Beacon Lesson Plan Library
America's First Pictures
Francis Sicius
Colleges and Universities - Florida
Description
Students will search online early photo archives from the Smithsonian website in order to draw conclusions about life in the mid-nineteenth century.
Standards
Florida Sunshine State Standards
SS.A.5.2.1.5.1
The student knows ways American life was transformed socially, economically, and politically after the Civil War (for example, Western settlement, federal policy toward Native Americans, massive immigration, the growth of American cities, big business, mechanized farming).
Florida Process Standards
Effective Communicators
02 Florida students communicate in English and other languages using information, concepts, prose, symbols, reports, audio and video recordings, speeches, graphic displays, and computer-based programs.
Critical and Creative Thinkers
04 Florida students use creative thinking skills to generate new ideas, make the best decision, recognize and solve problems through reasoning, interpret symbolic data, and develop efficient techniques for lifelong learning.
Multiculturally Sensitive Citizens
10 Florida students appreciate their own culture and the cultures of others, understand the concerns and perspectives of members of other ethnic and gender groups, reject the stereotyping of themselves and others, and seek out and utilize the views of persons from diverse ethnic, social, and educational backgrounds while completing individually and group projects.
Materials
- Computer with Internet access, one computer for each five students
- Pencil or pen
- Notebook
Preparations
1. Students should be organized into groups of five to six.
2. There should be a computer available for each group.
3. Teacher should explain to students that historic photos are important resources for discovering the past.
4. Students should be told what to look for (for example, difference in fashion over the decades and difference in technology. How are women depicted? Are there any interracial pictures or were photos as segregated as the society? Are there notable differences in photos taken before and after the Civil War?
Procedures
1. Students will be divided into groups of five or six.
2. Each group will be asigned to a computer and directed to the Smithsonian website (see Web Links) that contains Daguertypes from the mid-nineteenth century. (See Web Links)
3. Students will browse catalogue of online Smithsonian Photos from 1830-1864.
4. Students will then select ten photos at which to look. They will keep notes on each photo. They should note could only be seen then and not now (oil lamps, for example).
5. What in the photo could be seen in a photo today as well as then (a clock, for example)?
6. Students will also note modes of dress, methods of transportation and communication depicted in the photo.
7. Students will then write a short story about one of the subjects in a photo.
8. Evaluate activity.
Assessments
The paper written by each student should be the basis of the assessment. The paper should contain information from pictures, be well organized, and follow grammar and usage rules.
Extensions
Students can use the same process to study other eras of history that are recorded in photos.
Web Links
America's First Look Into the Camera:Daguerrotype Portraits and Views 1839-1862 America's First Pictures
Attached Files
The Assessment Rubric. File Extension: pdf
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