Teacher Resources
Concord
Inquiry Question
Why did the colonial militia at Concord choose to fight rather than disperse as they had at Lexington?
Primary Sources
What Teachers and Students Use
Amos Barrett's Account of the North Bridge Fight
PRIMARY · Concord Free Public Library
5 analysis prompts
Reverend William Emerson's Diary (1775)
PRIMARY · Concord Museum
5 analysis prompts
Downloads
Ready to Print
Student packet, teacher guide with answer key, and quiz — each formatted for classroom printing.
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Lesson Plan
In the Classroom
Learning Objectives
- 1Students will describe the events at the North Bridge and explain why the colonial militia chose to advance against British troops
- 2Students will analyze the role of minutemen and the militia system in colonial resistance
- 3Students will explain how Colonel Barrett's hidden supplies contributed to the British expedition and its ultimate failure
- 4Students will compare the confrontation at North Bridge with the earlier encounter at Lexington Green
Warm-Up · 10 minutes
Show a photograph of the North Bridge today and the Minute Man statue. Ask students: "Why would a community build a monument at a bridge? What happened here that people wanted to remember?" Then display a period map showing the British route from Lexington to Concord. Ask: "The British already fought at Lexington. Why did they keep marching?"
Direct Instruction · 20 minutes
· Context: Concord as a center of colonial resistance — the Provincial Congress met here
· Colonel James Barrett's farm: hiding cannons, musket balls, and provisions from the British
Closure · 10 minutes
Exit ticket: "If you were a minuteman watching smoke rise from the direction of Concord town center, what would you think was happening? How might that affect your decision to fight?" Discuss how limited information shapes decision-making in crisis moments.
Differentiation Strategies
Struggling Learners
Annotated primary source excerpts with vocabulary support, sentence starters for writing, visual timeline of events
Advanced Learners
Additional reading on the British retreat from Concord and the running battle back to Boston; essay comparing militia tactics at Concord with later battles
ELL Support
Bilingual key terms glossary, visual sequence chart of events, simplified source excerpts with originals available for reference
Explore Further
Concord in the Knowledge Graph
The lesson packet draws from these pages. Use them to extend the lesson or give students primary source context.
Comparative Study
Connected Towns
The corroborate prompts in the student packet point to these towns. Teachers can assign cross-town comparisons.
Lexington
SHARED EVENT
The battles of April 19, 1775 linked both towns in a single day of fighting that began the Revolution.
Lexington
ROUTE
Battle Road connects North Bridge to Lexington Green—the path of British advance and bloody retreat.
Lexington
COMPARISON
Twin birthplaces of the Revolution: Concord where colonists attacked, Lexington where they first stood.
Assessment
The North Bridge and Colonial Resistance at Concord
Answer all questions based on our study of Concord in the American Revolution. For short answer questions, use specific evidence from the sources and materials we studied. · 7 questions · Answer key in Teacher Guide PDF
Why did the British specifically target Concord on April 19, 1775?
multiple choice
What role did Colonel James Barrett play in the events leading up to April 19, 1775?
multiple choice
What triggered the militia's decision to advance toward the North Bridge?
multiple choice
+ 4 more in the full quiz PDF
Ready to Print?
All three documents below — student packet, teacher guide, and quiz — are formatted for letter-size classroom printing.