Angela Shamp
Lockerman Middle School, Caroline County Public Schools
1. How can I build new activities around primary sources?
I really like the Teaching American History in Maryland site, because of the vast amount of narratives. I like using narratives in my lessons, because I feel that if the students are hearing a first hand (primary) account it holds more meaning to them. I would have them use the narratives to write their own account as if they were living in that time period. This site also has many pictures that are very useful to show the students how enslaved people were depicted and thought of in a particular time period. I plan to use a photo analysis sheet, and have students describe people, objects and activities in the pictures.
2. Where can I supplement some of my current lesson plans with primary sources?
Primary sources can supplement my current lessons in many different places. One new addition this year in my Jefferson Era unit, I used the Hamilton-Burr letters and had the students read and try to decipher what Hamilton and Burr were trying to say to each other. The letters sounded nice, but after analyzing them, the students realized that the letters were full of animosity. Also, I am always trying to find political cartoons that were used during the time frame that we are studying. Pictures are another good source of primary documents. I like using these with the Civil War. I can also see using the newspaper ads from the American Newspaper site that we used at the workshop. I have already used one as a warm up and my students seemed to enjoy this activity.
3. How will I use local history in my teaching?
I really would like to do an activity like we did in the Register of Wills. I would give the students a list of items from the will. The students would work in pairs or groups of three, and they would have to come up with a character analyzes of each person. What type of person would they be? Did they own any slaves? If so, how many? How do you think they treated their slaves? Maybe I could have the students draw a picture of what the person looked like.
a. I also like the picture analyzes, having students look at different pictures and answer questions: What kinds of people are in the pictures? What objects are in the pictures? What is the activity?
b. I will have students read the advertisement for Nat. Students will answer the following questions:
i. How was Nat described?
ii. What was odd about the way that he was described?
iii. Where was Nat going? How does he owner know this?
iv. Is Nat getting help from anyone?
v. Who is placing the ad?
vi. If you saw this ad and then later came across Nat, what would you do? Why? ($20 would be $472 in today’s money)
c. Students could also write their own runaway ad.
d. For lower level students, they could draw a picture of Nat or a broadside for Nat.
