Liz's Entry #2: Gen. Perry Benson at St. Michaels

The lesson I will be teaching is a story within the War of 1812 that I have read to my second grade students about.  I read them the book called The Town that Fooled the British by Lisa Papp.  It is a story about a town called St. Michaels.  This town was full of carpenters who built ships.  The British wanted to stop the town from continuing to build ships so they planned to bomb St. Michaels.  General Perry Benson, who had also fought in the Revolutionary War, was a key player in defending St. Michaels.  The people of St. Michaels, under the leadership of Gen. Benson tricked the British ships who were firing cannons at St. Michaels by turning out all the lights in the town and hoisting all their lanterns into high trees.  The British believed this was the town and overshot the cannons.  Most of the town was saved.  This is why St. Michaels became known as “the town who fooled the British.” Without the quick thinking of Gen. Perry Benson and the action of the town’s militia it is nearly certain that the town would have been taken over by British forces.   (Content) 

With my students I would turn the classroom into the town of St. Michaels.  The front edge of the classroom would be the coast of St. Michaels along which the British ships were waiting.  Half of the classroom would be the town, and the front corner of the room would be outside of town where the lanterns were hung.  The day before acting out the battle, I would have each child in the class make a lantern.  The next day we would read the story The Town that Fooled the British by Lisa Papp and then act out what the militia and Gen. Perry Benson did with the lanterns.  Students would put their lanterns in the section of the room away from “the town.”  This will make it easier for students to visualize how St. Michaels fooled the British and how their plan worked.  (Creative Idea) 

As a whole group we would discuss how the War of 1812 is not studied nearly as much as the Revolutionary or the Civil Wars, but that this war was America’s second battle for independence.  We would discuss how working together is important, and infer what could have happened if the militia of St. Michael’s did not trust Gen. Perry Benson. (DOK 2) If the militia had not worked together with Gen. Benson’s plans the story could have played out much differently.  ( 8.3.6.D, 8.4.6.D)  We would also discuss the story The Town that Fooled the British and discuss that the story itself is historical fiction.  We would go through the story and identify historical facts, as well as, the fictional parts. (DOK 1)  (8.1.6.B)  For example some facts from the story were: Gen. Perry Benson was in charge of the militia at St. Michaels, St. Michaels was a town that built ships that were used in the War of 1812, and the town did work together to trick the British by using lanterns in trees.  Some of the parts of the story that make the book fictional are that the main character Henry Middle was not known to be a real person during the battle at St. Michaels.  I would then ask students to make an argument about why schools should teach more about the War of 1812. (DOK 3) What have they learned about this time period that they think is important for other children to know.  Lastly, I would try to have my students connect the battle at St. Michaels to an event where cooperation was key to having things turn out the way they wanted. They could connect working together to something they’ve done in school, on a team, or something they’ve witness others doing.  (DOK 4)

Domains: 1a, 1b, 1d, 2a, 2d, 2e, 3b, 3d,