Women+of+the+Revolutionary+War

= Women of the Revolutionary War [| Edit]= A 5th Grade Study

Unit Plan: Understanding by Design Cover Page

Alexa & Jasmine **Unit Title**: Women of the Revolutionary War **Grade:** 5th **Subject/Strand/Topic Area:** Revolutionary War-Women of the Revolutionary War **Time Frame:** 2 weeks

The students will be discovering the unsung heroes of the American Revolution. Of course it is told, rehearsed, and written all throughout history that the Revolutionary War was headed by strong, fearless, and powerful men whose lives were put into danger, and even lost in the fight for Independence.While this is true they were not the only ones. This unit will answer the question whatever happened to the woman of the war? Were they no where to be found, hidden behind their husband's coat tails? More or less, stagnant and unable to contribute to the war effort? Though we were taught only about Paul Revere a female made a heroic ride of her own during the Revolution. Though John Adams helped form our newly forming nations laws it was Abigail who influenced him with her strong political views. Even men could not find anything frail or cowardly in Deborah Sampson who dressed as a man to fight for freedom for two years! Tho these stories are just as much a part of our early nations history students are often only learning about a time, decades ago where women were not considered “equals” let alone“strong, fearless, or brave" in the eyes of men. A time when women were not considered capable of anything more than domestic work. It is time to uncover the truth that there is more to the story of a woman’s role in the Revolutionary War. Students will be investigating the truths about what really went on just behind the front lines of battle between men and women. Women played more roles in the Revolutionary War than many realize. Martha Washington herself braved the abysmal conditions that broke many a soldier the winter they camped at Valley Forge. Women's efforts encouraged the men to be able to take to the battle field with strength and courage. Their part in helping injured soldiers recover, establishing the war effort propaganda, and even bravely joining the front lines cannot be minimized. The students will be engaging in a few activities that will allow them to “step inside the shoes of a woman” in the Revolutionary time period and experience what life was like being in a man’s shadow. They will be reflecting through online blogging with their classmates about new findings, experiences, and questions that incite their curiosity. Furthermore, they will be recreating real-life situations of women on the battle lines, posing as males focusing both on men seeing the women’s side, and women understanding and experiencing situations from a male perspective.
 * Brief Summary of Unit: **


 * California State Standards: **
 * United States History and Geography: Making a New Nation **
 * 5.6 ** Identify the different roles women played during the Revolution (i.e., Abigail Adams, Martha Washington, Molly Pitcher, Phillis Wheatley, Mercy Otis Warren)


 * 2.0 Reading Comprehension:**

2.5 Distinguish facts, supported inferences, and opinions in text.

 * 1.0 Writing Strategies:**

1.4 Create simple documents by using electronic media and employing organizational features (e.g., passwords, entry and pull-down menus, word searches, a thesaurus, spell checks).
Understanding(s): Students will understand
 * Big Ideas: **
 * Women had a much bigger position, importance, and job in the Revolutionary War than ever given full acknowledgement for
 * Men’s position about women’s role in society
 * The persecution and discrimination women faced based on gender
 * Changes and contributions women made to the war efforts
 * Gender-biased history that was not documented for societal normalcy


 * Essential Question(s) **
 * 1) Why were women regarded as the “weaker” sex to the extent that we wrote them out of history?
 * 2) Did women ever fight for equalization on the battlefield, or did they prefer to sneak their way to the front?
 * 3) Who first realized that woman needed acknowledgement for histories mistake?
 * 4) Was the U.S essentially fighting two different wars simultaneously?
 * 5) What might we not have today without women's contributions during the Revolution? (The American Flag for example)


 * Students will know the following vocabulary words: **


 * 1) Colonists
 * 2) Liberty
 * 3) Loyalist
 * 4) Minutemen
 * 5) Parliament
 * 6) Proclamation
 * 7) Freedom
 * 8) Independence
 * 9) Propaganda
 * 10) Justice
 * 11) Representation
 * 12) American Revolution
 * 13) Stamp Act
 * 14) Intolerable Acts
 * 15) Slavery
 * 16) Boycott
 * 17) Activist


 * Students will be able to (Processes & Skills) **


 * Investigate the hidden truths of the women’s role in the war effort
 * Discover why the truths were hidden for so many decades
 * Obtain detailed accounts from actual women fighting against the discrimination
 * Figuratively step inside the shoes of a woman’s fight
 * Play the role of both male and female to experience both sides of the “same coin”
 * Use blogger to document both advancement or re treatment in comprehension of a woman’s position, feelings, and missed opportunities that lead to a need for devious acts of defiant behavior towards mans unjust law

** Stage 2 **** Performance Task— **


 * Goal: ** The students will be expected to research multiple resources, with at least 4-6 gathered evidential records to make accurate comparisons, standpoints, claims, and supportive evidence to answer the essential questions posed throughout the unit lesson. The students are ensuring that they have compiled enough data to support and uphold a proper stance on woman’s treatment and forced secrecy during war time.


 * Role: ** The roles that the students are playing are very much like investigative journalists, who are trying to uncover the truths through the use of only old books, diaries, and web-based research data analysis from primary and secondary resources. Primary and secondary resources are hard to come by therefore students will be relying on their ability to determine which data resources are accurate. In order to accomplish this the students must figure out which is the most appropriate and truthful information through comparing multiple articles. The students will also be playing the roles of both men and women (men experience life as a woman, and visa versa) to get a better understanding of the mindset within opposite sex—women’s maltreatment, and men’s dominance. Were all men to blame for the women’s abuse?


 * Audience: ** The audience is more or less, the rest of the classroom, outside of the immediate group.


 * Situation: ** The situation takes place during the time of the Revolutionary War. However, there is an unexpected twist to this specific event- the students are focusing on the role of women in the Revolutionary War, both on the front lines, and behind the action fighting for the same freedom. Now, what is so intriguing about this study and investigation of universal truths, and uncovered secrets is that the role of women was never quite questioned in those times; women had their place and role in society that was never thought to be taken of any concern to most men because they were the stronger “sex.” Women were regarded as the domestic, “scared” and “weaker” sex so thinking that they would have such a powerful role as solider was never to be questioned.

What the students are doing, both male and female, is questioning, researching, investigating, and experiencing the reality of a woman’s life during those dangerous times:


 * 1) What role did women play in the war effort?
 * 2) Were their women who became soldiers?
 * 3) How much or little were they allowed to participate in the war effort?
 * 4) What consequences arranged if they did not comply?

The students are to be able to step inside the role of a woman, after extensive research and analysis on the hardships, restrictions, and gender discrimination placed on women’s liberty to participate in actions beyond the house. This project is more than finding out about what covers were placed on the findings of woman’s persecution, but more about researching the truth, finding the reasons why, questioning the decisions made by those in charge, and figuratively learning how to place oneself in another shoes to figure out the course of action he/she would have taken if in the same situation. The Revolutionary War was a fight for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness-were women not part of the same fight?


 * Product/Performance: **

The students will be working on a number of different activities that will incorporate many different intelligences for the benefit of each individual student. As an educator, it is our duty to understand our students on their own level of learning-without this, student learning will be underachieved. For example, the students, boys first, will be engaged in an activity such as, //A Woman Like Me,// where they are supposed to place themselves in the shoes of a specific woman of the Revolutionary War (chosen from Mary & Martha Washington, Lucy Knox, Mercy Otis Warren, Phillis Wheatley, Catherine Barry, Sybil Ludington, Nancy Heart, Esther Reed, and Margaret Corbin) and obtain their worldview on the matter.

On Day 2, Lesson 2: The students will attempt to relate with Abigail Adams plight as they respond to her famous letter as John Adams and attempt to "Remember the Ladies".

For day 6, lesson 6, what the boys and girls will be doing throughout the week is getting to know and understand the perspective views from both sides of the coin. For instance, there will be a peddler activity where the girls will be dressing as a man and acting the part, and men trying to figure out which one is the "spy" or Ann Bates. This first activity allows the students to drop their guard of immediate gender defense, and after extensive research, walk, talk, and act just as the actual man or woman felt being in the position and mindset that they were in at that time. What the students will be doing after this activity is having a whole group share out of what they felt, noticed, discovered, and maybe how their views have changed from previous speculation of Ann Bates. The essential question at the end will be: //“Was Ann Bates in the wrong?"// Also working with E-newspapers in lesson 7&8 as well as written letters for woman's propaganda under the terms of Martha Washington gets the students to see how and what difference a woman can make to the war effort if not for physical violence like their counterparts//.//

The students will also be working, on day 10, with an activity creating a hand-drawn map comparing two soldiers "rides" across a certain amount of mileage and stretch across land. For instance, the two comparisons are of Sybil Ludington and Paul Revere, which in essence they are working with the differences between a man and a woman ability to do the same job. Also, at the end of the lesson, the students will participating in a mock trial debate through explanation of their "created" rides of Sybil and Paul. *Important to note is that there are SDAIE strategies, especially designed for the English Language Learners, and even Special Needs students where it is a necessity to create an activity where movement, character/role change, hand gestures, and structured speech is promoted within the activities for differentiated instruction.

On Day 5 Lesson 3: Students will compare and contrast a famous female war icon of the Revolution with one from WWII making a connection across time periods.

Essentially, what the students are learning is to judge, make an opinion about something based on their own experience and comprehension of what is evidential truth and fact by having the ability to "see" from a different perspective.


 * Standards/Criteria for Success: **

What the students need to be able to do is be able to do proper and accurate, widespread investigative work to find reasons for woman’s role deficiency in the Revolutionary War. They must be able to work in teams, in a collaborative setting to research, analyze, and conclude main points advocating pro women, and even counterarguments posing as the male to ignite insightful conversation for general feedback and comprehension.

Throughout the entire unit plan, the students will be working each day to find a new angle, research new evidence, and learn new insight about a powerful woman standing in the shadow of a man who could not stand on his own two feet without the hand of a woman. While there is so much information, testimony, and even fallacy on the world wide web that can alter the truth the role of the student is to uncover the truth in those stories that are accurate and speak of the bravery and courage coming from none other than the female race. Through project collaboration and individual explanation, retelling with oral and short written reporting (Prezi and Fodey applications), the student will touch on various points of view (male and female), and conclude their final analysis on the role of women in the Revolutionary fight for independence.

The students will not be participating in tests or quizzes on the unit plan simply by the fact that the assessment for comprehension will be through both collaborative group projects and individual write-ups, or mini projects for presentation to the whole group. However, at the end of the unit plan, the students will be using a WebQuest to review and evaluate which woman they feel made the biggest contribution to the Revolutionary war, and support their claims in groups.
 * Other Evidence: **

The students will have the opportunity to challenge their own thinking, and be analysts of their own work by, for example, participating in a question and response forum with another person from the opposite “side of the fence” opinion. Also, the students will be actively engaged in their own learning process by incorporating technology, and interpersonal, logical, and musical perceptions into the activities finding the individualistic strengths multiple intelligence in each and every one of them. Through the presentations, both individual and group, the students will be expected to reiterate the goals and objectives of the lesson. Moreover, by being able to restate the reasons for the conclusions given, the students are becoming better learners and thinkers because it is no longer about memorization and now focused on getting the "why" out of the answers stated.
 * Student Self-Assessment: **

** WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR UNIT ** ** DAILY SCHEDULE **


 * UNIT INTRODUCTION DAY 1: **

SOCIAL STUDIES TEXT: __History Social -Science for California__: Our Nation by Scott Foresman

READING: UNIT 6- The Revolutionary War LESSON 3 __What role did women play in the Revolutionary War?__ -The reading will highlight the following women of the Revolution:
 * Mercy Otis Warren
 * Phillis Wheatley
 * Martha Washington
 * Molly Pitcher
 * Deborah Sampson
 * Abigail Adams

EMBEDDED ACTIVITIES: Drawing Conclusions pg. 133 & 135 Cause and Effect pg. 134 Main Idea and Details pg. 135 Identify and Analyze pg. 136


 * DAY 2: ABIGAIL ADAMS **

HANDOUT: Students receive a KWL chart on Abigail Adams and use it throughout the presentation.

PRESENTATION: Who Was Abigail Adams? PowerPoint with Video Snippet


 * DAY 3: ABIGAIL ADAMS CONTINUED **

GROUP WORK: Students receive a copy of Abigail Adams Letter with a side by side modern translation and work in groups to break down the meaning of an assigned paragraph from the letter. Each group must be ready to share their findings with the class.

WHOLE CLASS BRAINSTORM: Create a letter template with suggestions from the class that can be used as they compose “DEAR ABBY” response letters to Abigail Adams as John Adams.

INDEPENDENT WORK: Students create a rough draft of their response letter written as if they were John Adams writing back to Abigail. Sent as homework if not completed in class.


 * DAY 4: ABIGAIL ADAMS COMPLETED **

TECHNOLOGY: Students use letter template in Microsoft Word to type and print their “DEAR ABBY” final draft.

ACTIVITY: Students age their letters using a coffee stain technique and hang them outside to dry. Once dry they will be crinkled and displayed in class.


 * DAY 5: MOLLY PITCHER (Mary Ludwig Hays) **

HANDOUT: Images of Molly Pitcher and Rosie the Riveter with room for notes about each image and space to write a cause and effect piece in the back

PRESENTATION: Molly Pitcher vs. Rosie the Riveter PowerPoint and Who was Rosie the Riveter video from History Channel.

INDIVIDUAL WORK: Students use notes to write a compare and contrast piece about the two images. Students should highlight at least five similarities or differences in their write up and be ready to present at least one of their findings.


 * WEEK 1 Lesson Plans:**
 * DAY:1**




 * DAY:2-4**

Abigail Adams Rosie the Riveter
 * DAY:5**

= Week 2 Lesson Plans: =

__**Day 6 Outline**__ Ann Bates Presentation: Short masterpiece presentation Group Work: Espionage Activity posing as Ann Bates Ann Bates the Spy

__**Day 7&8 Outline**__ Deborah Sampson Presentation: Teacher dressing as Deborah Sampson Group Work: Fodey and Prezi Presentation on Public Opinion for or against Deborah Sampson's decision to dress as a soldier Woman Soldier Revolutionary War Archives

__**Day 9 Outline**__ Martha Washington Presentation: Short video clip of Martha and George Washington Group Work: Group discussion, pair share etc of Martha's strengths beside her husband Individual Work: Writing letters as Martha Washington for war propaganda

__**Day 10 Outline**__ Sybil Ludington Presentation: Video clips of both Sybil and Paul's rides Brainstorm: Students compare and contrast a woman and a man's ride for the same cause Group Work: Create a map for both Paul Revere and Sybil Ludington and creating a mock trial debate on the similarities and differences of each of their rides

Student Work Prezi Sample: Public Opinion Newspaper

BrainPop Video: George Washington

Student Fodey Newspaper: Deborah Sampson

Summative Assessment: Women of the Revolutionary War The students will be using this WebQuest to research independently further major contributions, information, and actions of each of the women represented. For the summative task, the students will have to support which woman they feel had the largest contribution to the war effort. The students will have to present reasons, following the teacher supported guidelines as to why the woman they chose should be the recipient of the "Greatest Woman of the Revolutionary War" award for her contributions.