High+School+Causes+of+the+Civil+War+Debate+Project

1) Students will begin by reading background information on Franklin and Augusta Counties. This information will be found in the introduction to the book, //Two Communities in the Civil War// by Andrew J. Torget and Edward L. Ayers. In the section titled “August and Franklin Before the War” 2) While students are reading they will complete a Venn diagram that will separate out the differences between the two counties and will demonstrate the similarities between the two counties. (Venn diagram found in Student Learning Materials).
 * Day 1: In the classroom**

1) The purpose of the day two lesson is for students to familiarize themselves with the [|Valley of the Shadows] . After students have logged onto the site and have clicked the link “Enter the Valley Archive” they’ll begin by clicking “Using the Valley Project” link which explain to them what The Valley Project is and how to best navigate the Valley archive. 2) After reading the information on this page there is a link within the section titled “How to Get Around in the Valley Archive” that says “Maps & Images”. Students will click on this and from there click the Navigation Link that says “August & Franklin Comparison Maps”. In this section students will be able to see the location of the two counties on a map. They can also explore the infrastructure, agriculture, politics, and religious make-up of the two counties. Venn diagrams from the previous day should be used to continue documenting differences and similarities between the two counties.
 * Day 2: Exploring Valley of the Shadows/Gaining Familiarity with Augusta & Franklin County. Class will take place in the media center.**

1) The class will be split up into two groups. One group will represent Augusta County and the other Franklin County. Assuming a class size of 24 students, each county will have 12 students representing it. Within each group, the students will be broken down into sub-groups (3 students in each group):
 * Day 3: Beginning research. Class will take place in the media center. (2-3 days)**

1. Slavery 2. John Brown’s Raid 3. The Election of 1860 4. Secession

2) Students will collect information with the ultimate goal of creating an argument as to why their particular subject matter was or was not the cause of the Civil War. //Two Communities in the Civil War// by Andrew J. Torget and Edward L. Ayers will be a great jumping off point because it gives specific journals, letters or newspaper articles that can be viewed in full on the Valley of the Shadow website and it breaks them down by what topic is covered in that particular primary source. 3) Students will be encouraged and aided by the teacher and media specialist into finding additional materials other than what is covered in the text by browsing the Valley of the Shadow website.

1) Students will be using the information gathered to create talking points for a class debate. Each student in each sub-group should have three talking points by the time research is concluded to ensure they can participate in the debate. Each talking point should also include a direct quote from the primary sources. Talking points will be recorded on the debate worksheet. (Found in Student Learning Materials). ). 2) Students may have similar talking points as the other students in their group, but they should designate a talking point to each member of their group. 3) The rubric for the debate can be found in Student Learning Materials
 * Day 6: Compiling information and Debate (1-2 days)**