A Natural Attraction: The Natural Resources of Alabama During the Early Nineteenth Century

Exploration:  The teacher will engage the students by showing a map of the United States with the state of Alabama highlighted (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama#/media/File:Alabama_in_United_States.svg). The teacher will briefly review the concepts of colonization and settlement from previous lessons, referring to the map when appropriate. The teacher will project the day's objective on the screen and read it with the students. The teacher will then refer to the Essential Question, which is written on the anchor charts: Why did Joseph Noble move to Alabama and leave his home behind?  The teacher will pass out sticky notes to each group while telling the students to think about an answer to the Essential Question. Working in small groups, the students will discuss and develop an answer to the Essential Question. One member of the group will write the answer and one member will place it on the first anchor chart. The teacher will read the answers and tell the students they will revisit their answers after the lesson to see what they need to change or add. This assessment will inform the teacher (and students) what the students think they already know about the objective, identifying natural resources of Alabama during the early nineteenth century and evaluating their importance to Alabama settlers during the early nineteenth century

Lesson Development: The teacher will pull up the 1818 letter from Joseph Noble to his friend, Samuel B. Bidgood, describing the town at Tuscaloosa Falls, on the computer and project it on the screen. The students will pull up the same letter on their computers, which was previously downloaded onto their computers (the teacher can give copies to the students if computers are not available). The teacher will distribute the Classroom Student Investigators handout. The teacher will explain how completing the handout will show an understanding of the day's objective, identifying natural resources of Alabama during the early nineteenth century and evaluating their importance to Alabama settlers during the early nineteenth century. The teacher will discuss how primary sources give future generations a look into the past and then begin discussing the letter; its condition and its language. The teacher will model and then scaffold how to pull information from the letter by breaking down the first paragraph with the students. The teacher will refer to the Essential Question and tell the students they will now serve as investigative teams in order to find evidence to answer the Essential Question. The teacher will remind students that primary sources have evidence of what life was like in the past and they need to look closely at the text in order to find some text evidence for answering the question.

Because the syntax and vocabulary in this letter will be challenging for 4th graders, students should focus on processing just the second paragraph, not the entire document.  When the teacher models how to read and extract information from the first paragraph, he or she needs to identify and explain unusual words and phrases. As a whole-class exercise prior to the group work, students should read the second paragraph silently, then the teacher should ask students to identify specific words or phrases that are unfamiliar, and those should be defined. 

Group work: The teacher will allow time for students to investigate while moving between the groups to assist and guide.  The students will share their answers and text evidence.  Closure: The teacher and students will revisit the Essential Question anchor chart and then have groups write a new answer to the Essential Question on a sticky note and place their final answer on the second chart.  The teacher will briefly review the natural resources of Alabama during the early nineteenth century and evaluate their importance to Alabama settlers during the early nineteenth century and the text evidence provided by the historical text.

Expansion: The students, either using a computer or paper, will create a twenty-first-century email describing the natural resources of Alabama during the early nineteenth century and telling their importance to Alabama settlers during the early nineteenth century. The teacher will pass out the checklist and discuss what is expected from the students and how this assessment will show they can meet the day's objective, identifying natural resources of Alabama during the early nineteenth century and evaluating their importance to Alabama settlers during the early nineteenth century.  Students will share their emails with others, time permitting.