Lesson Plan on theThree Tennessee Presidents and Primary Sources
By Suzanne Terrell and Terry Sams
Objectives/Purpose: The objective and purpose of this lesson is to get students to be familiar with the definition of a primary and secondary source. Students should be able to discern the difference and evaluate a document. In addition the students should learn the value of a primary source to a valid interpretation of a historical event. Students will learn about the three presidents through a series of Power Point slides about Jackson, Polk and Johnson. They will learn about the impact these Tennesseans had on the national scene.
Grade Level: Grades 4-8
Lesson Time: Can be completed in one class period or repeated whenever using primary source documents. The Power Point can be used to introduce the lesson, the unit, or in part as the timeline expands
Background information:
What is a primary source?
A primary source is a record of an event as it is first described without commentary or interpretation. It includes sets of data such as census statistics which have been tabulated but not interpreted. These firsthand documents include poems, diaries, court records, and interviews as well as data generated by experiments, surveys, and ethnographies used as research.
What is a secondary source?
Secondary sources offer an analysis or a restatement of primary sources. They often attempt to describe or explain primary sources. Some secondary sources argue a contention or persuade to a certain opinion.
Examples of primary and secondary sources:
Primary SourcesSecondary Sources
Historyslave diarybook on the Underground Railroad
Artoriginal artworkart critique article
Political Sciencetreatyessay on Native American land
Rights
The three Tennesseepresidents are the seventh president, Andrew Jackson, the eleventh president James K. Polk and the seventeenth president, Andrew Johnson. All three left a historical record in primary source material. In reading these first hand accounts of events in history, students can then come to their own interpretation of history.
Materials: evaluationworksheet, background information powerpoint, examples of primary sources
Strategies/Procedures: Introduce the definitions of primary and secondary sources. Review the list of examples. Ask students to suggest examples of primary sources they have read before.
Present the power point on the three Tennessee presidents. Stress the importance of understanding political opinion, personal character, and public contemporary views with primary source material.
Divide students up into pairs. Handout individual documents to each pair. First, the students should read the document. Assign one student to be the scribe. The second student reads the evaluation sheet. They discuss the answers.
Evaluation/Assessment: The teacher should monitor pairs. Students will fill out evaluation form to demonstratean understanding of the significance of using primary source documents to interpret history. Ask critical thinking questions as a follow up to stimulate creative application and assimilation of information.
Differentiate levels for individualization by selecting less text for below grade level readers. Ask students to compare and contrast documents if they are above grade level readers. Consider making up pairs of students who can match well by interests and/or intellect.
Author’s comment:
The Power Point on the three Tennessee presidents is an introduction to political leaders and their impact on the nation. The slides of documents supplement text. The presentation can introduce a timeline of the first half of the nineteenth century
This is a valuable and fun method of learning about history. The evaluation of a document is a way to analyze its value. This activity becomes more complex as it spirals from intermediate grades through the eighth grade. It is valued literally in early grades and analyzed in historical context and national consequence in later grades.
This lesson can be adjusted for each grade level by stressing SPIs
4.5.2Identify major Tennessee political leaders.
5.5.7 Interpret a primary reading sample.
5.6.2 Use tools of social science inquiry such as surveys, statistics, maps and documents.
8.5.2 Read a timeline and order events of the past
8.5.3 Differentiate between a primary and secondary source.
8.4.9 Analyze the contributions of Tennessee political leaders on the national scene.
8.5.11Identify conclusions about historical events using primary and secondary sources