Gr. 7 Unit: Consequences

The Consequences Unit focuses on how the actions of one historical figure had enormous consequences on various people and events during a particular time in American history. During this unit, students will read, discuss, and write about the consequences of John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Using “Chasing Lincoln’s Killer” by James L. Swanson as the mentor text, students will get an opportunity to analyze how he uses language choices, primary sources from the time period, and quotes from actual historical figures to explain Booth’s reasons for the assassination and the challenges his faced after the heinous deed.

Students will write using multiple sources describing a single scene or small connection sequence of events leading up to and/or including the assassination of Abraham Lincoln from at least two different perspectives. Students will write narratives based on the text.

Students will write a journal entry about a dream or personal goal. Students will read, analyze, and discuss the poem, “Dreams” by Langston Hughes, Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, excerpts from Chasing Lincoln’s Killer —Introduction—From 1861 through 1865 and pages 138-139, and the article, “Booth’s Reason for Assassination” by Christopher Hamner.

Students will also compare Swanson’s account to multimedia presentation(s) of Booth’s escape after the assassination of Lincoln.

This unit’s lessons and lesson seeds assume students have a basic understanding of the writing process and are able to self-analyze their own writing and the writing of their peers with direction and guidance from the teacher.

James L. Swanson’s Chasing Lincoln’s Killer has a lexile score of 980L. The novel has grade-level equivalent of 8.3. Other factors that make this an appropriate novel for reading on the 7th grade are the theme, purpose of the text, structure of language in terms of conventions and clarity, and the historical aspects of the novel. The complexity of the tasks assigned to the reading also determines its appropriateness.