Teaching with Historic Places in the Classroom

The Boott Cotton Mill Museum at Lowell National Historical Park. NPS Photo.

Selections from “Creative Teaching with Historic Places:” A Thematic Issue of CRM: Cultural Resource Management Vol 23 No. 8 2000
Published by the National Park Service, Cultural Resources

by Kay Kevan Callentine

From the Boott Mills of the Industrial Revolution in Lowell, Massachusetts, to the horrors of Andersonville during the Civil War; from the waters of the Mediterranean with Stephen Decatur to the boyhood home of William H. Taft, the Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lessons have provided helpful support tools for me in my classroom. The topics mentioned are but a few ready for use by the busy teacher. The lessons available on the Internet have links as well, to help teachers keep up with the growing technological side of education. These resources bring a social dimension to history that is not possible by simply reading a textbook. TwHP makes history current and active as students engage in analyzing documents, search maps and photographs to find answers to questions, and explore elements of history that can provide explanations and examples of why things in history happened as they did.

Curriculum materials are abundant and sometimes they are worthwhile. Such is the case with TwHP lesson plans, which provide a complete lesson plan for each topic. Included are background information, discussion questions, clearly stated lesson objectives, and a variety of student learning activities. The teacher can select desired activities from a variety offered, including those which can be done in a single class lesson, or for homework, outside research, or enrichment, depending on the time available. The several TwHP lessons I have used in a variety of classroom sessions fit well into US history courses, including advanced placement, or in geography classes. I have used TwHP lessons in four basic ways: as whole class readings and discussion; as cooperative learning jigsaws, in which individual students are responsible for portions of assignments and share their results with each other to form a whole piece; as document analysis practice; and as “destinations” for historical site visitations.

I became aware of TwHP in an issue of Social Education while covering a geography lesson in US history several years ago. Desirous of sparking up the students’ activities, I used a lesson on naval hero Stephen Decatur. This exercise had maps, photographs, and readings on information about Decatur’s life to supplement what I was teaching about the Tripoli War of the early-19^th century. As the students read the articles and looked at pictures and maps, we were able to discuss why things are built where they are in cities and the relationships that jobs have to where people lived at the time. For this exercise all the students read the same materials, which enhanced the lesson.

Since that first activity I have used others. While sometimes I put questions on overhead transparencies or worksheets for whole class discussion, the activities also lend themselves well to cooperative learning group jigsaw options. Because the questions offered in the lessons have different levels of difficulty, students can each be given assignments where he or she can be successful. Then group sharing allows everyone to make a contribution in the small group discussions. For this group exercise, I used the TwHP lesson, “Andersonville: Prisoner of War Camp,” but each lesson includes a wide variety of activity options.

The USS Arizona Memorial at sundown, Pearl Harbor National Memorial. NPS Photo.

Most recently I have experimented with TwHP’s online resources. As with the paper lesson plans, students engage in activities according to their ability levels or to emphasize content the teacher wishes to reinforce. The web site allows the user to browse topics by location, theme, or time period. For history this is an easy tool to use, especially since this use of the Internet saves time for the teacher, as nothing has to be duplicated. Students can complete the assignments during class time or visit the web site for homework; I have used it both ways. As a home assignment it can count as enrichment or extra credit if all students do not have access to the Internet. Another way TwHP is useful is to introduce a unit by taking a virtual tour of a historic site via the Internet. Several Civil War lessons helped students make broader connections among Civil War battles, events, and issues. The lesson “Remembering Pearl Harbor: The USS Arizona Memorial” enhances student understanding of World War II in much the same way.

The applicability of TwHP activities to a variety of ability levels also makes them appropriate for advanced placement students. These students need a great deal of practice in analytical thinking, and the historical information in TwHP lessons provides just the right amount of reading for them to work on this skill. I use study groups and I ask students in each group to divide reading among themselves, with each member responsible for one document. Students share their findings with the group at their meetings and everyone gains information and practice. I can then evaluate their success by assessing their notes. Presidential lessons I have used for this are “Woodrow Wilson: Prophet of Peace,” “Herbert Hoover: Iowa Farm Boy and World Humanitarian,” and “Growing Into Public Service: William Howard Taft’s Boyhood Home.”

A final use I have made of these resources is for virtual tours of historical sites. My US history students are required to visit a historical site each quarter. I want history to be a real experience and visiting places is one way I try to accomplish this. Since our community is limited in the numbers of historical sites it has to offer I have again turned to online sources. I encourage the students to visit one or more places featured in TwHP lesson plans as an alternative to actually traveling to a historical site. With a click or two of the mouse, students can visit national parks, monuments, and battle sites to fulfill the assignment. It’s like taking a field trip via the computer.

These documents and historical places add a personal touch to history, bringing it alive for students, giving historical figures out of the history books a more human dimension, and connecting the past to students’ real life experiences. They afford students the opportunity to visit places they might never otherwise see, and at a price they can afford! Over the years, I have found that the TwHP materials pique students’ interest every time I use them. I look forward to the next additions.

At the time of publication, Kay Kevan Callentine taught world history and geography, US history, and AP US history at Golden Valley High School, Merced, California.