Social Studies Lesson Plan: Determining Importance in Pre-Suffrage America / Course Name: Equality in US History

/ Created by Melissa Slater, 2009

Lesson Plan Overview: Classroom Preparation for Lesson:

This lesson introduces the strategy of determining importance and how Cut strips of the Declaration of Sentiments excerpts ahead of time and
students can use this strategy to create a summary of a text. It builds make sure to figure out which students will be receiving what strips of the
students background in the pre-suffrage movement by exposing students to excerpt based on their reading level. Set up the modeling by either
the first national women’s rights conference and the work of Elizabeth Cady preparing technology such as the LCD Projector or overhead projector. Or,
Stanton. The lesson helps students understand the treatment of women in write the excerpt that will be modeled on chart paper.
America during this time period.
Make sure any questions the students need to consider or write about are
visually displayed and all handouts are photocopied. Wrap-up journal info
should be posted on the board or chart paper for later reference in the
lesson.
Lesson Objective: Resources Needed for This Lesson:
Students will understand the key features of the women’s suffrage • Document-based questions for Do Now
movement of the mid-1880’s (through analysis of the Declaration of • Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Seneca Falls Convention Background
Sentiments from the Seneca Falls Convention). Info (A Patriot’s Handbook)
• Declaration of Sentiments – excerpts cut into strips (A Patriot’s
Learning Strategies Used:
Handbook)
• Determining Importance
• Student Notebooks
• Synthesis (Summarizing)
• Post It Notes
• Glue Sticks
Key Concepts, Terms, and Vocabulary:
• Declaration
• Sentiments
• Seneca Falls Convention
• Details
• Dialogue
• Paraphrasing
• Summarizing

Social Studies Lesson: Determining Importance in Pre-Suffrage America

Created by Melissa Slater, 2009
Page 1 of 3
Lesson Launch – Build Background for New Learning:
1. Do Now: For the beginning of the lesson students will complete three document-based questions about the Declaration of Independence as a
way to review the document.
2. As a whole class, have the students review the answers to the questions.
3. Have a discussion with the students about the following: What does it mean to declare something? What was the purpose of the Declaration of
Independence? What are sentiments? (If students are unfamiliar with the term, explain that sentiments are a person’s feelings or emotions.)
4. Have the students generate ideas about the following questions and as they share out write their ideas on the board/overhead/LCD:
• What do you think the Declaration of Sentiments might contain since women in the mid-1800s wrote it?
• Why do you think the women used the same format as the Declaration of Independence? Who might their audience be?
5. Hand out the photocopies of the background information on Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Seneca Falls Convention and have the students read
as partners, individually, or as a whole-class.
6. Explain to the students that they will be using a literacy strategy called determining importance to summarize excerpts from the Declaration of
Sentiments. They will then share their summaries with their fellow peers and discuss what they learned about the struggles women faced during
the mid-1800s.
7. Model your thinking of determining importance from an excerpt of the Declaration of Sentiments by circling key words, re-reading key parts of the
excerpt, and writing a summary by paraphrasing the main ideas of the excerpt. Make sure and explain your thinking process and why certain
words or ideas are more important than others. (If technology is available project the excerpt and write the summary next to the projected excerpt
either on the computer or on the board. If technology is not available, write the excerpt big on chart paper so students can follow along.)
8. Deconstruct the think-aloud with the students: How did I decide which words to circle? How did I figure out which ideas were the main ideas?
How did I decide what details to include in my summary? What makes a great summary as opposed to a good summary? With this last question,
have the students share out some ideas for a good summary versus a great summary and write their ideas on the board, overhead, or LCD.
(Students should come up with ideas such as the summary should be the gist of the paragraph and should make sense to anyone who did not
read the paragraph. The summary should be in your own words (paraphrasing) and should include some of the main supporting details.)
9. Have the students practice as a whole-class determining importance and creating a summary by giving the students one practice excerpt to read
and summarize. Individually, have the students circle key words and write a summary in their notebooks. Give the students about five minutes
and make sure to walk around and assess how the students are doing. If students are struggling, the following are questions to use while
conferencing:
• Why did you circle those key words? Why did they stand out to you?
• If we determine those are important words or ideas, how can you put them into your own words?
• How did you decide which supporting details to include in your summary?
• If you wanted to explain this paragraph to a friend, what would you say?

Social Studies Lesson: Determining Importance in Pre-Suffrage America

Created by Melissa Slater, 2009
Page 2 of 3
Students Investigate New Learning:
1. Distribute the strips of paper with the excerpts of the Declaration of Sentiments. (Differentiation: give students specific excerpts based on their
reading levels)
2. Students will glue them into their notebooks and circle, underline or highlight the key words or phrases from the excerpts.
3. Students will write summaries of the excerpts in their notebooks next to where they are glued. (Differentiation: Students will complete as many
excerpts as they can during the allotted time.)
4. Next, the students will rotate around the room and read the summaries of other students. Have the students look for the elements of a great
summary (created in lesson launch) as they read their peer’s summaries and write questions or comments on post it notes and post them in the
notebooks in order to give feedback to their peers.
Students Synthesize New Learning:
1. Have the students get into small groups of 3 or 4 and create a small, fun (1 page) dialogue showing the struggles women faced during the mid-
1800s. Have the students pretend they are women attending the Seneca Falls Convention who are having a lunch break and talking about all the
issues that have been discussed so far at the convention. Have the students write the dialogue in play form as if they were speaking to each
other. Make sure the student groups include some dialogue about why the women are using the same format as the Declaration of
Independence. (If students seem to be struggling, compare the dialogue to IM or texting each other. Some students may need to see a model.)
2. Have the students perform their dialogues for the class.
3. Wrap-Up Journal Entry: Have students write a 1 page journal reflection in their notebooks about the following:
• How did you decide what information was pertinent when reading the documents?
• What did you notice about the best summaries you read? What elements did they have in common?
• How do you plan to use this strategy of determining importance and summarizing in the rest of the unit since we will be reading quite a
bit of expository text?

Social Studies Lesson: Determining Importance in Pre-Suffrage America

Created by Melissa Slater, 2009
Page 3 of 3