Lesson Plan: Is That Really True? Investigating Historical Myths
Name: Barry Leonard Grade Level: 10-11
School: Graves County High School 2 class periods
-Lesson Essential Question: Why has history sensationalized certain stories or views of
people and events? Can we change that?
-Academic Expectation and Core Content for Assessment Standard:
2.16 Students observe, analyze, and interpret human behaviors, social groupings, and institutions to
better understand people and the relationships among individuals and among groups.
2.20 Students understand, analyze, and interpret historical events, conditions, trends, and issues to
develop historical perspective.
SS-HS-5.1.1- Students will use a variety of tools (e.g., primary and secondary sources, data, artifacts) to
analyze perceptions and perspectives (e.g., gender, race, region, ethnic group, nationality, age,
economic status, religion, politics, geographic factors) of people and historical events in the modern
world (1500 A.D. to present) and United States History (Reconstruction to present).
SS-HS-5.1.2-Students will analyze how history is a series of connected events shaped by multiple cause
and effect relationships, tying past to present.
Learning Targets:
What students will know: What students will be able to do:
Many stories students heard or read Research a popular character/event and
growing up are not true. find out what really happened and
record their work.
Myths are more sensationalized around
a person’s character or reputation, Summarize the myth, predict and
adding to their hero or villain status. hypothesize how and why it got started.
The real facts are relatively easy to Discuss and present their research to
find. the class, demonstrating where to find
resources to prove or disprove a myth.
Correcting myths is much harder than
keeping them going. Explain the process of how they found
their information and defend its
validity.
-Instructional Set/Bell Ringer: (Opening Activity, hooks the student into the lesson)
Read the story of George Washington and the cherry tree. Discuss where they heard or
read the story. Demonstrate how this was not true through a series of resources. (story
attached) can be read or put on LCD.
-Transition Activity: (Activity ties the bell ringer to the Learning Experience) Have a list
of suggested stories and myths. (allow students to select others if they have ideas on
their own). Discuss types of information they will need to verify their conclusions. Go
to the library (reserve the computers for research), have students to find some online
proof, but also find books in the library to prove their myths untrue. Discuss how to
record where they find their resources. Books, internet html sites, etc.
-Learning Experience: (The main activity in the lesson) Students after selecting a myth
or story, will research and find out how the legend or story was created/fabricated,
then demonstrate where they found the truth. Students will use biographies,
newstories, and a variety of resources to form their conclusions. Then students will
share their research and their path they took in proving their myth is true or not.
-Lesson Wrap Up: (The closing activity, reiterates what student were to know and be
able to do)
Students will share their experiences with the class and turn in their conclusions.
-Lesson Assessment: (How the teacher will gauge the student learning throughout the
lesson) Students will share the path of their research, on paper and in a presentation.
They will be equally graded for acuracy, clarity and presentation. (rubrics attached)
-Resources and materials needed: (list of all the items the teacher will need to
implement the lesson) Reserving the library computers, and assistance from the
librarian and workers to aid in researching a variety of subjects. Especially the
biographies and books on myths.
-lesson will take one day of research and one day to share. This will give students more
time to research their question and to practice their presentation and prepare for
questions.
Myths
1. George Washington had wooden teeth
2. President W.H.Taft got stuck in a bathtub
3. JFK said “I am a jelly donut”
4. Bill Clinton body count (suspicious deaths)
5. Gettysburg Address written on back of envelope
6. 911 twin towers caused by controlled demolition
7. Paul Revere yelled “The British Are Coming”
8. Betsy Ross invented the first American flag
9. Alexander Bell invented the telephone
10. Daniel Boone wore a coonskin cap
11. Columbus discovered the earth is round
12. USS Maine was destroyed by a Spanish mine in 1898
13. Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was a complete surprise in 1941
14. John Brown was a hero
15. Pocahontas saved John Smith’s life
16. The Boston Massacre was a very bloody battle
17. Who fired the first shot at Lexington Green, April 19, 1775?
18. Benjamin Franklin invented (discovered) electricity
19. Thomas Jefferson was the only author of the Declaration of Independence
20. All colonists were for independence in 1776
21. Everyone was killed at the Alamo
22. The Gold Rush is responsible for the Civil War
23. The Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves
24. Harriett Tubman created the Underground Railroad
25. All the soldiers were killed at the battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.
26. Henry Ford invented the automobile
27. The Wright brothers invented the airplane
28. Prohibition of alchol was a quick reaction to the Germans during WWI
29. Susan B. Anthony got women’s suffrage passed
30. Warren G. Harding died from natural causes in 1923
31. Lindbergh was the first to fly across the Atlantic Ocean
32. The Stock Market Crash caused the Great Depression
33. FDR was in a wheelchair most of his presidency
34. The New Deal ended the Great Depression
35. The Salem Witch trials found and killed real witches in Salem, MA
36. America declared war on Korea and won in 1950-1953
37. Television won the election for JFK in 1960
38. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr were bitter enemies
39. Nixon resigned because he ordered the Watergate breakin
40. Every President has had Vice Presidents
41. Eli Whitney got rich from inventing and patents on the cotton gin
42. Robert Fulton invented the steamboat
43. Mrs. O’Leary’s cow started the Chicago fire in 1871
44. Pilgrims lived in log cabins
45. We never landed on the moon
46. Lee Harvey Oswald wasn’t the only assassin
Teacher Name:
Student Name: ________________________________________
CATEGORY 10 7 5 2
Preparedness Student is Student seems pretty The student is Student does not
completely prepared prepared but might somewhat prepared, seem at all prepared
and has obviously have needed a but it is clear that to present.
rehearsed. couple more rehearsal was
rehearsals. lacking.
Content Shows a full Shows a good Shows a good Does not seem to
understanding of the understanding of the understanding of understand the topic
topic. topic. parts of the topic. very well.
Time-Limit Presentation is 3-5 Presentation is 2-3 Presentation is 2 Presentation is less
minutes long. minutes long. minutes long. than 2 minutes OR
more than 5
minutes.
Stays on Topic Stays on topic all Stays on topic most Stays on topic some It was hard to tell
(100%) of the time. (99-90%) of the time. (89%-75%) of the what the topic was.
time.
Accuracy Student is able to Student is able to Student is able to Student is unable to
accurately answer accurately answer accurately answer a accurately answer
almost all questions most questions few questions posed questions posed by
posed by classmates posed by classmates by classmates about classmates about
about the topic. about the topic. the topic. the topic.
Teacher Name:
Student Name: ________________________________________
CATEGORY 10 7 5 2
Organization Information is very Information is Information is The information
organized with well- organized with well- organized, but appears to be
constructed constructed paragraphs are not disorganized. 8)
paragraphs and paragraphs. well-constructed.
subheadings.
Quality of Information clearly Information clearly Information clearly Information has little
Information relates to the main relates to the main relates to the main or nothing to do with
topic. It includes topic. It provides 1-2 topic. No details the main topic.
several (3+) supporting details and/or examples are
supporting details and/or examples. given.
and/or examples.
Mechanics No grammatical, Almost no A few grammatical Many grammatical,
spelling or grammatical, spelling spelling, or spelling, or
punctuation errors. or punctuation errors punctuation errors. punctuation errors.
Internet Use Successfully uses Usually able to use Occasionally able to Needs assistance or
suggested internet suggested internet use suggested supervision to use
links to find links to find internet links to find suggested internet
information and information and information and links and/or to
navigates and navigates and navigates and navigate within these
properly records properly partially improperly records sites. Does not
where they can be records where they where they can be record where to find
found. can be found. found. information.
Notes Notes are recorded Notes are recorded Notes are recorded. Notes are recorded
and organized in an legibly and are only with
extremely neat and somewhat peer/teacher
orderly fashion. organized. assistance and
reminders.
The Moral Washington:
Construction of a Legend (1800-
1920s)
John McRae, "Father, I Can Not Tell a Lie; I Cut the
Tree," 1867 engraving after a painting by G.G. White
George Washington's reputation as a man of moral
fortitude reveals more about America's view of morality than it does about the man himself.
Washington was an exceedingly bland heroic leader, embodying an eighteenth-century ideal of
republican virtue that emphasized duty, sacrifice and honorable disinterest. Flamboyance and daring
were emphatically not required. Washington's virtue was admirable, but not overly interesting.
Perhaps this is why the most famous example of his fortitude of character is, in fact, just fiction. The
story of Washington and the Cherry Tree, a tale which still lingers through probably every grammar
school in the U.S., was invented by a parson named Mason Locke Weems in a biography of
Washington published directly after his death. Saturated with tales of Washington's selflessness and
honesty, A History of the Life and Death, Virtues and Exploits, of General George Washington(1800)
and The Life of George Washington, with Curious Anecdotes Laudable to Himself and Exemplary to
his Countrymen(1806) supplied the American people with flattering (and often rhyming) renditions of
the events that shaped their hero. Weems imagined everthing from Washington's childhood
transgression and repentence to his apotheosis when "at the sight of him, even those blessed spirits
seem[ed] to feel new raptures" (Weems, 60). According to historian Karal Ann Marling, Weems was
struggling to "flesh out a believable and interest ing figure ... to humanize Washington" who had been
painted as "cold and colorless" in an earlier, poorly-selling biography. While it is likely that some
readers of the time questioned the authenticity of the tales, Weems' portraits soared in popularity in the
early 1800s.
More than a century later, Weems would be vigorously debunked by a new corps of biographers intent
on resurrecting the real truth of Washington's life. Some favored dismantling the myth wholesale and
dismissing it from the record. Others, however, intended to portray the story as apocryphal, but
commend its inspirational value anyway. As Marling quotes from a woman who remembered every
verse of the story from her days as school, "If the tale isn't true, it should be. It is too pretty to be
classified with the myths" (Marling, 310).
In considering the virtues associated with Washington throughout the 19th century, Weems' stories
help to unravel what attributes Americans cherished at that time. Piety, for example, stood foremost in
the minds of many citizens, especially in the early to mid 1800s, and biblical references were known to
everyone. During his lifetime, Washington was often associated with the figure of Moses, leading his
people to freedom, a story the people knew well. After his death, perceptions of Washington's relation
to God grew. Weems, a parson himself, may have chosen to attach a serene religiosity to Washington
as a way to provide a venerated example to the public. One of his best known stories of Washington's
piety comes from Weems' account of Washington praying at Valley Forge. Weems tells of a man
named Isaac Potts who silently witnesses an unsuspecting Washington, kneeling humbly in the snow,
praying for God's blessing of his troops. Although the story was questioned as early as the 1850s, it
became emblazoned on the American memory by a painting by Henry Brueckner in the 1860s. Several
imitations followed, including the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1935 and an image on a 1977
postage stamp commemorating Christmas (Marling, 2).
But Washington may not have been as pious as Weems suggests. While Washington regularly attended
a Christian church, he would not take communion. On his deathbed, he did not request a minister to be
present and asked for no prayers. Biographer Barry Schwartz reports that Washington's "practice of
Christianity was limited and superficial, because he was not himself a Christian. In the enlightened
tradition of his day, he was a devout Deist--just as many of the clergymen who knew him suspected"
(Schwartz, 175).
Honesty and humility also stood as strong 19th-century virtues. The American public may have known
that Parson Weems' story of young Washington and his cherry tree rang false, but for the citizenry of
the early United States of America, the idea behind the fable declared what they believed was true:
Washington equaled honesty. I have no desire to hold onto my power, Washington told the people, and
then he kept his word, proving no intention to deceive.
As early as 1799, artists picked up on the persuasive imagery of this act. Alexander Lawson's "General
Washington's Resignation" (seen below) depicts Washington, in undecorated military garb, standing a
few steps down from the strong female form of Liberty. He has just handed her his resignation and his
left hand points downward toward the idlyic countryside. He takes no notice of the elevated power
(symbolized by the towers above) he is giving up; his face instead looks pensively outward toward the
foregrounded Eagle symbolizing his country's escape from tyranny.
"General Washington's Resignation (1799)," by Alexander Lawson after a design by John Barralet (in
Schwartz's George Washington, reprinted from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
The Capitol Rotunda's historical painting by John Trumbull entitled, George Washington Resigning
His Commission to Congress as Commander in Chief of the Army at Annapolis, Maryland, December
23, 1783, creates the same effect. Washington's relinquishing power became an essential symbol of
America's self-enacted defense from tyranny.
His selflessness appealed to the new American citizenry as well. Washington never requested the
appointments he received. When asked to head the Continental Army in 1775, Washington worried
aloud if he had the ability to carry out the task. When asked to preside over the Constitutional
Convention in 1789, he went reluctantly, leaving a Mount Vernon retirement of rest and domesticity.
By the time the Constitutional Convention ended, it was clear that Washington was the best man for
the position of President of the United States. But he really didn't want the job. The American public
knew that he took it because of an overriding and sacrificial sense of duty to his country.
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