Going to War!
Day 7 and 8 of a three week unit.
Student Teacher-  Susan Tufts
Date Lesson is to be taught-  August 12, 1998
Grade-  8
Lesson topic- Review of ancillary groups (previous lesson), and "Going to War!!"
Materials- Review Sheet, teacher's master question sheet, The Civil War
Software Multimedia by American Heritage, student handouts, previous
handout "Strengths and Weaknesses", computer lab time.

Instructional Model-  Direct Instruction and group work

General Objective- The students will be able to make connections to prior
  knowledge learned in cooperative learning groups about ancillary groups
  during the Civil War to use instructional software and journal 
  their experiences in a simulated strategic war game.

Specific Learning Objectives-
* The students will be able to identify ancillary groups that helped
  during the Civil War using a review sheet.
* The students will be able to explain and examine how ancillary groups 
  contributed to the war effort.
* The students will be able to compare the strengths and weaknesses of the
  Union and the Confederacy (prior knowledge) and brainstorm ideas for 
  strategy during a battle plan.
* The students will be able to utilize their knowlege about; long term and
  immediate causes of the war, the different factions strategies and 
  ancillary groups to use instructional software on the Civil War
* The students will be able to write a journal entry about their war 
  experience using the software.

Expected time needed for activities-
Length of class period- 40 minutes
        Initiation- 3 minutes
        Quick review- 8 minutes
        Brianstorming- 5 minutes
        Handout about using the software- 8 minutes
        Break into groups to use software- 10 minutes
        Closure- 3 minutes 
Initiation- Hello, today we are going to war!   For the
  last week we have been talking about the major issues that lead
  to the Civil War.  What vocabulary word describes the period of time before
  the Civil War? Yes, the antebellum period. Everyone is in a row according
  to your geographical section.  I have paired everyone up in groups and have
  review questions for each of you.  This should take you only 5 to 8 minutes.
  Then the class will discuss the questions together.  Yesterday we studied 
  support groups that contributed to the war.  What synonym was used for a support group?  Yes, they are 
  called ancillary groups.  We will do a quick overview of these groups 
  and break up into groups so we could go to the computer lab and go to war!
  Your groups will brainstorm about strengths and weaknesses
  of the North and the South so you can use the strategy game wisely!  
  Let's get our review started so we can go to war!  Remember
  to answer the questions according to your geographical sections!!
 
1. The students break into pairs and do the question assigned.  Teacher reminds
   students that this should be done quickly and quietly.
2. A student volunteer informs class that they have one minute left until
   discussion time.
3. Students begin to lead discussion on ancillary group review.
4. Students break into brainstorming groups to begin discussion about the 
   strengths and weaknesses of the Union and the Confederacy.
5. Students use strengths and weaknesses chart (made for homework) to aid discussion.
6. Students read over directions to use the software.  
7. Students go to computer lab.
8. Students use stategy game and begin to take notes. 
8. Teacher wraps up the class by stimulating interest in continuing war tommorrow, 
   asks for students experiences of war!! 
9. Teacher reminds students to begin their inital journal entry.

Closure- Since the class has studied the political, social and economic
   long term and immediate causes of the Civil War we can use this knowledge 
   in using the computer software strategy game.  While we are at war
   I encourage your classmates to continue to become experts in your 
   geographical sections.  If you're a Northerner how will you improve your tactics 
   and war strategies?  If you're a Southerner what advantages do you 
   have?  Keep thinking about these while you use the strategy game and take 
   notes for your journals!  Tomorrow  we will continue the battles! 
   Remember to do your start your journal entrys!
 
Assessment-
   The students will be taking notes wbile working on the computer software.
   The notes will be collected as well as the journal entry's that will be
   assigned.  The students will be provided with a rubric that will explain
   the requirements of the assignments.