Historical Marker: History is All Around Us!

History is all around us! This is a great assignment that I did for my Utah History students. However, it could work for any history class in any state. The previous for this project is that students will need to:

• Go to a Historical Marker within the State of Utah
• (plaques with on old buildings, or monuments etc.)
• Take a Selfie at the Marker 
• (Print off or send to me to print)
• Do a little research about said marker
• Present to the class

Selfie at Hotel Utah,
 My kids and myself

To help students find markers, to begin with, I had students look up markers using the Utah Heritage website:

https://heritage.utah.gov/history/historic-markers

In this link select “Markers and monuments database”  then search by County, Organization, Keyword, or Theme. In most cases, it will have a short description.

I even placed a map on the back wall of my classroom with pins and selfies of places that my student have gone within the state. 

To help motivate students, I award 3 prizes at the end of each quarter.

1. Best Selfie
2. Farthest Marker
3. Most Interesting 

For most students, they enjoyed this project and enjoyed learning about the little-known history of our small towns and our state. When it came to students that claimed that their parents couldn't take them to a Historical Site, I had them have their parents contact me, or reminded them that there were a ton within a 30 min drive.

Memorial Project

This is a fun way to get students thinking about symbolism and remembering the past. It also gives students the freedom to choose how they would like to present their research. For this project I put it into Utah's Struggle for Statehood, but it could be adapted for almost any unit. They begin by selecting a topic within Utah's Territorial time frame to research. Then they select the the way that they would like to present their research; drawing out in detail a memorial (or building a small replica),  designing installation art, or a miscellaneous/ performance (interpretive dance, monolog, musical composition, or something else). They then do the research, write a process paper explaining their symbolism and present it to the class.

Memorial

This is the Place Monument commemorating the Mormon Pioneers entry into the Salt Lake Valley and all of the other explorers before.

Resembles a weeping willow in Budapest, Hungary.  On each metal leaf is a name of a Hungarian Jew who die in the Holocaust.

http://www.theholocaustexplained.org/ks3/survival-and-legacy/legacy-and-memory/holocaust-memorials/#.VRnAbDvF8mc

The memorial at Iwo Jima to remember the United States victory at Iwo Jima.  The sculpture is based off of the famous picture taken the day of the victory.

 Installation Art

This is an installation art piece that represents the Japanese Internment in the United States during World War II.  Many people who were Japanese or of Japanese descent on the West Coast were forced from their homes and sent to internment camps until the end of the war.  This art piece is a collection of luggage tags that the Japanese had to put on their suitcases.  It shows the number of people that were sent away.

This installation art piece is in remembrance of 9/11.  "In observance of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Illegal Art has marked each of the 110 floors on the sidewalk with chalk, starting at 5th Avenue and 14th Street and heading north for 1,368 feet (417 meters), the height of the taller of the two towers.  Passersby, like yourself, are encouraged to walk the height of the once standing building along 5th Avenue and write any words that expresses your feeling or experience related to 9/11."

http://www.examiner.com/article/heartfelt-diy-9-11-memorial-encourages-interaction

This the Rubric and information that is given to students:

 Remembering Events of Utah History

The State of Utah has decided that people are forgetting what happened many events that happened in Utah History.  You will compete in this competition choosing to create one of the following a memorial, an installation art piece, or a miscellaneous project.  Below are the requirements for each category.  IN TOTAL YOUR PROJECT IS WORTH 45 POINTS

Step 1: Choose form one of the following topics:

Utah War

Mountain Meadows Massacre

The Walker War

Utah Black Hawk War

Trans Continental Railroad             

Coop. Stores

Mining in Utah

Minorities

Pony Express

Other_______________________

Step 2: Pick a Genre

MEMORIAL:

A memorial is an object, which serves as a focus for memory of something or someone.  Examples are plaques, sculptures, monuments, statues, fountains, or parks.  (You cannot do a plaque or a park – nor can you simply do a statue of an American Indian).  Memorials are often very symbolic in their design.  For example, some Holocaust memorials include barbed wire, symbolizing the wire used to contain them.  If you choose to do a memorial you must have:

______  A well-drawn design of your memorial (this is not a quick drawing) (20

            points)

______  An incorporated symbol that has a connection to your topic (5 points)

______  A one-page typed description that includes: (20 points total)

            ______ HOW and WHY you chose your design (5 points)

            ______ What is your incorporated symbol and why did you choose it (8

                         points)

            ______ A location for your memorial (where would you put it and why) (2

                        points)

            ______Sources and Research What happened! (5 points)

“INSTALLATION” ART:

“Installation” art is an art piece that is 3-D that can be found within a museum or in a site-specific space.  While a memorial has symbolic elements, “installation” art is completely symbolic and raises awareness.  It also can be interactive.  It is art that really makes the viewer think about what is symbolizes, but it also makes them look inward.  If you choose to do an “installation” art piece you must have:

______  A well-drawn design of your “installation” art (this is not a quick drawing)  

            (20 points)

______  Symbolism (How is it symbolic) (10 points)

______  A one-page typed description that includes: (15 points total)

            ______ HOW and WHY you chose your design (3 points)

            ______ Describe how your art is symbolic and what you want your viewers to

                       experience (5 points)

            ______ A location for your “installation” art (where would you put it and why)

                       (2 points)

______Sources and Research What happened! (5 points)

MISCELLANEOUS

We know that there are those of you out there that have other talents that may not fall into the 3 categories above and we would like to give you the chance to participate as well.  In this category you may: write a song (music and/or lyrics), choreograph a dance, write a spoken word poem or write a 5 minute monologue (each recorded and sent to Mr. Owen  (See me for examples) If you choose to participate in this category you must have:

______  A recording of the piece (20 points)

______  A one-page typed description (25 point total)

            ______ HOW and WHY you chose this particular form of art (8 points)

            ______ Your process in creating this art piece (6 points)

            ______ What do you hope your audience will feel and take away from

           seeing/hearing your performance (6  points)

            ______Sources and Research What happened! (5 points)

Step 3: Research Topic and complete requirements for your chosen Medium.

Step 4: 2-5 minute presentation about your Project.

Sensitivity Module: Senior Interview

Sensitivity Module: Senior Interview  

State Standards

Idaho: US2: 1.1/ 1.4/ 5.1

Utah: US2: 7/ 8

 

Honors U.S. History II

My thoughts for this unit are to make it for an honors or leadership class. It involves a lot of work on the teacher’s part and places a lot of responsibility on the students, and until it could be perfected I would not recommend it be done for a standard History class.

Interviewing elderly about their childhood (1940’s or 1950’s) unfortunately the placement of this lesson will change over the years the original lesson was with WWII vets and there are not many left.

The ideas for this lesson come from Values Clarifications: a Handbook of Practical Strategies for teachers and Students (Simon©1972) Strategy Number 45

Objective: Students will gain a greater respect for those that lived through history by interviewing the elderly in their community. This will give a primary source on growing up in these periods.

Before begging this unit contact a local Nursing Home, Assisted living center or Senior Citizen organization and see if there are any seniors that would like members  (no more than two) to come and visit them and ask them about their early years. Find out general information to give to the students such as: Birth, Place of birth, perfusion, family status, and best times to meet with them, as well as any other things that may be nice to know.

Before assigning seniors to students teach the students the importance being professional with these seniors, and preparing them to be the interviewer. Take a class period to have them practice interviewing as pares and then have them write down a list of questions that they would like to ask their senior. There are many movie clips that can be shown to help this way. Also remained the class that when taking a recorded interview and typing it out it is customary for folklorist to write exactly how it is said with ums and accents sounded out…

If you have made arrangements with a nursing home or assisted living center, and time permits class time could be used to go as a class and do the interviews, otherwise arrangements will need to be made on an individual bases, the interview should take at least a half hour but not go much longer than an hour. If the students want to visit more have them return another day…

From the interview students will write a report, or the stories that they learned.  A rubric will need to be created for students to fallow according to the desired outcome. 

Flow, Spelling and Grammar 15pt

Strong introduction 10pt

Narrative (story 3-4 paragraphs from interview) 50pt

Reflection 20pt

Above and beyond (just over the top good) 5pt

Total 100pt

Extra: if this project is a success and there are a few students that bond and create a great report and interview have a life time achievement night to honor one or two of the seniors that were interviewed. Have the students do most of the work and expound on their lives. Have them make a presentation and honor the seniors at a “big event” a dinner with the class their family and friends or whatever fits your community.

It is my hope and belief that by having young people interact and learn from these seniors they will gain a greater respect for their elders and grow to become more understanding of others.

Lesson For Change

 This lesson can be adapted to fit multiple lessons on diversity and the history of any state or nation.

Subject: 8^th & 11^th Grade U.S. History

Lesson and Unit: 1903 Immigration Forum: The Progressive Era 1900-1917

Objectives:

• Help students to understand the immigration issues in the early part of the 20^th century.
• Give students a sense of safety and of respect within the classroom, and then  compare some of these issues with immigration today

State Standards
Idaho: US2 1.2 / 1.4 / 4.3
Utah: US2 3.1 / 5.2
  

Materials needed:

• Five newspaper covers from five big cities in the 1903 dealing with immigration - five copies of each
• Magnifying glass for each student
• Overhead or power point of the Immigration Act of 1917
• Markers/ chalk for the white/chalk board

Lesson:

            Before beginning remind the class of the first rule of the classroom: respect. Tell them that we will be discussing a matter that is in the news today, but we must be respectful of other people’s opinions. Remind them that we all came from immigrant families, either now or in the distant past.

            Divide the class into five groups of four or five and have them read newspapers from the early 20^th Century (pre-printed from The Library of Congress :National Endowment for the Humanities http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/) from large cities on the east and west coasts where immigration issues were their highest. Have each group member take notes so that they can present a one minute overview of their article (10-15minutes)

            Have the groups separate into five new groups with one group member from the five articles. This way there are members representing each of the old groups. Prompt each group to share a one minute overview of the articles that they had read, after which the groups are to discuss the similarities among the articles and identify at least ten issues that were related to immigration in the early 20^th Century. (15 minutes).

            Bring the class back together and have a group discussion, by first listing several of the issues that they had found from their small groups. Have the students expound on the list and bring up issues that appear in the news today. Bring in newspapers with headlines on immigration today. Pose these questions as discussion: are there solutions? What could be done to help immigrants transition into life in the USA?  (This discussion could go on for 10 or 15minutes depending on the class.)

            Have each student write a reflection in their History Journals on the following prompt: “Put yourself in the shoes of an immigrant in the early 20^th Century in a large city from one of the articles you read. How would reading those newspapers make you feel about the city you are living in?” (5-10 minutes).

            Once they have all finished with their journals ask what they know about what happened with immigration during the Progressive era and the early 20^th Century. If there is no comment have them open the book to the chapter on the early 20^th Century and immigration. Pose the question again and point out certain paragraphs on the subject. End with the Immigration Act of 1917, reading the first section on the overhead together. Discuss how this limited the amount of immigrants and stopped certain immigrants from entering the country for several reasons. List some of these reasons as a class from the Immigration Act of 1917.

            Before the bell rings ask the students if they know what was going on in Europe in 1917 which may have contributed to the influx of immigration. WWI and Pogrom in Russia (Discrimination against Jews such as Fiddler on the Roof).

Lesson Analysis:

            This lesson covers a wide variety of Multi-Cultural topics that are applicable to diverse teaching. The lesson is tailored to a wide variety of learners by including group work, large group discussion, visual aides such as overheads and written lists, and journal writing for those that do not feel inclined to speak out. This lesson also builds a supportive teacher-student and student-student relationship by giving the students the opportunity to learn and teach each other using some of the materials provided.

            At the beginning of this lesson, before the group discussion, I refresh the students’ memories on the first rule of the classroom: respect. This is appropriate for the possibly of prejudice stereotyping of immigrants in the 20^th century and today, and there may be classmates that are immigrants or come from immigrant families that must be considered. My lesson also fosters cross group communication by mixing up the classroom twice and creating a topic of discussion.

            Within my lesson are several newspapers that have articles that express a dislike for new immigrants from Eastern Europe and show how the power and privilege that Americans had over these new immigrants and how it can be related to today’s immigration issues. The curriculum is most definitely relevant to mainstream and non-mainstream students by discussing an issue that has been debated for decades and applies to all groups in the USA whether they are new immigrants or have immigrants in their heritage.

            By having each group read articles written by the established citizens of the different cities they can see their opinion of the new immigrants and yet they know that many of these people were their grandparents. To be treated the way that they were was a true injustice, and yet today there are some of the same injustices being committed against immigrants. The goal is to make a new way to think about the issue of immigration. My lesson also encourages students to analyzing what they read in newspapers and the oppression that came during the early 20^th century.

            All of these multicultural objectives are crucial to my lesson without them we would probably read the book and watch a documentary of immigration in the early 20^th century.

History of Me Project

8^th Grade US History I or 11 Grade US History II

8^th Grade Utah Standards Covered (II: 2: a; IV: 1, 2; VII; X; as well as other parts depending on students Family History) see http://www.uen.org/core/

11^th Grade Utah Standards Covered (I: 1, 3; II: 1, 3, 4; III: 2; IV; V; VI; VII; IIX; IX; X) see http://www.uen.org/core/

 

Objective: Students will come to an understanding of how their family played a role in American History for 8^th graders it is more of about their families immigration story, for 11^th grade it can be more of a contemporary look at where their family was at the time of the events of the last century with interviews were possible.

Rational: Within the first week introduce this project telling the students to pay attention to the class and ask questions and find your connections to the events that we will be covering in class. When we explore the revolution find out where your family was at that time or witch side of the Civil War were your ancestors on.

Unit in Two parts first one is within the first week of school and the second is the last part of the school year

Part One: only take one week or 3 periods with project not due for a week

Where do I fit in history?

Intro to family history Have students fill out a pedigree chart as far as they can ask parents and grandparents. Take a day to go to the computer lab and look up ancestors using family search and/or ancestry.com, to find out where they lived and when they died/born. Other things to find out from search are social status, religion, family size, or anything of interest. If no pacific biographical information is found, research the time period and location that they lived in and attach to pedigree. Ask family members for any family stories or stories from their own childhood.

Possible enrichment: invite an expert there are genealogy experts in almost every community that would be happy to share their knowledge of family search.

Assessment:
For 8th grade: Must turn in simple pedigree with one line back 5 generations, a short one to two page biography of one ancestor with references to pre-US origins, and religion/ social class.
11th grade: Must turn in simple pedigree with one line back 5 generations, a short two to three page biography of one ancestor within the century after civil war reconstruction with references to origins, and religion/ social class, and any other interesting facts, must also include pictures or artifacts.

Rubric:                  Pedigree chart as far as possible at least 5 generations                     10

                                Two Biographies related to two ancestors’ one page each            20

                                Parent Interview 1 page                                                               10

                                Neatness and grammar                                                                  5

                                Reflection                                                                                      5

                                                                                                                      Total      50 pts

 

Part Two: Putting It All Together

Objective: Have students put a comprehensive project and presentation together telling their American Journey

This should take about a few days of lab work to get student ready. Show them how to do the research were to find reliable sources etc in Computer lab one day, research the second, then give a few days to write outlines and rough drafts and then have a period of typing in the lab (may include a day at media center looking up books, after that give 2 days to build presentation and display. Reports 5 presenters a day out of 35 students equals 7 periods (8^th grade) 9 presenters a day out of 35 students equals 4 periods.

If Possible set up a Family history museum in the classroom or Library and invite members of the community to come and see the work that students have done.

Rubric for final project:

Written research paper 5 pages plus sources and other material: 100 pts

                5 pages double spaced typed    

Story of one ancestor’s family tied into one of the events of US History covered in course or if family did not come to USA till after 1876 then immigration story, or other.

                Describes living conditions of family during this time period and historical context

Reflection on why this ancestor was chosen and how it affects you 

3 or more sources (ancestry web site, family interviews, book, lecture, journals etc.)

Presentation: 50pts

Speech 5-8 minutes long: Introduce yore ancestor, tell where and when they lived and part of their story with reasons for choosing them.

                Visuals (Pictures, Artifact, modals, costume, etc.)

Display poster (catchy, photos or drawings, the story of you ancestor, and other facts about life in that time period.

 

Community Project: have students present a museum with visuals from their projects in your room or library, invite the community to come and see the students projects also invite other classes in the school to come and see the work that your students have done.