Activity 1: Setting the Stage - September |
Students write a paragraph answering the question "What is an American?
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Activity 2: Being an American in 1782 |
- Introduce Crèvecoeur's "What
Is An American?" (Curriculum Context: Colonial America or Constitution)
with selected text.
- Discussion question: What does Crèvecoeur's piece tell us about late
18th century America?
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Activity 3: Life Histories as Historical
Sources |
- Introduce oral histories as primary sources
- Students read Using
Primary Sources on the Learning Page
- Introduce students to American
Life Histories, 1936-1940, in American Memory.
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Students read Introduction
to Federal Writers Project.
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Activity 4: Finding a Life History |
- Modeling:
- Give Instructions:
- Practice:
- Students search for a life history by occupation.
- Students record their search in a problem
log.
- Students copy and paste a "life history" onto a wordprocessing application.
- Students look at their life history through the lens of Crèvecoeur definition
using What Is An American? Worksheet.
- Students write a short biography of their chosen American.
- Give Instructions on how to:
- Practice:
- Students search American
Memory for a surrogate image to illustrate their life history.
- Students save image.
- Students insert image into text file.
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Activity 5: Making a Biography |
Students produce a single page biography, with an image. [Sample Biography]
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Activity 6: Sharing Life History and Drawing
Conclusions |
- Oral presentations by students -- words and pictures.
- Each student adds name and image to wall map.
- Class charts lives by Crèvecoeur's categories using categories table.
- Class discusses how the meaning of being an American had changed.
- Students write a paragraph on how the definition has changed.
- (Optional) Teacher compiles biographies in "What Is An American?"
book or electronic book.
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Activity 7: Curtain Call - June |
- Students write own definition for today.
- Students compare new definition to one they wrote in September.
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