Engage the Maze....
A Teaching American History Newsletter from Dr. Christine Johnson
Hello fellow teachers! Welcome to a new installment of Engage the Maze. Christine Johnson, Editor
(The journeys I’ll suggest herein, you can make from the warmth of an armchair!)
Encarta World English Dictionary tells us that an artifact is, primarily, “an object made by a human being, for example, a tool or ornament, especially one that has archeological or cultural interest.” Historical artifacts—important primary sources in the educational world—often seem out of reach to teachers. How can we locate relics, for example, that are neither students’ family heirlooms nor present in local museums? The vast expanse of the Internet has made this inaccessibility less of a problem. We can now view, learn about and share collections of artifacts of the world with our students. Online exploration does require access to the Internet, with enough machines for students to share or, ideally, a LCD projector so you can share items with the class as a whole. The sharing of these objects can make a historical moment come alive.
Begin with the top-of-the-line Smithsonian Institute site. www.smithsoniansource.org Here I urge you to explore the total site, and “Mapping the Colonial” in particular. It provides wonderful visuals of all sorts of items referenced in our study of the “American Journey.”
Then click over to the Colonial America Folk Art Museum collection at www.history.org/history/museums/abby_art.cfm, a terrific site for classroom use. Their "kid zone” provides interactive activities. Follow other links and you might find a collection of artifacts that even provide multi-media additions for classroom visual presentation. Check out www.history.org/media/#trades to investigate trades of early times. Both of these sites have searchable databases of lesson plans, organized by grade and era.
But do not forget the various other art museums showcasing portraits, paintings and artist histories that give glimpses into many time periods. Listed below are some of my favorites. Each site offers several unique images, but I recommend you start with the Getty Center website. The Getty foundation has spent millions of dollars to bring art education into schools, and to advocate the integration of art into all disciplines.
The Getty center describes prompts and other activities designed to help teachers inspire their students to view a work of art as representative of a particular time and place. For example, a search on www.getty.edu/education/search, selecting MS (middle school) and history, takes you to a lesson on art interpretation; such a lesson can be used with any art collection. www.getty.edu/education/for_teachers/trippack/activity_pre_learningtolook.html
Visit the Metropolitan Museum of the Arts website at http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hm/10/hm10.htm. Highlights of this site include historical references and artist images catalogued by locale as well as era.
I find the website of Daguerreian Society uniquely fascinating. Its NEA research database is found at http://daguerreian.org/fm3/galleries.php, and presents image galleries searchable by era.
Also check out the Philadelphia Museum of Art, whose collection of Impressionists is truly amazing. The museum also boasts a fine collection of early American art. Just start browsing at http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/browse.html?tr=1. Selecting Winslow Homer, for example, loads a page complete with links to activities for your students regarding specific works of art.
And finally, as you approach the civil war period the site http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/links/links3.htm provides many links.
Images ignite the mind! Go on, look!
All Best,
Christy
cj@alivelearn.comHistorical Marker Lesson Components
Lesson plan (PDF)Historical Markers PowerPoint presentation (PPT), also available in PDF format.
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