Teacher:Wymore/Martinez/Chacon

School: Blevins Middle School

Content Area: U.S. History
Title: Federalists Vs Anti-Federalists

Date:1/28-29
Grade Level: 8

Lesson #: 2 of 11
Content Standard(s) addressed by this lesson:
H.S.1.2: The historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas and themes from the origins of the
American Revolution through Reconstruction and their relationships with one another
H.S.1.1:Formulate appropriate hypotheses about United States history based on a variety of
historical sources and perspectives
C.S.2.2: Analyze the origins, structure, and functions of governments and their impacts on
societies and citizens.
Inquiry
Questions:
1. How important was the role of compromise during the drafting and ratification of the
constitution.
2. What were the stances of the Federalists and Antifederalists.

Concepts and skills students master:

Primary document analysis, both images and essays.
Evidence Outcomes: (Knowledge/ Skills, Lesson Objectives)
Every student will be able to:
1. I understand why Shays Rebellion pushed the Americans to reform their first
constitution.
2. I can express the Anti federalist and Federalist arguments in my own words.
Assessment of Evidence Outcomes: )
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

LT #26 and RAP #26

Feds/Anti-Feds to Constitution Simulation Parallel
Fed/Anti-Fed Tweet
Smith Vs Hamilton Chart
Looking Glass Evaluation

Planned Lesson Activities

Activity Name

Federalists Vs Anti-Federalists

Approx. Time

1 hour and 15 minutes

Anticipatory Set

Reflection on the Constitutional Simulation lesson compromises

Looking glass WS setting up the differences between Federalists and
Antifederalists.
Shays Rebellion Document detailing the importance of the event and
why it led to the drafting of a new constitution.
Congress representation plans

Teaching/
Presentation:
(Select the most
appropriate teaching
model.)
-direct instruction
-presentation model
-concept teaching
-cooperative
learning
-inquiry

Includes: Input, Modeling and Checking for Understanding

1. Input: Reflection on previous lessons Constitutional
Convention, looking glass primary source sheet detailing
differences between Federalists and Antifederalists, debrief of
Shays rebellion and its importance, Importance of the great
compromise.
2. Modeling: We will walk through the looking glass doc and
predict the images purpose as a class. Walkthrough
background info on our constitution, such as the great
compromise and shays rebellion. As a class we will read
through two primary sources and complete the first section of
the fed/anti-fed note taker. Afterwards, students will
independently work on the second half of the note taker as
they analyze the second primary source.
3. Checking for Understanding: Debriefing and comparing the
students constitutional simulation and the actual
constitutional convention. Completion of fed/antifed chart
following the group reading of fed/antifed primary sources,
tweet from the perspective of a federalist or anti federalists to
assess students understanding and ability to synthesize, RAP
questions to take notes on the effect of Shays Rebellion
4. Questioning Strategies: 1) Remembering: Can you state the
difference between federalist and antifederalist point of
views? 2 Understanding:Paraphrase a federalist/antifederalist argument for or against ratifying the Constitution.
3)Applying: the federalist/anti-federalist arguments.
4)Analyzing a significant political leader with either an antifederalist or federalist point of view. 5)Can you predict which
modern-day political parties associated with federalist and
anti-federalist ideas? 6) Construct a short defense of
federalist or anti-federalist ideas in the form of a tweet.

Teaching Strategy:
Guided Practice
&

Students will complete their hook (3 mini worksheets) by following

along on the document camera. This will offer up background
knowledge and help set the stage for an understanding of the

Differentiation

constitutional convention. Following the hook the students will read

through two primary source documents in defense of both federalism
and antifederalism. Following their reading they will complete one half
of a graphic organizer based on their analysis of the first primary
document.

Teaching Strategy:
(Independent
Practice)

After they complete the hook and the first primary document as a
group, students will work independently to complete their analysis of
the second primary document. Students will then write a reflection of
the days learning target in order to self-assess their understanding of
Shays Rebellion and the federalist/antifederalist arguments.

Closure

Federalist Vs Anti-Federalist tweet. Students will choose a famous

Federalist or Anti Federalist and format tweets that encapsulate their
argument.

Materials

Accommodations
&
Modifications

Federalist and Anti-Federalist convention documents.

Federalist/Antifederalist primary document graphic organizer
Tweet template.
LT/RAP smartboard slides
looking glass image + worksheet
note taker
Filled in chart
3 students S3 F
1 student 4B
3 students B5
Group reading of the primary source documents in order to
accommodate those with below level reading skills along with oneon-one check ins with those students to check for understanding.

Assessment

Learning Target 26 reflection

RAP 26 (shays rebellion)
Anti Fed Vs Fed Chart
Anti Fed vs Fed tweet

Purpose of
lesson/State Standard
Addressed

History Standard 1.2: The historical eras, individuals, groups,

ideas and themes from the origins of the American Revolution
through Reconstruction and their relationships with one another
History Standard 1.1:Formulate appropriate hypotheses about
United States history based on a variety of historical sources
and perspectives
Civics Standard 2.2:The place of law in a constitutional system

Co-Teaching
Strategy/Rationale

For the Federalist/ Antifederalist lesson, we used one teach and

one assist. We chose to use this particular strategy, because the

lesson we planned makes use of the document camera the

majority of the class period. We believed that in order to get
through the content we needed to to have someone leading the
class at a brisk pace while the other assisted the students that
were having issues keeping up with the remainder of the class.

Reuse of Co-Teaching
Strategy Why/Why
not?

If I were to reteach this lesson, I wouldnt be against using the

one teach one assist, but I believe team teaching or station
teaching would work better. The issue with this lesson dealt less
with the strategy and more with the personal design of the
lesson. Nearly the whole lesson, the students were required to
be following along and filling in numerous worksheets as we
modeled them, and even for the most dedicated students the
workload was extensive. Had it been team teaching or station
teaching, the students would have less of a heavy load to
comprehend.

Other Strategies
implemented?

While there was no other dedicated strategy during the lesson,

there was a bit of supplemental teaching used. In a number of
periods we needed to work closely one on one with a student to
help them either with understanding or focus/behavior.

Post Lesson Reflection

1. To what extent were lesson objectives achieved?
While students were able to synthesize their understanding of either
Antifederalism or Federalism, the students struggled with understanding how
these political ideas were projected and how these ideas evolved into political
parties. I was disappointed with the low number of students who turned in a
tweet that accurately and sufficiently expressed either Federalist or Antifederalist
perspectives.
2. What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would you make if

you were to teach again?

When covering the concept of Federalism and Antifederalism next time, I
will not use SHEGG as my main source of instruction. I do respect how
SHEGG provides lessons based on primary source analysis. I do not,
however, find SHEGG developmentally appropriate for the eighth grade. It
is designed for a high school setting as it asks students to critically
analyze primary source documents at a level set too high for the median
eighth grade capability. Every time, this time included, that I have
assigned and modeled a SHEGG activity I get poor results, little
engagement and very few submissions.
1. What do you envision for the next lesson?
Our next lesson will be on the requirements to become a U.S. citizen. This
lesson is a transition from the history of the Constitution to the logistics of
citizenship and government and will draw upon test questions from the
citizenship test that relate to Federalism and Antifederalism in the form of modern
day political party questions.