The Homestead Act

American West Bundle Part 2

**The development of the Plains, American West c.1862-c1876. ** This bundle is the second part in a series of lessons I have created for Edexcel GCSE 9-1 The American West, c.1835-c1895 Students will be assessed on their knowledge and understanding of the early development on the Plains with the passing of the Homestead Act of 1862 through to the second Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. They will focus on the advantages with the coming of the Pacific Railroad but how this accentuated the problems of settlement and the growth of the towns. Students will learn about the life of cowboys and what was involved on the long drive and life on the ranch. They will recognise the significance of key people such as Joseph McCoy, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving and John Iliff and how they changed the cattle industry. They will study the conflicts which arose between ranchers and homesteaders as well as between the US Government and the Plains Indians such as Little Crow’s War and Red Cloud’s War. Lessons will target consequence such as the US government policy of moving the Plains Indians to reservations where they could be ‘protected’ and the changes to their way of life. Furthermore I have dispensed with individual learning objectives for each lesson to focus throughout on a specific enquiry based question which addresses the knowledge and skills required for the GCSE questions and shows progression in learning required during this course. Moreover it allows the students to critically think for themselves to decide who was benefitting from this rapid change to America as well as how and why. For assessment purposes each lesson is accompanied by one of the three key exam questions with help and exam tips if needed. These can be completed in the lesson or for homework or used for interleaving. The lessons are as follows: L12 The Homestead Act L13 The Pacific Railroad Act L14 Problems of Homesteading (free resource) L15 Growth of the Cattle Industry L16 Life of Cowboys L17 Rivalry between Ranchers and Homesteaders L18 Impact of Settlement o n the Plains Indians(free resource) L19 Little Crow’s War and the Sand Creek Massacre L20 Red Cloud’s War The lessons are all differentiated and are tailored to enable the students to achieve the highest grades. Each lesson also contains some retrieval practice. The lessons come in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.