Thoughts on the purpose and uses of this website
Abraham Lincoln is one of the most recognizable figures in U.S. history. From pictures, to currency, to monuments, and movies, our modern American culture is suffuse with Lincoln. However, there was more to the man than the popular ways of remembering him as “The Great Emancipator”, “Father Abraham”, or “The Savior of the Union”. While these are important aspects of Lincoln to teach, I believe that they can also be difficult for middle and high school students to relate to and make personal connections with. I have found that history which is relatable and relevant tends to be the type of history that my students are drawn to and engaged by. To that end, I have attempted in this website to humanize Lincoln in ways that will hopefully be relatable and engaging to middle and high school students. While few of my students have ever wrestled with questions of government or freedom versus slavery, many do struggle with questions of significance, achievement, family relationships, and personal belief. It is on those topics that I believe students can find personal connections with Lincoln and possibly some comfort that, yes, even great historic figures like Abraham Lincoln dealt with problems and doubt.
Lesson Ideas
The documents on this can be use in a number of different ways. Given the realities of the classroom it is understandable that there may not be time for a complete lesson surrounding the more personal side of Lincoln. However, I believe that any of these documents could be used as a supplement to a lesson on Lincoln you already use. Each document presented here includes annotations created using Genius.com, and included in the annotations are guiding questions which could be useful for discussion or journalling assignments. The two letters were created by me and the "Autobiographical Sketch" is courtesy of the House Divided Project. Also, each document includes a audio file to aid both reading and presentation. The Andrew Johnston reading was created by me and the other two documents are, again, courtesy of the House Divided Project.
The letter to John Johnston would make an especially good warm up or hook activity at the beginning of a lesson. The letter is short enough to have students complete a "read, write, discuss" activity in partners or small groups. This could then be expanded to a larger class discussion of the document and its themes. A website like Padlet could be useful in curating all responses and generating a richer discussion and understanding of the document.
The Market Revolution of the early 19th century and specifically the concept of the "self-made man" would provide another way to introduce these documents into the classroom. Kenneth Winkle's article "Abraham Lincoln: Self-Made Man" provides an excellent treatment of this topic and I found it extremely helpful. Lincoln's letters to Andrew Johnston, John Johnston, and his "Autobiographical Sketch" all touch on Lincoln's family relationships, specifically with his father. Winkle points out that one of the characteristics of a self-made man was his rejection of his family and a reliance on himself for advancement in life. This theme among others is certainly present in all three documents.
I have tried to select documents which would be appropriate for at least an 8th grade classroom, however I understand that not every student will be ready for a text at that level. For struggling readers I might suggest either chunking the documents into smaller sections or excerpting just the parts you want to focus on. Highlighting the important parts of a document also works well.
If you practice the "flipped classroom" model then I might suggest having the students read the Winkle article while focusing on some essential questions, and then use some, or all, of the documents the next day in class. Additional resources can be found at the Lincoln's Writings website, specifically the section entitled "The Railsplitter".
In addition, I found Lincoln's religious views to be an especially interesting topic that I feel is related, at least in spirit, to the theme of this site. Mary Beth Donnelly's Philosopher in Chief site, Marsha Greco's Abraham Lincoln’s Religion Prezi, and Richard Carwardine's article on the same topic are all excellent resources for teaching this aspect of Lincoln.
If you are looking for something more advanced or challenging below you will find instructions for having students complete their own close reading of a Lincoln document. I adapted these instructions from Jesse O'Neill's excellent site A. Lincoln, A Funny Man?.
The letter to John Johnston would make an especially good warm up or hook activity at the beginning of a lesson. The letter is short enough to have students complete a "read, write, discuss" activity in partners or small groups. This could then be expanded to a larger class discussion of the document and its themes. A website like Padlet could be useful in curating all responses and generating a richer discussion and understanding of the document.
The Market Revolution of the early 19th century and specifically the concept of the "self-made man" would provide another way to introduce these documents into the classroom. Kenneth Winkle's article "Abraham Lincoln: Self-Made Man" provides an excellent treatment of this topic and I found it extremely helpful. Lincoln's letters to Andrew Johnston, John Johnston, and his "Autobiographical Sketch" all touch on Lincoln's family relationships, specifically with his father. Winkle points out that one of the characteristics of a self-made man was his rejection of his family and a reliance on himself for advancement in life. This theme among others is certainly present in all three documents.
I have tried to select documents which would be appropriate for at least an 8th grade classroom, however I understand that not every student will be ready for a text at that level. For struggling readers I might suggest either chunking the documents into smaller sections or excerpting just the parts you want to focus on. Highlighting the important parts of a document also works well.
If you practice the "flipped classroom" model then I might suggest having the students read the Winkle article while focusing on some essential questions, and then use some, or all, of the documents the next day in class. Additional resources can be found at the Lincoln's Writings website, specifically the section entitled "The Railsplitter".
In addition, I found Lincoln's religious views to be an especially interesting topic that I feel is related, at least in spirit, to the theme of this site. Mary Beth Donnelly's Philosopher in Chief site, Marsha Greco's Abraham Lincoln’s Religion Prezi, and Richard Carwardine's article on the same topic are all excellent resources for teaching this aspect of Lincoln.
If you are looking for something more advanced or challenging below you will find instructions for having students complete their own close reading of a Lincoln document. I adapted these instructions from Jesse O'Neill's excellent site A. Lincoln, A Funny Man?.