Looking for Lincoln Through His Words: Lesson Plan

(View Complete Item Description)

In this lesson, students explore how Abraham Lincoln used the power of words in speeches, letters and other documents. In the Introductory Activity, students watch a segment from the PBS film Looking for Lincoln featuring Lincoln quotes and try to identify the origin of each quotation. In the first Learning Activity, students closely examine Lincoln’s use of words in the Gettysburg Address and learn that a short speech can be powerful. In the second Learning Activity, students discuss different reasons for writing letters and review some of Abraham Lincoln’s letters. In the Culminating Activity, students write their own speeches or letters and then present them to the class.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: PBS Learning Media

Comparing and Contrasting Inaugural Addresses

(View Complete Item Description)

Four Presidents called Illinois home – Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama. Each presided over the country at a unique time in U.S. history, and this can be seen in the messages they communicated to the nation in their inaugural addresses. All four were reelected to a second term in office. Analysis of each president’s 1st and 2nd inaugural addresses provides an opportunity to compare and contrast the priorities, goals and intentions he outlined, as well as how the nation may have been changing at that time.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Abraham Lincoln Presidental Library and Museum

Looking for Lincoln Throughout His Life

(View Complete Item Description)

In this interdisciplinary lesson, students gather different facts about Lincoln through a variety of hands-on activities. In the Introductory Activity, students match vocabulary words with pictures to piece together a timeline of Abraham Lincoln’s life. In the Learning Activities, students gather various facts about the life of Lincoln. Students learn about Abraham Lincoln’s work as a lawyer on the prairie and also gain insight into Lincoln through objects and artifacts of his life. Students then select classroom objects that best tell a story about them and/or their class. In the Culminating Activity, students reflect upon the life of Lincoln, revisit the timeline of Lincoln’s life and create their own personal timelines.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: PBS Learning Media

Abraham Lincoln: Man versus Legend

(View Complete Item Description)

In this lesson, students interrogate their own assumptions about Abraham Lincoln in order to arrive at a deeper understanding of who Lincoln was. They investigate primary source documents in order to analyze the elements of Lincoln's life that have become legend and those that have been forgotten by history.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: PBS Learning Media