Background
Prior to giving this assignment the students will receive lectures
and readings explaining the rising conflicts prior to and throughout the
1850’s. They will receive material through lectures and readings
on the following historical figures and events: Nat Turner, Elijah Lovejoy,
William Lloyd Garrison, Henry Clay, John Calhoun, Stephan Douglas, Fredrick
Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Toms Cabin, John Brown and Harper’s
Ferry, Dred Scott Case, Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln/Douglas debates, Kansas-Nebraska
Act, and the Presidential Nominating Conventions of 1860.
Tiered by process
This lesson will be tiered by process. Different groups of students
will receive different assignments to exhibit their understanding of the
ideas presented. The easier assignments will be longer in length
to accommodate for the difference in the difficulty of assignments.
Tiered by readiness
This lesson will be tiered by readiness. The students who are
able to think synthesize and evaluate the facts given them, will be given
an evaluation assignment. The students who are able to analyze the
facts will be given analytical problems. Finally, the students who
learn only by memorization and comprehension will be given a basic assignment.
Guide in tiering
I will tier this lesson by groups of readiness, in ways that I think
will be the most beneficial for the different students. I will take
into account, their ability to evaluate history, analyze history, or comprehend
history. I will group the students as I feel it will be the best
way for them to learn. Although I will be dividing the assignments
into three different groups of types of students, the students will NOT
be working in groups to answer these questions. The will work as
individuals, and they will present individual ideas and views.
Make up of tiers
Tier I will be made up of students who I feel will benefit best
from a simpler form of learning, such as defining and giving the significance
of various key terms or people and answering basic questions. Some
of the terms they will be expected to identify will be:
Slavery, Nat Turner, Elijah Lovejoy, William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionists, Henry Clay, John Calhoun, Stephan Douglas, popular sovereignty, Fredrick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Toms Cabin, John Brown and Harper’s Ferry, Dred Scott Case, Abraham Lincoln, republicans, democrats, Lincoln/Douglas debates, Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Presidential Nominating Conventions of 1860, etc.
Tier II would be comprised of students that I felt capable
of taking historical facts and analyzing them to show how these people/events
led to the escalation of conflict that led to the civil war. I would
give these students various questions that asked them to link certain events
to the causes of the civil war. Some example questions that I may
ask of these students are:
1) How did the publishing of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Toms Cabin help lead to civil war?
2) What did the Dred Scott Case decide? What did it mean for slaves and former slaves? Did the Supreme Court overstep its constitutional limits in their decision?
3) What were the differing points of view in the Lincoln/Douglas debates?
4) What key figure in this time period favored popular sovereignty? How did other key figures react to his ideas?
5) What were the views of the abolitionists? What were the differences in views held by Lovejoy, Garrison, and Douglass?
6) What role did John Brown and Harper’s Ferry play in escalating the rift between North and South?
7) What caused the Democratic Presidential Appointing Convention in Charleston, SC to break up? What were the effects of this?
These students will be expected to answer these questions in a complete
manner. Most answers should consist of at least one or two paragraphs,
sometimes more. They will be expected to show full understanding
of these terms, and how they led to an escalation of conflict between the
North and the South.
Tier III students will be those students who I feel have a good grip on the ideas presented and can think critically and explain how these key terms/figures/events eventually led to the civil war. I would ask these students to present a 3-4 page essay on how the key points of the lecture and readings ended up causing the civil war. These students will be expected to provide their own ideas on why these situations occurred and what the effects of these events were. These students will be given more freedom to handle the material. Their own ideas will shape their responses and mold the essay.
Assessment
These students will be eligible to earn equal points on their respective
assignments. For example, this assignment may be worth 50 points.
The Tier I students would have 25 terms to identify at two points apiece.
The Tier II students would have 10 questions at five points per question.
The Tier III students’ essays would be worth 50 points in itself.
In this way, the students doing the harder work would only be expected
to present one essay, and be able to receive the same credit as the students
who must do 25 easier identifications.
On the test, I would assess their knowledge through basic multiple-choice
questions to measure their understanding of key concepts and ideas.
These questions would all have been covered in lectures or assigned readings.
I would then give about 25 identifications (worth five points apiece) and
5 essays (worth 10 points apiece). The students would be responsible
for completing a combination of these totaling to 30 points. In this
manner, the students who learned by knowledge and comprehension would have
the option of using the method by which they were assigned to show their
knowledge of the key concepts. Those who were able to analyze and/or evaluate
the history would have the option of writing essays to demonstrate their
knowledge of the subject. This way no student would have an unfair advantage
over others because of the differing assignments.