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A Guide to Integrating Local History Into the Classroom, Grades 6 ‐ 12

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A Guide to Integrating Local History Into the Classroom, Grades 6 ‐ 12 Because My History Matters: A Guide to Integrating Local History into the Classroom, Grades 6 ‐ 12 Table of Contents Introduction Lesson Plans 1. Time Capsules of History 2. Creating an Epic Poem 3. Reading Critically 4. The Power of Print: Newspapers 5. Change Over Time: Timelines of History 6. Change over Place and Time: Mapping Movements 7. My Neighborhood Photo‐Essay Challenge 8. Memory Trunks: Family History Memorials 9. A People’s Guide to Your City 10. Change over Time: Mapping Movement through Laws and Community 11. Landmarks, Then & Now 12. Creating A Walking Tour for a Local Neighborhood 13. An Oral History Project 14. Public Monument or History Exhibit Case Studies & the LA History Archive Glossary 1 Because My History Matters: A Guide to Integrating Local History into the Classroom, Grades 6 ‐ 12 Introduction: This book is intended to integrate local history into different classroom exercises, using traditional historical methodologies. This book includes Lessons Plans, Case Studies and a Glossary of terms but is also supplemented by an online component: the LA History Archive (Archive) at www.lahistoryarchive.org. The Archive provides primary sources, links for further research and sets of history resources developed by the Studio for Southern California History (Studio), a nonprofit a nonprofit resource center dedicated to critically chronicling and disseminating the region’s social history. These Lessons Plans, with the Archive, originated as ways for residents to access, question and gather local history and for interested educators to integrate local history into the classroom. A central tenet of this textbook is that it is beneficial for residents of a place to share local history stories and information and builds from Dolores Hayden’s The Power oF Place (1995) which documents different public history projects in Los Angeles that use social history as the basis of its approach. Hayden shows that it is not just the dissemination of history information that is powerful in public history projects; but the sharing of information between human beings provides a transformative context for one’s relationship to place. This axiom holds true in the classroom setting; Lesson Plans here require the sharing of all work and often include assignments where students may work collaboratively. Depending upon the abilities of different schools, some assignments may be conducted outside of the classroom, though all may be conducted in the classroom. In the spirit of Hayden’s model of collaborative learning and in the development of connection to a place, all assignments require presentation of student work both to provide these moments of learning and to build a broader body of knowledge related to local history. Lesson Plans The Lessons are organized to be chronologically specific and begin with Grade 6 and end with Grade 12 with two Lessons per grade. The Lesson Plans are organized to use a chronological framework beginning with ancient history and continuing to the present following the state standards described by the California Board of Education, see detailed list below, but may be set to different periods as needed by the class. The Lessons used as a group provide recursive strategies at developing critical readers and authors of all history. Individually each Lesson may be adapted to correspond to any specific period or place in history, following a central axiom of the discipline of history—that it is source driven. As a result, effective Lesson Plans will have multiple history sources to draw from provided by the instructor. Lesson Plans: Grade 6: Time Capsules of History (World History and Geography, Ancient Civilizations) Grade 6: Creating an Epic Poem (World History and Geography, Ancient Civilizations) Grade 7: Reading Critically (World History and Geography, Medieval and Early Modern Times) Grade 7: The Power of Print (Newspapers: World History and Geography, Medieval and Early Modern Times) Grade 8: Timelines of History (United States History and Geography, Growth and Conflict) Grade 8: Mapping Migration (United States History and Geography, Growth and Conflict) Grade 9: My Neighborhood Photo Essay Challenge (Open Year) Grade 9: Memory Trunks: Family History Memorials (Open Year) 2 Because My History Matters: A Guide to Integrating Local History into the Classroom, Grades 6 ‐ 12 Grade 10: A People’s Guide to Your City: (World History, Culture, and Geography, The Modern World) Grade 10: Mapping Movement through Laws and Community (World History, Culture, and Geography, The Modern World) Grade 11: Landmarks, Then & Now (United States History and Geography, Continuity and Change in the Twentieth Century) Great 11: Creating A Walking Tour for a Local Neighborhood (United States History and Geography, Continuity and Change in the Twentieth Century) Grade 12: An Oral History Project (Principles of American Democracy and Economics) Grade 12: Public Monument or History Exhibit (Principles of American Democracy and Economics) Case Studies and the LA History Archive The Lesson Plans are written for no specific region of the United States and follow the national standards in focus of chronological content and skill sets. However, as a product of the Studio for Southern California History, we include Case Studies that may be considered as examples to build upon or to contrast from in the integration of the Lesson Plans. This chapter includes excerpts of projects that may be explored in their entirety online through the Archive under its Resource section. The Archive is a catalog of downloadable historical documents and a repository for educator resources that serves educators, students and the general public who are interested in Southern California. This textbook would not have been possible without the help of many people who worked in a collaborative spirit in the writing of this textbook including the oversight of the Board of Directors for the Studio for Southern California History, other dedicated educators and scholars including Jose Alamillo, Sherna Berger Gluck, Adam Bush, Bob Drwila, Catherine Gudis, Alexis Moreno, Hynda Rudd, Chamara Russo, George J. Sanchez and Linda Vallejo. The Director of the Studio for Southern California History Sharon Sekhon edited and oversaw the creation of this text and its online counterpart, the Archive. Julia Ornelas‐Higdon Monica Pelayo and co‐authored Lesson Plan 10 “Mapping Movement through Laws and Community” which asks students to trace larger immigration and migration patterns through legislation and the movement of people and connect what they have learned to their personal experience. Both of these scholars assisted in preparing this text for its ultimate audience: teachers and those interested in learning local history. Nancy Bautista the development of the Case Studies in this text. Kristin Hargrove co‐authored Lesson Plan Four “The Power of Print” and diligently ensured each lesson adhered to national standards in measureable ways. Fiorella Cotrina and Hillary Jenks assisted in reading different versions of the text and ensuring its clarity. Christian Lainez and Rosa Mazon built and populated the online database on the Archive to provide primary sources and online versions of each Case Study for instructors who have classrooms with multimedia and internet capabilities. Finally, this textbook is indebted to the different teachers who are integrating local history in the classroom and have used or are using these methods. The Archive provides a Forum for teachers and students of all levels who are doing this valuable work to share their observations and evaluate these Lesson Plans in order to provide the best practices for everyone. 3 Because My History Matters: A Guide to Integrating Local History into the Classroom, Grades 6 ‐ 12 Lesson Plan 1: Time Capsules of History Introduction: This assignment asks students to review the history and existing information about an ancient American civilization that they will explore in class or from information inspired by another history resource. Drawing on the knowledge of the World History they have studied this year, students will create two time capsules: one focusing on a selected ancient American indigenous civilization and one representing contemporary society. Students will share their time capsules and contents through group display. A time capsule is a historic collection of objects and/or information, intended as a way to communicate with people in the future. There are two types of time capsules: intentional and unintentional. Intentional time capsules are placed on purpose and are intended to be opened in the future. Intentional time capsules are sometimes created and buried during community celebrations and placed in the cornerstone of a new building. Unintentional time capsules are usually archaeological in nature and may include gravesites, cave paintings, or buried civilizations that have been unearthed in an archaeological dig. What are examples of ancient time capsules? Do you know examples of more recent time capsules? There are numerous examples of ancient time capsules from different civilizations. For example, when Egyptian King Tutankhamen’s burial tomb was exposed by British archaeologists in 1922, the discovery revealed an unintentional time capsule from 1346 B.C. When King Tutankhamen was placed in this underground tomb, he was expected to remain there untouched and protected. However, its discovery revealed treasures in gold and new information about this civilization. Since its discovery, researchers
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