54
NATIONAL HISTORY DAY 2016
Jigsaw Lesson Description:
Overview: By using primary source documents, students will learn about the varied positions held by influential Americans,
including newspaper editors and political cartoonists, concerning whether or not the United States should build an Asian
empire. These positions can most clearly be seen shortly before, during, and after the ratification of the Treaty of Paris (1898),
which annexed the Philippines as United States territory.
Additionally, students will articulate their own arguments concerning attitudes toward annexation, supported by textual
evidence based on analysis of primary source documents, in their formal discussion on Day 2. An optional paragraph writing
assignment allows students to demonstrate the ability to formulate arguments in written form.
Time: 90 minutes or two sessions of 45 minutes each
Materials:
• Primary source documents
• PSD analysis graphic organizers
• PDF of PowerPoint for teaching context
• Harkness discussion/Socratic seminar rubric
• Paragraph checklist rubric
• Butcher paper or electronic document such as Google Doc or Ether Pad (if available) for home groups to share each
expert’s learning.
Note: Video examples of jigsaws in action are available at TeachingChannel (www.teachingchannel.org/).
Specific videos that illustrate jigsaw are:
• www.teachingchannel.org/videos/jigsaw-method (2 minutes)
• www.teachingchannel.org/videos/groups-to-analyze-complex-texts (11 minutes).
• An additional web resource, Adolescent Literacy, also illustrates how to employ the jigsaw
(www.adlit.org/strategies/22371/).
Lesson Preparation:
• Choose home groups for the students, with each group consisting of approximately seven students.
• Assign a student from each home group to each one of the seven documents, matching them with the expert group for
that document.
• Either assign a sheet of butcher paper or create an electronic document such as Google Doc or Ether Pad (if available) for
each home group.
• Print enough sets of primary source documents so that each student has one. These documents can be provided
electronically or on paper.
• Print one graphic organizer for each student, being careful to assign the political cartoon graphic organizer to those students
who have the Political Cartoon handout as their primary source document. These organizers can be provided electronically
or on paper.