a means to extend their own power and influence worldwide. Colonies were meant to make wealth for Britain as well as be a stronghold in the Americas for further acquisition of land. The French and Indian War just twenty years earlier marked a contributing cause of the Revolution. For Britain it emphasized the neediness of the colonies for British protection and rule. The British helped the colonists win this war and therefore the colonists had to pay for it. The colonists did not agree. They had fought hard for Britain and believed that maintaining the colonies in America was a reason to be rewarded, not punished with the Intolerable Acts of 1774.

Further explanation of spies and traitors would also be important in this portion of the lesson. Even a discussion of the film Spy Kids could begin a discussion of what spy do and why they do it. The website www.si.umich.edu/spies/ has interesting information about spies and how they were able to send messages and gain information during the 18^th century.

6. Have the students choose an event from the list. (Appendix D) They should research this event in a similar fashion to the Benedict Arnold story. They should do research by using secondary and primary sources. I have listed some appropriate websites that contain both types of information in the bibliography.

7. The students should then compile their stories for two different newspapers – one British and one colonial. These news stories are part of the front section of the newspaper.

Objectives:

1. The students will be able to utilize various advertising techniques to advertise for historical information.

2. The students will be able to research the background of various advertising techniques and research the reasons why the militia may desert.

Procedures:

1. The students should find the following website and look at the traditional advertisement for finding deserters. They should take note of the ad and what will happen to the person who is deserting. They should research either on the Internet or in the library what the consequences of deserting are today.

2. The students will also research to see if they can determine why a militiaman would desert during the Revolution. They will discuss how most of the militia were farmers- a big bone of contention for the British in that they thought they could certainly defeat these lowly farmers against the powerful and well trained British army – and how many men would desert and go back to their families during harvest times and any other time their families may need them.

3. The students will then create an advertisement using one of the previously mentioned advertising techniques on poster board. They should keep in mind the low literacy rates in 1776 and limit the words they use in their ad. This advertisement will be assessed by the accuracy of the advertising technique as well as the historical content that each student presents based on their research. In other words, the reasons for deserting should be mentioned in the advertisement. (i.e. "Uncle Sam Want You to Come Back from Plowing")

4. The British newspaper group should also be advertising for deserters but from a different point of view. The British wanted the colonists to join the army and fight with their skilled soldiers. These advertisements should be more nationalistic in nature since the British believed that colonists were treasonous. This lesson may open up a good discussion of what was considered treason. The colonial newspapers were competing with the British newspapers and, " it is beyond doubt that, as the law stood, they wrote treason; but the people’s sentiments, right, justice, honour, and religion were all treason to that fraternal strife…Yet the guilty law was coward, for then treason was right and law was wrong." The move in journalism toward seeming unbiased reporting was not to be taken until well after the Revolutionary War was completed.

Objectives:

1. The students will be able to write a letter to the editor concerning the Stamp Act and taxation without representation.

2. The students will be able to identify various issues in today’s television media.

3. The students will be able to research some of Thomas Paine’s writings and write an editorial concerning the fighting of the Revolution from the point of view of a colonist or British subject.

Procedures:

1. After reviewing the information in their social studies books or other source information the students should write a letter to the editor stating their opinions as a colonial or loyalist concerning the Stamp Act. This provides a good review of letters to the editor from part 1 of this unit as well as practice in writing a persuasive business letter.

Again the difference in opinion should be stressed. The British believed that the French and Indian War was fought to protect the colonists in their precarious position in between French trading outposts in Nova Scotia, Canada, and Ohio so the colonists needed to repay the motherland for its protection. But even Benjamin Franklin in a committee of the House of Commons stated that these areas were not part of the colonies and were "…therefore of no particular concern or interest in that dispute." It was not until the defeat of British General Braddock at Fort Necessity that the colonies were attacked in any way. Even John Dickinson in Letters From a Farmer in Pennsylvania, No. VIII wrote that the war was fought for selfish reasons and that the colonies were under no obligation to the motherland for payment. The taxes that arose after the French and Indian War were thought to be unjust because payment was unwarranted and they were, in part, causes of the American Revolution.

It should be noted that these writings by Franklin, Dickinson, Adams, Otis, Henry, Hancock and others shaped public opinion to the point where a frenzy of action was taken. Can we say that writers and the media have such a great influence today? Probably only in the same way that it did in the 18^th century – if the news influences the pocketbook or "the pursuit of happiness," then its influence on public opinion is warranted. Yes, the Revolution was about the rights of the colonial citizenry, however, the merchants and wealthy radicals were the people who were having an effect on public opinion.

What section of the media has the greatest influence on the populace today? Unfortunately, it does not seem to be the news media in any form, but rather, the situation comedy. With shows as Will and Grace, Ally McBeal, and Friends dealing with issues like homosexuality, race, gun control, and surrogate mothers receiving higher ratings than any news program, we know where our opinions are coming from – not the news writer or the politician but the television script writer. These sit-coms do influence the student’s opinions as well. They are quickly able to discuss what happened the night before on their favorite shows and can even discuss at length the issues that they present. As a simple homework assignment have the students write about the shows that they watched the night before. Ask them to discuss the issue, not the comedy. (See Appendix E for sample questions.)

2. The students should complete a library or Internet search about Thomas Paine. They should look for basic information about his life and writings. There are several good websites on this subject. (See Internet bibliography). Have the students read the beginning of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Crisis 1 ("These are the times that try men’s souls…") and discuss what he may have been trying to do for General Washington’s troops at Valley Forge. Ask why these words, after Washington read them to the troops, would have been so important and inspiring. Point out that the result of Washington’s reading was a huge victory in Trenton, after the famous crossing of the Delaware– a turning point in the war. The purpose of this portion of the lesson is to show how words can have a great effect on those who read them, even from an uneducated fanatic. As Paine himself said, " There is nothing which obtains so general an influence over the manners and moral of a people as the Press; from that, as from a fountain, the streams of vice or virtue are poured forth over a country."

3. The students should write an editorial for the Colonial or British newspaper that either urges the continuation of the Revolution after Washington’s winter at Valley Forge or, from the British point of view, discouraging the continuation.

Objectives:

1. The students will be able to research a Revolutionary War figure using primary and secondary sources.

2. The students will write a profile of their chosen person using the writing process and insert it into the historical newspaper.

3. The students will orally present their research to the class as a creative presentation.

Procedures:

1. In pairs, the students should choose an historical figure from the list given. (See appendix)

2. Using library resources and the computer and including primary and secondary sources, the students should look for information about their chosen historical figure. A sample information sheet is included in the appendix. This exercise will require the students to take notes perhaps for the first time. A librarian would be helpful at this point if one is available.

 

3. The students should combine the information from their partner and write at least a two-page profile.

4. The students should then present their famous person to the class in a creative way. They may want to do a skit, a speech, dress up as their character, make posters or dioramas. Expect this lesson to take up to two weeks as well as out of class time. They will be graded on their presentation as well as the content of their profile.

Although this unit may seem that it will take up considerable class time, in fact it covers much of the curriculum and standards required for social studies, English, reading, and language arts. The students will come away with many options for their writing portfolios as well as a better understanding of American history. This unit is also an excellent starting point for starting a school newspaper and will introduce the students to many aspects of newspaper reporting and editing. Students have often had a difficult time understanding the importance of discerning the difference between fact and fiction and this unit will allow them to see how knowing these differences is important in all of their writing.

This unit fulfills the all of the district standards in Communications (1-9) and standards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 in Citizenship. Standards in Arts and Humanities (2, 3, 4) and Mathematics standard 6 are also covered in this unit. The five themes of social studies including location, place, human/environment interaction, regions and movement are covered as well. See appendix G for a complete listing of the Pittsburgh Public Schools Standards.

1 John W. Santrock, Adolexcence: An Introduction, (Dubuque: Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1987), p.136.

2 Ibid.p.137

3 Alexander Andrews. The History of British Journalism. (London: Richard Bentley, 1968), p. 219.

4 Ibid.

5 John Cl Wahlke, ed. The Causes of the American Revolution: Lawrence Henry Gipson, "The American Revolution as an Aftermath of the Great War for the Empire, 1754-1763. (Boston: D.C. Heath and Col, 1962), p.41.

6 Ibid.

7 Thomas Paine. The Pennsylvania Magazine. (January 24, 1775).

 

 

Andrews, Alexander. The History of British Journalism. London: Richard Bentley Publishers, 1968.

Aoki, Elaine M. Don’t Forget to Fly. NY: Macmillan McGraw-Hill, 1995.

Banks, James A. et al. ed. United States: Adventures in Time and Place. NY: Macmillan McGraw-Hill, 1997.

Katz, Jon. "The Age of Paine," Wired. www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.05/paine_pr.html. 1995.

Key, Wilson Bryan. Subliminal Seduction; Ad Media’s Manipulation of a Not So Innocent America. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973.

Kovach, Bill and Tom Rosenstiel. Warp Speed: America in the Age of Mixed Media. NY: Century Foundation Press, 1999.

Latham, Earl. ed. "The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution." Problems of American Civilization: Readings Selected by the Department of American Studies, Amherst College. Boston, D.C. Heath and Co., 1949.

Paine, Thomas. Crisis I. 1775.

Santrock, John W. Adolescence: An Introduction. Dubuque: Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1987.

Stephens, Mitchell. The History of News: From the Drum to the Satellite. NY: Viking, 1998.

Wahlke, John C. ed. "The Causes of the American Revolution." Problems of the American Civilization: Readings Selected by the Department of American Studies, Amherst College. Boston, D.C. Heath and Co., 1962.

Archiving Early America (http://earlyamerica.com/)

LIBERTY! The American Revolution. (www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/)

Spy Letters of the American Revolution – From the Collections of the Clements Library. (www.si.umich.edu/spies/)

The War for American Independence Website (http://home.ptd.net/~revwar/)

Thomas Paine (http://members.aol.com/tompaine7/)

Thomas Paine (www.infidels.org/library/historical/thomas_paine/)

 

 

The Battle of Lexington and Concord

The Meeting of the Second Continental Congress

The Boston Tea Party

The Battle of Fort Ticonderoga

The Green Mountain Boys

The Battle for Boston – March 5, 1776

The Battle for Trenton – December 25, 1776

The Battle of Saratoga

Winter at Valley Forge

Fort Vincennes and George Rogers Clark

The Naval War and John Paul Jones

Battle of Yorktown

Battles in Georgia

Treaty of Paris

1. Name of the show you watched -_____________________________.

2. Time the show was on - _______________.

3. Main characters in this episode -______________________________

4. Briefly describe the plot of the show -

5. Did the show contain any serious material? What was that serious content? _________________________________________________

 

6. What was the writer of the show trying to have you learn or what was his opinion about the serious topic? ___________________________

 

7. Do you think sit-coms are a good way to get opinions out to the public? Why or why not? __________________________________________________________

 

 

 

John Adams

Phyllis Wheatley

Patrick Henry

Samuel Adams

Mercy Otis Warren

Crispus Attucks

Abigail Adams

John Hancock

Paul Revere

Ethan Allen

Henry Knox

John Locke

Nathan Hale

Martha Washington

Marquis de Lafayette

George Washington

George Rogers Clark

John Paul Jones

Mary Ludwig hays

Nathanael Greene

Charles Cornwallis

Richard Henry Lee

James Armistead

Joseph Brant

William Howe

Peter Salem

Israel Putnam

John Parker

William Dawes

John Peter Zenger

Appendix G

Communications (Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking)

1. All students use effective research and information management skills, including locating primary and secondary sources of information with traditional and emerging library technologies.

2. All students read and use a variety of methods to make sense of various kinds of complex texts.

3. All students respond orally and in writing to information and ideas gained by reading narrative and informational texts and use the information and ideas to make decisions and solve problems.

4. All students write for a variety of purposes, including to narrate, inform, and persuade, in all subject areas.

5. All students analyze and make critical judgments about all forms of communication, separating fact from opinion, recognizing propaganda, stereotypes and statements of bias, recognizing inconsistencies and judging the validity of evidence.

6. All students exchange information orally, including understanding and giving spoken instructions, asking and answering questions appropriately, and promoting effective group communications.

7. All students listen to and understand complex oral messages and identify the purpose, structure, and use.

8. All students compose and make oral presentation for each academic area of study that are designed to persuade, inform, or describe.

9. All students communicate appropriately in business, work, and other applied situations.

Mathematics

1. All students evaluate, infer, and draw appropriate conclusions form charts, tables and graphs showing the relationships between data and real –world situations.

Arts and Humanities

2. All students evaluate and respond critically to works from the visual and performing arts and literature of various individuals and cultures, showing that they understand the important features of the works.

3. All students relate various works from the visual and performing arts and literature to the cultural context within which they were created.

Citizenship (Social Studies)

1. All students demonstrate an understanding of major events, cultures, groups and individuals in the historical development of Pennsylvania, the United States and other nations, and describe themes and patterns of historical development.

2. All students demonstrate understanding of themes and patterns of geography, know the location of major bodies, land masses and nations, and describe the relationships between geography and historical, economic and cultural development.

3. All students describe the development and operations of economic, political, legal and governmental systems in the United States, assess their own relationships to those systems, and compare them to those in other nations.

4. All students examine and evaluate problems facing citizens in their communities, state, nation, and world by incorporating concepts and methods of inquiry of the various social sciences.

5. All students develop and defend a position on current issues confronting the United States and other nations, conduction research, analyzing alternatives, organizing evidence and arguments, and making oral presentations.

6. All students explain basic economic concepts and the development and operation of economic systems in the United States and other nations, and make informed decisions about economic issues.

7. All students demonstrate their skills of communicating, negotiating and cooperating with others.

8. All students demonstrate that they can work effectively with others.

9. All students demonstrate an understanding of the history and nature of prejudice and relate their knowledge to current issues facing communities, the United States and other nations.

11. All students demonstrate the ability to resolve conflicts in peaceful ways, including, but not limited to, peer mediation, anger management, interpersonal skills, and problem-solving.