Lesson plan for

FAMOUS CITIZENS

Lesson Plan: Famous Citizens 2

Introduction This lesson is about the contributions of famous citizens in American history. Students will learn about nine famous Americans, from founding fathers to suffragists. You will lead the class through the eight questions from the naturalization test related to famous citizens. Then, test and reinforce their knowledge with activities using the attached Famous Citizen Card deck. Objectives The student will be better able to

• Recall the answers to the eight USCIS test questions in the Famous Citizens theme.

• Match the names of individuals on the test with their accomplishments, their images, and objects related to them.

USCIS Questions In the Famous Citizens theme:

68. What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for? 62. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? 69. Who is the “Father of Our Country”? 70. Who was the first president? 67. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name

one of the writers. 75. What was one important thing that Abraham Lincoln did? 77. What did Susan B. Anthony do? 85. What did Martin Luther King, Jr. do?

Related:

48. There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.

65. What happened at the Constitutional Convention? 63. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted? 74. Name one problem that led to the Civil War. 84. What movement tried to end racial discrimination?

Time Theme: 20 minutes Activity: 30 minutes

Lesson Plan: Famous Citizens 3

Materials

• Internet connectivity

• EITHER classroom projector OR enough computers for students to use as individuals or small groups

• Preparing for the Oath website, Famous Citizens theme (http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/index.html?theme=11)

• Famous Citizen Cards (attached)

Print and cut the Famous Citizen Cards before class. Create multiple decks if needed. If possible, print the cards on card stock.

• Tape or tacks

Challenge Words You can find all of the bold words in the vignettes in the word list. Listed below are some of those words that will come up often during the lesson.

Citizen/Citizens: someone who has the legal right to live, work, and vote in the United States Constitutional: something allowed in the U.S. Constitution. The freedom to give your opinion is constitutional. Create/Creates/Created: to make something new; created is the past tense form of create Diplomat: someone who officially represents his/her government in a foreign country Elections/Elections: an event when people choose a member of government by voting Equal: to be the same Equality: a situation where everyone has the same rights General: a person with a high rank in the Army, Air Force, or Marines Independent/Independence: not controlled by another person or country Inventor/Invented: someone who makes something for the first time; invented is the past tense for of invent; inventor is the noun form of invent Nonviolent: with no violence Postmaster General: the person in charge of the United States Postal Service Right/Rights: something you can do or have according to the law

Lesson Plan: Famous Citizens 4

Teacher Tech Tips To learn how to use Preparing for the Oath, visit the help page at http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/help.html Depending on your students’ proficiency level, you might want to offer a transcript of the narration for students to read along while watching and listening, or to have as a reference. You can find printable transcripts at http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/pdf/Transcript.pdf. You may notice that the web address never changes as you navigate through Preparing for the Oath. In order to go directly to a specific theme or question on the site, you can find a list of links at http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/pdf/Links.pdf. These links may be useful for using your browser’s “bookmark” tool or assigning student work. The link to go directly to the Famous Citizens theme is http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/index.html?theme=11. Some learning environments will be conducive to the sound features, while others will not. It is always possible to turn on and off the website’s audio feature by clicking on this symbol: However, please keep in mind that the test itself is spoken aloud. Students will need to be comfortable responding to spoken questions, and be able to respond orally. Don’t feel tied down by the structure of the themes. Once you are inside a theme, the image tiles along the bottom represent the individual questions within that theme. You may click on the tiles out of order to view the questions as you choose. Similarly, you may jump around the three modes within each question: Learn, Practice, and Try. Procedure There are three options for the lesson. Pick the one you think is the best fit for your class, or consider doing more than one option (such as option one as a whole class, then option two as an end-of-class game while other students are studying writing). Option 1: This option is best for classes with space to move around. The entire class can participate in this activity with only one deck of printed cards. It is likely to be a noisy, lively activity.

1. Lead the class through the Famous Citizens theme, as presented on the Preparing for the Oath website (http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/index.html?theme=11).

2. Allow students to ask any questions they have. Feel free to refer to the Background Information sheet (attached), as needed.

3. Distribute one Famous Citizen Card (attached) to each student. Teacher Note: The object cards make the most abstract connections to the famous citizens. To decrease the challenge for your students, do not distribute these cards.

Lesson Plan: Famous Citizens 5

4. Explain that each famous citizen has four cards (unless you did not distribute the

object cards, in which case, each famous citizen has three cards). Instruct students to walk around the room to find other students that hold cards related to the same famous citizen.

5. After completing the exercise, each group of students should have a name card, an accomplishment card, a portrait card, and an object card (unless you did not distribute the object cards). Each group should then use tape or tacks to post their cards on the board/wall to display for the class.

Procedure: Option 2 This option requires one deck of printed cards for each group. This option can be done quietly in small groups.

1. Lead the class through the Famous Citizens theme, as presented on the Preparing for

the Oath website (http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/index.html?theme=11). 2. Allow students to ask any questions they have. Feel free to refer to the Background

Information sheet, as needed. 3. Divide the class into small groups. 6. Give each group a deck of Famous Citizen Cards (attached). Shuffle the cards or ask

students to shuffle them. 4. Explain that each famous citizen has four cards: a name card, an accomplishment card,

a portrait card, and an object card. Ask each group to work together to create matches of four cards per famous citizen.

Procedure: Option 3 This option requires only the name cards and accomplishment cards. It is best played in pairs or small groups. It is likely to be a lively, noisy activity.

1. Lead the class through the Famous Citizens theme, as presented on the Preparing for the Oath website (http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/index.html?theme=11).

2. Allow students to ask any questions they have. Feel free to refer to the Background Information sheet, as needed.

3. For this game, only use the name cards and the accomplishment cards from the Famous Citizens Card Deck (attached). Put the other cards aside.

4. Split the class into groups to play Famous Citizen Concentration. 5. Place the cards facedown.

Lesson Plan: Famous Citizens 6

6. Each player flips over two cards during their turn. 7. If they get a match, they take the pair of cards. If they don’t get a match, they turn the

cards facedown again. 8. When all the cards are paired up, the game is over. The player with the most matches

wins. Learn More Links Smithsonian’s History Explorer (http://historyexplorer.americanhistory.si.edu) Your gateway to innovative online resources for teaching and learning American history, designed and developed by the National Museum of American History. The American Presidency Online Exhibition (http://americanhistory.si.edu/presidency) The online exhibition accompanies The American Presidency exhibition at the National Museum of American History. The exhibition interprets artifacts from presidents throughout history. It looks at the changing responsibilities of presidents, including George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and their unique roles in the formation of American society and government. Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life (http://americanhistory.si.edu/lincoln) The online exhibition on Abraham Lincoln from the National Museum of American History has objects from throughout Lincoln’s life and discusses his accomplishments. Monticello (http://www.monticello.org/) The website for Thomas Jefferson’s home in Virginia contains a wealth of information about Thomas Jefferson and his accomplishments.

Lesson Plan: Famous Citizens 7

Background Information George Washington

• George Washington was born in Virginia in 1732. • In 1775, upon his arrival in Philadelphia as one of the delegates to the Second

Continental Congress, he was elected to command the American Continental Army. • After eight and a half years as Commander in Chief of the Army, the United States won

the War of Independence. • George Washington, one of the most respected men in the colonies and the hero of

the Revolutionary War, was unanimously elected the first president of the United States in 1789.

• Washington was well aware of the importance of the example he was setting for all presidents to come, and performed his duties with this is mind. Washington decided that the president should live in the same place where he worked, his New York lodgings became the precursor to the White House. He created the presidential cabinet, with whom he met regularly to go over matters of state; Washington also helped to select the site and design the city that would become the capital of the new nation.

• Washington's courage in battle, dignified bearing, and universally admired strength of character earned him the name "Father of Our Country," and to this day we recognize the importance of his contributions to the United States.

• The object on the Museum Object Card is the Lansdowne Portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart. It was painted in 1796.

Thomas Jefferson

• Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant scholar, inventor, naturalist, and architect. He played the violin, spoke six languages, conducted archeological investigations of Native American mounds, founded the University of Virginia, and assembled a 10,000-book library which became the foundation of the Library of Congress.

• He wrote the Declaration of Independence, the document that announced to King George that the colonies would no longer accept his rule.

• Jefferson's political savvy led him to hold a number of governmental positions before becoming president: he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses when he was only 25, served in the Continental Congress, became governor of Virginia, was a diplomat in Europe where he helped negotiate the treaties that ended the Revolutionary War, secretary of state under Washington, and vice president under John Adams.

• During his presidency, Jefferson doubled the size of the country by purchasing the territory of Louisiana.

• The object on the Museum Object Card is Thomas Jefferson’s desk. He designed this portable desk. He wrote the Declaration of Independence on this desk in 1776.

Lesson Plan: Famous Citizens 8

James Madison

• Nicknamed "The Father of the Constitution" for his work on the document, James Madison was also a framer of the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution.

• After eight years as secretary of state under Jefferson, Madison was elected president. He was president from 1809 to 1817.

• The Federalist Papers were a series of articles written under the pen name of Publius by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.

• The entire purpose of The Federalist Papers was to gain popular support for the then-proposed Constitution. Some would call it the most significant public-relations campaign in history; it is, in fact, studied in many public relations classes as a prime example of how to conduct a successful campaign.

• The object on the Museum Object Card is a printed copy of The Federalist Papers. John Jay

• John Jay was the first chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. Appointed to the court by President George Washington, Jay served as chief justice from 1789 to 1795.

• Jay served the young nation in diplomacy as well as law. In 1794, he negotiated the Jay Treaty, which settled a number of grievances with Great Britain and promoted commerce for the U.S.

• John Jay was one of the writers of the Federalist Papers. For background on the Federalist Papers, see the second paragraph under James Madison

• The object on the Museum Object Card is a printed copy of The Federalist Papers. Alexander Hamilton

• Alexander Hamilton was born on the island of Nevis, British West Indies, January 11, 1757. He immigrated to the United States in 1772.

• He entered the Continental Army in New York in 1776 as captain of Artillery and was appointed aide-de-camp to General Washington.

• After the War of Independence, he was a delegate for New York at the Continental Congress in 1782, 1783, and 1788, and a member of the Annapolis Convention of 1786. He was a member of the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention in 1787 which adopted the Constitution of the United States.

• Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury in the Cabinet of President Washington.

• Alexander Hamilton was one of the writers of the Federalist Papers. For background on the Federalist Papers, see the second paragraph under James Madison

• The object on the Museum Object Card is a printed copy of The Federalist Papers.

Lesson Plan: Famous Citizens 9

Abraham Lincoln

• Abraham Lincoln’s election as president in 1860 triggered the secession of eleven southern states from the Union to form the Confederate States of America.

• Lincoln viewed the Southern action as unconstitutional. He attempted to unite the country during the Civil War (1961-1965).

• In the second year of the Civil War, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in the Confederate states.

• In 1865, with Confederate resources dwindling and ever more soldiers deserting, the Union army was able to force a surrender at Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9.

• Just five days after the end of the Civil War, Lincoln was shot by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. The president died the following morning, throwing the nation into intense mourning.

• Lincoln had plans for bringing the country back together again, but without his leadership, the country was plunged into confusion that would take many years to resolve.

• The object on the Museum Object Card is Abraham Lincoln’s hat. He was wearing this hat when he was assassinated in 1865.

Susan B. Anthony

• Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) began her long career as a crusader working in the temperance and abolitionist movements.

• In 1852, however, when she was denied permission to speak at a temperance meeting because of her gender, Anthony became a champion of women's suffrage.

• As her friend and ally, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, once remarked, "The outpouring of Miss Anthony's love…[had] all flowed into the suffrage movement."

• The object on the Museum Object Card is a “Votes for Women” pennant from 1915 (after Anthony’s death).

Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia. • He entered Morehouse College at age fifteen and graduated with a degree in

sociology in 1948. He attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and studied concurrently at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in systematic theology from Boston University in 1955.

• After graduation, King became the minister at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

• He was president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, which was responsible for the 1955 bus boycott.

Lesson Plan: Famous Citizens 10

• In 1959 he resigned his church position to direct the activities of the Southern

Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta. • He was arrested thirty times for his involvement in the civil rights movement. • King was the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which he received in

1964. • On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. • The object on the Museum Object Card is a button from the civil rights march, March

on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, in 1963. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the famous “I have a dream” speech at this march.

Benjamin Franklin

• Benjamin came from an immigrant background. Born into a large family in Boston in 1706, Ben Franklin was self-educated and--apart from his apprenticeship in his older brother's print shop--self-made. His father Josiah was an immigrant and a poor man. His mother's mother had been an indentured servant.

• Franklin turned himself into one of the finest printers, and most successful publishers, in the colonies.

• Poor Richard Almanac was a huge, moneymaking success. • Later, as postmaster general of the colonies, Franklin set up a model mail system - fast,

efficient, and profitable. As much as any other thing he created, the postal service made the American Revolution possible. For the first time the colonists could communicate with one another and think of themselves as one people. It was all a matter of exchanging information.

• He was the only well-known American scientist of his day. His great discovery was the nature of electricity, and his famous experiments with the lightning rod and possibly with the kite (he may not actually have flown the kite in the rainstorm) demonstrated that lightning was electricity.

• Later, he was a colonial agent and an American diplomat. He went to France in 1776 and served until 1784.

• The object on the Museum Object Card is a copy of Poor Richard Almanac from 1739.

Name Portrait

Accomplishment Museum Object

Abraham Lincoln

He freed the slaves (Emancipation Proclamation), saved the Union, and led the

United States during the Civil War.

Name Portrait

Accomplishment Museum Object

Benjamin Franklin

He wrote “Poor Richard Almanac,” was a U.S. Diplomat, was the oldest member at the

Constitutional Convention, and was the first

U.S. Postmaster General.

Name Portrait

Accomplishment Museum Object

Susan B. Anthony

She fought for women’s rights.

Name Portrait

Accomplishment Museum Object

George Washington

He was the first president of the United States.

He is called the "Father of Our Country."

Name Portrait

Accomplishment Museum Object

Thomas Jefferson

He wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Name Portrait

Accomplishment Museum Object

James MadisonAlexander Hamilton

John Jay

They wrote the Federalist Papers.

Name Portrait

Accomplishment Museum Object

Martin Luther King,

Jr.

He fought for civil rights.