Teachers’ Resource for Gettysburg National Military Park’s
2002 Satellite Broadcast
"Gettysburg: Stories of Monumental Courage"
A Broadcast For Students and Teachers from Gettysburg National Military Park
Broadcast date: May 21, 2002
The information, activities, and lesson plans below will help you prepare your students, building their anticipation for the broadcast and creating a foundation of knowledge upon which the broadcast will build.
Theme, Goals, and Objectives:
The theme of this year’s broadcast is . . .
The monuments at Gettysburg stand today as beacons for innumerable stories of courage; by revisiting these monuments and these stories, we learn great lessons about the history of our country and about the application of courage in our own lives.
The goal of the broadcast is . . .
to establish connections between the study of history and the lives of students across the country.
The objectives of the broadcast and the pre-broadcast activities are as follows:
After completing the pre-broadcast activities and viewing the broadcast, students will be able to:
A. explain some of the causes and consequences of the American Civil War;
B. identify key leaders and landscape features of the battle of Gettysburg;
C. reiterate at least one story of courage from the battle of Gettysburg and apply it to their lives.
Curriculum Standards:
This broadcast addresses several of the National Standards for United States History, the Pennsylvania Department of Education Proposed Academic Standards for History and their Citizenship standards, as well as most states’ formal objectives. The most pertinent are listed.
NATIONAL STANDARDS IN HISTORICAL THINKING (GRADES 5 – 12)
Standard 3. Historical Analysis and Interpretation
· Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas, values, personalities, behaviors, and institutions by identifying likenesses and differences.
· Consider multiple perspectives of various peoples in the past by demonstrating their differing motives, beliefs, interests, hopes, and fears.
· Analyze cause-and-effect relationships.
· Hypothesize the influence of the past, including both the limitations and the opportunities made possible by past decisions.
NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR UNITED STATES HISTORY (GRADES 5 – 12)
ERA 5 – Civil War and Reconstruction (1850 – 1877)
· The causes of the Civil War
· The course and character of the war and its effects on the American People
PENNSYLVANIA PROPOSED ACADEMIC STANDARDS FOR HISTORY (GRADES 7 – 9)
8.3.9 -- Interpret the interaction of cultural, economic, geographical, political and social relations in United States History from 1860 to 1876.
· Identify individuals and groups who contributed to the separation and consolidation of the nations (e.g. Presidents, military leaders, political leaders, other individuals).
· Identify and analyze the importance of historical evidence (including historic places such as Civil War battlefields).
· Analyze continuity and change in United States history.
· Analyze conflict and cooperation in United States history (including military conflict, military engagements, racial and ethnic relations, labor relations).
Pre-Broadcast Lessons:
Below are four lesson plans, designed to prepare students for the "Gettysburg: Stories of Monumental Courage" broadcast, including:
Lesson 1: Causes of the American Civil War
Lesson 2: The Battle of Gettysburg
Lesson 3: Defining Courage
Lesson 4: Gettysburg Biographies
Lesson 1: Causes of the American Civil War
Purpose: To familiarize students with the basic causes of the Civil War.
Procedure: Assign the following reading for homework, or have the students read aloud in class. The review questions to follow can be used as a whole class activity, an assignment, or as a quiz.
Vocabulary: compromise, conflict, tariff, state’s rights, slavery, secession
Note: The following reading is merely an overview of the complex politics preceding the Civil War. If time permits in your classroom, assign students (as individuals or in small groups) to research and present one of these issues in greater detail. A reading list is provided on this web site for direction.
Broadcast 2002 Lesson One Student Handout
Broadcast 2002 Lesson One Questions
Lesson 2: The Battle of Gettysburg
Purpose: To familiarize students with the landscape features and basic troop movements of the Gettysburg campaign.
Procedure: Print out and assign the following reading and map activities for homework, or as a small group activity in the computer classroom.
Vocabulary
: optimal; defeat; converge; flank; obstacle; remnant.Battle of Gettysburg Maps:
· Map #1: Routes of the Armies to Gettysburg
Note: What was happening in the war prior to the spring of 1863? If time permits in your classroom, assign students (as individuals or small groups) to research and present the military campaigns of 1861 and 1862, including the battles of Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. Other research topics that will add to the background to the Gettysburg campaign include: the ever-changing generalship of the Union Army of the Potomac, President Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the condition of the Southern homefront up to 1863.
Broadcast 2002 Lesson Two Student Handout
Broadcast 2002 Lesson Two Questions
Lesson 3: Defining Courage
Purpose: To introduce the theme of courage, and to have students begin to apply the lessons of history to their own lives.
Procedure: This whole-class activity should be completed approximately one or two weeks before viewing the broadcast, and should be followed with Lesson 4: Gettysburg Biographies.
· Write the word "COURAGE" on the board, and lead the class in a discussion to define it.
· Once the class agrees on a definition of courage, ask them to apply that definition to create a list of courageous Americans. For homework, students can write an essay on one courageous American, citing evidence that supports how this person fits into the class definition of courage.
· After the essays have been completed, ask the students how they might be able to apply the courageous acts of their chosen American to their own lives. Facilitate the discussion so that the students are thinking of very specific applications, and not easy generalizations.
(For example, citing Harriet Tubman as a courageous American, one might say that we can learn to take action against injustice in our society. But more specifically, an individual student could learn to stand up for a fellow student who is being bullied by another, rather than just ignoring the situation when it does not directly affect him or her, just as Tubman continued to risk her own life by leading others to safety while conducting the Underground Railroad.)
· Some transitional questions for thought and discussion are:
What ideals does our country value? (i.e. freedom, equality, sense of adventure, patriotism)
What are some ways that Americans show that we value these things? (i.e. flags, monuments, historic sites, books, other media, heroes)
Is courage one of the ideals that we honor?
How is the idea of courage perpetuated/valued in our society? (mass media/war movies, Iwo Jima monument)
Can courage be preserved? Why or why not? If it can, how is it preserved?
· Conclude the lesson by saying something like:
Next week we will be watching a satellite broadcast from the fields of Gettysburg, and learning about several people who displayed great courage during those tragic three days in July 1863. Gettysburg National Military Park is comprised of land set aside for us to learn from and remember the courageous sacrifices of the men who fought there during the Civil War. One of the ways that their stories and their memories are preserved is through the hundreds of monuments erected by the veterans and others since the battle.
Lesson 4: Gettysburg Biographies
Purpose: To introduce the individuals whose stories will be told during the broadcast, and to therefore build anticipation for it. To personalize the battle of Gettysburg.
Procedure: This activity should be completed approximately one or two weeks before viewing the broadcast, and should be preceded with Lesson 3: Defining Courage.
· This year's broadcast will feature four different scenes that exhibit four different types of courage found at the Battle of Gettysburg. As individuals or in small groups, have your students review the information on the "Student Broadcast Pages" (also on the opening page). The information prints out easily, or you can use your computer classroom and have them view the pages online.
Courage at the Railroad Cut- Colonel Rufus Dawes and his 6th Wisconsin Infantry exhibited the courage to face danger and possible death head on.
Courage to Help Others- It was the willingness of everyday people, especially the women of Gettysburg, to face trajedy and disaster that exemplified courage in meeting the needs of thousands of wounded from the battle.
Courage at Little Round Top- Colonel Oates and his 15th Alabama Infantry exhibited the courage to persevere despite great obstacles and continue when one believes they shouldn't.
Courage to Command an Army- Robert E. Lee ordered the attack known as "Pickett's Charge", and he had the courage to face the consequences of his actions on that fateful day.
· If you choose a small group format, assign each group one of the profiled individuals to read, study, and then apply the class definition of courage to that individual. Ask the students: "Based on what you now know about these people, would you add them to your list of courageous Americans? Why or why not?"
· Have each group report out to the class about their individual, if possible using a blown-up map of the Gettysburg battlefield to point out his/her locations throughout the battle.
· Conclude the lesson with a brief discussion on how these stories and these people can teach us all lessons about courage in our own lives and lifetimes.
** Make sure to revisit these pages after the broadcast to find out what happened after the battle and the war. **
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Overview | Pre-broadcast Activities |
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Post-Broadcast Activities | Evaluation Form | Reading List | Teacher's Guide |
GETTYSBURG: STORIES OF MONUMENTAL COURAGE
A Live Satellite Broadcast- May 21, 2002
National Park Service
Gettysburg National Military Park
97 Taneytown Road
Gettysburg, PA 17325