Students learn the power of pairing pictures with poems to tell stories about historical and contemporary issues. Display the paired primary sources (Image 1 | Image 2), showing only the images (i.e., cover up the text) and inform students that the poem accompanying these illustrations has been removed. Ask them to predict what the poem is about using details from the images to support their conclusions. Display the bibliographic records for the sources and ask students what new … [Read more...]
Learning from the Source: Pairing Pictures & Poems to Tell Stories
Primary Source Learning: History Assessments of Thinking
Is the painting above by J.L.G Ferris—The First Thanksgiving 1621—a useful resource for historians who wish to understand the relationship between the Wampanoag Indians and the Pilgrim settlers in 1621? This is the question asked by Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) consortium member Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) in one of their Beyond the Bubble History Assessments of Thinking (HATs). Beyond the Bubble uses Library of Congress primary sources in "easy-to-use … [Read more...]
Learning from the Source: Primary Source Trail of Western Migration
Background The “Corps of Discovery” expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in the years 1804-1806 was instrumental in opening up western North America to settlement. After this defining exploration, fur companies further investigated westward routes. Financed by John J. Astor's Pacific Fur Company, an 1812 expedition led by Robert Stuart began on the west coast at Fort Aster on the mouth of the Columbia River and forged eastward. A significant portion of the route … [Read more...]
Analyzing Primary Sources: Elementary Image & Text Analysis Sheets
Primary sources engage all students—elementary, middle and high school. Below are some worksheets to help elementary students, in particular, to analyze primary source images and texts. These worksheets were created by TPS-Barat and master teacher Kimberly Heckart, who teaches third grade at Prairie Ridge Elementary in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Elementary Social Studies Methods at the University of Iowa. Kim whose accolades include Elementary Social Studies Teacher of the Year for both the Iowa and … [Read more...]
Learning from the Source: The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Lesson overview Writer and poet Langston Hughes was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance movement, famous for his illuminating and moving depictions of African American life. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" was Hughes's first published poem, appearing in the June 1921 issue of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) magazine The Crisis. Since that time, the poem has been set to music repeatedly, as shown by the sheet music illustrating this post. Lesson … [Read more...]
Guided Primary Source Analysis: Official Program Woman Suffrage Procession
Review the Official Program Woman Suffrage Procession and read the program forward (page 3). What goals for the procession does the forward set? How do the accomplishments of the highlighted women on pages 3 and 4 seem to support those goals? Closely read the first 11 paragraphs of page 4: Why Women Want to Vote. What is the tone of the text? What specific words and phrases support your conclusion? What group of women do you think was the primary audience for this text? What specific words … [Read more...]
Guided Primary Source Analysis: Great Moon Hoax
Read the summary of the Lunar Narrative from the Museum of Hoaxes. What details from the articles do you see evidence of in this illustration? Why do you think the illustrator created an inset, or a picture within a picture? Access this .pdf to see the image in more detail. Compare and contrast the information about the Great Moon Hoax from the following sources. What did you learn? What similar information is presented? Are there any discrepancies? Historic Hoaxes The Spokane … [Read more...]