Lesson Sketch-The California Gold Rush

Kanika Welch June 2021

Standard Alignment: This lesson addresses the following Common Core Standards in English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Writing for 3rd grade:

• RI.4.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.
• RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably
• W.4.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
• SL.4.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• L.4.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Objectives:

-The students will (TSW) analyze primary sources about the California Gold Rush

-TSW synthesize primary sources about the minors and prospectors of the California Gold Rush and their families to create a narrative writing piece describing a day in the life for a Forty-niner.

Grade Level(s):3-4

Content and Primary Source Background: Students should have read excerpts of What was the Gold Rush? By Joan Holub and be familiar with new vocabulary like prospector, boom town, and forty-niner.

Main Instructional Strategy: Whole group instruction, group activity and discussion

Lesson Sketch

Intro: The Teacher Will (TTW) introduce the lesson by telling the students that they have been hired as historians. Good historians use primary and secondary sources to retell and explain history. Next, TTW explain primary sources. A primary source can be anything that comes from the actual time and place of an event (e.g., an eyewitness account, an object, letter, or photograph). Once students have a firm understanding of what a primary source is, TTW give students the opportunity to analyze a primary source using the Visual Discovery Method.

Main Lesson Learning Activity: (to be completed in 1-3 class periods)

Day 1- TTW now display the first primary resource, photo of miner and entertainer, John Stone.  (https://www.loc.gov/item/2017701352/)

The teacher should ask students why this photo is a primary source and reiterate that it is a photo that comes from the actual time and place of the Gold Rush.

Next TTW facilitate students through answering the following:

Gathering Evidence:

            What do you see?

            How would you describe this person?

Interpreting the Evidence

            What is the person holding?

What is it used for?

            Where might this photograph have been taken?

            Is this person dressed for working in the mines?

Give one or more pieces of evidence to support your answers.

Hypotheses:

            How do you think this person is feeling and why?

            Based on what you have learned about the Gold Rush, why do you think this person posed for this photograph?

Give one or more pieces of evidence to support your answers.

This activity will give students active practice in “thinking like a historian” and prime them to compare their sources.

Day 2: With students in groups, TTW recap the previous lesson, what a primary source is, and examples of primary sources.  Next, TTW tell students that they have received a letter from a prospector. (https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/california-gold-rush/sources/1906)

(Beforehand, the teacher should make copies of the letter on yellow or beige paper and crinkle it some, then place in in envelopes. The class will be divided into groups, so each group would have a copy of the letter.)

Next, TTW project the transcript of the letter on the white board and read it to the class. After reading, TTW facilitate a discussion on the different viewpoints based on the letter: Newton (the prospector), his wife, his children, and his friends. TTW then assign each group different viewpoint explore. TSW complete the Circle of Viewpoints activity with the following questions:

Complete the following sentence-starters to further explore the perspective your group has been assigned. Use the Circle of Viewpoints activity sheet to create your poster.

- I am thinking of the California Gold Rush from the viewpoint of _____________

 -I think ... (describe the topic from your viewpoint.)

 Be an actor—take on the character of your viewpoint:

A question I have from this viewpoint is____________?

Assessment:

Day 3- TSW respond to the following writing prompt.

You have analyzed primary resources of the California Gold Rush. Using your evidence, write about a typical day from the viewpoint of a prospector. Remember good writing has a beginning (introduction), middle, and end (conclusion).

Lesson Conclusion: Once students have completed their Circle of View Points Activity and narrative writing, TTW display the posters. Each group will take a gallery walk to read about the other perspectives of the Gold Rush. After that, some students will share their writing with the class.  TTW wrap up the lesson by asking, “Why do you think it’s important to know about different viewpoints of an event? What do these different perspectives help us understand about the California Gold Rush?”

Primary Sources Pedagogy:

-Identify details when observing a primary source

-Ask questions related to observations and the topic of a primary source

-Draw conclusions about questions and hypotheses