Paideia Seminar Plan

“The Gettysburg Address”

Course/Participants: Students of American History

Ideas and Values: Freedom, History, Dedication, Equality, Government

Pre-Seminar

Content (Present relevant background information. Prepare participants to discuss selected text.):

1. Read the speech aloud while others follow along with the text. Define any unfamiliar words. Discuss

the historical context. (On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln gave a short speech at the

dedication of a national cemetery on the battlefield of Gettysburg.)

2. With a partner, relate a situation in which you learned that actions speak louder than words.

Process (Review seminar objectives and guidelines. Prepare participants to participate in seminar discussion—

self assess and set goal[s].):

Seminar

Opening (Identify main ideas from the text.): What is Lincoln’s hope for the nation? (After students answer, ask for volunteers to cite the text as means of explaining their statements.)

Core (Focus/analyze textual details.):

- How does the opening sentence set the tone for the speech?

- Why has the Gettysburg Address become such an important part of American history?

- Some form of “dedicate” is used six times in the speech. To what does Lincoln encourage dedication?

- In his last sentence, Lincoln describes a great task remaining before us. Has this task been completed?

Explain why or why not.

Closing (Personalize and apply the textual ideas.): To what should our country now be dedicated?

Post-Seminar

Process - Assess individual and group participation in seminar discussion. Refer to recent past as well as future seminar discussions.

Content (Extend application of textual and discussion ideas; continuation of pre-seminar): Consider allowing students to work in groups of two or three to select a topic below. They may need to conduct some research of current events in order to include facts and statistics to support their opinions.

1. Lincoln said, “It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who

fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.” What are some examples of unfinished work then?

Following the themes Lincoln expressed in the Gettysburg Address, what work is currently

unfinished?

2. What can we do as individuals and as a country to dedicate ourselves to the completion of what

Lincoln felt was “the great task remaining before us”? Be specific in stating your plans to reach the

desired goals.