1. A variety of print and non-print resources can be used to teach the events leading up to the Civil War, the major battles of that war, and the war's outcomes. While these facts are necessary for an understanding of the rest of the lesson, they should not be its primary focus.
2. No study of the Civil War is complete without a discussion of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln is introduced to students in earlier CROSSROADS curriculum, but can be reviewed with the help of good resources. Every student should have access to
Lincoln: A Photobiography
, by Russell Freedman, a biography that traces the president's life through text and remarkable photographs.
3. Students should examine the Civil War through the eyes of those most closely involved in it. Photographs and other primary sources should play an important part of either direct instruction or student research on this topic. Photographs of common soldiers play an important part in
Behind the Blue and the Gray: The Soldier's Life in the Civil War
, by Delia Ray. The war is described in the soldiers' own words in such books as
Voices from the Civil War
, by Milton Meltzer, and
Bull Run
, by Paul Fleischer. All of the above sources show both Northern and Southern soldiers. African-American soldiers and their role in the war are described in
Civil War Soldiers
, by Catherine Reef. There is no more visually appealing resource on the Civil War than Ken Burns' PBS series on the Civil War; this can be made useful to students at this age by carefully selecting short segments that demonstrate the war's effects on individuals, both soldiers and civilians. Footage from Hollywood movies such as
Gettysburg
and
Glory
, both available in videotape editions, also graphically demonstrates the effect of the war.
4. Students should demonstrate their understanding of the war by writing letters to each other. Assign a role to each student (a Southern soldier, a mother on a farm in Ohio, etc.) and have each student write a letter to a relative describing the effects of the war that they have personally felt. Alternatively, students could read letters aloud and the class could write back, keeping the role assigned earlier.
5. The teacher should close this lesson with an account of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Information can be shared from Freedman's biography of Lincoln or Burns' video series (see above); additional pictures and information can be found in
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
, by Robert E. Jakoubek.