California History

The Mexican- American War

Objectives:

The reading objective is to read to quote accurately from a text and make an inference.  The history objective is to understand the causes of the Mexican-American War and to use some primary sources.

DAY ONE

(1) First, we have a quick discussion, just on the carpet with some chart paper about primary sources, secondary sources and "other sources."  I usually just make a three columns and start asking the group questions.  (1a)  First, I tell the class that a primary source is when the eye-witness tells what happened.  The secondary source is when someone tells what the eye-witness said happened.  The last column, "Other," is when no one talked to the eye-witness but reported it anyway, like class textbook writers or Wikipedia editors.  (1b) Then, I ask students for examples of an eye-witness who recorded their experiences.   For example, the president of the nation might keep a journal,  a solider in a war might take a picture, an immigrate from the Ukraine might answer interview questions, a police officer might make a tally of the number of people present at a rally.  I ask the same about secondary sources: examples pf secondary sources, people who wrote down stuff when they were not there.  I use my own example of September 11: I watched it on TV and then wrote in my journal about my predictions, my fears, my friends serving in the miltary, the eerie-ness of seeing no one on the freeway, no planes in the sky.  I would be a secondary source.

(2) Next, I tell students that we are going to analyze some primary documents: (a) President James Polk's journal and (b) maps of the USA in the 1800s.  I tell the students that the US and Mexico and Texas were all upset about the borders and there was some confusion about where exactly the USA ended.   We are going to look at some primary sources and try to figure out what the president was thinking.   I hand out the worksheet and let the kids work through it.  Then, I hand them the questions for discussion.  

(3) Finally, I show them the 1848 map of the USA.  I ask students to do the following activities:

•  Highlight the edges of the USA on both maps.

• Measure the distance between San Diego and Las Vegas on both maps.

• Trace the rivers in blue: Colorado River, Sacramento, Rio Grande on both maps.

(3) We end the day with a summary.  I bring students back to the chart we made about primary and secondary sources.  Then, I ask them "So why do we have to learn about old border disputes today?"  Hopefully, kids can see that borders are always changing, people are always changing, nations are always changing.  If we study old changes, we can predict new changes coming and stop problems before they start.... you know, if you are looking at the really big picture.