An Incident in Boston ? March 5, 1770

In this activity students are asked, as jurors, to decide whether the historical evidence supports a verdict of murder or self-defense in the trial of British soldiers involved in the ?Boston Massacre.?

word Version | pdf version
Answer Key
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Question:
Was the creation of the U.S. Constitution good for the people of the United States?

In this activity students work with primary and secondary source documents to develop an answer to a question debated during the period between the Constitutional Convention and the ratification votes.  It is designed to help students understand some of the key issues and dilemmas facing the nation at that time.

The Federalist ? Anti-Federalist Debate over Ratification of the Constitution

In this activity students work with primary and secondary source documents to develop an answer to a question that asks to them to consider the quality of the arguments made by Federalists and Anti-Federalists over the adoption of the United States Constitution.

Question:
Was Nat Turner?s Revolt a Success?

In this activity students work with primary and secondary source documents to consider whether Nat Turner?s Revolt was a success.  The activity culminates in a writing assignment that asks students read and revise, using the source documents, a textbook account of this significant historical event.

word Version | pdf version

Question:
Is John Brown an American Hero?

This set of lessons is the first OUSD 8th grade assessment to be implemented district-wide (Spring, 2009).  It asks students to consider and develop criteria for what makes an American hero. Using that criteria and historical sources they then decide whether John Brown should be considered an American hero.
To provide teachers the opportunity to modify the materials for their classroom context, three different versions of the assessment have been produced.  A long version, a short version, and a clean version.  The version includes all the materials that have been developed.  The short version has fewer documents and does not include the hook activity (see below).  The clean version is modeled after the high school assessment, including only the question and source materials.

• Long version word Version | pdf version
  
• Implementation guidelines for long version
  word Version | pdf version
  
• Short version word Version | pdf version
  
• Clean version word Version | pdf version
  
• Intro activity word Version | pdf version
  
• Slides ? Providing students and historical context to support work with the source materials. pdf version