Joe Rusek

TE 407
12/18/15
Unit Planning Assignment
The unit I have planned to teach is the Civil War, which would
encompass the years between 1861 when Fort Sumter is fired upon,
and 1865 when General Robert E. Lee surrenders the last major
Confederate Army. The main events my unit will highlight will be: The
attack on Fort Sumter, Bull Run (1st and 2nd battles), the first ever battle
between steel-clad ships (Monitor v. Merrimac), the Battle of Shiloh,
Antietam, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Battle of Gettysburg,
Grant being granted the lead of the Union Army, and the surrender of
Robert E. Lee. I also plan to highlight famous people during this era,
including Politicians (Lincoln, Breckenridge, McKinley, Calhoun, and
Jefferson Davis), Generals (Grant, McPherson, Lee, Custer, and
McClellan) and Activists (Harriet Tubman, Annie Etheridge, Clara
Barton, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown). My unit will focus on the
differences between the Northern and Southern sides during the war
(militarily, economically, etc.), Abraham Lincolns Presidency, the role
of African Americans in the war, and the lasting affect the war had on
the country (technology, role of women, future of warfare, state of the
South), which are all the recommended points of focus from the
Michigan Social Studies Standards (Michigan.gov).
I will plan to have a quiz for each chapter in the textbook, which
would probably be around three (Apologies I do not have the text
book), and a final unit test to wrap up the unit. The quizzes will be

Joe Rusek
TE 407
12/18/15
multiple choice, true or false, and matching questions just to make
sure the students are collecting content knowledge during the unit. The
Unit test will be a different set up, where the students will choose 5 out
of 8 vocabulary questions to answer, 5 out of 8 short answer questions,
8 out of 10 multiple choice questions, and 1 out of 2 essay questions.
This is a unique test set up that I just experienced for the first time this
year, however, I feel it would be an effective set up for a test for 8th
graders. I feel that many 8th graders may struggle with grasping and
studying for an entire unit, so this test will allow them to highlight the
concepts they understand the best and also utilizes different ways of
testing knowledge (multiple choice vs. short answer). I feel that I will
be able to use this test to understand what students struggled with in
the unit, not only based on what they got wrong, but what questions
they avoided. I will then be able to use this information down the road
to help cater my lesson plans to what students struggled with. I also
plan on doing a unit project, where students will be required to pick a
movie based on the Civil War (Pending my approval) and will write a
short essay on the movie. The essay will include a summary of the
movie, what parts of the civil war the movie highlights, and what
historical inaccuracies the movie has. I hope this project will be an
entertaining way for students to wrap up their understanding of the
events of the Civil War while also taking the time to realize that not
everything in a Historical movie is always true. The overlying

Joe Rusek
TE 407
12/18/15
question for my unit will be: What do you think was the most
significant impact of the Civil War on the United States?
The Civil War is one of the most historically significant eras in our
Nations history. Not only is it the bloodiest conflict to ever occur on
American soil, but the unfortunate consequence of this conflict being a
civil war was that it was Americans killing Americans, cousins killing
cousins, and sometimes even brothers killing brothers. This era also is
incredibly important in the role that race played in our country. With
the Civil War practically being started over the issue of slavery, the
eventual release of slaves with Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation
started black Americans movement towards equality, a fight that still
wages on today. The issue of race in this era gives plenty of
opportunity to talk about and connect to modern social issues as well.
With all the issues recently with police brutality, the controversy over
the confederate flag, and the almost systematic racism that still exists
in the country today, this unit offers tons of opportunities for students
to connect the content of this unit to the real world. The goals set out
by the State of Michigan for the Civil War unit are, Evaluate the
multiple causes, key events, and complex consequences of the Civil
War (Michigan.gov). By examining how modern social issues relate to
the Civil War, students will be able to better understand some of the
social consequences of the Civil War. To help students understand the
various key events of the Civil War, I would implement various movie

Joe Rusek
TE 407
12/18/15
clips from movies on the civil war throughout the unit. Also, to give my
students experience with primary sources, I would implement into my
lesson many diary entries from famous figures and regular folk of the
time. Primary sources allow students to get a first hand look into the
events of the era, and personal diaries are especially great because
they will allow students to think about how the persons personal
feelings can warp their thoughts on different events. I think this unit
will be great for developing students views on modern social injustice
and also increase their interest in current social issues. By highlighting
the fact that slaves were freed over 140 years ago and there are still
huge racial issues in the country, I hope to make my students more
aware of the social issues around them and encourage them to stand
up for the various issues they become passionate about.
I have been in both of Bens classes at some point this semester,
but have spent the most time in 5th hour. 5th hour is incredibly full of
students, and is very diverse as far as racial makeup. When I think of
what a typical 8th grade class would be, I think of Bens 5th hour, about
30% of the students try hard in the class and seem truly passionate
about learning, another 30% try most of the time but have days where
they would much rather socialize than learn, and the remaining 40%
seem to not care very much about the class, if at all. The two students
that jump to mind when I think about 5th hour are Frank (Francisco) and
Avery. Francisco is a Latino student who is very social but lacks focus

Joe Rusek
TE 407
12/18/15
most of the class. However, when you can get Francisco to stop playing
the drums on his desk and participate, he can make some very
intelligent points. I get frustrated with Francisco, because not only does
he have a lot of academic potential that he does not take advantage
of, but he is also one of my favorite personalities in the class, which he
often uses to distract other students. I would be very interested to see
if Francisco has an IEP for some sort of ADD/ADHD. Avery is one of the
All-Star students of the class; she easily participates the most in
discussion with very intelligent points and seems to genuinely care
about learning about US History. Avery also appears to be a mixed race
student and is one of the few girls that participate consistently in class.
What shocked me to learn about Avery was that she often struggles on
tests when she is usually the one driving the in class discussions and
answering Bens questions. I have noticed that Avery sometimes lacks
confidence when answering questions on work sheets, which is often
caused by her over thinking the question on the paper. Avery is a
student whose brain I would love to pick to find out what is holding her
back from doing well on tests. For Bens class overall, I would really
focus on getting the 40% of I dont care students to get involved in
my lesson plans by focusing on encouraging their specific participation
picking their brains to find out what would make my lessons more
entertaining for them so I could hopefully gain more participation from
that faction of the class.

While Bens 5th hour only has one student that is African

Joe Rusek
TE 407
12/18/15

American, the class has quite a few students that appear to be mixed
race or other minorities. I believe that the diverse makeup of Bens
class can help me create bridges between the struggles of blacks
during the Civil War and the struggle minorities still experience today.
Even though many of the minority students are not African American,
the struggle for blacks to make their way in America during and after
the Civil War can strike a personal chord for those students as well. As
talked about in earlier paragraphs, I hope that the connections
students will make during this Unit to the social issues of today will
help the class as a whole, not just the minority students, understand
that racial issues still exist in the modern world and will hopefully
increase their passion to fight against those kind of issues. I at the very
least hope to get students thinking about how important these kinds of
issues are to them and how they would want their future candidates to
handle these kinds of issues. I think Avery would enjoy this unit not just
for the education on blacks during the Civil War, but would also like
learning about womens roles during the war. Avery has expressed a lot
of interest in the past on womens issues and history, so hopefully she
will be satisfied with the lesson I would teach on women during the
Civil War. Francisco has not yet expressed how he feels on racial or
social issues, but hopefully by focusing discussions on connecting
issues from the Civil War to the modern world, he will be interested

Joe Rusek
TE 407
12/18/15
enough to add in his thoughts, as he has expressed some interest in
current events in the past.
The three events I attended in Haslett this year were two football
games against Owosso and Walled Lake Central, and a volleyball game
against Okemos. Attending sporting events in Haslett really showed
the passion that the people of Haslett have for their town and their
school. It was a really great experience to see all the school pride at
these three games. I also noticed that the community has a similar
diverse racial makeup that I see in Bens class and in the halls. I think it
would be really cool to add in some Haslett Civil War Era History into
my lesson, as people seem to really care about their town here. I think
a great lesson would be a take home assignment on Civil War era
Haslett that the student could share with their family. I think that while
many of the racial topics during a Unit on the Civil War can be
somewhat sensitive, I do not think any of the topics I will cover will
surprise any families. Depending on what movies I use during my
lesson, I may need to send home permission slips to families, but
overall I think that this unit will not cause much controversy in the
community. It will be a very unique experience to teach the Civil War in
a community like Hasletts, where there are various minority groups.
When I was taught the Civil War in Middle and High School, I went to a
school that was basically only White or Black students, two groups who
have very obvious connections to the issues of the time. However, I

Joe Rusek
TE 407
12/18/15
have never really been able to see how students that come from
Mexican, Asian, or Middle Eastern will be able to make personal
connections or how strongly they will feel on the issues of the time.

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/SS_COMBINED_August_2015
_496557_7.pdf