Context: The grade level for this text set is 10th grade, and the students in this grade are taking the first half of U.S history which covers colonization through (including) reconstruction. This text set regards the Civil War, which is a major event in this time period. The ability for students in this class varies with some students having matchup assets, matchup gaps, and mismatches.

Learning Objectives: The learning objectives for students using this text set should be as follows:Be able to describe the events leading up to, and the after-effects of, the Civil WarBe able to tell what makes a book a work of historical fiction

References with ExplanationInstructional Resource:

Civil War & Reconstruction | Stanford History Education Group. (n.d.). Retrieved March 26,

2015, from https://sheg.stanford.edu/civil-war-reconstruction

This source is a lesson plan regarding the Civil War, provided by Stanford University. I

selected this lesson plan because it had reviews by people who have used this and other

Stanford lesson plans, and it has the name of a college associated with it (representative

of that college/the work that college does).

Online Interactive:

Civil War 150. (n.d.). Retrieved March 26, 2015, from http://www.history.com/interactives/civil-

war-150#/who-they-were

This source is a themed, point and click, informative website provided by history.com.

This provides various visual and statistical aids for students, which is beneficial if a

learner thinks analytically and visually. I selected this source because it has very little

words, and is very user friendly. I would ask students to use this website to find various

statistical information on the civil war and to find statistical information they may think

is important.

Print Resource:

Dallek, R. (2008). American history ([Teacher's ed.). Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell.

This is a history textbook, Ch. 15 pgs. 480-487 are the ones pertaining to this particular

lesson about the Civil War. I selected this text because it was a text that I’ve used

before, therefore I feel comfortable working with it. I have also used this text book in

high school, thus making it very familiar. It has a bunch of primary sources and is a

fairly easy book to read and dissect. I would ask students to briefly go over the text

before lecture while using the provided guided reading questions given at the beginning

of the chapter.

Print Resource:

R. Henry Campbell letters (Page 7/9, Manuscript #0282). (n.d.). Retrieved March 26, 2015, from

http://www.vmi.edu/uploadedFiles/Archives/Manuscripts/00282Campbell-Varner/

Campbell_letters.pdf

This source contains letters that a private serving in the Confederate army sent to his

close friends and family. The source that will be examined references various internal

and external struggles this young man faces. I selected this text because it provides a

unique perspective of a Confederate soldier, which is something that isn’t particularly

looked at in the Northern states. I would ask students to compare this text to how they

would feel and what they would think if they were in his shoes, and also compare it to

what union soldiers would have felt.

Media Resource:

Lincoln [Motion picture on DVD]. (2012). United States.

The following is a biographical, fictitious movie based on the President who served

during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln. I selected this as an artistic outlet for the

students, and because it is the best civil war movie to come out in the past two decades.

I would ask students how they could turn this movie into a factually accurate historical

representation of Abraham Lincoln.

Print Resource:

Stowe, H., & Yellin, J. (1998). Uncle Tom's Cabin. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a highly controversial anti-slavery novel, which helped to lay the

groundwork for abolition and Emancipation. The book revolves around two slaves that

were sold from farmers who viewed them as family but had to part with them in order to

pay debts. I selected this text because of its historical significance, to which even

Abraham Lincoln himself has jokingly stated, “So this is the little lady who started this

great war” to the author, Harriet Beecher Stowe. I would ask students to read this book

in order for them to gauge how real or how fake it seems, because some people have

often made the mistake of labeling this book as a work of nonfiction.

Print Resource:

Union/Confederate States. (2002, January 1). Retrieved March 26, 2015, from

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/photo/union-confederacy/?ar_a=1

This is a map depicting the succession of the South and shows which states sided to

either the Union or the Confederacy during the Civil War. I selected this map because it

is historically accurate and makes an excellent visual aid. I would ask students to use

this map as a reference for where major events took place, and to use this map in order

to understand how some states were “created” during the polarization of our country.

Media Resource:

VirtualMuseum. (n.d.). Retrieved March 26, 2015, from

http://www.civilwarvirtualmuseum.org/medicine/field-medicine/amputation-kit.php

This URL is an image of an amputation kit, which was used by field medics in the Civil

War. I selected this to show how gruesome war is/was which will be a reoccurring

theme when these students learn about WWI next year. I would ask the students to use

this source as evidence to support their claim of how brutal war was (e.g, “War was so

brutal, that the medical practices to remove a bullet wound, a common brutal injury in

the war, included a saw”

Online Interactive:

VirtualMuseum. (2011, January 1). Retrieved March 26, 2015, from

http://www.civilwarvirtualmuseum.org/

This URL links to an online interactive museum, which would allow students to access

images, with vivid descriptions, of Civil War artifacts and major historical figures. I

selected this museum because the layout was appealing and not too overwhelming (lack

of places to click), the descriptions aren’t too wordy, and it is very easy to use. Students

could use this to see a plentitude of actual civil war artifacts that they may not be able to

see if we as a class are unable to go to a museum.

Print:

Whitman, W. (n.d.). Come Up from the Fields Father. Retrieved March 26, 2015, from

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/182372

In brief, the poem is about a father receiving a letter that his son has been shot while

serving his country in the Civil War. I selected this text to help students understand

differing opinions about the war and to see how literary works like this could be used as

propaganda. I would ask students to look for the meaning or purpose (of the author)

within the text.

Rationale:

Uncle Tom’s Cabin works best with a student with matchup assets, who experience

high/moderate academic knowledge and processing ability because it requires some

historical context to understand what is going on in the book, and requires a moderate-

to-high processing ability because of the author’s style and word choice, and hidden

messages.

A text for students with matchup gaps include the letter and the text book because those

go over and state significant events pertaining to the content learned, which requires

moderate/low academic knowledge, and the style and word choice of both doesn’t

require a high processing ability.

For mismatch students, I would recommend using visual aids the most, so the interactive

website, the virtual museum, and the map would work best for this group of students

because they have moderate academic knowledge and low processing ability, these

images require some context, but do not have a convoluted, wordy description.

Different students have different needs, and the only way to meet all of those needs is for me, the teacher, to make the lesson plan or text set work with the needs of the students. The only way I can reach this varying diverse set of learners is to use a varying diverse set of texts, with many words and few pictures, half-and-half, or all pictures and few words (e.g: maps, interactive websites, novels, photos, movies, the textbook). The only way to accommodate for everyone would be to use ALL of the sources given in a diverse text set, which is problematic because of time. I feel as though students may want to read all of the texts, but because we as a class need to get through so much in such a little bit of time, they won’t have the opportunity in school, and most wouldn’t in their own free time. Therefore, students would be reading as historians because historians do not read everything start to finish, and that would be the ultimate form of flattery: not reading everything, but understanding the historical significance and the purpose behind each source.