Author: Maggie Loft

Target Student Group: I will be using these some of these sources in my tenth grade World History classes.

Lesson Context: This unit is called “Asia in Transition.” Last week we learned about the Ming and Qing Dynasties of China and the Opium War. This week, we will be learning about the Tokugawa Shogunate and Japanese isolation. The two main objectives for this part of the unit are (1) SWBAT discuss the conditions of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan and (2) SWBAT explain Japanese isolationism.

Document 1: The Edicts of Toyotomi Hideyoshi; Expulsion of Missionaries (1587)

Close Reading Prompts: Who wrote this? When was it written? Why was it written? How might the circumstances in which the document was created affect its content?

Document 2: Tokugawa Ieyasu on Military Government and the Social Order

Close Reading Prompts: Who wrote this? What claims does the author make? What language (words, phrases, images, symbols) does the author use to persuade the documents audience?

Document 3: The Edicts of the Tokugawa Shogunate; The Closing of Japan (1635)

Close Reading Prompts: Who wrote this? Who is the target audience? When was it written? Why was it written? Is it reliable – why or why not?

Teacher’s Guide: Document 1; Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a Japanese daimyo. 1587. It was written because the Japanese did not want Western influences encroaching on their culture and way of life. Around this time, Jesuit missionaries had gained considerable power in China and Japan wanted to protect itself from the influence of Christianity. However, this was before Japanese isolation which is why they continue to allow the Portuguese and Spanish to trade. Document 2; Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan. The author is claiming that the strict social order is necessary and has a purpose, because it benefits the country as a whole. Ieyasu uses persuasive and descriptive language to illustrate the tasks required of each role and how that benefits society. Document 3; The document came from the shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It is addressed to the Joint Bugyo of Nagasaki, which were the government officials of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It was written in 1635. It was written to enforce Japanese isolationism. For looking at Japanese isolation, this is a reliable source because it is an official government edict and they were the ones implementing and enforcing isolation policies. However, the perspective it gives is fairly limited because it does not show us how Japanese isolation played out in the day to day lives of regular Japanese citizens.

Document(s) Source: Asia for Educators: An initiative of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute of Columbia University.

Document 1 & 3: Japan: A Documentary History: The Dawn of History to the Late Tokugawa Period, edited by David J. Lu (Armonk, New York:
M. E. Sharpe, 1997), 196-197. © 2001 M. E. Sharpe. Reproduced with the permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

Document 2: Korō
 shodan,
 in
 Dai‑Nihon
shiryō,
 Part
 12,
 Vol.
 24,
 pp.
 546‑549

Feature Image Source: “The Belfry at Taiyuinbyo, Mausoleum of The 3rd Tokugawa Shogun, Lemitsu” by Ray in Manila is licensed under CC BY 2.0

I make explanation videos for my students multiple times a week since three days of the week we are asynchronous meaning I do not get to talk to them live over Google Meets. When we are asynchronous I like to make these videos so that they have a a verbal and visual explanation of their assignment and expectations and are not just left to figure out what all the Google Classroom posts mean on their own.

Since I make these often, I figured there was no point in reinventing the wheel and just decided to share one that I actually used in student teaching a couple of weeks ago. This is for my 10th grade World History class from when we were discussing the Scientific Revolution. This is the longest one I’ve ever made for them (a little under 5min) normally I do not lecture I just do a ~2min explanation of their assignment but in this case, I wanted to give them a refresher on the topic. This probably won’t be the most exciting video, but I thought it would be cool to see something I actually use as opposed to a hypothetical. I record using Google Meets / Google Drive because my school uses Google Classroom although I have started to use Loom to record my classes for observation and I like it a lot so I may start using it to make these explanation videos as well.

Target Audience & Setting: 11th grade US History in a distance learning setting

Content: Could be taught during a unit on the 1920s, specifically during a lesson on the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote in the United States on a national level.

*Note: This lesson is going to be an adaptation of the research project that I was supposed to present at the Public Research Fellows symposium last year (it was canceled the day of as it was the Friday before quarantine)

Process: This lesson will begin with an interactive lecture using Google Slides & Nearpod to give the students some background information on the topic. The Google Slides presentation will also include directions for the activity. First, everyone will place bets on the number of people in the group that will “make it” to the end of the activity and who those people will be (this way everyone stays engaged even if they are “out” early). Students will then follow the link to the differentiated Google Form. All ten participants will click on their name (which will be an option in the first question of the Google Form) and doing so will take everyone to a description of a different identity. Students will have time to read this biography, become familiar with it, and write down any details that they think might be important. When everyone has had enough time, we will come back as a group and I will take everyone through a flowchart via a Google Slides presentation that uses Nearpod polls to ask different questions to help everyone determine if their assigned (fictional) woman would have been able to actually exercise their right to vote in 1920. After each step, I will ask the group if everyone’s person is still able to vote or not and also go through some historical context behind the different restrictions put in the way of voting during this time. After we get all the way to the end, we will see if anybody’s person actually made it all the way to the end and would have been able to vote and will see who’s bets were right. If time allows I will have a couple of discussion questions for the group and invite any final reflections.

Resources for Lessons: Google Slides Presentation, Interactive Presentation on Nearpod, Google Form, Jamboard

Delivery Considerations: The research presentation that I was originally due to give in March was designed to be in person. I made a poster with a flowchart on it and participants would have been able to randomly draw identities and follow the chart using the biographical information of that fictional woman to get an idea of who was actually able to exercise the right to vote. Moving it online, a differentiated Google Form and Google Slides presentation using Nearpod will be used as these are both interactive and pretty user friendly ways to deliver a lesson virtually.

Feature Image Source: Harris & Ewing, photographer. Suffrage Speakers. , None. [Between 1905 and 1945] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016855504/.

Target Audience & Setting: 11th grade US History in a distance learning setting

Content: Could be taught during a unit on the 1920s, specifically during a lesson on the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote in the United States on a national level.

*Note: This lesson is going to be an adaptation of the research project that I was supposed to present at the Public Research Fellows symposium last year (it was canceled the day of as it was the Friday before quarantine)

Process: This lesson will begin with an interactive lecture using Google Slides & Nearpod to give the students some background information on the topic. The Google Slides presentation will also include directions for the activity. Students will then follow the link to the differentiated Google Form. All nine participants will click on their name (which will be an option in the first question of the Google Form) and doing so will take everyone to a description of a different identity. Students will have time to read this biography, become familar with it, and write down any details that they think might be important. When everyone has had enough time, we will come back as a group and I will take everyone through a flowchart via a Google Slides presentation that asks different questions to help everyone determine if their assigned (fictional) woman would have been able to actually exercise their right to vote in 1920. After each step, I will ask the group if everyone’s person is still able to vote or not and also go through some historical context behind the different restrictions put in the way of voting during this time. After we get all the way to the end, we will see if anybody’s person actually made it all the way to the end and would have been able to vote. Then, I will put up a few discussion questions and send everyone into breakout rooms to talk about them. Finally we will come back as a group and have time for final reflections.

Resources for Lessons: Students will have access to this Google Form as well as the Google Slides presentation that I screen share with them.

Delivery Considerations: The research presentation that I was originally due to give in March was designed to be in person. I made a poster with a flowchart on it and participants would have been able to randomly draw identities and follow the chart using the biographical information of that fictional woman to get an idea of who was actually able to exercise the right to vote. Moving it online, a differentiated Google Form and Google Slides presentation using Nearpod will be used as these are both interactive and pretty user friendly ways to deliver a lesson virtually.

If you want to read more about my research project, PRF has their own page on the UP website.

Feature Image Source: “Women in horse-drawn carriage and on foot march in street for voting rights carrying banners ‘Mothers Prepare the Children for the World…’ ‘Women Need Votes…’ and ‘Suffrage Pioneers…'” by Kheel Center, Cornell University Library is licensed under CC BY 2.0