Causes of the Civil War
Lesson 4: East vs. West
Time Estimated: 2 days, 50 minute periods days
Objectives:
Students will:
- Identify areas of disagreement between eastern and western Virginians.
- Explain why eastern and western Virginians had different viewpoints regarding slavery.
- Recognize that 50 western counties of Virginia split with the rest of Virginia to become a separate state -- West Virginia -- on June 20, 1863.
Materials:
- Eastern vs. western Virginians’ positions on issues (handout)
- Rubric
- 8 1/2” x 14” paper
- Colored pencils
- Venn diagram transparency
Strategies:
- Using a map, point to West Virginia and tell students it used to be part of Virginia. Explain that today we will learn why the western part of Virginia broke off to become West Virginia.
- Students will be split into groups of two or three and given a short description of a role for an eastern or western Virginian’s view regarding representation, voting rights, slavery, and roads/canals.
- Students will work in teams to illustrate their character’s viewpoint in such a way that it can be easily understood by the audience...even without an explanation. All members of a group can contribute ideas for the illustration. Jobs can be divided into illustrator, presenter, and author.
- Teacher will distribute a rubric to the whole class and discuss the expectations for the assignment.
- One member of the team will explain the illustration to the rest of the class.
- After all eastern and western Virginians have expressed their different views via their illustrations, the teacher will write them on a Venn diagram transparency for everyone to see.
Students will be assigned one of the three tasks according to a combination of their interests and their aptitudes. In this way, students will be drawing on multiple intelligences to carry out the assignment.