Teaching Guide
Please refer to the module Teaching
Guide for additional information.
Lesson summary
Instructional use
Pre-lesson activity
Standards covered by this lesson
Selected bibliography
Assessment
Lesson summary
Phebe, the sister of Crispus Attucks, tells the story of her brother’s
brave escape from slavery to become a whaler, and his fateful return to
Boston. Attucks was the first American to be killed in the cause of independence,
having been among the crowd confronting British soldiers in the event
that Paul Revere called “the Boston Massacre.” Phebe Attucks
analogizes the tyranny of the British to slavery and explains why the
colonists needed the right to defend themselves against a powerful, occupying
army. The story emphasizes the 2nd and 3rd Amendments, right to bear arms
and the quartering of soldiers.
Instructional use
Please refer to the module Teaching
Guide for instructional use scenarios.
Pre-lesson activity
It is recommended that teachers preview the lesson to identify
concepts that may need to be reviewed before students begin. Concepts
include mercantilism, slavery in colonial America, taxation without representation,
and British occupation. It would be useful to refer to the timeline
of various acts of British oppression against the colonists (Library
of Congress American Memory) to prepare for this lesson. Teachers may
also wish to create a vocabulary/spelling list for terms found in this
lesson.
Teachers may want to read the text of the 2nd and 3rd Amendments to the
class and pose some questions to students before getting started: Why
do you think these amendments were important to the early Americans? What
do these amendments say about life in the colonies? What do they mean
to you in the context of today? Texts of the amendments can be found at
U.S. Constitution
Online.
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Standards covered by this
lesson
Refer to the module Teaching
Guide for list a Language Arts goals covered by all WebDocent lessons.
Grades 7-8 Social Science and American History
Illinois State Goal 14
Understand, analyze, and compare political systems
with an emphasis on the United States.
Illinois State Goal 15
Understand, analyze, and compare economic systems with an emphasis on
the United States.
Illinois State Goal 16
Understand and analyze events, trends, individuals, and movements shaping
the history of Illinois, the United States, and other nations.
Illinois State Goal 17
Demonstrate a knowledge of world geography, as well as an understanding
of the effects of geography on society, with an emphasis on the United
States.
Illinois State Goal 18
Understand, analyze, and compare social systems with an emphasis on the
United States.
Selected bibliography
Alfred E. Young and Terry J. Fife, with Mary E. Janzen.
We the People: Voices and Images of the New Nation. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 1993.
Benjamin Griffith Brawley. Negro Builders and Heroes. Chapel Hill, NC:
The University of North Carolina Press, 1937.
Assessment
Refer to the module Teaching
Guide for an explanation of the online journal for assessment purposes.
See the Additional Activities page for ideas
for extending the lesson offline.
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