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1 Rob Nelson CRIN S-00 Prof. Stoddard 18 October 2010 Concept Formation Lesson Topic: Imperialism Grade/Class: 9th Grade World History II Length: 45-60 minutes Overview/Background Information: Imperialism is a concept that is weaved throughout all eras of world history. Simply put, Imperialism entails dominance. For thousands of years, dominant empires/countries all across the world have been imposing on others their authority and their structures. Essentially, an imperial policy enables the dominant to create and maintain an external system of effective control. This subjugation could be exerted by economic, political, and military means. One of the earliest historical examples of Imperialism was the Roman Empire, whose conquests throughout Europe and the Mediterranean in the beginning centuries of the Common Era allowed them unprecedented control over a massive proportion of the world. In fact, Rome was so influential that the term ‘Imperialism’ itself is derived from the Latin word Imperator, meaning Commander. About a millennium later Genghis Khan and the following Yuan Dynasty of East Asia became another quintessential Imperialist empire. In modern times, Imperialism begins with France’s Napoleonic Empire and shortly thereafter to Britain’s colonial expansion of the late 19th and early 20th century. This time period of 1870 to 1914 (often referred to as the “Age of Imperialism”) was when many countries (including the United States, Japan, France, Great Britain, Germany and Italy) all pursued Imperialist policies. As a result, Africa, Latin America, Asia, and India were “carved up” and ruled by these powerful nations. Overall, Imperialism spreads the economic, political, and social philosophies of dominant powers throughout the world. Furthermore, resistance to Imperialism is frequent throughout history and includes many forms such as armed conflict and intellectual movements. 2 In this lesson, students will develop an understanding of the concept of Imperialism. They will be presented with various historical examples of Imperialism (without explicitly being told what the concept is) to help them determine its critical attributes. Next, the students will come up with a definition of the concept based on the aforementioned characteristics. Then they will label the concept as Imperialism and apply their new knowledge to different forms of assessment. Rationale: Teaching about Imperialism via a concept formation lesson is appropriate for many reasons. To begin, Imperialism is a concept that students in a World History class will encounter frequently over the entire scope of their World History II course. Virtually every era that is studied during the scope of the class will present students with example of Imperialist actions. Yet even though it is a concept so frequently discussed, students have a difficult time explaining exactly what it entails. Ultimately, “Imperialism” is a term that has simply lost its meaning even though students use it in their vocabulary. For the purposes of serious analysis and genuine understanding of World History it is important to first know exactly what the concept is. A concept formation lesson is very appropriate in this sense because it helps students understand the critical attributes of a concept that is difficult to define. Furthermore, it will enable the students to be able to label examples of Imperialism across history (past as well as present) accurately. In the end, the purpose of this lesson is to help students form a robust understanding of a significant concept in World History. Objectives: 1) Students will be able to define Imperialism according to its 3 critical attributes after working through the examples in the Data Chart Worksheet. (WHII.1a) 2) Students will be able to distinguish examples of Imperialism from non-examples by answering all 4 questions in the Classifying Worksheet correctly. (WHII.2, WHII.5) 3) Students will find an example of Imperialism not mentioned in class for homework and write a 1-2 paragraph response on “why” it is imperialist. a. All 3 critical attributes of Imperialism should be mentioned. 3 Assessment: Since this sort of lesson is something 9th grade students might not be familiar with it is important that the students be explicitly told they are participating in a concept formation lesson. This will occur after the Hook section of the lesson. In addition, students must be told that they will be evaluated on the quality of their participation. This informal evaluation will be in the form of a Check-Plus/Check scale, which the teacher will mark next to every student on a class list. A check-plus contribution is for students who are able to demonstrate exceptional skill at analyzing, interpreting, and making connections between the Data Chart Worksheet and the concept topic. In addition, they are able to communicate their thoughts in a logical, descriptive way and build off of what others in the class have shared. A check should be given to a student who is unable to clearly articulate his or her interpretation of the Data Chart Worksheet, but still positively contributes to the class discussion. To evaluate group discussion, the teacher will need to walk around the classroom and observe each individual group, noting who is working well with others, who is actually sharing their thoughts, and who is being quiet. Grades can be taken, but it is recommended to rather act as a facilitator to make sure those who aren’t speaking are able to get involved in the discussion. At the end of the lesson the teacher will collect the Data Chart Worksheet and the Classifying Worksheet to grade each student’s grasp of Imperialism in class. Furthermore, the students will be required to write a short 1-2 paragraph essay for homework due the next day. They will need to find an example of Imperialism that we did not discuss in class and write about why this is an example of Imperialism, noting the three critical attributes. To complete this essay the student will be allowed to keep the Defining the Concept Worksheet, as well as be provided with a list of the examples already used in class. Overall, both the essay and the quality of student participation will provide insight into the students’ ability to meet the lesson objectives. The essay, as well as the two collected worksheets, will be returned to the students with feedback on their writing skills, communication skills, and interpretation skills. Resources: 1. This lesson is very easy to deliver; all that is required is the appropriate amount of copies of the worksheets for the specific number of students in the class. 4 Content and Instructional Strategies: I. Concept Definition a. Imperialism is (1) when a powerful nation establishes its dominance over a less-powerful nation (2) by force (3) for the purpose of controlling economic and political affairs. II. Engagement (Hook) a. The students will be given a handout of Theodore Roosevelt’s speech before Congress (1904) when he made a case for intervention in Latin America (located on p. 8) This speech is sometimes called the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine and it is a very tangible example of American Imperialism. In addition to an excerpt from his speech, there is also a political cartoon depicting Roosevelt (carrying his “big-stick”) leading a chain of U.S. warships around the Caribbean Sea. b. In a whole class discussion, students will be asked to interpret both the cartoon and the quote. The teacher will frame the interpretation toward the concept of Imperialism, without explicitly mentioning the term. i. This opening part of the activity will enable the students to dig into understanding the concept of Imperialism without identifying or defining it. III. Data-Retrieval Chart and Example Analysis a. Students will be divided up into groups of 3-4 based on proximity. b. Students will be handed out the Data Chart Worksheet (located on p. 9), which contains 4 examples of Imperialism. i. The Data Chart is structured in a way that students will be able to successfully identify the information related to the critical attributes of Imperialism. 1. Since it is a 9th grade class, many students might not feel comfortable extracting the attributes. This is why I have framed three focus questions that will assist students in identifying and extracting the vital information. 5 Furthermore, two of the three critical attributes can be answered with a simple “yes/no” response. c. The Teacher will explain the activity and model the first example of as a class. d. Following the first example, the teacher will instruct the students to begin working on the other three examples by themselves. i. Once they have finished the chart they will be allowed to meet with the rest of their group to discuss each others answers IV. Defining and Labeling the Concept a. Following individual group discussion, the students will be handed out the Defining the Concept Worksheet (located on p. 10). b. The teacher will model one difference and then have the groups work together to fill in the rest of the worksheet. i. Differences include: time, place, number of countries, and scale ii. Similarities are the critical attributes c. Following the group work, the teacher will lead a whole class discussion and list the groups’ differences and then similarities on the board. d. The teacher will instruct each individual student to then write down their own critical attributes of the concept in the given box on the worksheet. e. The Teacher will then synthesize student responses to fit the aforementioned critical attributes: i. (1) A powerful nation establishes its dominance over a lesspowerful nation ii. (2) By force iii. (3) For the purpose of controlling economic and political affairs f. Students will then place the critical attributes in definitional form in the appropriate box in the worksheet. g. The teacher will then lead a brief discussion to see if any student knows what the concept is and then reveal it to be Imperialism. V. Classifying a. The students will be given the Classifying Worksheet (located on p. 11). 6 b. With this handout the students will individually apply their newly formed concept knowledge to four historical events using the critical attributes of Imperialism. c. The class will then regroup and discuss each example, correcting the nonexamples with hypothetical situations to turn them into Imperialism. d. This worksheet, along with the Data Chart Worksheet will be collected at the end of class. e. For homework, the students will be passed out the Concept Formation Homework Sheet (located on p. 12), which requires them to find an example of Imperialism (not mentioned in class) and write a 1-2 paragraph response about “why” it is an example of Imperialism. Differentiation: Differentiation within lesson plans is important because it challenges and supports various styles of student learning in the class. To accommodate various learning styles, this lesson incorporates individual, group, and class work and different sets of data. This allows students to perform well in the style best suited to them, while at the same time exposes and challenges them to improve on what they are not completely comfortable with. For example, a student might be too shy to volunteer to participate in the wholeclass discussion, but he/she might excel at individual and/or small group work. This lesson plan also represents a differentiation to traditional curriculum. History teachers these days too often resort to simple call and response lecturing to get through the large curriculum standards set by the state. This lesson, on the other hand, allows for students to become engaged with the material and develop analyzing skills. Rather than just taking notes on what the teacher says, concept formation lessons allow students to actively construct their own knowledge, which helps drive the content knowledge deeper by making it personal. Adaptation: This lesson can be adapted to meet the needs of students with 504 plans, Individualized Education Programs, or other needs. One way to help students with special needs is to have the students read the examples out loud rather than silent, 7 individual reading. This helps everyone be on the same page and be ready to complete the worksheets. Another way to adapt the lesson is to reframe to become even more explicit about what is expected from the students. This could include techniques like switching the blank answer spaces to fill-in-the-blank answers or something along those lines. Reflection: I can foresee a few potential problems that could arise with this concept formation lesson. The biggest issue that jumps out to me is staying on task. There are a lot of transitions from individual to group work or group work to coming back together as a whole class. This could prove to be tough for a novice teacher to manage. Keeping this in mind, the teacher should first move around from table to table during group analysis to ensure the students are staying on topic. This is also a great time to informally grade participation. Next, the teacher should make it very explicit when there are transitions. I think I’ll try verbally first and if problems arise, resort to flashing the lights when I need to get their attention. Another issue that could arise is competing ideologies. I give a present day example of the Iraq War, which is a contentious issue amongst differing political groups. I could foresee igniting a biased political debate over the war. So far, the students seem to be very polite to one another in class, but debating politics always seems to bring about issues. As a teacher I will take a neutral stance and try to make sure the students can understand both sides of the spectrum and not simply their own point of view. Post Teaching: I believe this lesson scores very highly in terms of PASS framework. It involved higher order thinking because the students were involved in personally manipulating the information and ideas. The content was presented to them in a creative way that enabled the students to synthesize, generalize, explain, and arrive at a conclusion that produced new meaning and understanding for them. I can tell that this lesson also provided a deep understanding for the concept of Imperialism because the students were able to find an example from the text and tell me why it was Imperialism by using our class’ definition. All students were able to make connections and relationships between the examples and 8 non-examples of Imperialism to produce a relatively complex understanding. As for substantive conversation, this lesson scores very high because the students were able to share their ideas with each other and myself, and it was not completely scripted or controlled by anyone. Furthermore, the dialogue was coherently built by the students, which promoted an improved collective understanding about the topic. This lesson scored high on connections to the world beyond the classroom because with the example or non-example worksheet we were able to talk about the Iraq War. The class shared a variety of personal beliefs and we came to a consensus. Unfortunately, I didn’t take this a step further in terms of a value-based issue discussed, but in the future I could easily dive into the ethics of Imperialism. The lesson did score high in terms of integration because it incorporated interdisciplinary and curricular content, as well as practicing the relevant skills embedded in the learning of the new content and technology. As the second major lesson I taught this semester, I was much more comfortable and effective as a teacher. I feel like this lesson went extremely well because I was able to use what I learned from my inquiry lesson to improve this one. I divided up the desks beforehand and labeled each seat with a Post-It note of each student’s name. This was very effective because the students just came in and sat where their name was and we could start the lesson much quicker than my last one. There were also fewer handouts, which was a big plus. One thing that I might consider modifying is instead of a worksheet with written descriptions, I think I would want to also have a powepoint going with images to go along with the text. Some students needed a lot of support to get them to read the text, so I figure that spicing up the content with some powerful images will motivate them more. 9 Hook “All that this country desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count upon our hearty friendship. If a nation shows that it knows how to act with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no interference from the United States. Chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power.” -Theodore Roosevelt, 1904 - delivered in a speech to Congress 10 Data Chart Worksheet Name: ___________________ Historical Example: In the scramble to exploit resources from foreign lands, France, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Italy had claimed nearly every part of Africa by 1914. Many African people resisted these European powers; however, they were largely unsuccessful because the Europeans used direct rule over the local inhabitants through military and economic dominance. In the 1800s the eastern part of Southeast Asia contained three small and unstable nations (known today as Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam). The French military took over the region and claimed it for France. To stabilize the region and extract resources, the governments of the three nations were run by France. It was not until the 1950s that these three countries regained their independence. During the early to mid-1800s, the British East India Company controlled a large area of India as a private colony. In 1857 Indian soldiers rebelled against the company. After this event, the British government took direct control, ruling about 60% of the Indian subcontinent. The British built railways, roads, and canals so that raw materials could be transported more efficiently to ports for export to England. After its war with Spain in 1898, the United States military gained control of the Philippine Islands, Guam, and Wake Island. Many Filipinos did not want the U.S. to take control of their country, so they fought for a guerrilla-style war of independence for 3 years. However, the Filipinos were defeated in 1902, giving the U.S. a chain of islands the Pacific. To maintain control, the U.S. government controlled the political and economic affairs of these territories for many years. Which nation was more powerful? (can be more than one) How did the dominant nation gain power or control? What is the relationship between the two countries? 11 Defining the Concept Worksheet Name: ________________ Differences: 1. 2. 3. 4. Similarities: 1. 2. 3. 4. My Critical Attributes: Our Classes’ Critical Attributes: 1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. My Definition: Our Classes’ Definition: Concept Name: 12 Classifying Worksheet Name: _________________ Directions: Determine if each description is an example or non-example of Imperialism. If it is a non-example, explain what critical attribute(s) it is missing. 1. The Romans: In 27 B.C.E., Rome had established its dominance throughout the Mediterranean world. Emperor Augustus began a series of military conquests that greatly expanded the empire’s frontiers (from Spain in the west to Syria in the east, and from Egypt in the south to Britain in the north). The Roman government helped keep order and enforce laws. The emperor ran the government, made all policy decisions, and appointed officials of the provinces, including provincial governors. These officials were responsible to the government of Rome for the effective and profitable administration of the provinces. 2. The American Civil War: Although unified politically, the United States was hurt by competition among regions of the country in the early to mid 1800s. Many southern states seceded from the Union, which President Lincoln argued was not allowed by the Constitution. As a result Americans fought a Civil War from 1861-1865 that cost more than 600,000 people their lives. Following Northern victory, Congress passed new amendments to the Constitution that the South would be required to follow. These amendments abolished slavery and guaranteed rights to former slaves. 3. The Iraq War: The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 and with overwhelming power (sometimes referred to as “Rapid Dominance” or “Shock and Awe”) overthrew the existing political system. In the following years, America began to rebuild Iraq’s political and economic structure. Today, Iraq has a new constitution and holds their own legislative elections. On the surface, Iraq governs itself; however, 50,000 American troops currently remain in the country in an “advise and assist” role and the Iraqi government relies heavily on American support to maintain its authority. 4. The Panama Canal: In the late 1800s the United States began talks with Columbia (which controlled Panama at the time) to lease land to build the Panama Canal, but Columbia did not approve. Both the U.S. and Columbia realized how economically valuable a quick route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean would be. The Panamanian Separatist Movement, led mostly by business leaders, revolted in 1903 against Columbia. American warships stationed in Panama intervened and stopped Columbian troops from putting down the rebellion. The new government in Panama gave the U.S. rights to build and indefinitely administer the canal. The U.S. eventually returned full control of the canal to Panama in 1999. 13 Concept Formation Homework Sheet Name: _______________ Directions: -Find an example of Imperialism that we did not talk about in class (they are listed below just in case!) -Write a short 1-2 paragraph response about “why” it is Imperialism. -Remember to use our definition of the critical attributes of Imperialism in your response: Imperialism is (1) when a powerful nation establishes its dominance over a less-powerful nation (2) by force (3) for the purpose of controlling economic and political affairs. -The examples we discussed in class: 1. European countries in Africa 2. British in India 3. French in South East Asia 4. U.S. in the Philippines 5. Roman Empire 6. U.S. in Panama