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The Pullman Crisis: Think-Aloud

Persistent Issue:
What should society do to promote fairness and justice for people who live within its jurisdiction?
Central Question:
What should society do to accound for the changes to life in the U.S. in the second half of the 19th century?
Topic:
Industrialization
Course:
U.S. History
Strategy:
Decision Point Think Aloud
Grade Level:
11
Lessons in this unit:
  1. The Pullman Crisis: Think-Aloud

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Alabama State Standards

The learning goals for this lesson meet the following 11th Grade World History standards in the Alabama Course of Study:

  1. Explain the transition of the U.S. from an agrarian society to an industrial nation prior to WWI.
  2. Describe social and political origins, accomplishments, and limitations of Progressivism.

National Standards for U.S. History

The following National History Standards for U.S History were addressed in this lesson:

Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)

  • Standard 3: The rise of the American labor movement and how political issues reflected social and economic changes

National Council for the Social Studies Standards

The learning expectations for this unit correspond with the following NCSS Themes:

Theme 2: Time, Continuity, and Change

  • Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of the past and its legacy

Theme 5: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions

  • Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of interactions among individuals, groups, and institutions.

Strand 6: Power, Authority, and Governance

  • Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of how people create, interact with, and change structures of power, authority, and governance.

Strand X: Civic Ideals & Practices

  • Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of the ideals, principles, and practices of citizenship in a democratic republic
Lesson Video
Teacher Reflection

1.
Clip 1 Perspetive-taking in Expert Groups

Students struggle to develop an argument for their historical figure. Ms. Pickard probes student responses to encourage them to take the figure’s perspective and think as he would in the Pullman dilemma.
Lesson Video
Teacher Reflection

2.
Clip 2 Scafflolding Student Decision-Making

Ms. Pickard scaffolds student thinking about the final decision-making step in the think-aloud. Students still have some confusion about the distinction between expert and decision-making roles.
Lesson Video
Teacher Reflection

3.
Clip 3 Representing Perspectives in Decision-Making Phase

Decision-making group struggles because a student does not own the knowledge from the expert group.
Lesson Video
Teacher Reflection

4.
Clip 4 Developing Arguments for a Historical Perspective

Students struggle to develop arguments for their figure from the contents of that figure’s letter to Cleveland. Ms. Pickard encourages perspective taking and consideration of how students will use knowledge developed in expert groups in the next step of the activity.
Lesson Video
Teacher Reflection

5.
Clip 5 The Dilemma of Struggling Learners in Complex Group Tasks

Teacher tries to supplement what a struggling student has down. Teacher time is consumed with helping this group.
Lesson Video
Teacher Reflection

6.
Clip 6 Encouraging Genuine Dialogue about Alternative Solutions

A decision-making group discusses the positions of their players based on what they learned in their expert groups. Students are completing the chart; not discussing solutions.
Seq. Title Size Filetype Download
1 Grover Cleveland Thinks Aloud 240.61 KB PDF Download File
2 Timeline: Labor unrest and the Pullman Strike 225.44 KB PDF Download File
3 George Pullman 49.95 KB PDF Download File
4 Eugene V. Debs 47.81 KB PDF Download File
5 John Altgeld 51.42 KB PDF Download File
6 Richard Olney 59.74 KB PDF Download File