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Subject

English Language Arts (2005), Social Studies, The Arts (1996)

Assessment

Evaluation will be based on:

1. Teacher observation of Readers Theatre activities.
2. Completion of the Photo Analysis Guide.
3. Rating of the Literary Portrait using the Literary Portrait Scoring Guide.

Learning Context/ Introduction

This learning experience focuses on the use of historical fiction and primary sources to expand students' perceptions of the Civil War era. Literature and photographic images reflect, communicate, and influence human perspectives of historical events. Specifically, the unit helps students to view the Civil War era through a child’s eye, rather than from an adult perspective.

Following an introduction to the Civil War using photographic, daguerreotype, and non-fiction sources, students read Paul Fleischman’s Bull Run in Readers Theater format. Next, students examine and interpret primary source images of Civil War era children. Then, students reveal their understanding of a child’s perspective in a literary portrait. In sum, this learning experience integrates reading, writing, and U.S. history.

Part One

Overview

1. Introduce students to the learning experience, "The Civil War through a Child's Eyes."
2. Use the slide show, Children in the Civil War, to guide and enhance the lecture.
3. Expand students' understanding of youth's perspectives of the Civil War by reading aloud excerpts from Jim Murphy's The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk about the Civil War.
4. After sharing the non-fiction excerpts, lead a discussion on historical fiction. Share book titles that students may have read or know about that are examples of historical fiction (e.g. Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt.)
5. Provide students with a preview of Paul Fleischman's Bull Run.

• Overview of the Project

Part Two

Readers Theatre

1. Establish Readers Theatre protocol.
   • For online information about Readers Theatre and its classroom use, see
     • Readers Theatre
     • What is Readers Theater?
   • For text-based information about Readers Theatre, see
     • Readers Theatre in the Middle School and Junior High Classroom by Lois Walker
     • Introduction to Readers Theatre: A Guide to Classroom Performance by Gerald Lee Ratliff.
2. Introduce characters from Bull Run and assign roles to the students.
3. Read Bull Run using Readers Theatre.
4. Discuss characterization, the method used by a writer to develop a character. Explain that writers develop characters through descriptions of their physical appearances, their actions and their thoughts, as well as through dialogue and other characters' reactions.

Part Three

American Memory Collections

1. Describe the American Memory collections. Explain that "American Memory is an online resource compiled by the Library of Congress National Digital Library Program. With the participation of other libraries and archives, the program provides a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States."
2. Demonstrate the use of the following American Memory collections:
• Selected Civil War Photographs
• America's First Look into the Camera: Daguerreotype Portraits and Views, 1839 - 1864
• Discovering American Memory
3. Present the gallery of photographs and daguerreotypes to be used in the lesson.
4. Allow students to select an image of a child to examine and characterize.

Part Four

Photo Analysis

1. Direct students to locate the photograph or daguerreotype of their child, which was selected from the gallery of Images of Children from the Civil War Era.
2. Suggest that students print the image from the screen for their analysis.
3. Introduce the Photo Analysis Guide. Review the questions in the observation, knowledge, and interpretation columns.
4. Have students work individually to analyze their selected image using the Photo Analysis Guide.

Objectives

The students will:

 

• differentiate between primary and secondary source materials as they explore perspectives of the Civil War;
• understand multiple perspectives of the Civil War through the use of historical fiction;
• analyze and interpret images from the American Memory collections;
• make inferences about how children were affected by the Civil War;
• create a literary portrait that conveys a child's perspective of the Civil War era.

 

Procedure

This learning experience consists of the following parts:
Preparation: Getting Ready to Teach the Learning Experience
Part One: Overview
Part Two: Readers Theatre
Part Three: American Memory Collections
Part Four: Photo Analysis
Part Five: Literary Portrait

Preparation

Getting Ready to Teach the Learning Experience

1. Carefully review the lesson plan and adapt for your instructional context.
2. Visit The Teachers Page. Review the Getting Started section to update your knowledge for using the American Memory collections.
3. Preview the Children in the Civil War slide show.
4. Reserve multiple copies or a class set of Bull Run by Paul Fleischman.
5. Gather supplementary books from school and local libraries.
6. Reserve internet-accessible computers for student use.
7. To broaden your knowledge base, consider viewing Ken Burns' video series "The Civil War," available at many local and university libraries.

Part Five

Literary Portrait

1. Introduce the Literary Portrait Scoring Guide. Explain that the purpose of the literary portrait is to reveal a child's perspective of the Civil War era. Discuss the criteria for the preparation, content, and presentation components. Stress the importance of using their responses to the photo analysis guide to compose a literary portrait of their character. Emphasize that the literary portrait needs to match the student-selected image and the importance of vivid word choice when describing the character.
2. Have students write a literary portrait (a first person characterization) of the selected image. Encourage students to identify the character's physical attributes, age, personality, and other traits that were observed or inferred from the photo analysis.
3. Have students share their literary portraits in the Readers Theatre format.
4. After sharing the literary portraits as Readers Theatre, provide opportunities for students to revise and polish the portraits for publication. The student selected photograph or daguerreotype needs to accompany the final draft of the literary portrait.
   • Option 1: Publish classroom volume of literary portraits
   • Option 2: Publish students' literary portraits on a website

Resources/Materials

American Memory Collections

Images of Children from the Civil War Era

Selected Civil War Photographs

America's First Look into the Camera: Daguerreotype Portraits and Views, 1839 - 1864

Other Online Resources

The American Civil War Homepage
A collection of links to files about the Civil War maintained by the University of Tennessee

The United States Civil War Center
This site, maintained by Louisiana State University, indexes more than 2,700 links about the Civil War

The American Civil War
A comprehensive list of Civil War links maintained by Dakota State University

Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System
A database of resources about the Civil War organized by the National Park Service

The Valley of the Shadow
This project, designed by the University of Virginia, explores the histories of two communities living along the Mason-Dixon Line.

 

• Bibliography

 

Extension

Visual Literacy (Option One)

1. Discuss the role of photography in capturing reality.
2. Talk about Nathaniel Epp from Bull Run who manipulated photographs.
3. Complete the Does the Camera Ever Lie? activity from the American Memory collection Selected Civil War Photographs.

Visual Literacy (Option Two)

1. Look at photographs and daguerreotypes as primary source materials.
2. Introduce format for analyzing photographs.
3. Conduct a whole class activity of analyzing photographs.
4. Working in pairs, students analyze selected photographs using the Photo Analysis Guide.
5. Debrief results of analyses with entire class.
6. Based on the results, student pairs write a caption for their selected photograph.
7. Students share their selected photographs and captions in a gallery walk.

Other Ideas

1. Read historical fiction to explore causes and effects of the Civil War. See Resources for a list of fiction.
2. Use the K-W-L process to tap students' prior knowledge (What I KNOW), identify research topics for student-selected investigations (What I WANT to know), and assess students' learning (What I LEARNED).
3. Compare photographic images and book illustrations of children from the Civil War era.
4. Analyze primary text and compare the results with students' interpretations of photographic images. Use selections from American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 - 1940 or other American Memory collections.
• Note-Taking Guide for Analyzing Civil War Documents

Duration

Five or six class periods

Author

Micki M. Caskey and Paul Gregorio

Source

Reproduced from the Library of Congress web site for teachers. Original lesson plan created as part of the Library of Congress American Memory Fellows Program.

Related Academic Standards

New York State

ARTS.VA.I.3.1.A Students discuss and write their analyses and interpretations of their own works of art and the art of others, using appropriate critical language.

ARTS.VA.I.4.1.B Students demonstrate the ways in which some particular art works and artifacts reflect important aspects of the diverse cultures of the United States.

MST5.I.ED.1.2 Students locate and utilize a range of printed, electronic, and human information resources to obtain ideas.

SS.I.1.2B Students investigate key turning points in New York State and United States history and explain why these events or developments are significant.

SS.I.1.3B Students gather and organize information about the important achievements and contributions of individuals and groups living in New York State and the United States.

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