With yet another Lesson Idea involving the Revolutionary War, I promise it will be the last one for a while (what can you expect? As an American, I love the story of my country's founding). This project can also provide a great way for students to learn more about the secrets that the early Americans kept to help them win the war and beat the British. With this idea, I recommend that only middle school aged students and above should do this project. It gets very complicated very fast, and I have a feeling younger kids may not see the appeal to the project. However, you can still do it; in fact, you could even intertwine this with the Revolutionary War Game as a subplot to the main events (in that case, DO NOT make this a graded project)!
In the Revolutionary War, spies would hide correspondence through coded letters, where a drab piece about a late order on fine china actually contains a secret message on where the British troops are stationed in Virginia. For this assignment, you'll have your students simulate the same thing, albeit with simpler messages and shorter letters (some of them were as long as 10 pages. TOO MUCH!)
First, assign the students into groups of an even number; if you have an odd number, simply put the extra student in a group of three and have them work as 2 spies corresponding with 1 spy, and so on. Next, explain that the students must now send messages back and forth that "the British" (the teacher) can't decode when the mail is "searched" (collected). If the teacher can't determine what the message is about (or if all of them are well written enough that it took a while to guess which message they were sending), "the British" will then deliver the mail to the other partner, who must decode the passage themselves. They then must turn in the decoded messages to "General Washington" (also the teacher), and the group that gets closest to the original message receives 5 points; the first to 50 wins, or, if strapped for time, the group with the most points at the end of a week wins.
Because the preceding paragraph may have been hard to follow, here's an example of how the assignment should work:
Group A, consisting of Johnny and Reba, receive their messages (each of them gets 5). Johnny is the first to send his message which reads: The British are attacking from Coast, need more Troops. (Side note: to make it more difficult, tell the students that none of the words with capital letters can be un-capitalized in the secret message).
Johnny writes the following message: The other day, I was walking about when a British soldier stopped me and questioned my demeanor. I inquired, "Are we not free people to walk about the county square?" He then assumed I was attacking his position, and demanded from me 50 pence or I would spend a night in the Prison. Having seen the atrocities they have done on the Coast, I did not need this inconvenience and paid him rather quickly. More of them then rallied about and called me the most horrendous names, Martha, that I cannot bear to describe on this parchment. Troops of them are taking over this city. I fear the thought of this letter falling into their hands. (Side note: NONE of the bolded words should be bolded in the letter! If they are, award the group no points)
Johnny then turns in this letter to "the British". Because this letter describes complaints about the British soldiers, there is a great chance it would have been confiscated and the writer questioned, and possible discovery of the American Spy network; however, this project isn't that complicated. Dock Group A 1 point from their total and deliver the message to Reba.
After a day, Reba gives "General Washington" the following message: The British are attacking position, 50 in Prison. Need more Troops. While Reba was able to convey that Johnny needed more troops, she failed to explicitly state what location (the Coast), and provided false information (50 troops are imprisoned). However, it could be interpreted as a call for help due to a British attack, so only dock 1.5 points. Group A will have 2.5 points at the end of the round, and Reba will then right a message to Johnny, repeating the process.
There we have it! Your own Revolutionary Spy Network, localized entirely within your classroom walls! If you're trying to do it in less time, I suggest having the student send more than 1 at a time (no more than 3), but beyond that, you can interpret the rules as much as you'd like! This can be a graded project, which would motivate the students to do it well to get a good grade, or just a fun activity to use as a learning tool. As always, give feedback on how this Lesson Idea worked, or any suggestions for other Ideas! Thanks for reading!
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
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