THE RAID ON DEERFIELD 1704

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THE RAID ON DEERFIELD1704

• AN ARTISTS DEPICTION OF SCENE IN DEERFIELD
  2/29/1704

• This is a mini-unit plan composed of three
  separate lessons. These lessons are based
  largely on the resources available to educators
  at the Memorial Hall Museum of Deerfields
  website at www.memorialhall.mass.edu

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DEERFIELD RAID UNIT PLAN
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Students will understand that history can be
  interpreted from more than one perspective by
  examining the Raid on Deerfield in 1704 from five
  different viewpoints.
• Students will recognize the importance of
  determining the authorship of both primary and
  secondary sources, acknowledging the subjective
  nature of historical writing.
• Students will focus on the womens experience in
  each of the five groups, pointing out the
  presence of women in history.
  
• Students will sharpen their research skills.
• Students will practice working cooperatively in
  small groups.

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MOTIVATION AND STRATEGY

• By focusing on the Raid of Deerfield from
  five different perspectives, students will form
  their own opinions about the value of examining
  history from more than one viewpoint. Working in
  small groups, students will use primary and
  secondary sources to make base their inquiries
  upon, and will be actively engaged in learning
  and in teaching each other.

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LESSON PLAN 1What happened in Deerfield?

• AGENDA
• Students will view the introductory video
  available on the Memorial Hall website (5
  minutes). Students will consider the statement
  presented on the following slide, and will be
  asked to put this idea in their own words
  (orally).
• Teacher will present pertinent background
  information, placing the event on a classroom
  timeline, and within a context of other events
  going on at the same time in other parts of the
  world. Students will take notes.
• Teacher will identify each of the five major
  participants in this event in relation to the
  night of February 29, 1704 English, French,
  Kanienkehaka (Mohawk), Wendat (Huron), and
  Wobanaki.
• Students will be split into five groups
  (predetermined by the teacher), and will be
  assigned one of these five major groups.
  
• In response to a guide provided by teacher
  (attached), small groups will use the Memorial
  Hall website to begin exploring their assigned
  perspective. Each group will have one person who
  records the ideas learned. This is the first
  stage of a research project that will conclude on
  the following day with a trip to the library.

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Who Owns History

• The end to be sought is not to get something
  absolutely right, but to make it come alive in
  all of its uncertainties. The more we can
  multiply perspectives from many different kinds
  of people, the better able we are to ask useful
  and specific questions out of which can come the
  fullest sense of both what did happen in the past
  and how we might understand and judge it. It is
  our task, as students and teachers, writers and
  citizens, to bring everyone and everything out of
  the mist so that we might hear their voices,
  follow their actions, and respect each person,
  past and present, as a maker, as well as a
  subject, of history.

• Barry OConnell
• Prof. of American Literature and
• American Studies
• Amherst College
• Amherst, MA

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MATERIALS AND RESOURCES

• INTERNET ACCESS/ MEMORIAL HALL WEBSITE/LAPTOPS
  (FIVE)
  
• POWERPOINT PROJECTOR
• TIMELINE (noted in Lesson Plan 4)
• CLASSROOM WALL MAP
• 5 RESEARCH JOURNALS
• ARTS AND CRAFT SUPPLY CHEST (contents noted in
  Lesson Plan 4)

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LESSON PLAN 2Who Owns History?

• Teacher (or a student) will read aloud Barry
  OConnells essay, Who Owns History?
  (Introduced in Lesson 1).
  
• Through a brief class discussion, students will
  consider how this idea relates to the research
  they are conducting, and to our interpretation of
  the Raid on Deerfield.
• Students will continue, and conclude, their
  research with a trip to the school library. Here
  students will be responsible for reconvening in
  their small groups, finishing their guided
  response worksheets, and finding any additional
  resources that the library might offer on their
  topic.

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LESSON PLAN 3What Really Happened in Deerfield?

• Students will begin class by gathering in their
  groups. They will have five minutes to review
  the information they have compiled from the
  previous two days.
• The teacher will address questions to each group
  regarding their unique perspective on the Raid on
  Deerfield.
  
• Representatives for each group will answer the
  questions, in turn. Each member of the group
  should have at least one turn to represent their
  group.

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EXTENSION

• Students will have one week to submit a two page
  written response to the following question
  
• Why were the English colonists attacked at
  Deerfield Massachusetts on February 29, 1704?
  
• They will be expected to support their
  conclusions with evidence derived from both their
  own group research, and from research presented
  to them in class. Students will be required to
  use the Memorial Hall Website and one additional
  source they found in the library.

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ASSESSMENT

• FORMAL ASSESSMENT
• Students will be assessed formally based on their
  Group Research Journals, and on their two page
  essays.
  
• Although good writing skills will be important,
  students will be primarily evaluated according to
  their use of the evidence they have been
  researching in writing a clear and persuasive
  response.
• Students will be given a rubric outlining these
  specific expectations for writing an essay at the
  beginning of the semester, and will be able to
  use this guideline over and over again.
• Sample rubrics are included in Lesson Plan 4.

• INFORMAL ASSESSMENT
• Students will be assessed informally in a number
  of ways
  
• On their willingness to participate in large
  group discussion.
  
• On their ability to work productively within a
  small group setting.
  
• On their use of both class and library time.

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MASSACHUSETTS CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK CONNECTIONS

• It is very difficult to work Colonial American
  History into the Mass. Curriculum Frameworks for
  grades 9-12. In direct correspondence to the
  frameworks, the most obvious place to use this
  unit would be in World History 1
• The Origins of European Western Expansion
• WHI.12 Explain why European Nations sent
  explorers westward, and how overseas expansion
  led to the growth of commerce and development of
  the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

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A MORE PRACTICAL CONNECTION

• Since the Raid on Deerfield of 1704 is seemingly
  invisible in the Massachusetts Curriculum
  Frameworks (the study of US History I begins with
  the Revolutionary War), a more practical and
  useful connection for this unit presents itself
  in the Concepts and Skills section (grades 8-12).
  In this light, the unit is very, very relevant in
  teaching the following general skills
• Interpret and construct timelines that show how
  events and eras in various parts of the world
  relate to one another.
  
• Explain how a cause and effect relationship is
  different from a sequence or correlation of
  events.
  
• Show connections, causal and otherwise, between
  particular historical events and ideas and larger
  social, economic and political trends and
  developments.
• Interpret the past within its own historical
  context rather than in terms of present day norms
  and values.
  
• Distinguish intended from unintended
  consequences.
  
• Distinguish historical fact from opinion (this is
  my personal favorite, because historical fact is
  opinion-this will be discovered profoundly
  through this unit plan!)

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GUIDED READING WORKSHEET

• STUDENTS WILL USE THE FOLLOWING GUIDE TO COMPLETE
  THEIR GROUP RESEARCH JOURNALS
  
• What is the history of your subject in 1704?
• Where do they live?
• Describe some basic elements of their culture
• -foodways
• -clothing
• -community
• -family structure and family life
• -origins and religion
• -gender stratification
• -economic stratification
• -customs
• -warfare
• -structure of society/government
• Why did they participate in the Deerfield Raid
  of 1704?
  
• What do the artifacts say about these people (at
  least one example)?
  
• What primary sources can you find regarding your
  groups experience?
  
• What secondary sources can you find regarding
  your groups experience, and what do they say?
  How do they develop their opinion?
  
• How would someone from your group explain the
  reason for the Deerfield Raid?