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Unit
Outline
Activity 7:
Rockwell Kent's Legacy
Students will investigate Rockwell
Kent's journal as a legacy from the past
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Unit:
Living in Kenai Fjords
Guiding Question:
How is Rockwell Kent's journal a
legacy?
Critical Content:
Students will know personal journals
are a legacy of the past they capture through feelings, thoughts and
descriptions of time and place; personal journals preserve an historical
perspective.
Grades:
3-8
Duration: 1
to 2 class periods
Group size:
Whole class and small group
Setting:
Classroom, resource center and/or
Internet access
Materials:
Brainstorm tools: Board with
chalk, chart paper with markers
Handout
#1: A Difference in Lifestyle
Handout
#2: A Difference in Perspective
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Instructional Resources:
Please see the
Kenai
Fjords Instructional Resources Page.
Before You Begin:
- Have materials
available for brainstorming activity: Board with chalk or markers, chart paper
with markers.
- Bookmark
Website with photos of Kenai Fjords National Park.
- Make copies of
Handout
#1: A Difference in Lifestyle
- Make copies of
Handout
#2: A Difference in Perspective
Procedures:
- First, make
sure students understand the term legacy - a gift by will; a bequest;
something received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past. Based on
the definition, ask: Why is Rockwell Kent's journal considered a legacy? What
has the journal given to us, its benefactors? Follow the steps below to
consider three major areas: the natural world, lifestyles of the past and
historical perspective.
- Legacy of the
Natural World:
"Alaska, now a state, its oil-rich lands and waters on the
auction block, who knows what traces of Fox Island's once primaeval [sic]
wilderness may in the course of time be left."
Third Preface
Wilderness (1970)
Rockwell Kent's preface to the third edition of
Wilderness (1970) shows that he understood his journal was a legacy of
the natural world he found in Alaska. What were his fears?
Have students use descriptions
and pictures from Kenai
Fjords National Park to discuss whether or not Kent's fears
were well-founded concerning the area around Seward and Fox Island.
- Legacy of
Lifestyles of the Past:
Use
Handout
#1: A Difference in Lifestyle to guide students to discover and compare
differences in the way we live today and in Kent's time. Have students work in
groups and share their comparisons. With younger students, you may want to have
the class work through a few of the comparisons together.
- Extension
for Older Students: Legacy from an Historical Perspective
Discuss the
concept of Historical Perspective. Use
Handout
#2: A Difference in Perspective to identify the events and
circumstances noted in Kent's journal and discuss how his words illustrate his
perspective. Have student groups select and describe comparable events from
their own time and share their "journal" entries. How might the importance of
these events change 100 years from now?
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