Module 8 - Questioning

 

Selected Text:  

   “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

    Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

    But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

                                                                        Abraham Lincoln
                                                                        November 19, 1863

  

Question	Purpose	Type of Question
Why does Lincoln not use the word “slavery” in this Civil War speech?	Interpretive level	Inferencing
Are there other ways that Lincoln refers to slavery without actually using the word?	Interpretive level	Key details
What words can you think of that would you describe the tone of this speech?	Interpretive level	Word choice
What emotions does this lyrical speech intend to draw from the reader?	Interpretive level	Inferencing
Why did Lincoln write such a short speech to mark such a major event?	Structural level	Inferencing

 

Option 1:  Graphic Organizer:  Concept Map

 

 

There is, within the social studies field of disciplines, no more remarkable short speech than Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and all students should be well familiar with it.  It is important on many levels, from the immediately political, to buttressing arguments for a just war, to literary distinction, and more.  Each of those angles of approaching the speech provide opportunities for teachers to unite the moment and the event to a vast swathe of military historical, political, civics, and geographical content.  It is also short enough to be reasonably deeply covered within a single lesson plan.  A teacher could: 

            1.  Read the address to the entire class (or have students read it)

            2.  Have students read it again on their own

            3.  Working in groups, students construct concept maps on poster paper

            4.  Students put up their posters and gallery walk the work of the other groups

            5.  Teacher facilitates classroom discussion, calling out key concepts identified by each of the groups

Per Fisher and Frey (chapter 7), "concept maps lend themselves to quick and efficient illustrations of complicated ideas." They also invite students to engage in a fairly unstructured, low risk manner, bringing in their own questions and beliefs and hopefully fostering agency, self esteem, and identity (chapter 5).