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Lesson Plan

He Said/She Said, I Said/You Said

In this engaging lesson, students compare and contrast a firsthand account and a secondhand account of the same historical event: the sinking of the Titanic.
Grade:
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Learning Objectives

Students will be able to compare and contrast firsthand and secondhand accounts and identify the differences in focus and information in accounts of the same event.

Introduction

(5 minutes)
  • Tell students that today we will talking about different types of accounts, which are descriptions of an event or an experience.
  • Ask students to brainstorm a list of examples of written accounts (e.g., diaries, autobiographies, encyclopedias, and textbooks). Write students’ ideas on chart paper.
  • Ask students to think about the authors of these different accounts. Ask: “How is the author of a diary different from the author of a textbook?”
  • Support students to understand that there are two different types of accounts: firsthand accounts and secondhand accounts.