Grade Levels: 4th
Purpose of the Lesson:To allow students the opportunity to analyze a document and make assessment and historical prediction based on the text.
Standards Addressed:
4.4 – The student will demonstrate an understanding of the beginnings of America as a nation and the establishment of the new government.
Activities
In pairs, give students a copy of "Address of the Carrier of the Georgetown Union to His Patrons"
In a shared reading activity, read the text and make a chart of ideas that it poses for the reader. (review the terms schema, predict, and foreshadowing)
In pairs, students will use this list to determine:
- What does this tell us about the climate of the Union in the early 1800's?
- Based on our schema of American history, what can we predict will happen? And, what foreshadowing does this poem reflect?
Come back together as a whole group to discuss answers to the questions.
Students will then write an assessment of the poem. Is it effective in its message? Why or why not?
Author: Melanie Johnson, Carolina Center for Inquiry (Columbia, SC)
