Prequel to Independence
Teaching the events leading up to the Declaration of Independence is routine in many American history classrooms. This lesson consists of a brief sequencing activity followed by a written assessment and is a good activity to use in conjunction with other activities on this topic. Students view a collection of 10 historical documents representing events leading up to the Declaration of Independence. Each document includes an image of the original document and brief explanatory details. After putting the documents in their proper sequence, students are prompted to write one to three paragraphs describing the sequence of events leading to the publication of the Declaration of Independence, using the documents they have just sequenced as specific examples.
While the activity is simple and short, it can help to lay the foundation for a lesson on contextualization, as students place documents in chronological order and see them in the context of surrounding events. Additionally, this lesson provides an excellent opportunity to analyze the nature of cause and effect and teachers could augment the lesson by having students explain how specific events are related to one another as well as to the Declaration of Independence.
This lesson is one of a large collection of similar activities in which students engage with historical documents. Teachers can register with the website for free and create their own activities using a large searchable database of primary and secondary sources.
Notes
Teachinghistory.org Lesson Plan Rubric
| Field | Criteria | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Historical Content | Is historically accurate? | Yes |
| Historical Content | Includes historical background? | Yes. Limited, but brief explanation and background included with each document. |
| Historical Content | Requires students to read and write? | Yes. Students write a brief essay explaining how documents fit together. |
| Analytic Thinking | Requires analysis/construction of interpretations using evidence? | No. Students put events in chronological order. |
| Analytic Thinking | Requires close reading and attention to source information? | No |
| Scaffolding | Appropriate for stated audience? | Yes |
| Scaffolding | Includes scaffolding materials and strategies? | No. Handwriting in some documents may be difficult to decipher. |
| Lesson Structure | Includes assessment criteria focused on historical understanding? | Yes. Teacher may receive student accuracy reports. |
| Lesson Structure | Defines clear learning goals and progresses logically? | Yes |
| Lesson Structure | Includes clear directions; realistic for classrooms? | Yes |
