Source: Cotton Gin: Wikimedia Commons

Lesson Plan

Please download and print out the lesson materials for today's lesson. 

Subject: The Age of Inventions: The Grain Elevator (Day Two)

Date: Tuesday March 24, 2020

Materials Needed

• Pen/pencil for student to use to answer questions
• Colored pencils/crayons/pencil for drawing vocabulary pictures
• Videos (on my website or on my YouTube channel)
• Print out this packet or give paper to student to write answers (Entrance Ticket, vocabulary organizer, video questions, reading and questions) You could also have students answer questions verbally instead if you do not have paper or a printer

Lesson Goals

The student will be able to identify the inventor of the cotton gin.

The student will be able to explain the impact of the cotton gin on cotton production.

The student will be able to hypothesize (predict) how the increase in cotton production could cause the Civil War.

Lesson Agenda

Opening Bellwork

Entrance Ticket (Pg 3): Have your student answer the following questions. Do you remember who invented the cotton gin? Do you remember what a cotton gin was used for?

Agenda

• Vocabulary graphic organizer (Pg 3): Have students review the graphic organizer and in the last column have them draw a picture of the term.
• Have students watch the video about the cotton gin (Pg 3) answer the questions (Pg 4).
• Have students complete the reading: Did Eli Whitney REALLY invent the cotton gin? And answer the questions on the right. (Pg 4).
• Have students analyze the graph and answer the questions. (Pg 5-6)

Closing

Questions to think on (Pg 6): Send your student off with the following to think about for tomorrow. Check the tags of your clothing, are they made with cotton?

Suggested Changes for Students

Modifications & Accommodations

Extra Learning (Pg 6)

• Speed up/slow down videos
• Read to your student
• Extra time
• Have students answer only a few questions
• Verbal, drawn, typed answers
• Extra websites included
• Ask students to create more questions for the videos
• Have students add more terms to vocab graphic organizer

NYS Social Studies Framework Standard

7.8a Early United States industrialization affected different parts of the country in different ways. Regional economic differences and values, as well as different conceptions of the Constitution, laid the basis for tensions between states' rights advocates and supporters of a strong federal government. Students will examine regional economic differences as they related to industrialization.

7.8c Perspectives on the causes of the Civil War varied based on geographic region, but the election of a Republican president was one of the immediate causes for the secession of the Southern states. Students will examine both long- and short-term causes of the Civil War

Lesson Reflection

What went well? What could have gone better? Is there anything you would change about this lesson? Please feel free to share with me at historywithmrst@gmail.com

Source: Growth of Slavery and Cotton in the United States: Wikimedia Commons

Lesson Plan Activities

Bellwork: Entrance Ticket

Directions: Answer the questions in the entrance ticket using your prior knowledge.

1. Do you remember who invented the cotton gin?

2. Do you remember what a cotton gin was used for?

Task 1: Vocabulary Organizer

Directions: Review the vocab in the graphic organizer and draw an image that can help you remember the vocab term.

Cotton

A plant, or the soft cloud-like substance that comes from shrubby plants and is used to make thread or cloth.

Cotton Gin

A machine used for separating cotton from its seeds.

Patent

A right given by the US government that gives an inventor the right to stop other people from making or using their invention.

Sources: Yourdictionary.com; Oxford Dictionary; Simple English Wikipedia

Task 2: Video: The Cotton Gin

Directions: Please listen to the video and answer the following questions. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzAK65N4ruc

Source: Cotton Gin - Machine in Action, Mr. C's Classroom

Questions

1. Who patented the cotton gin?

2. What did the cotton gin do? How did it work?

3. How did the cotton gin speed up cotton production?

Task 3: Reading: Did Eli Whitney REALLY invent the cotton gin?

Directions: Complete the reading and answer the following questions.

Did Eli Whitney REALLY invent the cotton gin?

Source: Engraving of Eli Whitney by Charles Bird King: Wikimedia Commons

Source: Catherine Littlefield Greene by James Frothingham: Wikimedia Commons

Most historians argue that Eli Whitney is the inventor of the cotton gin because he applied for the first patent for the machine. Other historians argue that Catherine Greene, a war widow that financially supported Eli Whitney actually invented the cotton gin. At that time in history women were not allowed to apply for patents. A patent is a right given by the US government that gives an inventor the right to stop other people from making or using their invention. The Constitution even upholds this right!

Article I Section 8 Clause 8 - Patent and Copyright Clause of the Constitution says:

[The Congress shall have power] "To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."

An inventor sends the US government drawings of their machines and a description of how their invention works. As long as it has not been invented before, the US government can give someone the exclusive right to produce that product for a certain amount of time. If other people make knock-offs, or items that similar to their invention, the person with the patent can sue them.

Eli Whitney spent a lot of his time suing other people who made knock-off cotton gins.

Source: Reading created by Christina Turowski.

Questions

1. Who are two possible inventors of the cotton gin?

2.What part of the Constitution allows inventors to apply for patents?

3. Can you think of another invention or idea that might be protected by a patent? Hint: Think of something that people "pirate" online.

Task 4: Analyze Graph: Growth of Slavery and Cotton in the United States

Directions: Analyze the graph and answer the questions based on what you see.

Source: Growth of Slavery and Cotton in America: Wikimedia Commons

How to analyze a Graph

1. What is the title of the graph? (at the top of the graph)

____________________________________________

2. Look at the key (box at the top of the graph) and write down which color represents the number of slaves ___________ and the number of cotton production ____________.

3. What year does the graph start at ________ and end at __________? (Hint: Look at the bottom of the graph).

4. How much cotton was being produced in 1790? (Hint: find the year 1790 on the bottom of the graph and see how much of a green bar there is.) __________

5. How much cotton was being produced in 1860 (round to the nearest 1000)? __________

6. What happened to the number of slaves as cotton production increased?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. The cotton gin was patented in 1794. Do you think the invention of the cotton gin, the increase in cotton production, and the increase in slave ownership are connected? How?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Closing: Questions to Think On

Directions: Think about this question. Don't share your answer!

• Check the tags on your clothing, are your clothes made with cotton?

More Learning!

Directions: If you want to learn more about this topic you can check out the following resources!

• Video: Watch this video about how cotton is made today.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHgNoSYlhYs 
• Video: Watch cotton get turned into a shirt
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCy5DJb24_s