Lesson Plan: Revolutionary War Tactics
Author: Joe Ruhl, Sacha Standish, Jason Freewalt, Beth Robinson, Karen Zink
Subject: History
Grade(s): 8
Benchmarks and Indicators
- History 6-8, Benchmark D: Describe the effects of interactions among civilizations during the 14th through the 18th centuries.
- Indicator: Grade 8, GLI 2. Describe the political, religious and economic aspects of North American colonization including: c. Interactions between American Indians and European settlers, including the agricultural and cultural exchanges, alliances and conflicts.
- Social Studies Skills and Methods 6-8, Benchmark B: Organize historical information in text or graphic format and analyze the information in order to draw conclusions.
- Indicator: Grade 6, GLI 2. Analyze information from primary and secondary sources in order to summarize, make generalizations and draw conclusions.
Lesson Summary
In this lesson, students will use primary and secondary sources to gain an understanding of how Native American military tactics influenced the military tactics of the Patriots in the American Revolution.
Pre-Assessment/Diagnostic
As a pre-assessment, students will write answers to the questions: What do you know about military tactics? Which of these tactics have anything to do with the American Revolution?" These questions could also be a pre-lesson class discussion.
Instructional Procedures
- Show clips of the movie The Patriot that show the use of guerilla warfare and military formations.
- Discuss as a class what in the video might be fact and what might be fiction.
- Hand out the worksheet and instruct students to fill it out during the PowerPoint presentation.
Post-Assessment
Use Venn diagram to help students compare and contrast the various war strategies. Assess their Venn diagram with this rubric.
