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Presidential Opinions on Civil Rights

Lesson Author
Course(s)
Required Time Frame
5 days
Subject(s)
Lesson Abstract
This will be a cooperative learning assignment, where students will work in small groups between five to seven. Students will be broken into four groups and will be assigned a Former United States President, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. Students will be assigned one of the following Presidents to research through their Presidential Libraries. Students will only be able to use primary sources for this assignment.
Description

Teacher will start by putting students in small groups and then assigning each group a president to research. The teacher will provide students with links to the Presidential Library Websites. Students then will be provided the worksheet with questions that they will research to answer questions about their President. Students will get two days to research and answer questions on the worksheet. After the two-day research, students will then get the opportunity to present their president in front of the class. Presentations should take two days, depending upon how fast each group takes. Truman and Eisenhower groups will present on day one. Kennedy and Johnson groups will present on day two. After all the groups have presented students will have the opportunity to vote on who they felt did the most for Civil Rights in the United States. The Ballot will be handed out by the teacher and students will rank one through three, one being the most three being the least. Students can’t vote for their President to keep things fair. The teacher will then tabulate the scores and announce who won out of the class rankings.  

 

Lesson Objectives - the student will

 

  • Students will learn how to analyze primary documents.  
  • Students will be able to evaluate primary documents and form their own opinions on topics. Then will be able to apply it to the Civil Rights document they will be given.  

 

Primary sources needed (document, photograph, artifact, diary or letter, audio or visual recording, etc.) needed

 

Welcome to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum | Harry S. Truman  (trumanlibrary.gov) 

Home | Eisenhower Presidential Library (eisenhowerlibrary.gov) 

Home | JFK Library 

LBJ Presidential Library- LBJ Library 

 

Fully describe the activity or assignment in detail. What will both the teacher and the students do?

Teacher will start by putting students in small groups and then assigning each group a  president to research. The teacher will provide students with links to the Presidential  Library Websites. Students then will be provided the worksheet with questions that they will research to answer questions about their President. Students will get two days to  research and answer questions on the worksheet. After the two-day research, students will  then get the opportunity to present their president in front of the class. Presentations  should take two days, depending upon how fast each group takes. Truman and  Eisenhower groups will present on day one. Kennedy and Johnson groups will present on  day two. After all the groups have presented students will have the opportunity to vote on  who they felt did the most for Civil Rights in the United States. The Ballot will be handed  out by the teacher and students will rank one through three, one being the most three being the least. Students can’t vote for their President to keep things fair. The teacher will  then tabulate the scores and announce who won out of the class rankings.  

 

 

Assessment: fully explain the assessment method in detail or create and attach a scoring guide

Grading for this assignment is going to be in a two-part system. The teacher and the students will both be evaluating. The teacher will grade each student’s participation every day, but the students will evaluate everyone in their groups each day as well. This assignment will