The African American Experience Prior to the Civil War By Matthew Kieswether

Transformative and Multicultural: Lesson Minority Perspective- By focusing on the experience of the minority, the lesson acknowledges that there is more to history than just the white majority perspective. Environmental Factors and Racism- Analyzing a person’s perspective for honesty and validity in the group and class discussion illuminates the oppression of certain individuals in United States history because of race. Group Work- By asking the students to work together with their peers to construct an understanding and perspective, I am allowing the students to grow from understanding not only the perspective of someone in history, but also their peers of different backgrounds and persuasions. Differentiated Assessment- The assessment of individuals in class will be informal and will be based on the student’s perspective and ability. Differentiated Strategies- The learning experiences will include visual and auditory learning with a lecture and PowerPoint, logical learning through analysis of a perspective, spatial learning through visuals, and interpersonal learning through group discussion.

Transformative and Multicultural: Unit Differentiated Assessment- Multiple Assessment strategies: Informal observance, adjusted expectations, formal test at the end of unit, group work, adjusted questions to students in class, etc. Differentiated Strategies- Multiple forms of instruction, Opportunity for student selected project of interest, Multiple opportunities for leadership and group work, Multiple Intelligences Strategies Multiple Perspectives- Lesson content includes multiple perspectives, specifically focusing on the experience of the minority

Transformative and Multicultural: Perspective Change and Motivation The Learning Targets require the students to seek understanding out of their own experience. The lesson’s subject matter relates directly to the African American experience in America prior to the Civil War, of which many of my students have little to no prior knowledge. The lesson specifically addresses the effects of slavery imposed on a minority of the United States culture prior to the 1860s. In addition, the lesson requires students to be objective about understanding another person’s perspective. Experiences in class will help the students begin the process of identifying minorities who can’t or won’t share their perspective because of the surrounding political or social environment, with the eventual goal in mind of motivating my students to help illuminate those voices in society. Finally, the learning targets require student voice and opinion. Each individual must analyze the information from their own perspective and background with the goal of understanding the crippling effects of slavery.

Transformative and Multicultural: Higher Order Thinking My lesson plan is built on inductive learning. The group activity starts with testimonies about the condition of slavery and asks students to analyze them for factors that affect their truthfulness. By analyzing these documents, the larger subject of what affects honesty in testimony arises specifically in the context of constructing a correct historical account. We’ve started with a task that is as common as reading something in the newspaper and have arrived at constructing a list of possible factors that should be considered before accepting someone’s version of an event. Bloom’s Taxonomy of Thinking Skills From Level 1 and 2 to Level 4 and 6