Analyzing Primary Sources
- Post-site Activity/Teacher Led
Grade Level: 8
Content Area:
History and Language Arts
Time to Complete: 45 minutes
(in class), unknown for activities outside the classroom
Title of Lesson:
Analyzing Primary SourcesSouth Carolina
State Standards Addressed:
|
8-4.2 |
Describe the causes and course of the
Civil War and its effect on the American people. |
|
8-8.5 |
Describe the role of technology
development in the shaping the characteristics of economic,
cultural, and political regions in South Carolina and the United
States. |
|
8-R1.4 |
Demonstrate the
ability to summarize, paraphrase, analyze, and evaluate what he or
she reads. |
|
8-W1.2 |
Demonstrate the
ability to generate drafts that use a logical progression of ideas
to develop a topic for a specific audience and/or purpose. |
|
8-W1.6.1 |
Demonstrate the
ability to write multiple-paragraph compositions, friendly letters,
and expressive and informational pieces. |
|
8-W2.2 |
Demonstrate the
ability to use writing to learn, entertain, and describe. |
Lesson Description:
The following classroom
activities were designed to reinforce
the information presented during the
field trip and to assist the teacher in
assessing the knowledge gained by the
students from their visit to Redcliffe.
Focus Question
for Students:
| 1. |
What methods do
historians use to investigate the past? |
|
2. |
What do the
photographs, letters, diary entries, and artifacts say about the
people who lived at Redcliffe? |
Culminating Assessment:
| 1. |
Student should
be able to analyze documents and extract important information on a
specific topic. |
|
2. |
Student should
be able to compare and contrast how their life differs from life at
Redcliffe Plantation 150 years ago. |
|
3. |
Student should
be able to articulate and convey the meaning of the artifacts and
documents in a written format. |
Materials/Resources:
| Hammond Letter |
|
| Plantation Manual |
|
Procedures:
|
1. |
Essays:
|
a. |
Choose
one or two aspects of life at Redcliffe during the 19th
century. Write an essay that compares and contrasts these
activities in the 19th century with our
activities today. |
| |
Example
topics: transportation, personal hygiene, nutrition,
food preparation/cooking, leisure time activities. |
|
or |
|
|
b. |
Imagine
that James Henry Hammond has come to your home for a visit.
Compare three objects/artifacts he would have used at
Redcliffe with similar objects found in your home. Explain
the differences and similarities. |
| |
Example: tin plate warmer from Redcliffe and microwave from
your home |
|
|
2. |
Using forms provided
have students analyze an artifact from home and discuss what they
discovered with the class. |
|
3. |
Documents:
|
a. |
Using
the letter from James Henry Hammond to his son Harry Hammond
(dated November 17, 1861) have students write a letter back
to the original sender. Students should reference subject
matter in the original letter |
|
or |
|
|
b. |
Using
James Henry Hammond’s Plantation Manual have students
rewrite the document in their own words |
|
|
