Lesson by Tim Bailey
Grade Levels: 3–5
Number of Class Periods: 3
Primary Era: The American Revolution, 1763–1783
About this Lesson Plan Unit
Over the course of three lessons, students will compare and contrast two documents describing one of the most iconic events in American history: Paul Revere's ride of April 18–19, 1775. They will examine Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” and Paul Revere’s own 1798 account of the events of that night. The students will then write a response to the question Is Longfellow’s poem a reliable source of information about Paul Revere’s ride?
Lesson Plan Author: Tim Bailey
Historical Background Scholar: Jonathan M. Beagle
Additional Information About This Unit
Common Core State Standards
Common Core State Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.1: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.3: Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.6: Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.9: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
• What do you need to know before judging whether a source of information is accurate?
• Is Longfellow’s poem a reliable source of information about Paul Revere’s ride?
• What happened during Paul Revere’s ride on the night of April 18, 1775?
Documents
Documents
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” Tales of a Wayside Inn (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1863), pp. 18–25.
Paul Revere’s Letter to Jeremy Belknap, ca. 1798, Manuscript Collection, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. The full transcript of the letter and images of the letter are available on the website of the Massachusetts Historical Society.