-= The New Hampshire Heritage Project - Curriculum Resources =-

Lesson Plans:

American Studies II American Experience Project - Oyster River High School
Spring, 2002 Durham, NH
"We are soldiers, so our children can be farmers, so their children can be artists"
-Thomas Jefferson

_____Throughout this semester we have been studying the ordinary and extraordinary people who have participated in the musical, artistic, literary and historic life of our country from 1880 to the present. For our final project of the semester, we are going to ask you to examine the American experience of three generations: your grandparents' generation, your parents' generation and your generation.
_____Though Jefferson's quote may not necessarily apply to those you study, you can use it metaphorically to represent the idea that each generation does certain things so that the next generation can have a better life. Indeed, that has been an aspect of the American Dream from the founding of the country.

_____Exactly what are we asking you to accomplish?

1. Select a person to interview from your grandparents' generation. Make a timeline of the person's life, showing important historic/literary/arts events below the line and what was going on in the person's life above the line.

2. Interview the person. Make sure that in your interview, you ask the person to connect his/her life with the history/literature/arts movements and events you have identified. Type the interview in question/answer format. Write a 1 page introduction and a 1 page conclusion to the interview/person.

3. Collect photographs or other artifacts belonging to the person.

4. Start a portfolio/scrapbook of the material you have gathered so far including the interview with introduction and conclusion. (Due May 6)

5. Repeat the above process with a person of your parents' generation. (Due May 24)

6. Write an autobiographical narrative of your own life, connecting it to the history/literature and arts movements of the time. Examine your hopes/expectations for the future. Collect artifacts/photographs and add to your scrapbook/portfolio. (Draft due June 3)

7. Write a 3 - 5 page typed essay in which you reflect on the extent to which Jefferson's quote above is exhibited in the three generations you have studied. Use this essay as an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the connections between ordinary people and the history/literature/art of the 20th century. (Due with your portfolio day of exam - to be shared).

Grades will be given for each portion of the project: May 6, May 24, June 3, Final exam.

Topic: Using Primary Sources Critically and Comparatively

Abstract: In these lessons, students use portraits, a letter, and historic documents to learn to think critically about primary sources. This lesson, to be presented early in the year in a U.S. History or American Studies class, will prepare students to examine primary sources in community heritage projects.

Audience: Gr. 8 - 12

In-class time: 3-4 fifty-minute periods

Out-of-Class-time: 3 nights of homework (30+ minutes each)

Question(s):
1. Can we rely on a single source as we study a time period?
2. What questions do we need to ask in order to seek the most accurate account?

Resources:
Books: Butterfield, Lyman, et al. eds., The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family 1762-1784. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975 (152-153).

Lipman, Joan and Tom Armstrong, eds. American Folk Painters of Three Centuries. New York: Hudson Hill Press, Inc. 1980 (13-15).

Maier, Pauline. American Scripture. New York: Vintage Books, 1998.
(source for Ashby town Resolution)

Articles: Morgan, Katherine. "Using Primary Sources to Build a Community of Thinkers."
English Journal. March, 2002 (69-74).

Web Sites:
http://www.umkc.edu/imc/adamsa.htm
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/beardsley_limner_the.html
(portrait of Mrs. Beardsley)
http://memory.loc.gov/const/declar.html (Declaration of Independence)
http://www.oclc.org/pdemo/kg/p085.htm (background on the Beardsley portraits)
http://www.thomasjeffersonpapers.org/DecIndependence/Declaration.htm
(manuscript copy of the Declaration)
http://www.umkc.edu/imc/adamsa.htm (background on Abigail Adams, but not
correspondence)
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm (pre-Declaration documents)

Sequence of Activities:
_____Pre day one: Assign Abigail Adams letter of August 14, 1776 to her husband John. (It is important that this letter come from an edition that has preserved her spelling and capitalization - see Resources) Ask students to write answers to the following questions:
_____A. What surprises you about this letter?
_____B. What does the letter reveal about Abigail?
_____C. What does the letter reveal about her relationship to her husband?
_____D. What does the letter reveal about the society of the time?
_____E. What issues does she raise which are related to current issues?

_____Day 1: In class, show transparencies or slides of the portraits of Hezekiah and Elizabeth Beardsley painted c. 1785 (or any similar set of portraits.) Ask the students to work in partners to answer the following questions:
_____A. What do these portraits remind you of?
_____B. What do you see in each portrait?
_____C. What do the portraits reveal about gender roles of the time?
_____D. What do these portraits tell us about the values, attitudes, and beliefs of the society?

_____Take out the Abigail Adams letter and answers to homework questions. Discuss answers. Ask students if the letter reinforces or disputes the ideas about society and gender roles which they just generated about the portraits. If they were to paint a portrait of Abigail, would it differ from the portrait of Elizabeth Beardsley? How and why?

Homework: Read The Declaration of Independence and pages in text which
describe the writing of the Declaration

_____Day 2: Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? Refer to textbook account.

_____Divide students into groups of 3 or 4. Some groups will have copies of Richard Henry Lee's Resolution of June 7, 1776; some will have the opening sections of The Constitution of Virginia and Bill of Rights, drafted by George Mason, June 12 and June 29, 1776; some will have a copy of the resolution passed by the town of Ashby, Massachusetts, July 1, 1776. Teacher should be prepared to show each source on an overhead projector or other similar means of projection.
_____ Each group needs to read its document carefully, and compare it to The Declaration of Independence.
_____Groups should list the questions this comparative reading raises. Follow with full class discussion of each group's discoveries and questions. What more do you need to know in order to answer the question "Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?" Students should generate possible avenues to further research.

Assessment: Students will write a 2 page reflective response paper in which they use their experiences in class to answer the question: Can we rely on a single source for a given time period or event? Why or Why not? What can a single source tell us? N.B. True assessment will occur as students continue their study of history and are challenged to accept or reject various accounts of historical events.

_____Day 3: Students will share response papers in class and generate discussion about the usefulness of individual sources and the process(es) of doing history.

Other Notes & Suggestions: These activities can occur early in the year during a unit on the Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary War time period or, they may be done as a separate exercise in a unit on historiography. Each activity may be greatly expanded depending on thetime and inclination of the teacher. Students could actually create portraits of Abigail Adams; they could write the imagined letter back to her from John; they could pursue further research into their correspondence or into the writing of the Declaration of Independence.

Topic: Tradition and Change: Art and the Environment of the Great Bay Region

Abstract: In this unit, American Studies students will study the ways in which the resources of the region were used by early inhabitants for both aesthetic and practical purposes. A similar unit may be used for other regions, with readings assigned and traditional artists engaged appropriate for that region.

National Standards Addressed:

Visual Arts (9-12):

Content Standard #4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and culture
Content Standard #6: Making connections between the visual arts and other disciplines

Historical Thinking:

Standard 2: Historical Comprehension: 2D
Standard 3: Historical Analysis and Interpretation: 3B, 3D, 3F
Standard 5: Historical Issues - Analysis and Decision-Making: 5A

Audience: American Studies Classes (grades 11-12)

In-Class time: 8-9 days

Out-of-Class time: 4-5 nights (45 min. per night)

Questions:
_____1. How did the native people use the natural resources of the Great Bay Region?
_____2. How did the colonial settlers use the natural resources of the Great Bay Region?
_____3. How did the native people's views of land and resource use differ from the colonial settlers' views?
_____4. When natural resource uses changed, what was gained? What was lost?

Readings:
Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. New York: Hill & Wang, 1983. Chapter 3 - "Seasons of Want and Plenty"

Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. New York: Hill & Wang, 1983.Chapter 4 - "Bounding the Land"

Scales, John. History of Dover, NH . Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1977.(56-63)

Thompson, Mary P. Landmarks in Ancient Dover, NH . Durham NH: Durham Historic Association, 1965. (168-179)

Van Deventer, David E. The Emergence of Provincial New Hampshire 1623-1741. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1976. (95-103)

Sequence of Activities:
_____1. Assign Chapter 3 from Changes in the Land for homework.

_____Day 1: In class, divide students into two groups, group one to discuss the chapter focusing on the New England Native Americans' relationship to the land; group two will consider what evidence in the chapter would suggest the opportunity for the interrelationship of art and the environment. Each group shares insights in the large group and more discussion follows.

_____Day 2: Traditional basket maker presents a full class period on the harvesting of black ash; the process of producing basket splints; the aesthetic and functional uses of baskets by New England Native Americans.

_____Day 3: Traditional basket maker begins projects with students using a variety of splints of black ash and other trees native to the region. (Weaving of basket panels which will be used in the creation of a mural for the library.) While they work, students discuss the feel of the materials and the difficulties involved in this art form. The basket maker interacts with each student, answering questions and providing advice and direction.

_____Day 4: Continuation of project
Assign reading from Emergence of Provincial NH 1623-1741 which focuses on colonial use of lumber in the region, particularly white pines for shipbuilding.

_____Day 5: Finish project and discuss the reading, identifying changes in the region as white pines were harvested and sawmills created. Discussion focuses on the question: What changes occurred in the region and did these changes represent "progress?"

_____Day 6: Students spend a full class period in the nearby woods with a local forester. This day focuses on tree identification and uses by Native Americans and early colonial settlers. Particular properties of trees are described which make them suitable for specific aesthetic and functional objects. Assign Cronon, Chapter 4: "Bounding the Land."

_____Day 7: Students spend the period in the woods with the forester, learning to "read the land." Colonial bounding methods are discovered in the nearby woods, as well as an early roadbed, and plants which had, at one time, been part of the landscaping for an earlier home on the site.

_____Day 8: In-class discussion of the difference between the Native American and colonial settlers' views of the land and uses of the natural resources.

Assessment options:
I. Essays
A. Write an essay in which you compare and contrast the ways in which the two cultures viewed and used environmental resources for aesthetic and functional objects.
B. Write an essay in which you discuss the ways in which "progress" for the settlers represented "loss" for the native population.
C. Write an essay in which you agree or disagree with the statement: "If the two cultures had each made more of an effort, they might have learned to live together."

In whichever essay option you choose, use evidence from the readings and from your hands-on experience with the basket maker and the forester to support your essay.

OR

II. Creative Option
A. Write a dialogue between a New England native and a settler which clearly reveals their differing views of the land.
B. Create a visual response which depicts the different views of the Native Americans and Colonial settlers. Write a two page rationale in which you explain your visual response
C. Create a weaving which depicts the interaction of the native people with the settlers. Use natural materials where possible. Write a two page rationale in which you explain your weaving.
D. Other? See teacher.

_____Day 9: Essays are due and shared in class. Remaining readings are assigned in preparation for the visits by the potter and the architect. (This might not come immediately after Day 8, in order to give students time to write the essay and complete creative response projects.)

Nature Journal Guidelines - for 9th graders
From a unit by Kate Dobe, Oyster River High School

The Nature Journal IS a place where you...
_____are honest
_____are thoughtful
_____record observations
_____ponder mysteries
_____reflect on reading
_____respond
_____challenge yourself
_____collect "seeds"

The Nature Journal ISN'T a place where you...
_____make "diary" entries
_____worry about perfection

REQUIREMENTS
General Information:
_____Date
_____Time
_____Weather conditions (temperature, humidity, cloud cover, wind directions)
_____Location/Habitat
_____First Impressions
_____SIGNS OF THE SEASON (for ideas, refer to the autumn chart)
Length:
_____You should write 1-2 pages (depending on the size of your journal) each time you go to your secret spot or complete an assignment for homework. NOTE: I realize that, because you all have other things going on in your lives, you will be busier some nights than others. You have the option of not doing FOUR journal entries.

OPTIONS (when assignment is not specific)
_____Sketching
_____Prose
_____Poetry
_____Freewrites
_____Impressions

**Always ask yourself: "What happened here?" and "What is this telling me?"**

"It doesn't really matter whether you can draw or not -- just the time taken to examine in detail, to turn a flower or a shell over in your fingers, opens doors and windows."
- Ann Zwinger