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Copyright 2003 Alan N. Kay
Organization and purpose of these Lesson Plans
The purpose of these plans is
to provide the teacher with background information to the book
as well as ideas for pre-teaching and extension activities.
Included is also a set of questions for each Chapter and a
resources page with web sites and books listed. We will begin
with a brief education behind the ideas in the book,
recommendations for teaching with it, specific questions and
finally ideas for further research.
How does No Girls Allowed
tie into Books One, Two, Three and Four of the Young Heroes
of History Series?
First of all, let us remember that
all of the Young Heroes of History books are designed to be used
either as stand-alone books or as part of a ten volume family
saga. It is not necessary to purchase other books if a
teacher only wants to focus on the issues in No Girls Allowed.
In Book
One, Send ‘Em South,
we are introduced to David and George Adams. They are two young
Irish boys who live in Boston at a time when the Irish were
severely mistreated and abused by the people of Boston.
Fortunately for David, his father married a relatively wealthy
Abolitionist woman. This allowed the family to move out of the
slums. The entire Irish family, including George and his father,
were allowed to rent a house from David’s grandfather even
though he openly dislikes the Irish.
Years later, David’s parents
have left him in Boston to move to the dangerous Kansas
territory. As avid abolitionists, they hope to help make the
newly forming state slave free. While they are gone, David and
George discover Lisa, a fugitive slave girl trying to escape the
slave catchers who have come to find her. Although George does
not really want to help, David brings him along in his attempt
to help Lisa remain free. By the end of the book, David has
apparently failed and Lisa is returned to the plantation in
Georgia.
In Book
Two, On the Trail of John
Brown’s Body we see the two cousins,
David and George desperately trying to remain best friends
despite the split that is going on in their family and in the
country over the slavery issue. Unfortunately for them both,
David’s father and grandfather are deeply involved in a secret
plot with the mysterious John Brown. When David unwittingly
steals money from his grandfather and runs away to Kansas, he
sets in motion a series of events that will imperil the entire
family.
David’s grandfather sends
George after David. Then he hires a mysterious stranger to
follow them. Throughout George’s travels and even in Kansas,
this stranger becomes a constant threat. Once in Kansas, the
boys experience first hand the danger and violence of
"Bleeding Kansas." To make matters worse David’s
mother is ill and his father keeps disappearing for days at a
time. The only time things seem normal is when David, George,
their new friend Charles and their fathers play a friendly game
of baseball.
When the mystery finally
begins to make itself known, things only get worse. David’s
father is involved with John Brown and has gone off to
Harper’s Ferry to end slavery forever! Only George and David
can stop him but they don’t know whether they should! George
ends up kidnapped by Brown’s men and it looks like he might
even die when Brown attacks the town and makes George and other
citizens his hostages!
In Book
Three Off to Fight,
George and his father have left the family and moved to
Virginia. They have made the state their home after the John
Brown raid made them fear and despise the extremes of the
abolitionist movement.
George’s priorities however
are simply to be a 13 year old boy, have fun and hang out with
the guys. He finds that the only way he can make friends in
Richmond, Virginia is to join a gang. Things go well for George
and his newfound friends until the state of Virginia secedes
from the Union and calls for volunteers.
Hoping to join his older
friends, George joins up as a drummer boy and is eventually
promoted. Unfortunately, war is not the fun adventure George
thought it would be. When the Federals attack Fredericksburg and
destroy the town George sees firsthand the devastation of war.
A young girl living in
Fredericksburg becomes victim to the Union bombardment as her
house is destroyed and her parents killed. Hiding in the woods,
trying to survive, Allison is discovered by George and
eventually learns to trust him. The only problem is that George
is a soldier and he must go off to fight and leave Allison all
alone!
In Book
Four Nowhere to Turn
We now turn to the younger brother of David, Thomas.
We find out that Thomas is an unhappy boy.
His older brother David has disappeared
(at the end of Book Two).
His favorite cousin George has moved South.
His parents are dead and he has been forced to move with
his Uncle to a farm in Pennsylvania.
He finds his life boring and monotonous.
Nowhere to Turn is
a book about choices. Throughout the book Thomas finds he makes the wrong choices
for the wrong reasons. He
chooses to run away. He
chooses to join the army. He
chooses to run from battle and he chooses to hide his secret
from his family and friends. By the time of the Battle of Antietam Thomas has no choices
left and finds himself with No Girls Allowed.
By examining Thomas’
character, students learn about how to make choices.
They learn about consequences and the effect their
actions have on others.
So, what is Book Five, No Girls Allowed about?
Prior
to the Civil War, Women had been fighting and organizing in
attempt to be treated as equals.
Once the war began, women all but forgot their cause and
joined to help out their side as enthusiastically as men.
However the issues of equality had not gone away.
No
Girls Allowed
deals with the issues of women’s concerns amidst the crisis of
a Civil War. It looks through the eyes of two girls who choose to help
their country in very different ways.
Without trying to, they both end up taking a stand for
women as well. Mary
(David Adams’ younger sister who we first see in Book One),
feeling alone and abandoned by the rest of the family and seeing
her brothers, cousins and Uncle all going off to war, decides to
run away to the battlefields and help the wounded.
Lynn, a headstrong teenager who refuses to be treated
differently from her twin brother, decides to join the army with
him after their father is killed in the first battle of the war.
As
these two girls’ stories are told, we begin to see the
struggles these girls have as well as the shocking horror of the
deadliest battle of the war: Antietam. When
they finally meet, tensions rise even higher as they realize
that each of them is also fighting a battle to be treated as
equals, but in very different ways.
As we close the story, each girl believes her way of
dealing with equality is correct leaving the final decision to
the reader.
What are the Objectives of No Girls Allowed?
·
To introduce the
reader to the issues of women’s rights in their earliest
context.
·
To examine the
methods used by medical staff to deal with the record numbers of
wounded and dead.
·
To introduce the
reader to the amazing efforts of people like Clara Barton.
·
To portray the home
front and the efforts taken by everyday families.
·
To provide
background information on the early battles of the Civil War as
part of the everyday descriptions.
·
To introduce major
characters and places such as Washington D.C., Sharpsburg
Maryland; General George B. McClellan, General Robert E. Lee,
and Abraham Lincoln and portray them as they appeared to the
people of the times.
·
To portray the
horror of war as seen through the eyes of the doctors and
nurses.
·
To examine the
Northern view of the war as seen through its soldiers and
civilians.
·
To evaluate the
time period through the eyes of the people who lived it.
·
To portray the
events in a non-biased way in order to allow the reader to
evaluate and judge.
·
To describe the
issues of the times in contemporary terms.
·
To include the
everyday concerns of people of the time period in order to put
the larger issues into perspective.
·
To portray the
individuals as people similar to ourselves that the reader can
relate to.
·
To instill an
appreciation of history.
·
To provide the
reader with questions and issues for debate and discussion.
What are the
Critical Issues presented in No Girls Allowed?
The most important issue in No Girls Allowed is
how to deal with equality.
It is unquestioned that women were treated as inferiors
to men and we examine to what extent this is true.
However the broader issue, which is still very true
today, is how can women prove to men (or do they need to) that
they are their equals. The
debate between the characters of “I have to do everything a
man can do to prove that I am their equal.” And “I don’t
have to be like them to be their equal.”; is a prominent one
throughout the book. Neither
girl truly proves her side and indeed they come to some kind of
an uneasy truce in accepting their own different ways of proving
the same point. The
issue of how to deal with inequality is, as it should be,
finally left for the reader to decide.
In addition, the horrors of war are dealt with.
We see the Carnage of Antietam and the efforts by Clara
Barton to deal with the overwhelming needs of the thousands of
wounded. Our main
character even meets and works with Miss Barton for a time.
Who is the target
audience for No Girls Allowed?
The
quick answer to this question is middle level readers, usually
around the age of 11-15. However, understanding the uniqueness
of individuals, there are of course many ways to adapt the
reading level for different needs. The book is appropriate for
younger readers who read above level or have an interest in the
civil war or history or women’s issues. Finally, it can also
be used with younger learners in a group reading where an adult
is present. The book may also be used by older students and
indeed has been used in grades as high as 11.
What are the
important vocabulary and concepts that a reader should be aware
of?
The
answer to this question of course depends on to what degree the
teacher wants to cover material. A basic understanding of the
causes of the war is a good starting point. Expanding this to
discuss how the war progressed and definition of secession is
the next logical area to discuss. At minimum, students should be
aware of the following:
Secession:
The act of leaving a group. In this case, the declarations of
Independence that the Southern States declare when leaving the
United States of America.
The
Confederacy: The term
used to describe the group of states that secede and form a new
government based upon a confederation style as seen in the
original Articles of Confederation.
Union:
Term used to apply to the Northern government; the United States
of America.
Regiment:
A unit of men in the army organized by a town or a group
of people totaling 1,000 men.
Nurse: while
not a new term, the reader should understand that most nurses
were men.
Suggested
pre-activities:
**Special Note:
Much of the information needed to cover these topics can be
found on the various web sites listed at the end of these plans.
*Examine
Seneca Falls and the efforts of Susan B. Anthony in the
women’s rights movement.
**In
looking at the causes of the war, consider these activities:
*Discuss the history of
slavery and its conditions.
*Examine the
Constitutional Convention.
Was there anything in the document about State’s
Rights?
*Examine the expansion of
Slavery by looking at the various compromises: 3/5; Missouri;
1850.
*Examine the Geography of
the United States at the time. Identify Southern and Northern
states as well as the territories.
*Review the election of
1860. What states voted for Lincoln?
*Read the reasons for
secession given by Southern States in their declarations of
Independence.
*Read Lincoln’s
Inaugural Address and discuss his attitudes towards Secession.
*Review the different
advantages and disadvantages both North and South had in the
coming war.
*Review the battle of
Antietam and what had led General Lee to invade the North.
Specific
Questions for No Girls Allowed:
These
questions are designed to be used by many levels of students.
They are broken down into simple recall and understanding,
in-depth and critical thinking questions, and
extension/discussion questions. Feel free to use whatever
questions meet the needs of the age group you are using.
CHAPTER 1
Recall:
1.
Describe where Lynn and Daniel live.
2.
Why is Daniel nervous swimming in the lake?
3.
What does Fred think of Lynn and Dan?
4.
What does Ralph think of them?
Discussion:
5.
Do you know any girls who act like boys? What do you think of them?
6.
Do you know any boys who act like girls? What do you think of them?
7.
Fred refused to continue the fight because he
“wouldn’t fight a girl.”
Is this the right idea?
Should boys fight girls ever?
CHAPTER 2
Recall:
1.
Describe Lynn and Daniel’s grandmother.
2.
What happened to the Twins’ father?
Understanding:
3.
Does Daniel see Lynn as an equal?
Discussion:
4.
Are girls treated as equals to boys today?
Research:
5.
How are women treated in the world today? Are they the equals of men in all areas?
What is sex discrimination?
Extension and
discussion:
6.
Answer the following question in a paragraph or more.
Do people treat you a certain way because you are a boy
or a girl? Do they
have certain expectations of you? For example, do they assume
you like sports because you are a boy?
Do you have certain expectations of boys or girls you
first meet?
CHAPTER 3
Recall:
1.
List the kinds of things that Soldiers’ Aid Societies
do.
2.
What happened to Mrs. Black’s husband?
3.
Why does Mary feel like an outsider?
Critical
Thinking:
4.
Look up the word irony in the dictionary. Why is the death of Mrs. Black’s husband a cruel irony?
Research:
5.
Choose a war between 1860 and 1950 that the United States
was in and list the actions taken by people at home to help in
the war effort. Compare
them to other students and the actions Americans are taking
today.
Map Questions
from the map on page 38
1.
What two cities are near Mary’s home?
2.
What state is Antietam Creek in?
3.
Why is Maryland considered a border state?
CHAPTER 4
Recall:
1.
Why is Thomas home?
2.
What reasons does Mary give for joining Thomas?
Research/Extension:
3.
Find out who Dorothea Dix is.
What role did she play in the war?
4.
What was the U.S. Sanitary Commission?
How did they help in the war?
CHAPTER 5
Recall:
1.
What city did Mary and Thomas travel to in order to find
Thomas’ regiment?
2.
What do they learn about General Lee and his plans?
Critical
Thinking:
3.
Why is General Lee’s invasion so scary?
4.
What could a victory for General Lee mean to the overall
war? What might
other countries do if he wins?
CHAPTER 6
Recall:
1.
Describe the town of Frederick, Maryland as Mary sees it.
2.
What did Clara Barton say to the soldier who her bread?
**Note to the
reader: This
conversation did indeed happen exactly as described.
3.
Why does Miss Barton say “No” to Mary?
Critical
Thinking:
4.
How is Miss Barton different from other women Mary has
met?
CHAPTER 7
Recall:
1. Where is Mary hiding?
2.
What grisly task do Miss Barton and Mr. Welles perform at
the roadside of the battlefield?
3.
Describe the thoughts going through Mary’s mind as she
listens to the sounds outside?
Critical
Thinking:
4.
Why does Miss Barton need to rest in the wagon?
CHAPTER 8
Recall:
1.
What is Miss Barton’s reaction to finding Mary?
2.
List all the reasons Mary is crying.
Critical
Thinking:
3.
According to Miss Barton, why can’t Mary just help
however she wants?
CHAPTER 9
Recall:
1. Why does Mary
wake up Miss Barton?
2.
Describe Miss Barton’s nightmare.
3.
What do Mary and Miss Barton have in common?
CHAPTER 10
Recall:
1.
Where did Miss Barton decide to stop and help?
2.
What was the first act of aid Mary gave to a soldier?
3.
How did Mary calm the panicky soldier down?
4.
List the kinds of problems the medical staff had.
Critical
Thinking:
5.
Do you think Mary really helped even though she wasn’t
a nurse? Explain.
Discussion:
6.
Mary ignored Miss Barton’s order to stay in the wagon.
Did she do the right thing?
Should children ever ignore adult’s wishes?
When?
Research/Extension:
7.
Using books and the internet, discover how doctors and
nurses treated the wounded and note how things changed over the
war.
CHAPTER 11
Recall:
1. What critical
supply did Miss Barton come up with to aid the surgeons?
2.
According to Mr. Welles, how is the United States unique
from all other countries?
3.
What does Mary think the war should be about?
4.
What does Miss Barton do for Mary before they part?
Critical
Thinking:
5.
What effect did seeing all the dead men have on Mary,
Miss Barton and Mr. Welles?
Extension:
6.
Pretend that you are a commander of a civil war regiment.
Write a letter to the dead man’s widow telling him how
he died at Antietam.
CHAPTER 12
Recall:
1. Who won the
battle of Antietam?
2.
What kind of job did Mary get in town?
3.
What clues did Mary notice about the soldier that made
her think he was different?
Research/Extension:
4.
Lynn was not the first woman to disguise herself as a man
during the Civil War. Indeed,
Clara Barton herself found one at the Battle of Antietam.
Research women soldiers in the war and report on what
role they took.
CHAPTER 13
Recall:
1. How did Lynn feel
once Mary discovered her secret?
2.
What happened to Lynn’s unit, the 7th Maine?
Critical
Thinking:
3.
What things do Mary and Lynn have in common?
4.
Why did Mary decide not to give out Lynn’s secret?
CHAPTER 14
Recall:
1. Describe the
things Mary sees as she looks for Thomas.
2.
What is Thomas’ reaction to Mary’s request?
Critical
Thinking:
3.
Why did Mary and Lynn decide to get their brothers?
Discussion:
4.
What kinds of things do you think Lynn had to do to
pretend she was a boy besides belch loud?
CHAPTER 15
Recall:
1. What did Mary
suggest Lynn do now that she could finally act like a girl?
2.
What did Thomas and Daniel do while Lynn took her bath?
3.
What was the attitude of the man who rented the bath?
Discussion:
4.
If you had to pretend to be someone of the opposite sex
for over a year, what is the first thing you would do once you
could be yourself again? Why?
Research/Extension:
5.
Daniel seems to hardly know the game of baseball.
What is the early history of this game and how did it
spread?
**Suggestion to
teacher: view Ken
Burns History of Baseball video
CHAPTER 16
Recall:
1.
What officer showed up at the hospital?
2.
Why was he there?
3.
Why was the major angry with Daniel?
Discussion:
4.
Did Daniel do the wrong thing?
Did Lynn? Do
you think they are dishonest and should be punished?
Explain.
CHAPTER 17
1.
How will they punish Daniel?
2.
Why did Major Hyde want the whole thing kept quiet?
3.
According to Lynn, why is Mary not helping the situation?
4.
According to Mary, why did she not dress up like Lynn?
5.
What does Mary suggest Lynn do now?
Discussion and
Essay: Write a
paragraph or more on the question below.
Make sure to answer ALL parts of the question.
6.
Lynn says “How will they ever accept us if they don’t
see that we can do what they do?”
Is she right? Do
girls need to prove anything to boys?
How does a girl show she is equal to boys?
Does she need to?
Epilogue:
1.
Why did President Lincoln fire General McClellan?
2.
What two things did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
3.
What did Clara Barton do after the war?
Suggested Post
Activities:
*Discuss
sexual discrimination. To what degree is it present today.
*Review
the history of the women’s rights movement from Susan B.
Anthony to the ERA.
*Research
the origins of the civil war. Debate whether it could have been
avoided.
*Research
the battle of Antietam. Why was it fought and what implications
did it have?
*Discuss
Mary’s statement that the war needed to be about something and
Clara Barton’s response.
How easy would it have been to free the slaves?
Have we mishandled race relations since then?
*Research
the history of medical roles in war.
How far has it come?
*Study
the life of Clara Barton both before and after the war.
***Use
the enclosed primary source documents to discuss the role Civil
War nurses played in attempting to gain Women’s suffrage.
(Note the letter is dated 1917, in the middle of World
War I.)
For
more ideas or background information, consult the following web
sites:
United
States Civil War Center
http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/cwc/civlink.htm
Home
Page of the National Park Service at the Battle of Antietam
http://www.nps.gov/anti/index.htm
National Park Service Clara Barton Chronology
http://www.nps.gov/clba/chron2.html National Park Service
Clara Harlowe Barton Short
Biography
http://www.civilwarhome.com/bartonbio.htm
**Civil War Medicine
Excellent Site with great links
http://www.civilwarhome.com/civilwarmedicineintro.htm
National
Museum of Civil War Medicine
http://civilwarmed.org/
Literature
of the Civil War Lesson Plans
http://7-12educators.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yale.edu%2Fynhti%2Fcurriculum%2Funits%2F1997%2F2%2F97.02.02.x.html
Lesson
Plans on the Civil War itself
http://7-12educators.miningco.com/cs/historycwlessons/index.htm
Lessons
plans and info on slavery and black history
http://7-12educators.miningco.com/cs/slavery/index.htm
American
Civil War Timeline
http://www.americancivilwar.com/tl/timeline.html
Antietam
Order of Battle and other primary sources
http://civilwarhome.com/antietam.htm
Or, consult these
sources used in the research of No Girls Allowed
Beller, Susan Provost Medical Practices
in the Civil War
Boyer, Paul S.; Clark Clifford E. Jr., et
al. The Enduring
Vision: A History of the American People.
Lexington, Mass.:
D.C. Heath, 1990.
Catton, Bruce.
Hayfoot, Strawfoot: The Civil War Soldier American
Heritage. New
York: American Heritage, April 1957.
Cobblestone.
The Battle of Antietam Peterborough, NH.:
Cobblestone Publishing Co., October, 1997.
Denney, Robert E.
Civil War Medicine New York: Sterling Publishing
Co., Inc. 1994.
Hall, Richard Patriots in Disguise
New York: Paragon House, 1993.
Hyde, Major Thomas W.
Report of Maj. Thomas W. Hyde, Seventh Maine Infantry,
of the Battle of Antietam Sept. 19,1862.
Http://www.civilwarhome.com/hyde.htm November 25,
2000.
Irwin, Colonel William H.
Report of Col. William H. Irwin, Forty Ninth
Pennsylvania Infantry, commanding Third Brigade, of the battles
of Crampton’s Pass and Antietam, Sept. 22, 1862. Http://www.civilwarhome.com/irwinantietamor.htm
November 25, 2000.
Kennebec Maine Historical Society E-mail
correspondence with the Author re: Augusta, Maine Civil War
History kennebec_historical@yahoo.com:
Kennebec Historical Society, August 4, 2000.
Lash, Gary The Battle of Antietam
wysiwyg://http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/1216/antietam.html
May 31, 2000.
McCutcheon, Marc.
Everyday Life in the 1800s Cincinnati: Writer’s
Digest Books, 1993.
McPherson, James M.
Battle Cry of Freedom New York: Oxford University
Press, 1988.
Moore, Frank Women of the War Blue and Gray Books, 1997.
National Park Service Clara Barton
Chronology http://www.nps.gov/clba/chron2.html National Park
Service, May 26, 2000.
O’Shea Richard, Greenspan, David. American Heritage: Battle
Maps of the Civil War New York: Smithmark, 1992.
Oates, Stephen B.
A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War
New York: The Free Press, 1994.
Priest, John Michael.
Before Antietam: The Battle for South Mountain
Shippensburg, Pa.: White Mane Publ., 1992.
Quynn, William R.
Editor The Diary of Jacob Engelbrecht Frederick, Md.: Historical Society of Frederick County,
Inc., 1976.
Smith, Carter Editor Behind the Lines
Brookfield Ct.: The Millbrook Press, 1993.
Taylor, Frank H.
Philadelphia in the Civil War Philadelphia:
Published by the City, 1913.
Waskie, Dr. Andy.
Philadelphia and surroundings in 1860's: E-mail
correspondence with the author Grand Army of the Republic
Civil War Museum and Library, Feb. 21, 2000.
Ward, Geoffrey C.
. Queen
Barton American Heritage. pp. 14-16.
New York: American Heritage, April 1988.
Wheeler, Richard Voices of the Civil War
New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1976.
The
Following Document comes from the National Archives. Read the description of the primary source below then examine
the actual letter. For
the actual web site go to
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/woman_suffrage/print_friendly.html?page=army_nurses_content.html&title=NARA%20%7C%20Digital%20Classroom%20%7C%20Teaching%20With%20Documents%3A%20Woman%20Suffrage%20and%20the%2019th%20Amendment
An
easier to read transcript follows the letter.
U.S.
National Archives & Records Administration
www.archives.gov
July 14, 2004
Teaching With Documents
Lesson Plan:
Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment
Association of Army Nurses of the Civil
War Letter to U.S. House Judiciary Committee
Many of the women who had been active in
the suffrage movement in the 1860s and 1870s continued their
involvement over 50 years later. Mary O. Stevens, secretary and
press correspondent of the Association of Army Nurses of the
Civil War was one such woman. In 1917 she asked the chairman of
the House Judiciary Committee to help the cause of woman
suffrage by explaining, "My father trained me in my
childhood days to expect this right. I have given my help to the
agitation, and work[ed] for its coming a good many years."
Peabody Ma. May
1, 1917
Hon. Edwin R. Webb
Chairman Judiciary Committee
U.S.
House of Representatives
Dear Sir,
It seems to me right to ask you to help the cause of
Woman Suffrage just now at this session of Congress by an
immediate and favorable report on the Federal Suffrage Amendment
Bill. My father
trained me in my childhood days to expect this right.
I have given my life to the agitation and work for its
coming a good many years. It
seems as if the time has come for this great act of justice and
that this Congress doing most needed things for the whole world
aught not to overlook the appeals of the women of our land.
Yours most sincerely
Mary O. Stevens
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