Title: What is a source?
Type of Teaching Unit: lesson
Grade Levels: 3
Time Frame: 60 minutes
Subject Matter: Historical Analysis and Interpretation
Teacher Information:
Natalie Fish
William Holliday Elementary
AAM affiliation: SIUE
Lesson Plan Description and Rationale:
This lesson will be the first in a series of lesson using the AAM FSA-OWI 1935-1945 collection. The purpose of this lesson is to give students a brief introduction to the concept of primary and secondary sources. Some type of introduction to historical sources is necessary so that students can effectively use historical sources when researching and learning about history, but according to performance descriptors for the Illinois state standards, the skill of differentiating among primary and secondary sources falls under the curriculum of grades 4, 5, and 6. Therefore this lesson will be merely an introduction of these concepts that students can build upon in subsequent lessons and the future.
State Standards:
State Goal 16: Understand events, trends, individuals and movements shaping the history of Illinois, the United States and other nations.
Standard A: Apply the skills of historical analysis and interpretation.
Benchmark: b Ask historical questions and seek out answers from historical sources (e.g., myths, biographies, stories, old photographs, artwork, other visual or electronic sources).
Objectives:
1. List places to look for sources of information about the past.
2. Distinguish between primary and secondary sources.
Resources:
Adabie, A. “ Emigrants [i.e. Immigrants] Landing at Ellis Island”. Early Motion Pictures, 1897-1920, Thomas A. Edison, Inc, New York
[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@field(NUMBER+@band(lcmp002+m2a10987))]
(May 2004)
Carroll, T.D. “I Was Born in Puerto Rico.”. Working in Paterson: Occupational Heritage in an Urban Setting
[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/afcwip:@field(DOCID+@lit(tca02301))]
(May 2004)
“New York, N.Y., Immigrants Landing, Ellis Island”. Touring Turn-of-the-Century: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920, Detroit Publishing Co, Detroit
[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/detr:@field(NUMBER+@band(det+4a25608))]
(May 2004)
Reed, H. “Shoo Fly”. Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed Collection
[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/afcreed:@field(DOCID+@lit(afcreed/13035a40))]
(May 2004)
“Scandinavians Leaving for Europe, Going Home to Norway”. Photographs from the Chicago Daily News, 1902-1933, Chicago Daily News, Inc. Chicago
[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cdn:@field(NUMBER+@band(ichicdn+n008850))]
(May 2004)
Wolcott, M.P. “Mr. and Mrs. S. Castle or Mr. and Mrs. William S. Allen…”. America from the Great Depression to World War II: Black and White Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945
[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8a43814))]
(May 2004)
Methods:
The students will work in a whole class setting to brainstorm places to look for sources of information about the past as the teacher records their ideas on chart paper.
The teacher will explain the difference between primary and secondary sources using the following definitions:
Primary sources: actual records that survive from the past, such as letters, photographs, songs, videos, and even articles of clothing
Secondary sources: accounts of the past created by people writing about events sometime after they actually happened
The teacher will show examples of the following primary sources from two teacher made websites:
Emigrants [i.e. Immigrants] Landing at Ellis Island (video clip)
New York, N.Y., Immigrants Landing, Ellis Island (photograph)
Scandinavians Leaving for Europe, Going Home to Norway (photograph)
I Was Born in Puerto Rico (audio recording)
Shoo Fly (song)
Mr. and Mrs. S. Castle or Mr. and Mrs. William S. Allen… (photograph)
The teacher will use examples of secondary sources from the classroom such as textbooks, encyclopedias, and almanacs.
Based on these definitions and examples, students will work with a partner to sort the given examples into the categories of primary and secondary sources.
Evaluation:
Students will use Kidspiration to create a concept map highlighting examples of primary and secondary sources with a given list of examples.
Keywords:
almanac
encyclopedia
photograph
primary source
secondary source
song
video