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The Westward Movement: Would I Move From Vermont?
by Cynthia L. Sheehan, 3rd and 4th Grade teacher
Wardsboro Elementary School
Lesson Plans l Scoring Guides l References l Sample Handout
Context
This unit is for a multiage 3rd and 4th grade classroom. It is a social studies unit and integrated with as many other subject areas as possible. Integrated Science and Social Studies themes alternate throughout the school year. This unit covers the Westward Movement Era from the late 1840s until the 1890s and follows up nicely for the fourth graders in the classroom because they studied Vermont Native Americans and the colonial period in Vermont up to the Civil War last year.
Thinking Maps are an essential piece to all curriculum areas school wide, and we incorporate them into this unit whenever possible.
As with all classrooms, this one is full of diverse learners. The range is from “gifted and talented” 3rd graders to 3rd and 4th graders significantly below grade level in all subject areas. All students are accommodated to match their learning styles, academic strengths and weakness and general personality whenever possible. A small class size of 10 students makes this easier.
Description
This unit introduces students to the historical period commonly referred to as The Westward Movement. Students examine this movement from the point of view of a Vermonter in the mid to late 1800s. We hope to have a “living history” character visit the classroom to help them take on the perspective of a character during this time. They ponder the essential questions: “Would I move from Vermont?” and, “Why or why not?”
Standards:
This unit addresses a variety of Vermont Standards in the area of Social Studies
Two key Standards are:
6.8 Movements and Settlements: Students analyze the factors and implications associated with the historical and contemporary movements and settlements of people.
This is evident when students recognize the causes and effects of human movements, both push and pull and recognize voluntary and involuntary migration factors. This standard is the focus of this unit. Students examine what was happening in Vermont during the late 1800s both socially and economically. They consider if these could be “push” factors to migrate out of the area. They also learn of the various “pull” factors occurring in the Western area of our continent. They compare the ideas of voluntary and involuntary migration factors. They analyze these factors from a local point of view using known information and historical documents to analyze what was happening in Wardsboro, Vermont during that time and then look at the implications of that movement on their town.
6.1 Causes and Effects in Human Societies
Students examine complex webs of causes and effects in relation to events in order to generalize about the workings of human societies and they apply their findings to problems.
This is evident when students identify multiple causes and effects of events under study and examine how people in specific circumstances behave in order to predict human behavior in similar situations. Students look as the push and pull factors in migration to the west and in this process discover the causes of the movement and the effects of the migration on both the east and west. They use this information to make their determination about traveling westward from Vermont.
Standards-based Assessment
I assess the students throughout the unit using the scoring guide. One of the final projects is a persuasive essay which integrates Vermont’s writing portfolio and standards into the unit. Students write persuasive pieces from the point of view of a Vermont child, in the mid to late 1800s, convincing their families to stay in Vermont or make the move out west.
Students also act out a play/simulation of a Vermont family at this transitional point. I use available information from historical texts to create a family situation that resembles one in Wardsboro during the time frame. However, it should be clear to students that this is a work of historical fiction, not actual historic fact. Students take the role of family members with differing views on whether to stay in Vermont or head out west. The family debates these ideas in a family discussion and come to a final decision. Students write the script with some input from teacher but they make the final decision for the family. I will provide some examples from Little House on the Prairie books (or similar historical fiction) of a family of that time making a similar decision. As the class will only have 9 or 10 actors and families were large, this will be an appropriate final assessment.
I use the student essays and their work on the play to determine if they understand the push/pull, and cause and effect factors involved in the Westward Movement. Their work should indicate that students understand why Vermonters moved West and the variety of factors that lead to voluntary and involuntary migrations. Students have a variety of opportunities to demonstrate their acquired knowledge and the opportunity to use their different intelligences in this performance.
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please contact: margaret.maclean@ruraledu.org
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