Lesson 5

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • The Preamble to the Constitution and The 14th Amendment, United States Congress, Public Domain, 1787, 1868

• • “The 14th Amendment’s Tortuous Relationship with American Indians,” Scott Bomboy, Yahoo, 2014

Optional

• • “American Citizenship for Natives Was Withheld, Then Rights Were Long-Ignored,” Ruth Hopkins, Teen Vogue, June 5, 2019
  • “Americans” Online Exhibition, The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, The Smithsonian, January 18, 2018
  • “‘I Do Not Identify as American’: A Native Perspective on Identity,” Tanzina Vega and Ellen Frankman, WNYC Studios, May 11, 2018

Materials

Tools

• Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool

Reference Guides

• Claims Reference Guide

Question Sets

• What Does It Mean to Be an American?: Section 1 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool

• What Does It Mean to Be an American?: Section 1 Question Set

Activity 1: Write

We will explain our current knowledge of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Respond to the following question:

1. What do you know about the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution?

Activity 2: Read – Write

We will read about the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution’s impact on Native Americans.

Step 1

Read the article “The 14th Amendment’s Tortuous Relationship with American Indians,” by Scott Bomboy.

As you read, annotate the text for new information and vocabulary.

Respond to the following questions in your Learning Log:

1. What are the central ideas of the text?

2. What evidence does Bomboy present to create the central ideas?

3. How does the evidence work together to create Bomboy’s central claims?

Step 2

Then, respond to the following question using the Forming Evidence Based Claims Tool:

4. What was the impact of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution on Native Americans?

The Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool supports and guides a process for developing a claim from textual evidence; it can also help you explain how an existing claim is derived from and supported by evidence. Using the tool begins with a guiding or text-specific question that calls for you to reach a conclusion and communicate a claim, which may be factual, analytical, comparative, or evaluative in nature. It helps you select the key details related to the question, explain how the details connect to your question and to other details, and through that analysis move to a conclusion. The conclusion that you draw is the basis for your claim, which you try to communicate as clearly and directly as you can.

Work in small groups to complete a Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool for this question.

Step 3

Reflect on your analysis. Write two new questions you have about the 14th Amendment and citizenship after reading the article.

Activity 3: Read – Write

We will discuss how the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution relates to citizenship.

In your group, read and annotate one of the optional texts, and respond to the following questions:

1. What new information did you get from the new text?

2. What new or interesting words from the text are you adding to your Vocabulary Journal?

3. What are the central ideas of the text?

4. How do the central ideas develop? Find specific evidence that supports the central ideas.

5. Compare the texts you read during this lesson with one of the other texts you have already read: What do the texts encourage you to think about the phrase “more perfect Union”?

6. How do you see the concept of Americanness evolving as you read the new text?

Activity 4: Write

We will determine what we think about the concept of Americanness.

Based on the texts you have read and the discussions you have had, consider the following question:

1. What do you now think it means to be an American?

Jot down your thoughts in your Learning Log.