A guided journey into the past
In their study of archaeological resource conservation, students will use guided imagery to discover and judge an alternative way to enjoy artifacts without removing them from archaeological sites.
A for grade 4 Visual Arts Education, English Language Arts, and Social Studies
(Ward, H. Trawick, and R. P. Stephen Davis, Jr. 1999. Time Before History: The Archaeology of North Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. [Figure 3.9.]. More about the photograph)
Details
- Subjects
- science, social studies, language arts, visual arts, music
- Skills
- synthesis, evaluation
- Strategies
- guided imagery, discussion, writing, drawing, composing, visualization
- Duration
- 45 to 60 minutes
- Class size
- any
View this page in context
- Intrigue of the Past
- Lesson plans and essays for teachers and students explore North Carolina's past before European contact. Designed for grades four through eight, the web edition of this book covers fundamental concepts, processes, and issues of archaeology, and describes the peoples and cultures of the Paleoindian, Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian periods.
- Page 5.7
Learn more
Related pages
- Intrigue of the Past: Teach your students about North Carolina's fascinating past. This edition contains lesson plans about the fundamental concepts, processes, and issues of archaeology, as well as essays for the teacher with detailed information about four periods in North Carolina's ancient history.
- Archaeological context: In their study of context, students will use a game and a discussion to demonstrate the importance of artifacts in context for learning about past people.
- Artifact ethics: In their study of archaeological issues students will use ethical dilemmas to examine their own values and beliefs about archaeological site protection. They will also evaluate possible actions they might take regarding site and artifact protection.
Related topics
- Learn more about archaeology, artifacts, composing, discussion, drawing, evaluation, guided imagery, language arts, music, science, social studies, synthesis, visualization, and writing.
Legal
This page copyright ©2001. All Rights Reserved
Objectives
In their study of archaeological resource conservation, students will use guided imagery to discover and judge an alternative way to enjoy artifacts without removing them from archaeological sites.
Materials
For the teacher, a copy of “Guided Imagery.”
Background
In her book Everybody Needs a Rock (1974), Byrd Baylor expresses the wonder in finding a rock and pondering its source.
“Always sniff a rock,” she says. “Rocks have their own smells. Some kids can tell by sniffing whether a rock came from the middle of the earth or from an ocean or from a mountain where wind and sun touched it every day for a million years.”
Baylor suggests an atmosphere for this experience: “When you are looking at rocks don’t let mothers or fathers or sisters or brothers or even best friends talk to you. Don’t let dogs bark at you or bees buzz at you. But if they do, don’t worry.”
To hold a rock in our hand that may have been created millions of years ago sets our imagination in motion. We can transport ourselves back to the time and surroundings of its creation. We can journey with it through time, imagining what other beings might have touched it or used it. Mystery and intrigue are the forces at work in our mind, and many times we want to keep this mysterious object in our possession.
This same mysterious power is held within the artifacts made by the early peoples of North Carolina. Finding an artifact like a beautiful Palmer spear point (see above) made by Archaic people connects us with those humans in a way that books cannot. We can almost sense them, and we desire to know them. What made them laugh and cry? How did they spend their day? As our minds travel back in time and connect to the people whose objects (artifacts) we hold in our hand, we desire to keep the object.
It takes discipline to leave something in its place when we desire to keep it. This exercise will suggest a way for students to learn to control that desire to own an artifact.
Setting the stage
Share the analogy of finding a rock from the Background. You might want to have students bring their favorite rock to school and share its significance with others.
Procedure
- Explain that students will be taking a journey inside their minds. The purpose of this journey is to suggest an alternative for appreciating found artifacts without taking them home. Encourage students to relax their bodies, either in their chairs or lying on the floor, and to close their eyes. You can help create the mood by turning the lights off and softly playing appropriate music.
- Read “Guided Imagery.”
Closure
Have students share what they saw, experienced, felt, or thought during the guided imagery in a discussion, a cooperative team share, a drawing, or a song. Encourage students to suggest many ways to enjoy an artifact without taking it from a site. Examples: draw a picture of the artifact, write a poem or song, compose a story, take a photograph, bring someone else to the site to see the artifact, describe your find to someone else.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Visual Arts Education (2001)
Grade 4
- Goal 5: The learner will understand the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
- Objective 5.01: Recognize that art can serve more than one purpose and/or function in a given culture.
- Objective 5.02: Make responses that are both knowledge-based and personal (objective and subjective).
- Objective 5.03: Compare works of art from different times and cultures.
Social Studies (2003)
Grade 4
- Goal 3: The learner will trace the history of colonization in North Carolina and evaluate its significance for diverse people's ideas.
- Objective 3.04: Compare and contrast ways in which people, goods, and ideas moved in the past with their movement today.
English Language Arts (2004)
Grade 4
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.02: Use oral and written language to:
- present information and ideas in a clear, concise manner.
- discuss.
- interview.
- solve problems.
- make decisions.
- Objective 4.03: Make oral and written presentations using visual aids with an awareness of purpose and audience.
- Objective 4.02: Use oral and written language to:
