Lesson Plan for Oklahoma Land Run

Lesson Summary:
This lesson will help the student be more mindful of different perspectives, think critically about
arguments, research information, and write out dialogue in the form of a debate.

Course Objectives (from the Oklahoma Common Core State Standards):
-Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text,
including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
-Introduce claim(s), acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims,
and organize the reasons and evidence logically.
- Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique,
relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
a. Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a
narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically.
b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection, to develop
experiences, events, and/or characters.
-Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-
led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others ideas and
expressing their own clearly.
a. Come to discussions prepared, having read or researched material under study; explicitly
draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect
on ideas under discussion.
b. Pose questions that connect the ideas of several speakers and respond to others questions
and comments with relevant evidence, observations, and ideas.
c. Acknowledge new information expressed by others, and, when warranted, qualify or justify
their own views in light of the evidence presented.

Preparation:
After reading the assigned article, students will be given the opportunity to discuss the reasons
people might have chosen to either be boomers or sooners. This is a teacher led discussion,
which will focus on the following questions:
1. What are differences between the boomers and sooners?
2. What are the similarities?
3. How do you think the Native Americans felt about both groups making themselves at home in
the middle of Indian Territory?
Next the students will be paired off and allowed to look at the website, and spend thirty minutes
searching for other materials. The point is for them to do a little research and to continue the
discussion in their small groups. Encourage the students to take notes on what they find, and to
cite their sources.
Activities:
Based on the discussion and their own research, students will be asked to write an exchange of
dialogue between a Boomer and a Sooner. They are encouraged to remember that women also
participated in the Land Run. The dialogue should be one to two pages long and cover the topics
that were discussed in class.

Next the students will deliver their dialogues to the class, with one reading the part of the
boomer, and the other reading the part of the sooner.

Closure:
After the students have all presented, the teacher will remind the students of the importance of
looking at different sides of an issue and being mindful of different perspectives. A lesson on the
Native Americans should follow this lesson.
Resources:
http://forgottenhistory.blogspot.com/2007/05/boomers-sooners-and-eighty-niners.html
skmantle.weebly.com
Computer lab
Pen/pencil
paper