Columbus Day Debate Lesson Plan
Students will delve into the controversary concerning the Columbus Day holiday. Classes will analyze the history surrounding who discovered America and determine if the Columbus Day Holiday should remain the same, be changed to celebrate another person/group, or should commemorate another topic. This lesson is intended to open the eyes of middle school students to the multiple perspectives on Columbus and provide an opportunity for discussion and why perhaps some South American and Central American countries refuse to celebrate Columbus Day.
Explore the Columbus Day controversy with this structured lesson plan for World History II. Includes activities, arguments, and assessment. Using this debate in your classroom can help your students grasp the content of the material and develop critical thinking skills.
After you have taught your lesson on Christopher Columbus in your classroom, you can have your students perform the debate. Columbus Day occurs on the second Monday in October. This holiday, commemorating the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas, has been unofficially celebrated as early as the 18th century, and became a federal holiday in 1937.
Columbus Day is the second Monday in October. Browse these cross-curricular Columbus Day lesson plans and teaching resources on this controversial explorer. Your students will need to be familiar with some of the arguments regarding Columbus' "discovery" of America.
They will need to do research as necessary to develop an opinion and counter arguments. Students should summarize the basic arguments for and against the continuance of the Columbus Day holiday. They should support each argument with specific evidence from research.
"Debate: Should we celebrate Columbus Day?" by Latin American and Iberian Institute < Previous Next > Home > Libraries, Museums, and Research Centers > Research Centers > LAII > LA K-12 Resources > Lesson Plans > 121 Today, on Columbus Day (still a federal holiday), we had our students debate whether or not Columbus Day should be a holiday. To set up this lesson, we have the students in two groups and give each group a different text.
