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Nature's Storyteller the Life of Gene Stratton-Porter

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Nature's Storyteller the Life of Gene Stratton-Porter TEACHER RESOURCE by Meredith Jill Horn for the Indiana Historical Society Press publication: Nature’s Storyteller The Life of Gene Stratton-Porter by Barbara Olenyik Morrow This is a publication of the Indiana Historical Society Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center 450 West Ohio Street Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269 USA Teacher Resource available online: http://www.indianahistory.org Book orders (telephone): (800) 447-1830 Book orders (fax): (317) 234-0562 Copyright 2010 Indiana Historical Society All rights reserved Except for copying portions of the teacher resources by educators for classroom use, or for quoting of brief passages for reviews, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without written permission of the copyright owner. All inquiries should be addressed to the Public Programs Division, Indiana Historical Society. Overview/Description ° Grade 6, History, Standard 1, Modern Era: Hoosier author and naturalist Gene Stratton-Porter 1700 to Present (6.1.15, 6.1.16, and 6.1.17) (1863–1924) was famous for her novels, nature and Chronological Thinking, Historical essays and photography. Her novels portrayed Comprehension, Analysis and Interpreta- virtuous, nature-loving characters overcoming tion, Research (6.1.18, 6.1.20, and 6.1.24) obstacles through hard work and piety. Readers ° Grade 8, Economics, Standard 4 (8.4.3, adored such works as Freckles, published in 1904, 8.4.5, and 8.4.6) and A Girl of the Limberlost, published in 1909. ° High School, U.S. History, Standard 1, Stratton-Porter wrote her novels during significant Early National Development: 1775 to 1877 periods of hardship in American history, such as (USH 1.4); and Standard 3, Emergence of the rapid urbanization of the Industrial Revolu- the Modern United States: 1897 to 1920 tion and the trench warfare of World War I. The (USH 3.6 and 3.7) lighthearted nature of her books, with happy endings and descriptions of rural and natural ° High School, Literature, Standard 3, Indiana, were adored by readers around the globe. Literary Analysis and Criticism of Fiction From her time as a youth in rural Indiana to the (Lit.3.2 and Lit.3.3) height of her fame as an author and film maker in • National Standards (National Council for California, Stratton-Porter continually focused on Social Studies): I Culture; II Time, Continu- appreciating and protecting natural surroundings. ity, and Change; V Individuals, Groups, and In this lesson students will read Barbara Olenyik Institutions; VIII Science, Technology, and Morrow’s Nature’s Storyteller: The Life of Gene Stratton- Society; and X Civic Ideals and Practices Porter (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 2010) and complete multidisciplinary activities in social Social Studies/Historical Concepts studies, science, and literature. Women’s suffrage, urbanization, industrialization, the environmental movement, agriculture, Grade Level film, photography, the Progressive Era, and Elementary (grades 4 and 5), middle/intermediate Indiana authors (grades 6, 7, and 8), and high school Learning/Instructional Objectives Academic Standards for the Social Studies Students will: • Indiana Standards • Read Nature’s Storyteller: The Life of Gene ° Grade 4, History, Standard 1, The Civil War Stratton-Porter by Barbara Olenyik Morrow. Era and Later Development: 1850 to 1900 • Analyze and discuss Stratton-Porter’s (4.1.9); Growth and Development: 1900 to experiences as a child living in rural Indiana, 1950 (4.1.12); and Chronological Thinking, a naturalist, an author, an explorer, and Historical Comprehension, Analysis and a film maker. Interpretations, Research (4.1.15 and 4.1.18) • Make a pinhole camera and draw conclusions ° Grade 4, Economics, Standard 4 (4.4.7) about the value, quality, and uses of early ° Grade 5, Economics, Standard 5 (5.4) forms of photography. • Build bird feeders and observe the habits and movements of different types of birds. 1 TEACHER RESOURCE • Nature’s Storyteller: The Life of Gene Stratton-Porter • Indiana Historical Society • Organize the major events in Stratton-Porter’s characters whose hard work and determination life into a time line. were rewarded with happy endings. • Pick a perspective and debate major themes in During the late nineteenth and early twenti- Nature’s Storyteller. eth centuries, Stratton-Porter was not the only American concerned with conserving the natural • Compare and contrast Stratton-Porter’s child- heritage of America. When Stratton-Porter was hood in Indiana with their own childhoods. only eight years old, President Ulysses S. Grant • Make their own journal entries about a visit to signed a bill creating America’s first national park, a community nature site. Yellowstone. In many states across the nation, residents were becoming more concerned about • Create a biohistorical poem about conserving nature for the enjoyment of Stratton-Porter. future generations. • Read one of Stratton-Porter’s works and have By 1900 Indiana was beginning to look much an in-class discussion of its historical context. different than it once had. Urban centers such as Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and even Wabash were Time Required becoming more commercialized and industries Multiple class periods depending on the class- such as oil and gas drilling, logging, and industrial- room needs and the activities selected. ized farming changed the landscape forever. Materials Required In addition to environmental changes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Indiana • For all activities: experienced a revitalization of the arts. Stratton- ° Copies of Nature’s Storyteller: The Life of Porter was only one among many noteworthy Gene Stratton-Porter (Indianapolis: Indiana Indiana authors of this time period. Authors such Historical Society Press, 2010) as Booth Tarkington, George Ade, Meredith Nichol- son, and James Whitcomb Riley represented a grow- • Refer to a specific activity for a list of ing number of Hoosier authors of distinguished required materials. national reputation. Background/Historical Context During Stratton-Porter’s lifetime women also Gene Stratton-Porter was born in 1863 during the experienced many changes, not only in their American Civil War on a small farm near Wa- standard of living, but in their rights as American bash, Indiana. During the late nineteenth century, citizens. Though Stratton-Porter would not be the United States experienced great change and considered a strong activist for women’s suffrage, Wabash was no exception. As the first electrically her early indifference to maintaining traditional lighted city in the nation, Wabash was growing female values of dress or behavior, and her later and becoming more urbanized. activism as a naturalist, exemplify the growing role of women in both the social and political spheres. The Industrial Revolution in the United States and across the world brought with it many social Teacher’s Instructional Plan and political changes, such as, industrialization, overcrowded cities, longer workdays, poor public Introduction sanitation, child labor, and labor unions. Stratton- Introduce each activity with background infor- Porter’s books represented something much dif- mation and a discussion about Stratton-Porter ferent to the mass market. Her books portrayed and what it meant to be a naturalist in the late wild landscapes, open country, wildlife, and 2 TEACHER RESOURCE • Nature’s Storyteller: The Life of Gene Stratton-Porter • Indiana Historical Society nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Discuss • Sticky tape Stratton-Porter’s role in women’s history, American • Scissors literature, the environmental movement, and turn- of-the-century Indiana history. Explain the diverse • Sheets of black paper and white paper natural makeup of Indiana in the late nineteenth century and ask students how that has changed to- Procedure day. What made people want to preserve nature and • Divide the students into smaller groups and what made them want to destroy it? How does your explain that each group will make a pinhole community celebrate its natural heritage? camera and observe what happens as they Next, discuss the environmental movement look at objects. today and how our world is changing. What do • To make the camera: you think was the message that Stratton-Porter would want readers to take away from her books? ° Using a pin, punch a small hole in the cen- How can you get excited about your community’s ter of the salt or oatmeal box’s bottom. natural heritage? ° Remove the box top, put wax paper over the open end, and use a rubber band to Activity 1: secure it in place. Make a Pinhole Camera • Have students point the camera at brightly lit This activity will introduce students to a basic objects and explain what they see. property of light and how it is used in everyday life. ° The observer’s eyes will need to be about Using the pinhole camera, students will be able to twelve inches from the wax-paper screen to understand how the camera image is inverted be- see a sharp image. cause light travels (with only a few exceptions) in straight lines. ° If the camera is used in a lighted place, the observer’s eyes must be shielded from light. The instructions for making the camera were adapt- ed from the Columbia Education Center Web site, • To make a shield, roll a sheet of black Lesson Plans and Web Activies, “Making a Pinhole paper into a large tube around the end Camera” by Patricia Willett, Designs for Learning of the box with the wax-paper screen Differences, Albuquerque, New Mexico, at and secure it with sticky tape. http://www.col-ed.org/cur/sci/sci01.txt • Look into the paper shield’s open end to (accessed November 15, 2010). see the images on the screen. Time Required • Have students explain what they see on the camera’s wax-paper screen. One forty-five-minute class period • Have students explain how they moved the Materials Required camera to: • Salt or oatmeal box, one for each group ° Make the image move right, left, up, • Shoe box, one for each group and down.
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