Turning the century

Students will create a museum display illustrating life during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

A lesson plan for grades 9–12 Social Studies

By Lisa Stamey

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• explain how the Gilded Age fostered the consolidation of business, the government, and disadvantaged economic and social classes.
• trace immigration movements, analyze patterns of settlement, and document how immigration led to changes in education, religion, and social interaction.
• describe new inventions and their impact on society.
• compare and contrast the Populist and Progressive movements and their impacts on society.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

11 days

Materials/resources

Display

• display boards
• multi-colored construction paper
• glue
• scissors
• multi-colored markers
• posterboard
• space large enough for tables and display boards

Research

• history textbooks
• encyclopedias
• biographical reference materials
• National Geographic Magazines
• old textbooks that may have pictures cut from them
• video “Ellis Island” (available at some public libraries or the A&E channel Web site)

Portfolio

• multi-colored two-pocket folders (one for each student
• 11 sheets of notebook paper stapled for a journal
• Portfolio Instructions 1
• Portfolio Instructions 2
• Rubric

Technology resources

• computer with internet connection
• word processing program
• computer lab
• video camera and tape

Pre-activities

The students will visit a local historical museum to learn how displays are constructed and how information is presented to the visitor. The students will answer the following questions while on the trip:

1. What makes a good museum?
2. How did the museum present necessary information?
3. How are the exhibits planned and organized?
4. What exhibit did you like best? Why? Be specific.

This will prepare the students to create a museum display of their own.

Activities

Day 1

1. Teachers will explain the organization of the students’ portfolios. Students will organize their portfolio following the teacher’s example. They will be using the two handouts Portfolio Instructions 1, Portfolio Instructions 2, and the Rubric. It is best to do this with the students one step at a time.
2. Once the portfolios are organized, introduce the idea of creating a museum for the period of 1876-1917. Brainstorm possible displays and information to be included. Examples: The Western Frontier, The Gilded Age, Immigration, Industrialization, Politics and Propaganda, and Life at the Turn of the Century.
3. With a partner, have the students create a chart illustrating the following general information: key personalities, key events/issues, technological developments, and political developments/issues for the time period. The students will work on this for the remainder of the class.
4. At the close of class, ask the students to reflect on how they are feeling about the project in their journal.

Days 2 and 3

Profiles

The students will be creating biographical profiles on the following people: Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Susan B. Anthony, Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Samuel Gompers, Eugene Debs, W.E.B. DuBois, and Booker T. Washington. The profiles will be two pages of hand-written information including the following: background (brief) and significance to this period. They will be submitted for revision at the end of Day 3.

Day 4

Labor Unions

1. The students will be creating a newspaper article summarizing the rise of the labor unions. The article should include the following: business practices of the “tycoons”, a timeline illustrating the rise of the labor unions, a description of the labor strikes occurring between 1877 and 1910, and labeling a map of the major labor strikes.
2. At the end of class, return the biographical profiles for the students to revise for homework.

Day 5

Immigration and Urbanization

1. The students will begin class with a discussion of why people immigrated to the United States.
2. The students will then create a bar graph illustrating the patterns of immigration.
3. The students will watch an excerpt from the movie, “Ellis Island” and write a response in their journal: What effect did immigration have on the United States? (The students should begin focusing on the rise of the city.)
4. The students will have a brief discussion outlining the reasons for growth of the cities and the problems created by growth in the urban populations.
5. The students will produce a collage or poster illustrating city life at the turn of century.
6. For closure, have the students write in their journal a response to the following prompt: What was the most interesting information you have learned today?

Day 6

Reform Movements

1. The students need to be grouped in small groups to create a annotated timeline for the following movements: women’s suffrage, socialism, educational reforms, political reforms, and religious pluralism.
2. When they have finished the timelines, they need to write an analysis of how the movement impacted society during the period.

Day 7

Inventions

1. The students will create a chart illustrating inventors, inventions, and date of the invention. This chart may be done using a computer and put into a table format. (It may be wise to use the computer lab on this day.)
2. The students will then write an essay describing in detail the impact of these inventions on industrial and social development in the United States.

Day 8

Westward Expansion (optional)

1. The students will have a discussion describing the factors that drew settlers to the west and the impact of western settlement on Native American population.
2. The students will then create a line graph illustrating the decline in Native American population and a map depicting the sites of the major “Indian Wars.”

Day 9

Word Processing

1. The students will be working on typing the final copy of their biographical profiles, labor union newspaper article, and anything else they feel needs to be in print.
2. Students need to produce invitations describing the date, time, and place for visiting the museum.
3. For closure, the students need to reflect in their journal their feelings about the project.
4. The students will turn in their portfolios to be graded for completeness and accuracy of information.

Day 10

Assembly

Students will put the museum together today for presentation to students, faculty, and parents to visit. The students have been gathering objects throughout the course of the project to represent the time period such as an oil lamp, an old wedding photograph, a quilt, fine china, etc. and will need to organize the items according to the appropriate display.

The teacher needs to select the student work to be included in the museum displays. Once the students have all the “artifacts” and information collected and organized, they may begin the assembly of the museum.

Day 11

Museum Tours

The students will serve as tour guides to groups of students, faculty and parents. They will need to explain the content of each of the displays to demonstrate their knowledge of the information.

Assessment

Students will be assessed by serving as tour guides and explaining the information related to each display. While serving as tour guides, they will be videotaped which will then be used by the teacher to complete the rubric. A sample Rubric is attached that may be used as an assessment tool.

Supplemental information

Comments

This project is designed to be student-directed with the teacher serving as a facilitator or guide. The students are receiving minimal direct instruction, but the success of this project is dependent upon the students reading their text and answering review questions for homework. My students really enjoyed completing this project and sharing what they learned with parents and fellow students.