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School Days: Early 19th Century in Alabama

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This lesson provided by:

Author:	Melinda Staubs
Organization:	Jacksonville State University
The event this resource created for:	Alabama Department of Archives and History

General Lesson Information

Lesson Plan ID:	35065
Title:	School Days: Early 19th Century in Alabama
Overview/Annotation:	Students will explore an article about education in the early nineteenth century and a newspaper article from 1818 to determine what education was like in the early nineteenth century. Students will investigate the documents and find text evidence to find out what schools were like in the early nineteenth century. Students will use their findings to write a story. This lesson was created in partnership with the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Associated Standards and Objectives

Content Standard(s):

Social Studies SS2010 (2010) Grade: 4 Alabama Studies	6 ) Describe cultural, economic, and political aspects of the lifestyles of early nineteenth-century farmers, plantation owners, slaves, and townspeople. Examples: cultural—housing, education, religion, recreation economic—transportation, means of support political—inequity of legal codes • Describing major areas of agricultural production in Alabama, including the Black Belt and fertile river valleys Unpacked Content Strand: Economics, Geography, History, Civics and Government Course Title: Alabama Studies (Alabama) Evidence Of Student Attainment: Students: Describe cultural, economic, and political aspects of the lifestyles of early nineteenth-century farmers, plantation owners, slaves, and townspeople. Describe major areas of agricultural production in Alabama, including the Black Belt and fertile river valleys. Teacher Vocabulary: plantation Yeoman townspeople inequity agriculture fertile Knowledge: Students know: During this time, most families in Alabama did not own slaves; most slaves were owned by Plantation Owners. Most of Alabama's families made a living through agriculture. The Black Belt and fertile river valleys were major areas of agricultural production. Skills: Students are able to: Compare and contrast cultural, economic, and political aspects of the lifestyles of early nineteenth-century farmers, plantation owners, slaves, and townspeople. Describe major areas of agricultural production in Alabama, including the Black Belt and fertile river valleys. Understanding: Students understand that: There were cultural, political, and economic inequities in Alabama in the early 19^th Century between slaves, Yeoman farmers, and Plantation owners. Alabama Archives Resources: Click below to access all Alabama Archives resources aligned to this standard. Alabama Archive Records Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards AAS Standard: SS.AAS.4.6- Identify information about early nineteenth- century farmers, plantation owners, slaves, and townspeople.
English Language Arts ELA2021 (2021) Grade: 4	20. Use details and examples from a text to indicate what the text explicitly states. a. Interpret facts from an informational article, using details and examples from the text to explain the interpretation. b. List the main questions answered by an informational article. c. Categorize statements in an article or other informational text as fact or opinion and give reasons for each choice. d. Explain the differences between primary and secondary sources, giving examples from texts. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: 20. Details Examples Explicitly 20a. Interpret Facts Details Examples Informational article 20b. List Main questions Informational article 20c. Categorize Fact Opinion Reasons 20d. Primary sources Secondary source Knowledge: 20. Students know: Explicit means directly stated within the text. Specific details and examples from the text an be used to demonstrate an understanding of the text's explicit meaning. 20a. Facts gathered from an informational article can be explained using details and examples from the text. 20b. Informational text is often written with the purpose of answering questions. 20c. A fact is a statement that can be proven with evidence, while an opinion is a personal belief that cannot be proven true in every case. Informational text can present both facts and opinions. 20d. Primary sources are firsthand accounts of events and provide raw information. Secondary sources explain, analyze, or summarize primary sources. Skills: 20. Students are able to: Identify details and examples from a text that demonstrates comprehension of the text's explicit meaning. 20a. Explain facts sourced from an informational text, using text evidence to support the explanation. 20b. Identify the main questions answered by an informational text. 20c. Determine if statements in an informational text are facts or opinions. Describe reasons that a particular statement is identified as a fact or an opinion. 20d. Explain the differences between primary and secondary sources. Support their explanation with specific examples from the text. Understanding: 20. Students understand that: Explicit meanings are directly stated in text, and they can use specific details and examples from the text to show they understood the text's explicit meaning. 20a. To demonstrate comprehension of an informational article, they can explain the facts using specific details and examples from the text. 20b. Informational articles often answer questions and identifying these questions can improve comprehension. 20c. A fact is a thing that is known or proved to be true, and an opinion is a personal view or judgment about something. To fully comprehend a text, they must distinguish between facts and opinions. They can determine if a statement is a fact or an opinion using their current knowledge or by referencing details in a text. 20d. The information a reader gets from a text is impacted by the source of the information. Primary and secondary sources will be told from different perspectives.
English Language Arts ELA2021 (2021) Grade: 4	21. Explain how relevant details support the implied or explicit main idea of a text. a. Determine the central idea or theme of a text. b. Explain the difference between implied and explicit details. c. Summarize the key supporting details by citing evidence from a text. Unpacked Content Teacher Vocabulary: 21. Implied main idea Explicit main idea Relevant details 21a. Central idea Theme 21b. Implied detail Explicit detail 21c. Summarize Key supporting details Citing Evidence Knowledge: 21. Students know: The main idea is the most important idea presented in the text. Sometimes an author will clearly state the main idea, while other times an author will merely suggest the main idea. The supporting details explain the main idea or provide more information about the main idea. 21a. Theme is the main, recurring idea in a text. 21b. An author can directly state details, or an author can include details that require the reader to make inferences. 21c. A summary is a short statement explaining the main point or most important details of a text. Skills: 21. Students are able to: Identify the implied or explicit main idea of a text. Use relevant details to support the main idea of a text. 21a. Determine the central idea or theme of a text. 21b. Identify implied and explicit details and explain how they are different. 21c. Cite evidence from the text to create a summary of a text's most important details. Understanding: 21. Students understand that: Most texts have a main idea, or most important message, and supporting details, which provide more information about the main idea. An author can choose to state the main idea in the text or provide clues through details in the text to imply the main idea. 21a. The central idea or theme of a text is conveyed through details in the text. 21b. An author can choose to explicitly state details in the text or provide details that require the reader to infer the details. 21c. A summary is a short explanation of the most important details from a text, and statements in a summary should be supported with textual evidence.

Local/National Standards:

NCSS National Standard II: Time, Continuity, and Change

NCSS National Standard III: People, Places, and Environments

NCTE/IRA Standard 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features.

Primary Learning Objective(s):

Students will describe education of the early nineteenth century.

Additional Learning Objective(s):

Students will refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says. Students will use text evidence to determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details.

Preparation Information

Total Duration:	61 to 90 Minutes
Materials and Resources:	Pencils Sticky notes Highlighters Computers Internet Screen/white board Attached materials: Photograph of a nineteenth century school Text Evidence Data Sheet Alabama Schools in the Nineteenth Century handout 1818 Newspaper Article Education in the 19th Century Checklist Education in the 19th Century Adapted Checklist Education Venn Diagram
Technology Resources Needed:	Computers Internet Screen/white board (paper and pencil option in the event these resources are not available)
Background/Preparation:	Students should have a basic knowledge of the time period and have basic collaboration, reading, writing, and technology skills. The teacher should download the attached photograph of the nineteenth century school onto a computer to project during the exploration's engagement. The teacher should create a large Venn diagram graphic organizer or display one on the whiteboard for use in the exploration phase (an appropriate Venn diagram handout is attached that can be used to project upon the screen). The teacher should download the 1818 newspaper article (see attachment) to a computer to project on the screen during the lesson development (the 1818 newspaper article can also be downloaded on student computers if so desired). The teacher should bookmark the Storybird site https://storybird.com/educators/ on student computers to use for the expansion phase. The teacher will need to print copies of the Alabama Schools in the Nineteenth Century article, the Text Evidence Data Sheet, and the Education Venn Diagram for student use. Background information for teachers: Information concerning schooling in Alabama during the early nineteenth century can be found in the Encyclopedia of Alabama: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2599

Procedures/Activities:

Exploration: The teacher will engage the students by showing the photograph of the nineteenth century school and asking the students what they think is in the picture of and when the picture was taken. The teacher will clarify it is a picture of a school taken between 1830-1859. The teacher will then state the day's social studies objective.

The teacher will refer to the Venn diagram graphic organizer and ask the students to think about what school is like now and what school may have been like in the early nineteenth century (1800s). The teacher will explain this assessment will tell what they think they already know about the day's objective, describing education of the early nineteenth century.

While the students are thinking, the teacher will pair the students and pass out two sticky notes to the student partners. After the students have had time to think independently, they will share their ideas with their partners. The teacher will have one partner from each partner group write one idea what school was like in the early nineteenth century and the other partner to write one idea what school is like today. Students will post their completed sticky notes on either the Early Nineteenth Century side of the Venn diagram or the Today side of the Venn diagram. (The middle section of the Venn diagram will be completed together during the Lesson Development's closure).

Lesson Development: The teacher will state the day's reading objectives and then tell the students they will be looking for text evidence of what schools were like in the early nineteenth century using two sources. The teacher should pull up the 1818 newspaper article (previously downloaded onto the computer) to project on the screen/white board. The teacher will use this to model how to locate and highlight text evidence. Since the newspaper article has some unusual vocabulary, the teacher will read and discuss the 1818 newspaper article with the students and explain any unusual terms. The teacher will remind the students there is text evidence in the newspaper article and will model how to find and highlight text evidence and use it to answer what schools were like in the early nineteenth century.

After the teacher has modeled finding text evidence using the 1818 newspaper article, the teacher will pass out the Alabama Schools in the Nineteenth Century article, highlighters, and the Text Evidence Data Sheet to the peer partners. The teacher will demonstrate using the highlighter to highlight text evidence that supports an answer to what schools were like in the early nineteenth century and transferring a response to the Text Evidence Data Sheet based on what was highlighted.

Once the students understand what to do, the students will work with their partners to highlight on the article and list their answers on the Text Evidence handout. The teacher will explain this will serve as an assessment and tell what they already know about the day's objective, describing education of the early nineteenth century. The students will work with their partners while the teacher walks around and assists. The teacher will discuss the students' findings after they have completed the Text Evidence Data Sheet.

Closure: The teacher and students will revisit the Exploration's Venn diagram to see what needs to be added or changed. The teacher and students will complete the middle section of the Venn diagram as they discuss what similarities exist between education in the early nineteenth century and education today. The teacher will briefly review education of the early nineteenth century townspeople and how finding text evidence is important when learning new information.

Expansion: The teacher will explain to the students they are going to write a story pretending to be a fourth grade student in the early nineteenth century. They need to include three facts about what education was like in that time period in their stories, which will meet the day's objective: describing education of the early nineteenth century. They should use their Text Evidence Data Sheets to help them write their stories and help them include details they learned.

They can use the Storybird site, https://storybird.com/educators/, or pencil and paper to write their stories. Students can share their stories as time permits. Early finishers can illustrate their stories. (Although a checklist is provided, the requirements for the story should be determined by the teacher taking into account the abilities of the individual students. A paragraph instead of a story can be substituted as an assessment.)

Assessment

Assessment Strategies

All assessments listed below are directly tied to the learning objective: describing the education of the early nineteenth century as specifically outlined in the procedures and attached checklists.

Exploration: Venn diagram sticky notes

Lesson Development: Text Evidence Data Sheet, Venn diagram

Expansion: Stories

Acceleration:

ALEX Lesson Plan

School Days: Early 19th Century in Alabama