FREEDOM PROJECT LESSON PLAN Grade Level: 8 th Lesson Title: “Debate DBQ…Was Andrew Jackson Democratic?” Teacher: L. Johnson 1. Set Induction: Use this lesson with students after having used multiple DBQ ‘s with the traditional five- paragraph essay format as the culminating activity. Familiarity with the process will enable students to branch off into using a formal debate as the culmination. (Students have also been an “audience” for a visiting high school debating team so they observed the process “live”.) Going through the traditional textbook reading of Jacksonian background material is also essential. 2. Aims / Objectives and Standards: The project task is to examine documents and background information and determine if history indicates that Andrew Jackson was democratic or not. The objectives of this lessons are threefold: gain a greater understanding of Andrew Jackson and his effect on the development of our political system, increase the ability of students to glean information from historical documents and research and, finally, to model the debating process as a tool of learning. This lesson will addresses 8 th Grade Social Studies Power Standards #4 Research and #10 Individuals & Groups. 3. Materials: District Social Studies text, The DBQ Project binder, and paper, pencil and timers are the only materials required. 4. Procedures: (See Appendix A) Divide classes into “research” groups of two or three to share materials and complete the Hook Activity provided by the DBQ Project that asks students to understand the term “democratic” and be able to pick –out examples of the concept. Next these groups will read the Background Essay and take individual T-Chart notes that separate facts into the two categories of “democratic” or “not democratic”. The final task of this information gathering stage of the lesson is to examine and discuss documents as a group using the Scaffolding Questions as a guide. Then, individually, students add support to each side of their T-Chart notes. Now students are ready to be resorted into “debate” groups of five or six. Each group will draw a card to see if they will be a “Pro” (Yes, Jackson was democratic.) Team or a “Con” (No, he was not democratic.) Team. Each Debate Team will meet to divide the members into their individual roles and prepare for the debate. The individual areas of responsibility are as follows: