Civil War and Reconstruction

Lesson 5: Reconstruction

Time Estimated: 1-2 days

Objectives:

Students will:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of important events at the conclusion of the Civil War.
2. Demonstrate knowledge of the achievements and consequences of the Reconstruction period.

Materials:

• Wireless laptops for students
• LCD projector for teacher computer
• Sol 7 Review Sheet
• Teacher Edition of SOL 7 Review Sheet
• Worksheet on Reconstruction Images
• Black Exodus Online Exhibit
• Civil War reference map of loyal, border, and seceded states
• The Assasination of Abraham Lincoln Website
• Appomattox Court House Surrender Website
• Surrender at Appomatox Website
• Civil War Quiz
• April, 1865, The Month that Saved America, by Jay Winik

Strategies:

1. For the warm-up, pass out the SOL 7 Review Sheet to students. Have them fill out information on SOL 7a (except on Appomattox) and 7b as their daily review. After about 10-15 minutes, call on students to give correct answers.
2. On the Review Sheet, go over Appomattox with the students as well as SOL 7c, inserting additional information about those events as you wish. Again, this portion could be stretched if you have the luxury of spending an additional day on finishing SOL 7 before moving on to SOL 8. Relaying stories from Jay Winik’s April 1865 would be very helpful in this portion of the lesson.
3. Have the students take out their laptops and go to theBlack Exodus Online Exhibit. You can distribute the worksheet for this and have students work in pairs to answer the questions, or you could ask questions orally about the different images and call on students to answer them.
4. Remind students that their projects are due next class. You might consider displaying the projects so all students could view them and it would act as a closure to the unit.

Differentiation:

1. Do the worksheet on the Reconstruction images.
2. Many students are interested in the Lincoln Assassination. If you want to spend more time on this topic, try the Assasination of Abraham Lincoln Website. It offers many primary sources and visuals from places like the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, and the National Park Service. Some information does come from some .com sources, but it seems to be pretty reliable. You could have students do a variety of things with this site: a worksheet with several questions, a re-enactment of some of the trials, a group activity in which students present information on some of the key people in the conspiracy.
3. If you want to examine Appomattox more in depth, there are a few web sources the students could use Appomattox Court House Surrender Website
   Surrender at Appomatox Website
   You could do similar activities to those suggested for the assassination based on these websites.

Assessment:

Informal:

1. Call on students to answer SOL Review Sheet questions.
2. Optional — Call on students to answer questions about Reconstruction images if you choose not to use the Reconstruction worksheet.

Formal:

1. Civil War Photography Project due next class.
2. Unit Quiz next class
3. Optional — Collect and grade Reconstruction images worksheet.