Download
1 / 37
370 likes | 443 Views
Teaching with Primary Sources Midwest Region at Illinois State University. Funded by the Library of Congress. Grant Money. Online Graduate Courses. M aking connection to research using Primary Sources from the Library of Congress.
E N D
Teaching with Primary Sources Midwest Region at Illinois State University Funded by the Library of Congress
Making connection to researchusing Primary Sources from the Library of Congress
Fillmore Co Neb.1Monday Evening-- Aug 25", 73 To all at home I have only a few moments to write so you cannot expect much this time Mat has been writing and I supose has told all the news. I will tell you something a bout the farmers what and how they are getting a long--and crops. Wheat is all cut and in stack and thrashers are very busy hulling it out. Wheat is very good much better than we expected Farmers are makeing calculations to put out big crops next Spring--they are turning their attentions to small grain such wheat Barley and Oats Oats has never failed in this country--many will have 65 and 70 bushels to the acre Barley is exlent and {Begin deleted text}is{End deleted text} demands a big price. Corn--about one half is very good and the other not so good. I think there will be but little corn planted next year.-- Its" to fine a country to run machenery to spend much time to raising corn. Mat wants the table. I set down on the floore to finish--. Potatoes are good cabage not very good--too dry for it. We got along finely harvesting in Saline county. I stacked and bound wheat 22 1/2 day and felt much better at the last than when I comenced I will probably {Begin deleted text}will{End deleted text} go back after while. Prices-- Wheat 70 and 75 cts Oats no price Barley 65 cts There is a large amout of wheat going in to market. it is though {Begin inserted text}wheat{End inserted text} will be a biger price. I must stop writing for want of time. Excuse hast Giles S. Thomas. I take Sam to Sutton in the morning very early2 Editor's note(s) 1. At the beginning of this letter, there is one word that is written in pencil and stricken through. It does not appear to be in the author's handwriting; consequently, it has been omitted. 2. A section was cut from this letter, following the postscript. The damage does not appear to affect the body of the letter; it is unknown if additional writing was present.
What do you see? • Describe who and what you see in the picture.
What new people or things do you see? • Make a hypothesis about what you think is happening in this photo.
When do you think this photo was taken? • What evidence supports this? • What do you think happened before this photo was taken? • What evidence supports this?
Why do you think this image was created? • What questions do you have?
What does this image say about life in Nebraska during Westward expansion?
Source it • Who took the photograph? • When was it taken? • Why was it taken?
Contextualize It • What else was going on at the time this photograph was taken?
Close Read • How does this photograph make you feel? • How might the circumstances in which the photograph was created affect its content?
Corroborate It! • Are there other images or written sources that support the “accuracy” of the content of this photograph? • If so, what are they? • What images would be the most reliable? Why?
Student Activities Write Letters Students could imagine that they are settlers from the East or Midwest, journeying to the West to start a new home. Using letters from Prairie Settlement: Nebraska Photographs and Family Letters, 1862-1912 as a model, they could write letters home, describing encounters with people or places described in the documents. What do they learn about the West from each encounter? Use Maps to create routes West Completing the Transcontinental Railroad was one of the most important events in connecting the West into the United States. Challenge students to use a map to decide where they would build a railroad from the Midwest to California. Where would they start? Where would they end? What route would they follow? When they have drawn their route, have them compare it with a Library of Congress map of one of the completed railways. How close was their route to the actual route? Different Perspectives Perspectives on westward expansion varied dramatically when it was taking place. Challenge students to examine a positive representation of westward expansion, such as one of the ones in this set, and to speculate about the point of view of its creator. Then, they might find a document or image in the Library’s digital collections that represents a different point of view, and identify the ways in which the two items disagree. Draw Political Cartoons and Broadsides Documents in the American Memory collections provide evidence of conflict among the cultural groups that met each other in the American West. Challenge students to find evidence of conflict and prejudice in the documents in this primary source set. Can they also find evidence of cooperation and acceptance? Assign students to create a political cartoon about race relations in the nineteenth-century West.
Nebraska Social Studies Standards • SS 5.3.1 Students will explore where (spatial) and why people, places and environments are organized in the United States • SS 5.3.2 Students will compare the characteristics of places and regions and draw conclusions on their impact on human decisions. • SS 5.3.4 Students will compare, contrast and draw conclusions about the characteristics of culture and migration in the United States. • SS 5.3.5 Students will describe how humans have adapted to and modified different environments in Early American history.
Thinking Routines Tools - used over and over again in the classroom, that support specific thinking moves. Structures-through which students collectively as well as individually initiate, explore, discuss, document, and manage their thinking. Patterns of behavior-adopted to help one use the mind to form thoughts, reason, or reflect
Using Thinking Routines The language of routines often needs to be unpacked for both students and teachers Students need lots of modelsof good thinking and the opportunity to reflect on and critique thinking or their responses may remain superficial. In the classroom, it’s not just the routines themselves but the interactions that take place around routines that makes them powerful. While thinking routines can vary in their length, students still require time to think and this cannot be rushed.
Initially thinking routines often start off as activities, but in order to work over time they have to be seen as integrated and purposeful by the students. • Thinking routines become routines only once the edges are softened and both teachers and students can work flexibly with the routine. • Over time, we look for students to adopt the language of the routines and take on a more active and present voice, e.g. Iʼmwondering, Iʼmthinking. • Thinking routines help us to hear more student voices.
Thinking Routines and Learning • Learning is doing • Learning starts with the learner’s own ideas • Learning involves getting personally involved • Questions drive learning and are also outcomes of learning • Learning involves uncovering complexity • Learning can be a group process and a group outcome • Learning and thinking can be made visible
