Comparing Primary and Secondary Sources on the Civil War Lesson Plans

Objective:

Students will analyze sources to learn about the Civil War and distinguish between a primary source and a secondary source.
Read about the Civil War through primary and secondary source documents.
Learn to distinguish between primary and secondary sources.

Standards:

Common core:

RH.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
RH.6-8.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
RH.6-8.8 Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
RH.6-8.9 Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.
SL.8.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

MCREL:

Standard 2 Understands the historical perspective
Benchmark 6 Knows different types of primary and secondary sources and the motives, interests, and bias expressed in them (e.g., eyewitness accounts, letters, diaries, artifacts, photos; magazine articles, newspaper accounts, hearsay)
Standard 13 Understands the causes of the Civil War
Standard 14 Understands the course and character of the Civil War and its effects on the American people

—Lesson Submitted by Hildi Nicksic, Teacher, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Grade

What You Need

Pencil and Paper for each student
A video player or projector
Student Printable: Primary and Secondary Sources

Preparation Instructions

Cue up the five-minute video Primary vs. Secondary Sources—The Civil War to show to your students.
Make copies of Student Printable to share with students.
Gather a collection of primary and secondary sources for students to use in their research. (See Related Resources below).
- If possible, set up a research table where you can display resources.

What to Do

Begin with a quick verbal pre-assessment of student knowledge:
- What is a primary source?
- What is a secondary source?
- Why do we have/need both?
Watch the short video:
- Primary vs. Secondary Sources—The Civil War.
- This five-minute film defines both sources using the Civil War as an example.
Ask students to take out paper and pencil and give them five minutes to write down three facts they remember from the film.
Then, open a discussion with the class.
- What facts do they remember from the film. Reiterate the questions:
  - Why do we have and need both primary and secondary sources?
  - What is the benefit of using both in conjunction?
    - Introduce conjunction as a new vocabulary word.
Together, generate a list of questions and topics about the Civil War that students are curious about.
- Here are some examples
  - What happened at Gettysburg
  - What life was like for children during the Civil War
  - Abraham Lincoln
  - The Union perspective
  - The Confederacy perspective
  - The Gettysburg Address
  - How the War ended
Once you have enough topics, assign or have each student (or pairs of students) select a topic from the list to research.
- Distribute the Student Printable and discuss the lesson objective:
  - Find a primary source and a secondary source that address the topic and to complete the fact sheet and comparison chart.
Introduce all the reference materials available to students in the classroom or online.
Give students time to locate a primary and secondary source.
- Encourage them to have their choices approved before they work on the Student Printable.
Extension/enrichment:
- Create a primary source museum on a classroom bulletin board or in a hallway display case.

Wrapping Up

Have students or student pairs share their findings with the class.
Revisit the initial question again:
- Why do we have/need both primary and secondary sources and how do they work in conjunction?
Exit question:
- What is the most surprising fact you learned today about the Civil War?

Additional Resources

Website: Civil War Primary Sources
- At this site, you will find a large collection of primary documents, prints , photographs, and maps related to the Civil War.
Website-Multimedia: Gettysburg Eyewitness
- Listen to the voice of William V. Rathvon, who as a nine-year-old boy, watched and listened to Abraham Lincoln deliver his address at Gettysburg in November 1863. The story was recorded in 1938.
Website: Gettysburg Address (1863)
- Read the text and see the image of the original handwritten document.
Website: History.Com: The American Civil War
- This is a good website for secondary sources, in both text and video form.
PBS: The Civil War
- This companion site to Ken Burns’ documentary series on the Civil War. This portion of the site includes resources step-by-step lesson plans about the war.

Related Books:

Book: If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War, by Kay Moore (Scholastic, 1994)
Book: The Civil War for Kids: A History with 21 Activities, by Janis Herbert (Chicago Review Press, 1999
Book: Marching to Appomattox: The Footrace That Ended the Civil War, by Ken Stark (Putnam, 2009)
Book: Yankee Blue or Rebel Gray? A Family Divided by the Civil War, by Kate Connell (National Geographic, 2003)

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Comparing Primary and Secondary Sources on the Civil War