Woman Suffrage Lesson 1
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
- Explain the importance of voting as a US Citizen.
- Define and use vocabulary relating to voting and the Woman Suffrage movement.
- Compare/Contrast support and resistance documents for Woman Suffrage.
Materials:
- Woman Suffrage PowerPoint
- Woman Suffrage Vocabulary
Worksheet
- Two shoe boxes
- Thirty Paper Ballots
- One garbage can
- Five copies
of New York Men against woman suffrage
Procedure (Approx. 55 minutes):
Conduct an election in the class:
To prepare students, make them aware of election at least two days in advance.
In order for the students to better understand what it means to vote in a democracy, have the students vote for who they would like to see as principal of the high school: The Current Principal, a Teacher (you), or one of their fellow students.
The PowerPoint can be used to manage classroom activity.
Instruct the students to bubble in the name of the candidate for Principal of the school on the piece of paper provided. Then, the students are to fold the paper in half and in half, again. Following this, you can call one student at a time to vote and place his or her piece of paper in the designated box. At this time, you should have the boys put their votes into one box and the girls into another box.
While each student is voting, the remaining students should complete the Woman Suffrage Vocabulary Worksheet. This will provide the students the words they will encounter when learning about Woman Suffrage.
When the voting has finished, the instructor should reveal the difference between the two boxes (one’s male, one’s female), and tell the class that unfortunately the boys’ votes do not count in this instance and put the box of male votes into the garbage can. Uproar will occur, so quickly engage the male students on how they felt when their votes did not count with the raising of hands. Allow three male students to reply and allow for some discussion. Explain how this can be a detriment to their experience as a member of this classroom and to imagine it at the state and national level. Connect to the importance of voting in our democratic society and how women were once without the vote.
Compare/Contrast suffrage documents:
Count off students into groups of five. Hand each group a copy of the “Ms.Cunningham letter to the senator”: a petition for woman suffrage. Let students read and observe for about five minutes. Bring the class back together and ask the students what they understand the letter to be and what role this document will play in the woman suffrage movement.
Then, show students the “Men!” anti-suffrage document to read and observe for about five minutes. Bring the class back together and ask the students what they understand the letter to be and compare/contrast the two documents. What are the viewpoints of these two documents? How are these documents similar? What are some key differences between the documents?
Show the students the Wordle created from this document to view the main points and concepts of the 20th century movement for woman suffrage.
To prepare students, make them aware of election at least two days in advance.
In order for the students to better understand what it means to vote in a democracy, have the students vote for who they would like to see as principal of the high school: The Current Principal, a Teacher (you), or one of their fellow students.
The PowerPoint can be used to manage classroom activity.
Instruct the students to bubble in the name of the candidate for Principal of the school on the piece of paper provided. Then, the students are to fold the paper in half and in half, again. Following this, you can call one student at a time to vote and place his or her piece of paper in the designated box. At this time, you should have the boys put their votes into one box and the girls into another box.
While each student is voting, the remaining students should complete the Woman Suffrage Vocabulary Worksheet. This will provide the students the words they will encounter when learning about Woman Suffrage.
When the voting has finished, the instructor should reveal the difference between the two boxes (one’s male, one’s female), and tell the class that unfortunately the boys’ votes do not count in this instance and put the box of male votes into the garbage can. Uproar will occur, so quickly engage the male students on how they felt when their votes did not count with the raising of hands. Allow three male students to reply and allow for some discussion. Explain how this can be a detriment to their experience as a member of this classroom and to imagine it at the state and national level. Connect to the importance of voting in our democratic society and how women were once without the vote.
Compare/Contrast suffrage documents:
Count off students into groups of five. Hand each group a copy of the “Ms.Cunningham letter to the senator”: a petition for woman suffrage. Let students read and observe for about five minutes. Bring the class back together and ask the students what they understand the letter to be and what role this document will play in the woman suffrage movement.
Then, show students the “Men!” anti-suffrage document to read and observe for about five minutes. Bring the class back together and ask the students what they understand the letter to be and compare/contrast the two documents. What are the viewpoints of these two documents? How are these documents similar? What are some key differences between the documents?
Show the students the Wordle created from this document to view the main points and concepts of the 20th century movement for woman suffrage.
