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Housatonic River Unit

 

Living History Station – Bartholomew’s Cobble

 

Standards:

Social Studies: History & Geography

8. Interpret the past within its own historical context rather than in terms of present day norms and values.

9. Distinguish intended from unintended consequences.

Language Arts:

Language: Questioning, Listening, and Contributing 2.4.  Integrate relevant information gathered from group discussions and interviews for reports.

Composition: Writing 19.7.  Write well-organized narrative, expository, expressive, and persuasive compositions that have clear focus, logical development, effective use of detail, and variety in sentence structure.

Composition: 20.5 Consideration of Audience and Purpose.  Select and use appropriate rhetorical techniques for a variety of purposes, such as to convince or entertain the reader.

 

Length of Time Needed to Complete: 45 minutes per rotation for living history station at Bartholomew’s Cobble and one night’s homework.

 

Resources/Materials: Same student journals from settlers’ experience journal assignment; an area historian [if possible]; historical information about the area of study.

 

Procedure:

Deliver the historical or ecological information to the students via lecture, media presentation, reading packets, or combination. This year, Ann Elizabeth Barnes, who works as a tour guide for The Trustees of Reservations and Sheffield Historical Society, created a living history presentation specifically geared toward our 8th grade students. She captivated students with a lively narrative that explored the changing relationship between people and nature in the Housatonic Valley from the late 1600s to present. Her presentation was made all the more compelling by the use of period clothing and several artifacts to highlight historical practices. Students are responsible for taking notes during the presentation and discussion.

 

Assign journal prompts to students for the evening’s homework. Students write two journal pages to answer the prompt provided below.

 

Journal Assignment: Students are instructed to take notes during the visit to the Cobble, and then they respond to specific questions. The questions to address in one journal page are:

•   How did the Europeans’ attitudes about the environment affect how the settlers treated the land and its resources?

•   How have our attitudes today changed or remained the same?

 

Assessment: Students will write a journal entry that addresses all parts of the assignment. Entries will be evaluated using a generalized journal rubric and teachers will respond via comments in the journal pages and provide an overall score for the journal writing assignment.