NMS Social Studies PLC
November 19, 2015
Agenda
- Celebrations!
- Google Classroom Code -- znfo2n
- TELPAS Writing Practice
- Really -- Nonfiction Reading Strategy
- Sentence Frames to Vary Thinking
- REMINDER-- 50/50, Questions, classroom talk! Build your questions using the EQ's from the Unit Overviews!
Reading Nonfiction by Kylene Beers
Haskins, Jim. Black, Blue and Gray: African Americans in the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998. (1998) From “Introduction: A ‘White Man’s War?’”
In 1775 the first shots were fired in the war between the thirteen American colonies and Great Britain that ended in a victory for the colonists and the founding of a new nation, the United States of America. Only eighty-five years later, in 1861, the first shots were fired in a different war—a war between the states that became known as the Civil War. It was a war fought between the Confederate States of America and the states that remained in the Union—each side representing a distinct economy, labor system, and philosophy of government. The southern states that formed the Confederacy had agricultural economies that depended on a slave workforce and believed that any rights not granted to the federal government by the United States Constitution belonged to the states. The northern states were under-going rapid industrialization, which depended on wage labor, and while northerners disagreed among themselves about slavery, most believed it represented a direct challenge to their own rights and freedoms. Most also believe that a strong federal government, with the ability to legislate behavior in areas not specifically set forth in the Constitution, was key to the growth and strength of the American republic. It was inevitable that these two very distinct societies would clash. For the Confederates, nicknamed Rebels, the Civil War was a new war of Independence. For the Unionists, nicknamed Yankees, it was a war to preserve the Union that had been so dearly won in the American Revolution.
In the eyes of the four and an half million African Americans, enslaved and free, it was a war about slavery; and they wanted to be part of the fight. But many northern whites did not want blacks to serve in the northern military. They called it a “white man’s war” and said that slavery was not the main point of the conflict. At first, northern generals actually sent escaped slaves back to their southern masters. Eventually, the Union did accept blacks into its army and navy.
A total of 178,895 black men served in 120 infantry regiments, twelve heavy artillery regiments, ten light artillery batteries, and seven cavalry regiments. Black soldiers constituted twelve percent of the North’s fighting forces, and they suffered a disproportionate number of casualties.
Reminders:
- November 21-27- Thanksgiving Break!
- Continue Reading Wonder (OSOB) :-) Talk to the kiddos about it
- Lesson plans due Friday by 4pm in Google
- Supplies and purchasing requests go through Stacy Holt
- Weekly Formative Assessments -- we must check for understanding as we go
4 Essential Collaborative Planning Questions to Keep in Mind...
- What is it we want our students to learn?
- How will we know if each student has learned it?
- How will we respond when some students do not learn it?
- How can we extend and enrich the learning for students who have demonstrated proficiency?