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MA, USA

Lexington

Lesson plans and classroom materials.

The Shot Heard Round the World: Lexington and the Start of Revolution

6-8 · 3 class periods

What you'll get

  • Full lesson plan (3 class periods)
  • 3 primary sources with analysis prompts
  • Quiz with answer key (7 questions)
  • Differentiation strategies (struggling / advanced / ELL)
  • 1 printable handout
Print full packet
6-83 class periodsCCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sourcesCCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.6: Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view or purposeD2.His.1.6-8: Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts

Learning Objectives

  1. Students will analyze primary source accounts from multiple perspectives on the Battle of Lexington Green
  2. Students will evaluate how eyewitness testimony can be contradictory yet individually truthful
  3. Students will explain the significance of Lexington in the broader narrative of the American Revolution
  4. Students will identify whose voices are preserved and whose are missing from the historical record

Essential Questions

  • Who fired the "shot heard round the world," and does it matter?
  • How do different eyewitnesses remember the same event differently?
  • Whose stories about Lexington have been told — and whose have been left out?

Procedure

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
  • •Captain John Parker and the Lexington militia: who were these men?
  • •Prince Estabrook: an enslaved man who fought and was wounded
  • •The confrontation on the Green: what we know and what we don't

Guided Practice

25 minutes
  • •Small group primary source analysis: each group receives a different eyewitness account
  • •Groups complete perspective analysis graphic organizer
  • •Gallery walk: groups share findings, noting contradictions between accounts

Independent Practice

20 minutes

Write a one-paragraph "historical argument" answering: Based on the evidence, what happened on Lexington Green on April 19, 1775? Cite at least two sources and acknowledge at least one contradiction.

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

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

Primary Sources

Depositions of the Lexington Militia (April 1775)

Massachusetts Provincial Congress / National Archives · PRIMARY · Tier 1 — Primary/Academic

Lieutenant John Barker's Diary (April 19, 1775)

British Library / Published in "The British in Boston" collection · PRIMARY · Tier 1 — Primary/Academic

Amos Doolittle Engravings (1775)

Connecticut Historical Society / Various museum collections · PRIMARY · Tier 1 — Primary/Academic

Handouts & Materials

Lexington Green: Primary Source Analysis

graphic organizer

Structured graphic organizer for analyzing and comparing eyewitness accounts of the Battle of Lexington Green.

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.

1.

Why were British troops marching through Lexington on April 19, 1775?

ATo arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock and seize colonial military supplies in Concord
BTo establish a permanent garrison in Lexington
CTo respond to an attack by colonial militia
DTo deliver a message from King George III
2.

What makes the colonial depositions about Lexington valuable but also potentially problematic as historical sources?

AThey were collected quickly from eyewitnesses, but for the political purpose of blaming the British
BThey were written years later from memory
CThey were all written by the same person
DThey agree completely on every detail
3.

Prince Estabrook, an enslaved man, was among the Lexington militiamen and was wounded in the battle.

TTrue
FFalse
4.

Explain why historians still debate who fired the first shot at Lexington, even though we have multiple eyewitness accounts. Use evidence from at least one source.

5.

How does Lieutenant Barker's private diary differ from the official British military reports as a historical source? Why does this difference matter?

6.

Captain John Parker's famous order — "Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here" — is:

ARecorded only in later accounts and may not be his exact words
BDocumented in multiple contemporaneous sources
CRecorded in his own diary
DFound in the British military reports
7.

Identify one group of people whose perspectives are largely missing from the primary sources about the Battle of Lexington. Why might their perspective add to our understanding?