Role Playing the Civil War
Submitted by: Carol Strickler
School or Affiliation: Grass Valley, Winnemucca, NM
Endorsed by: These lesson plans are the result of the work of the teachers who have
attended the Columbia Education Center's Summer Workshop. CEC is a consortium of teacher
from 14 western states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural,
western, United States, and particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC
uses Big Sky Telegraph as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the
participating teachers to stay in contact with their trainers and peers that they have met
at the Workshops.
Date: May 1994
Description: To help students comprehend the time frame
of colonization to the present we begin with a blank bulletin board with a skeletal
outline of the United States. We fill portions as colonies become states. We continue
along the same flow into the Civil War unit. Students are really getting excited about the
growth of the United States. They understand the time, effort, and work required to bring
us as a nation to the point of the Civil War.
Grade Level: Appropriate for grades 5 & 7.
Goal: The purpose of this unit is to provide a frame for
the students to use in evaluating both points of view in the Civil War.
Objectives: Students will be able to:
- Identify which states belong to the Union and which states belong to the Confederacy.
- Identify three reasons of the North and three reasons of the South for the Civil War.
- Identify and comprehend feeling experienced by both northern and southern states.
- Identify the qualities of exceptional leaders regardless of their patriotic affiliation.
- Feel compassion for participants in the Civil War regardless of their side.
Materials: All resources available in most schools.
Procedure:
- Begin removing seceding states from bulletin board as they secede.
- When the Civil War begins the students are divided into Union and Confederacy. They
choose leaders, draw their flags, and learn the background to support their historical
position. They create recruitment posters to encourage enlistment and support for their
sides. (No interaction between Northerns and Southerns for the duration of the unit).
- During Language period the North writes a report portraying Abraham Lincoln to be
presented orally. The South writes a report on Robert E. Lee to be presented orally.
Tying it All Together:
The class can improve on history be having a reuniting ceremony in following what
Abraham Lincoln would have promoted had he lived. President Lincoln did have strong plans
for reconstruction that were not implemented for lack of quality leadership.
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