Day 5 - Allen Light in Jeopardy and Taboo

I. Lesson Goal:

Students will demonstrate an understanding of the African-American’s Civil Liberties and way of life in the context of the United States’ expansion and different states’ constitutions relating to the status of people of color.

This is indirectly related to Social Science Content Standard (SSCS) #8.1.2 - "Analyze the philosophy of government…with an emphasis on government as a means of securing individual rights…"

II. Objectives:

A. Given all the information gathered this week (i.e. date charts, document analyses, senate proceedings etc.) student teams will be able to formulate questions for a simulated Jeopardy game show on Allen Light, Mexico and American history from 1800 -1850

B. Given the same information, opposing student teams will participate in a game of Taboo to test each other’s knowledge of Allen Light and the historical context in which he lived.

C. Having completed the game students will be able to explain in their own words concepts such as the Missouri Compromise the writ of Habeas Corpus, as well as describe various elements of Allen Light’s biography as it relates to California and U.S. history.

• Time for entire lesson: 50 minutes

III. Materials Needed:

A. Set of starter questions for Jeopardy, clue cards for Taboo, dry erase markers or chalk, pen and paper.

Preparation guidelines:

• Download starter questions from website. Decide on a way for class to show they’re ready to answer a question. Students can simply raise their hands or you could also put two bells on your desk and have students come forward in twos before you ask each question. Depending on class size, students should get at least one turn.
• For Taboo activity, consider using card stock to allow you to reuse the clues. Students will take turns being clue givers for their respective teams.

IV. Lesson Presentation:

A. Introduction: (2 minutes) This week you have learned that many of the liberties and rights Allen Light enjoyed as a Mexican citizen were inaccessible to many African American freedmen living in the United States during the same period. To examine how well you processed the information on the documents and in the activities in the last four days, we’re going to have a double game of Jeopardy and Taboo. This game show will have two phases.

B. Jeopardy : (25 minutes) In the Jeopardy phase, the entire class gets a chance to answer a question. There will be four categories. You provide some starter questions in each category then instruct each student to choose a category and write a question and corresponding answer on a sheet of paper. Make sure they write their name on the papers they submit, so you can evaluate their work. Have students come to the front of class when it’s their turn to answer a question. The student who gets the first answer right gets to read the next question and so on.

C. Taboo: (25 minutes) Split the class into teams. Each team sends up a student to give out clues that his teammates must answer. Clue cards will have a word relating to Allen Light or American History. Beneath each concept will be 5 words that clue givers cannot use. (e.g. for the clue card Fugitive Slave Act the taboo words would be runaway, slaves, African-American, law). Students must then come up with their own clues to describe a concept adequately for their teammates to answer.

V. Evaluation

A. Jeopardy questions submitted by each student

B. Verbal answers to Jeopardy

C. Participation in Taboo

VI. Extension

Return Jeopardy questions to the students who composed them. Ask them to write an essay or reaction paper on that topic, discussing why they felt it was a significant fact or concept to remember about that era of American history.

---

Search Site | Site Outline

SDHS