About This Lesson
Differentiating and Analyzing Primary vs Secondary Sources of the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the United States
Izzy Eyre
Learning Objective: Students will be able to correctly differentiate between primary and secondary sources as well as draw text from the sources in order to corroborate an argument for the elements that lead to the success of the women's suffrage movement.
In accordance with U.S. II Standard 2.1: Students will use primary and secondary sources to identify and ex- plain the conditions that led to the rise of reform movements, such as organized labor, suffrage, and temperance.
Description of Activity:
Students will be given both primary and secondary source documents and be asked to sort them into either primary or secondary categories. The documents will have descriptions to give context such as “this is a book of suffrage songs titled The Suffrage Song Book published in 1909,” “this is section of the minutes taken at the 1848” or, “This is a passage from the book titled Century of Struggle written by Eleanor Flexner, published in 1996”
Students will be placed into groups to sort these different sources into the category of secondary or primary sources. The sorting will take place on the front white board and where students will stick their documents onto the board with magnets, there will be two sections on the board for each type of source. The students will be given approximately 7 minutes to sort the documents and place them on the board with their groups. After the documents have all been sorted, each group will have a chance to explain and defend their placement of the document to the class demonstrating their understanding of the difference between primary and secondary sources. Each group will be given one minute maximum to tell their reasoning to the class. Ideally, this section will take only 5 minutes for the entire class to present. This will utilize embodied cognition as well as social modeling, by allowing students to physically sort documents as well as present their decisions to the class.
After the sorting and presenting of documents is finished, students will be given a packet of all the documents they have sorted. They will be given approximately 15 minutes to go through the documents (the documents will be excerpts about one page long) and highlight sections they think pertain to the rise of the suffrage movement, who was advocating for and who was advocating against, why were people for or against women’s right to vote, what are the reasons they give in the documents and how is it being analyzed retroactively through secondary sources? This will utilize constructivism as at this point we will have ideally undergone a lecture on the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. This will be an individual activity, however students may ask their fellows, or myself for help if needed. The teacher will also be walking around the room to answer questions or hold accountability at this time.
Materials needed:
- A magnetic white board
- Magnets for white board
- Expo markers to create sections on white board
- Single sheets of paper with document excerpts printed on
- Packets of documents one for each student
- Highlighters
The first half of this activity will serve as an informal assessment, when students are describing why they sorted the documents into either section it will provide insight into their knowledge gaps. The second half of the activity when students are highlighting sections of the documents to show understanding of the material will serve as a more formal assessment.
How does this learning activity meet the criteria of the assignment? This learning activity will utilize embodiments through allowing students to get up out of their seats and physically sort their documents and place them on one communal white board. This will also utilize connectivism through group work.
This activity will allow students an opportunity to practice and learn how to differentiate documents as well as analyze them to back up arguments,
Attach or link materials for your activity here.
Materials needed:
- A magnetic white board
- Magnets for white board
- Expo markers to create sections on white board
- Single sheets of paper with document excerpts printed on
- Packets of documents one for each student
- Highlighters
