Teacher Resources
Lexington
Inquiry Question
Who fired the "shot heard round the world," and does it matter?
Primary Sources
What Teachers and Students Use
Depositions of the Lexington Militia (April 1775)
PRIMARY · Massachusetts Provincial Congress / National Archives
5 analysis prompts
Lieutenant John Barker's Diary (April 19, 1775)
PRIMARY · British Library / Published in "The British in Boston" collection
4 analysis prompts
Amos Doolittle Engravings (1775)
PRIMARY · Connecticut Historical Society / Various museum collections
4 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 analyze primary source accounts from multiple perspectives on the Battle of Lexington Green
- 2Students will evaluate how eyewitness testimony can be contradictory yet individually truthful
- 3Students will explain the significance of Lexington in the broader narrative of the American Revolution
- 4Students will identify whose voices are preserved and whose are missing from the historical record
Warm-Up · 10 minutes
Show a modern photograph of Lexington Green. Ask students: "What happened here? What do you already know?" Then show the famous Amos Doolittle engraving. Ask: "What does this image claim happened? How might an image be a kind of argument?"
Direct Instruction · 20 minutes
· Context: tensions between colonies and Britain by early 1775
· The British march from Boston: objectives and intelligence
Closure · 10 minutes
Exit ticket: "What is one thing you are now less certain about regarding Lexington? Why is that uncertainty valuable for a historian?"
Differentiation Strategies
Struggling Learners
Pre-highlighted key passages in source documents, sentence starters for writing, partner support during analysis
Advanced Learners
Additional sources including later commemorative speeches; essay extension comparing how Lexington has been remembered over time
ELL Support
Bilingual glossary of key terms, visual timeline support, simplified source excerpts with original available for reference
Explore Further
Lexington 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.
Concord
SHARED EVENT
The battles of April 19, 1775 began at Lexington and continued to Concord, linked by the same British expedition and colonial response.
Concord
ROUTE
Battle Road connects Lexington Green to North Bridge—the path the British marched and later retreated in chaos.
Boston
ROUTE
Paul Revere's midnight ride connected Boston to Lexington, part of the alarm network that brought militia to the green.
Assessment
The Battle of Lexington Green
Answer all questions based on our study of Lexington in the American Revolution. For short answer questions, use specific evidence from sources we studied. · 7 questions · Answer key in Teacher Guide PDF
Why were British troops marching through Lexington on April 19, 1775?
multiple choice
What makes the colonial depositions about Lexington valuable but also potentially problematic as historical sources?
multiple choice
Prince Estabrook, an enslaved man, was among the Lexington militiamen and was wounded in the battle.
true false
+ 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.