Lesson Plan: Exploring the Spanish Empire in the Americas
The first stop in my class on the way to colonization was the Spanish Empire in the Americas. Spanish holdings constitute almost half of what is now the US, so how can we understand our history if we don’t understand those that came before us?
This lesson plan is intended to be a one day introduction to the development and culture of the Spanish Empire. It is far from exhaustive, and I would love to do more with it. However, I don’t have the time in your packed curriculum to dwell on it. So if you’re looking for a short, one day overview of New Spain, read on.
This lesson gets the kids up and moving around, it gets them working in groups, and it gives them a brief introduction to the topic.
The general idea of the lesson is this. Information is collated into packets or learning centers, which are spread around the room. I made four of these learning centers and instructed the students to circulate around. I wasn’t sure how much they would be able to get done, but the diligent students seemed to be able to complete two packets in the twenty minutes that I gave them.
Each packet of information presented some pictures and information about a given topic. The students’ task was to answer the questions in the packet (which I collected and graded as classwork).
When the students walked in, the Do Now question was: What and where is New Spain?
Once we established that New Spain was the name of Spain’s colonies, they began guessing where New Spain was.
It took a while, but we eventually identified all of the major areas - South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and the American Southwest. I drew a lovely map on the board and marked off the sections as students identified them correctly.
Once we knew what and where New Spain was, I introduced the idea of the learning stations. I gave them instructions and placed the folders containing the information at the four corners of the room. They split up and started working. I did some paperwork (attendance, handing back papers, etc) and then circulated the room to see if students had any questions.
When there was about ten minutes left, I brought the classroom back together to discuss some of the questions. The first one I focused on was the one I considered the most important - the culture and family life of New Spain.
What I found useful in this packet was the line of questioning that elicits what the encomienda is, why it was outlawed, and why it was replaced by the enslavement of Africans. The ultimate question - why is it immoral to force Native Americans to work, but it is not immoral to enslave Africans - broaches the theme of race that is recurrent in American history. It seemed like a good way to introduce an essential theme.
Some other interesting questions to consider with the students…
Why did Spain want to control Florida? Hint: think Pirates of the Caribbean
What were the Spanish views on interracial marriage? How does this differ from later American views?
What did the Spanish think when they witnessed or heard about human sacrifices in the Aztec Empire?
I discussed some of these questions, as time allowed. At the end of class I assigned homework. They were to read the rest of the textbook section (skipping over the parts that they had read about in class). The most important part was at the end - Native American Resistance. I originally intended to create a packet on this topic as well, but I ran out of time.
After reading about resistance and Pope’s Rebellion, the students were to write a short summary of the rebellion and then evaluate whether or not it was justified. If your textbooks don’t have a section on Pope’s Rebellion, you could type up a synopsis of your own using online resources like Wikipedia. Considering the reasons that Native Americans revolted allows the students a window through which to evaluate the Spanish Empire as a whole. Were its policies moral? Horrible? Christian?
I’ve attached Word documents with the individual packets and questions.
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