SECTION 3 • CURRICULUM INTEGRATION • SOCIAL STUDIES

Commemoration of the Gettysburg Battlefield:

The Gettysburg Address
Social Studies
Secondary Grades 9-12
Purpose
Students:
Access multiple primary sources that provide a historical context for the Gettysburg Address
Classify information from primary sources to form generalizations about the Civil War and democracy
Hypothesize the primary theme of the Gettysburg Address

Description
Students use a multimedia project, The Valley of the Shadow: Two American Communities in the Civil
War, which has been cited by the National Endowment for the Humanities as an example of the “best of
the humanities on the Web,” to create a presentation about the significance of the Gettysburg Address.
Students work on expert teams to explore the interactive history materials. By allowing students to explore
raw materials of the past, students learn how to engage actively in the construction and interpretation of
American history.

Activities
PREPARATION
As a class, construct a timeline that puts the Battle of Gettysburg into historical context with other
major events of the era.
NETS
SOCIAL
PERFORMANCE
STUDIES
INDICATORS
STANDARDS
PROCEDURE GRADES 9–12
Divide students into four expert teams. Each team searches for primary II 7–10
resources and synthesizes their findings about the Battle of Gettysburg.
Student expert teams concentrate on: newspapers, letters, photographs, or
maps.
Brainstorm the creation of a visual organizer for gathered information. Print 8
copies of the visual organizer to help students classify newspaper information.
Sample visual organizers can be found at the Digital History Teaching Materials
Web site (see Tools and Resources).
Newspaper Expert Team: 10
Use the newspaper database search engine to locate newspaper articles
about the Battle of Gettysburg:
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow2/news/cwnews/allnews.html
Search suggestion: Use the keyword “Gettysburg” and select “all” for the
dates.

202 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS FOR STUDENTS

SECONDARY GRADES 9– 12 • COMMEMORATION OF THE GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD: THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

NETS
SOCIAL
PERFORMANCE
STUDIES
INDICATORS
STANDARDS
GRADES 9–12

Letters Expert Team: II, X 3, 5, 6, 7,

Use the Civil War letters database search engine to locate letters 8, 9, 10
about the Battle of Gettysburg:
http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2wwwvalley?specfile=/web/data/civilwar/
valley/valley.o2w/
Search suggestion: Use the keyword “Gettysburg” and select the dates
“1861–1865.”
Photograph Expert Team: II, X 3, 5, 6, 7,
BATTLEFIELD PHOTOGRAPHS 8, 9, 10
Use the Civil War Images database search engine to locate images
from the Battle of Gettysburg: http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow2/
cwimages.search.html
MODERN DAY PHOTOGRAPHS
Imagine that you are a tourist visiting Gettysburg. Select a photo and write
a postcard to describe your visit. Include descriptions and the significance of
the landscape and the war monuments. Alternatively, play the role of a war
correspondent, reporting on specific events.
Battlefield Map Expert Team: II, X 3, 5, 6, 7,
Answer linked questions before and after viewing the 3-D map of the Battle 8, 9, 10
of Gettysburg at the following Web site: http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/
vshadow2/cwmaps.html
Note: These movies average 7 MB. Download time can be significant. If you
click the links below the VRML file it will begin to download.
Reconvene the class and have each expert group report on significant 10
information they have gathered from the primary resources.
Once each group has reported, explain to the class that three months after II, X 3, 5, 6, 7,
the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln decided to commemorate the 8, 9, 10
battle with a national ceremony. Lincoln was not the primary speaker at this
ceremony, but he wrote a short speech while on the train from Washington
to Gettysburg. This two-minute speech became one of the most important
speeches in American history.
Ask the class to hypothesize why three months after the Battle of
Gettysburg Lincoln chose to hold a commemoration. Each expert group
should offer information based on their examination of materials.
Follow up by asking students to hypothesize what Lincoln could have said in
two minutes that was so significant to American history.
Students read Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and consider the following II, VI, X 5, 7, 10
questions, as a class or individually:
How does Lincoln describe the United States?
What does Lincoln believe the purpose of war to be?

NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS FOR STUDENTS 203

SECTION 3 • CURRICULUM INTEGRATION • SOCIAL STUDIES

NETS
SOCIAL
PERFORMANCE
STUDIES
INDICATORS
STANDARDS
GRADES 9–12

What is Lincoln referring to when he says, “government of the people,

by the people, for the people”?
What is the main message of the address?
Why is this address marked as one of the most significant speeches
in American history?
What lesson does Lincoln say we can learn from this battle?
Have students complete the following writing activity to synthesize II, X 5, 7, 8, 10
their research:
Imagine that you are a journalist who was sent to cover
both the Battle of Gettysburg and the Commemoration of the
Gettysburg Battlefield. Write a front-page story that describes the
commemoration and the events that led up to it. Writing an
editorial is an alternative, as long as facts are presented.

204 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS FOR STUDENTS

 SECONDARY GRADES 9– 12 • COMMEMORATION OF THE GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD: THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

Tools and Resources

SOFTWARE:
American Journey: History in Your Hands: The Civil War (Primary Source Media)
WEB SITES:
Valley of the Shadows—Two Communities in the American Civil War:
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow2/
Digital History Teaching Materials (includes printouts of visual organizers):
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vcdh/teaching/vclassroom/vclassroom.html
Library of Congress:
www.lcweb.loc.gov/
Library of Congress, copy of the Gettysburg Address:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/4403.html

Assessment
Teachers and students together can develop a rubric to assess the newspaper article activity. The
rubric can reflect not only the writing style and content, but also the research methods used
to gather the information.

Credits
Cheryl Mason, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
([email protected])

Comments
Too often, teachers require students to memorize the Gettysburg Address without having a clear
understanding of the historical significance of Lincoln’s famous speech. This activity has been
used with high school students to actively engage them as historians. As students reconstruct
this era of history, they improve not only their essential research and critical thinking skills, but
also immerse themselves in the lives of individuals who lived the Gettysburg experience.

We have found that students begin to go far beyond the memorization of the Gettysburg
Address and begin to ask probing questions of the members of the different expert teams to
help them create a clear picture of this time in history. The research skills that they learn in
this lesson stay with them as they study other historical eras and seek out primary sources
such as government documents, photographs, and letters to reconstruct history—making it
come alive!

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NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS FOR STUDENTS 205