You Don't Have Mail!

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

Subject Area

English Language Arts

Social Studies

Grade(s)

Overview

This lesson will provide students with two primary documents, a drawing of a postal stagecoach and a newspaper article outlining the difficulties of mail delivery. Students will complete a graphic organizer to provide evidence that details a specific perspective described in the documents.

Students will examine the cultural and economic aspects of the early nineteenth century and will refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences. Students will be able to explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points of view.

This lesson was created in partnership with the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 4

SS10.4.6
Describe cultural, economic, and political aspects of the lifestyles of early nineteenth-century farmers, plantation owners, slaves, and townspeople.

Vocabulary

plantation
Yeoman
townspeople
inequity
agriculture
fertile

Knowledge

Students know:

During this time, most families in Alabama did not own slaves; most slaves were owned by Plantation Owners.
Most of Alabama's families made a living through agriculture.
The Black Belt and fertile river valleys were major areas of agricultural production.

Skills

Students are able to:

Compare and contrast cultural, economic, and political aspects of the lifestyles of early nineteenth-century farmers, plantation owners, slaves, and townspeople.
Describe major areas of agricultural production in Alabama, including the Black Belt and fertile river valleys.

Understanding

Students understand that:

There were cultural, political, and economic inequities in Alabama in the early 19^th Century between slaves, Yeoman farmers, and Plantation owners.

ELA21.4.20

ELA21.4.20a

ELA21.4.24

Primary Learning Objectives

Students will work in pairs to gather information from two primary documents about early nineteenth-century culture and economics. They will be able to read and explain how authors use reasons and evidence to support a particular perspective. Students will locate the main idea and details and make inferences from a newspaper article and an illustration of a postal stagecoach. By completing a graphic organizer, the students will describe the evidence that led to the selected perspective.

Additional Learning Objective(s)

Students will highlight information from the text that will provide information about the difficulty of postal delivery during early Alabama settlement.

Students will work with a partner to infer possible problems that may arise with mail delivery.

Procedures/Activities

Before:

If time and equipment are available, allow students to research early US postal services (Franklin's establishment of colonial service, the Pony Express, stagecoaches, railroads, etc).
Allow time for students to discuss successes and failures of early postal delivery.
The teacher should display the Federal Road map and photograph of the remains of the road today.
Discuss the path of the road (Creek territory) and the possible problems that may occur.
Discuss how populated the area was and how the lack of communication may have been a problem.

During:

Put students in pairs for this activity.
Distribute the illustration and description of the American Stagecoach to each set of partners.
Allow the students to read the description and discuss the illustration with their partner.
Highlight any information that may be used as evidence of the difficulty of postal service through lower Alabama.
Discuss the stagecoach illustration and description as a class, and allow the students to ask clarifying questions and make comments about what they found interesting in the article.
Distribute the newspaper article about the difficulties of the postal service in lower Alabama.
Display the article under the document camera, if available. The teacher should read the article and encourage the students to ask questions and discuss the information.
Allow partners time to re-read and discuss the article.
Highlight any information that may be used as evidence of the difficulty of postal service through lower Alabama.
Discuss the textual evidence the students highlighted.
Distribute the Be the Thing graphic organizer to each student.
Instruct the students that they will complete the graphic organizer from the perspective of someone who has mailed a letter to a family member in New Orleans. (Description)
The perspective should include the concerns about the letter arriving safely to their family member.
The students should utilize highlighted information from the texts as evidence for the concerns.

After:

Allow students to work with their partners to complete the graphic organizer.
Discuss some examples of evidence from the texts to clarify any questions, if necessary.
Encourage students to complete the face on the graphic organizer to be that of the letter writer.

Assessment Strategies

Formative:

Students should be able to discuss the evidence that reflects the difficulty of the postal service in the early nineteenth century.
Students should highlight applicable evidence that reflects the difficulties of having mail delivered safely and timely.

Summative:

Students should complete the graphic organizer with evidence that reflects the difficulties of the early nineteenth century postal service in lower Alabama.

Acceleration

Students may read the Mobile Centinel and select an article they can use to complete the Be the Thing graphic organizer. The teacher should remind the students that they should select an article where evidence is given to support a specific perspective.

Additional reading on the Federal Road:

Bridges, Edwin C. ALABAMA: THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN STATE. Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press, 2016, pp. 45-48.

Intervention

The teacher should pair students with lower reading abilities with students comfortable with reading primary documents.

Highlight and/or discuss words found in the text that may be difficult for students.

Allow students to turn in one graphic organizer as a team.

Total Duration

31 to 60 Minutes

Background/Preparation

Students will need to be familiar with the beginnings of the U.S. postal service (Benjamin Franklin and the colonial mail service). They should also be aware of the typical modes of transportation for the early nineteenth century (e.g.: horseback, wagon, stagecoaches, etc.). Finally, students should be aware of the possible problems that could have occurred on the Federal Road, such as tension with the Creek Indians, bad road conditions, lack of communication, and mishaps with stages.

Be prepared to display the Federal Road map that is attached.

Teacher may read from The Encyclopedia of Alabama Federal Road in Alabama for further information about the Alabama road system and postal service in the early nineteenth century.

The teacher can review the texts listed in the Bibliography for additional background information.

Materials and Resources

A copy of American Stage Coach for each partner group
A copy of the description of the American Mail stagecoach
A copy of Post Department article for each partner group (article is on the 4th page)
Be the Thing graphic organizer for each student
Highlighters
Pencils

Technology Resources Needed

Document camera to display primary documents, if available
Laptops to research early postal services (Benjamin Franklin's creation of the colonial postal service; the pony express; stagecoaches; railroads, etc.), if available
Laptops to view primary documents and complete graphic organizer, if available

Approved Date

2017-05-18