Culminating Writing Assessment

Submitted by galactikcat on Thu, 2005-10-27 02:58.U.S. History

Fighting for Democracy, Fighting for Me

This unit weaves together the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy’s Curricular Understandings with state and national learning standards and current events to help students gain a better understanding of how their lives are connected to those who have struggled in the past for the power, privilege, and equal standing promised to them by the U.S. Constitution.

Students begin by investigating specific individuals involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom and working backward to stories from World War II. Students will review documents such as the Four Freedoms speech, as well as less prominent documents that depict the conflicts faced by individuals during World War II. Evidence gathered will help students respond to the essential question, “If somebody is denied power, privilege, and equal standing with other Americans, how should he or she respond?”

Grade Level: 9-12

Subjects: U.S. History

Unit Duration: Projected length of time is 2 class periods

Lessons can be modified and extension activities can be easily added.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
If somebody is denied power, privilege, and equal standing with other Americans, how should he or she respond?

OBJECTIVES:

Students will evaluate the consequences of historical and contemporary events, individuals, legislations in order to determine the lessons learned about the concepts of power, privilege, standing in the United States.
Students will complete a reflective composition addressing the unit’s essential question.

Activities

1. Students review their Talking Head Activity Sheets completed in previous lessons, including W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and an individual from the resource cards.

2. Explain that the students will now write a reflective composition that responds to the unit’s essential question:

If you are denied power, privilege, and equal standing with other Americans, how would you respond?

3. Distribute and discuss the essential question and evaluation criteria. (Student Activity Sheet 6-1)

Culminating Writing Assessment Handout

4. Students should have access to all resources from the unit, plus their own notes.

5. When the compositions are complete, ask students to share their positions with the class.

Other Lessons in this Unit:

Lesson 1: What are the responsibilities of an “American”?

Lesson 2: Do rights and citizenship guarantee power and privilege?

Lesson 3: How did W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington respond to being African American in the United States in the late 1800s?

Lesson 4: During World War II, what freedoms were guaranteed to the people of the United States?

Lesson 5: How did African Americans, Japanese Americans, and Mexican Americans respond when they were denied power, privilege, and equal standing during World War II?

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CULMINATING WRITING ASSESSMENT

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