Grade 5: Shay’s Rebellion
Rating: 
http://www.umbc.edu/che/arch/documents/ShaysRebellionPAT_final.pdf
Common Core Standards
Reading Informational Text
RI.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
RI.5.2 Determine two or more ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.
RI.5.6 Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent.
Writing
W.5.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.
W.5.1(a) Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s purpose.
CONNECTICUT ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SOCIAL STUDIES (C3) FRAMEWORKS (CT Teachers should use the CT history standards listed below in lieu of the Maryland standards included in the lesson)
Dimension 2: Applying Disciplinary Concepts and Tools
HIST 5.4 Explain why individuals and groups during the same historical period differed in their perspectives.
HIST 5.10 Use evidence to develop a claim about the past.
COLLEGE, CAREER, AND CIVIC LIFE (C3) FRAMEWORK FOR SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS MARYLAND
D2.His.4.3-5 Explain why individuals and groups during the same historical period differed in their perspectives.
D2.His.16.3-5 Use evidence to develop a claim about the past.
Description of Lesson
This Grade 5 lesson titled “
Shay's Rebellion” was created by Megan Brown and Ronald Bianchi, Howard County Public School System, Maryland in partnership with the UMBC Center for History Education. In order to draw conclusions about the founding fathers’ views of Shays’ Rebellion, students:
read a variety of complex primary source documents closely; learn to
quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when
drawing inferences from the text;
analyze multiple accounts of the same event noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent. As a culminating task, students take on the persona of a newspaper journalist assigned to
write a persuasive article in which they take a stand on whether or not Shays’ rebellion was good for the United States using details, quotations, and inferences from the sources read.
Cautions
Connecticut teachers should be cautioned that the website and the teacher notes/preparation materials will require familiarity to be used effectively. While the instructional steps are carefully scripted, the time it will take to complete the lesson is not provided. The Connecticut Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Frameworks (C3) standards have been included above to help CT classroom teachers make the transition from Maryland’s history standards. Additional supports and accommodations may be needed for students who are ELL, have disabilities, or read well below the grade level text band. In order for students to be successful with this performance assessment task, they must have a prior understanding of this historical period and the circumstances surrounding Shays’ Rebellion before moving on to the analysis of the primary sources.
Rationale for Selection
This lesson is a good example of how to make
reading text closely,
examining textual evidence, and
discerning deep meaning a central focus of instruction. The instructional activities focus on engaging students in a
productive struggle with primary source documents through discussion questions and other supports that build toward independence. Materials include all required texts, a scripted lesson with suggested evidence-based answers for the teacher, teacher samples of all work to be completed and a Historical Thinking Skills Rubric for scoring the newspaper article.
