Goals and Objectives:
Goal:
Students will understand how different groups dealt with, challenged, or felt about Prohibition.
Objective:
Students will investigate a key figure of the Prohibition era and participate in a group discussion using their assigned role.
Students will understand how different groups dealt with, challenged, or felt about Prohibition.
Objective:
Students will investigate a key figure of the Prohibition era and participate in a group discussion using their assigned role.
California State Content Standards:
11.5.3- Examine the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution and the Volstead Act (Prohibition).
Common Core Literacy Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH11-12.3
Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.9
Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Lesson Introduction:
Students will look at political cartoon from the Prohibition era which depicts barrels of booze as a travelling mob, destroying everything in its path. Students will be asked to respond to what they see in the picture, how they think it represents the feelings of Americans during the time, and if they feel the same way.
Key Vocabulary:
Vocabulary terms will be written on the board in advance and left for the duration of the lesson. Each student will be assigned a key historical figure associated with the Prohibition movement, so the students will also learn about a variety of people with different views on Prohibition through discussions, including Al Capone, Frances Willard, and Howard Hyde Russell.
- Prohibition
- Volstead Act
- Temperance
- Speakeasy
Content Delivery:
Students will watch a brief video overview about Prohibition prior to engaging with the activity to familiarize them with key points and opinions related to the passage of the 18th Amendment. As the video plays, I will hand them a numbered and lettered card which is assigned to a specific historical role. Numbers will be sequential so I can ensure each group has a representative from multiple perspectives on Prohibition (each group will have on gangster, progressive, Prohibitionist, and anti-Prohibitionist). After the video ends, I will ask students questions related to the video and the previous day’s lesson using equity cards.
Directions for the assignment will be printed on the handout so students can reference them during the lesson. A total of 16 figures will be used, meaning the class will be split in to two separate “dinner parties,” A and B. Once the student is aware of who their key figure is, they will individually read a brief biography regarding their relevance to the passage of the Volstead Act and answer some questions related to the role they are about to take on.
Directions for the assignment will be printed on the handout so students can reference them during the lesson. A total of 16 figures will be used, meaning the class will be split in to two separate “dinner parties,” A and B. Once the student is aware of who their key figure is, they will individually read a brief biography regarding their relevance to the passage of the Volstead Act and answer some questions related to the role they are about to take on.
Student Engagement:
Students will be placed in groups of 4 with each student representing a different viewpoint (one gangster, one progressive, one anti-prohibitionist, one prohibitionist: for instance, Al Capone, Franklin Roosevelt, Carry Nation, and Howard Hyde Russell could be one group). The students will introduce themselves to one another and discuss their opinions on Prohibition related to the questions they answered about their assigned role. During the discussion, each student must also come up with their own question for the person sitting to the left of them in the group and ask them in order to get students thinking about their specific role’s perspective.
Once each group has had a chance to discuss and answer each other’s questions, students will be asked to leave their group and talk with other students to find similar minded roles (Example: Al Capone will need to find Olmstead, Ness, and Rothstein). Students will not be able to tell each other their names, requiring them to provide enough detail about their specific role to be sure they are in the correct groups. After the students have found their groups, the teacher will provide them with a correct list to see how well they were able to determine the correct groupings.
Once each group has had a chance to discuss and answer each other’s questions, students will be asked to leave their group and talk with other students to find similar minded roles (Example: Al Capone will need to find Olmstead, Ness, and Rothstein). Students will not be able to tell each other their names, requiring them to provide enough detail about their specific role to be sure they are in the correct groups. After the students have found their groups, the teacher will provide them with a correct list to see how well they were able to determine the correct groupings.
Lesson Closure:
Each student will be asked to write a brief summary of who their character was and how they influenced the prohibition movement in America, whether positively or negatively. The students must submit their summary as an exit card before leaving the class.
Assessments:
Formative: Students will answer the questions related to their specific role as well as writing a question for the person to the left of them in their group. This paper will be collected along with student exit cards and checked for content/completion.
Formative: Students will submit a brief summary regarding who their assigned role was and how they influence the Prohibition movement in America as an exit card. This will allow me to see how well students understood the assignment and what I may need to review the following day.
Formative: Students will submit a brief summary regarding who their assigned role was and how they influence the Prohibition movement in America as an exit card. This will allow me to see how well students understood the assignment and what I may need to review the following day.
Accommodations:
English learners: Working in groups will provide EL students with a chance to practice listening and speaking in English in a low risk environment amongst peers. As well, the summaries for each role are short and provide only crucial information about their participation in the Prohibition era and not other trivial details. The students also must write out short answers in complete sentences related to their assigned role, giving them a chance to also practice their English writing skills.
Striving readers: The lesson does not rely on a large amount of reading, which will make striving readers feel comfortable participating in discussions and answering the questions related to their assigned roles. As well, the reading provided is short, coherent, and to the point, helping striving readers identify the text’s key information.
Special needs: Allowing students to move around the room and talk with one another in small group environments benefits SN students. In addition, having key vocabulary on the board along with the goals and objectives will help to keep any SN students on track during the duration of the lesson.
Striving readers: The lesson does not rely on a large amount of reading, which will make striving readers feel comfortable participating in discussions and answering the questions related to their assigned roles. As well, the reading provided is short, coherent, and to the point, helping striving readers identify the text’s key information.
Special needs: Allowing students to move around the room and talk with one another in small group environments benefits SN students. In addition, having key vocabulary on the board along with the goals and objectives will help to keep any SN students on track during the duration of the lesson.
Click the boxes above to access the lesson plan for the lesson as well as the handout, which includes the instructions for the journal, discussion, and exit card portions of the assignment. Detailed directions are also included for all students to reference throughout the lesson if they become lost or confused.