THE RAID ON DEERFIELD 1704

1. AN ARTIST’S DEPICTION OF SCENE IN DEERFIELD 2/29/1704 This is a mini-unit plan composed of three separate lessons. These lessons are based largely on the resources available to educators at the Memorial Hall Museum of Deerfield’s website at www.memorialhall.mass.edu THE RAID ON DEERFIELD1704

2. DEERFIELD RAID UNIT PLAN

3. LEARNING OBJECTIVES • Students will understand that history can be interpreted from more than one perspective by examining the Raid on Deerfield in 1704 from five different viewpoints. • Students will recognize the importance of determining the authorship of both primary and secondary sources, acknowledging the subjective nature of historical writing. • Students will focus on the women’s experience in each of the five groups, pointing out the presence of women in history. • Students will sharpen their research skills. • Students will practice working cooperatively in small groups.

4. MOTIVATION AND STRATEGY By focusing on the Raid of Deerfield from five different perspectives, students will form their own opinions about the value of examining history from more than one viewpoint. Working in small groups, students will use primary and secondary sources to make base their inquiries upon, and will be actively engaged in learning and in teaching each other.

5. LESSON PLAN #1What happened in Deerfield? AGENDA: • Students will view the introductory video available on the Memorial Hall website (5 minutes). Students will consider the statement presented on the following slide, and will be asked to put this idea in their own words (orally). • Teacher will present pertinent background information, placing the event on a classroom timeline, and within a context of other events going on at the same time in other parts of the world. Students will take notes. • Teacher will identify each of the five major participants in this event in relation to the night of February 29, 1704: English, French, Kanienkehaka (Mohawk), Wendat (Huron), and Wobanaki. • Students will be split into five groups (predetermined by the teacher), and will be assigned one of these five major groups. • In response to a guide provided by teacher (attached), small groups will use the Memorial Hall website to begin exploring their assigned perspective. Each group will have one person who records the ideas learned. This is the first stage of a research project that will conclude on the following day with a trip to the library.

6. The end to be sought is not to get something ‘absolutely right,’ but to make it come alive in all of its uncertainties. The more we can multiply perspectives from many different kinds of people, the better able we are to ask useful and specific questions out of which can come the fullest sense of both what did happen in the past and how we might understand and judge it. It is our task, as students and teachers, writers and citizens, to bring everyone and everything out of the mist so that we might hear their voices, follow their actions, and respect each person, past and present, as a maker, as well as a subject, of history. Barry O’Connell Prof. of American Literature and American Studies Amherst College Amherst, MA Who Own’s History

7. MATERIALS AND RESOURCES • INTERNET ACCESS/ MEMORIAL HALL WEBSITE/LAPTOPS (FIVE) • POWERPOINT PROJECTOR • TIMELINE (noted in Lesson Plan #4) • CLASSROOM WALL MAP • 5 RESEARCH JOURNALS • ARTS AND CRAFT SUPPLY CHEST (contents noted in Lesson Plan #4)

8. LESSON PLAN #2Who Owns History? • Teacher (or a student) will read aloud Barry O’Connell’s essay, “Who Owns History?” (Introduced in Lesson #1). • Through a brief class discussion, students will consider how this idea relates to the research they are conducting, and to our interpretation of the Raid on Deerfield. • Students will continue, and conclude, their research with a trip to the school library. Here students will be responsible for reconvening in their small groups, finishing their guided response worksheets, and finding any additional resources that the library might offer on their topic.

9. LESSON PLAN #3What Really Happened in Deerfield? • Students will begin class by gathering in their groups. They will have five minutes to review the information they have compiled from the previous two days. • The teacher will address questions to each group regarding their unique perspective on the Raid on Deerfield. • Representatives for each group will answer the questions, in turn. Each member of the group should have at least one turn to represent their group.

10. EXTENSION Students will have one week to submit a two page written response to the following question: Why were the English colonists attacked at Deerfield Massachusetts on February 29, 1704? They will be expected to support their conclusions with evidence derived from both their own group research, and from research presented to them in class. Students will be required to use the Memorial Hall Website and one additional source they found in the library.

11. FORMAL ASSESSMENT: Students will be assessed formally based on their Group Research Journals, and on their two page essays. Although good writing skills will be important, students will be primarily evaluated according to their use of the evidence they have been researching in writing a clear and persuasive response. Students will be given a rubric outlining these specific expectations for writing an essay at the beginning of the semester, and will be able to use this guideline over and over again. Sample rubrics are included in Lesson Plan #4. INFORMAL ASSESSMENT: Students will be assessed informally in a number of ways: *On their willingness to participate in large group discussion. *On their ability to work productively within a small group setting. *On their use of both class and library time. ASSESSMENT

12. MASSACHUSETTS CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK CONNECTIONS It is very difficult to work Colonial American History into the Mass. Curriculum Frameworks for grades 9-12. In direct correspondence to the frameworks, the most obvious place to use this unit would be in World History 1: The Origins of European Western Expansion WHI.12 Explain why European Nations sent explorers westward, and how overseas expansion led to the growth of commerce and development of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

13. A MORE PRACTICAL CONNECTION: • Since the Raid on Deerfield of 1704 is seemingly invisible in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks (the study of US History I begins with the Revolutionary War), a more practical and useful connection for this unit presents itself in the Concepts and Skills section (grades 8-12). In this light, the unit is very, very relevant in teaching the following general skills: • Interpret and construct timelines that show how events and eras in various parts of the world relate to one another. • Explain how a cause and effect relationship is different from a sequence or correlation of events. • Show connections, causal and otherwise, between particular historical events and ideas and larger social, economic and political trends and developments. • Interpret the past within its own historical context rather than in terms of present day norms and values. • Distinguish intended from unintended consequences. • Distinguish historical fact from opinion (this is my personal favorite, because historical fact is opinion-this will be discovered profoundly through this unit plan!)

14. GUIDED READING WORKSHEET STUDENTS WILL USE THE FOLLOWING GUIDE TO COMPLETE THEIR GROUP RESEARCH JOURNALS: *What is the history of your subject in 1704? *Where do they live? *Describe some basic elements of their culture: -foodways -clothing -community -family structure and family life -origins and religion -gender stratification -economic stratification -customs -warfare -structure of society/government *Why did they participate in the Deerfield Raid of 1704? *What do the artifacts say about these people (at least one example)? *What primary sources can you find regarding your group’s experience? *What secondary sources can you find regarding your group’s experience, and what do they say? How do they develop their opinion? *How would someone from your group explain the reason for the Deerfield Raid? *How would they explain the events of this historic action? *How would they interpret the results? *How might a woman’s experience within your group have differed from that of the men? How might a woman’s experience have been similar or the same?