Teaching with Museum Collections

• Teaching with Museum Collections lesson plan template
  [download as Microsoft Word Document]
• How to Read an Object Chart
• How to Read a Photo Chart
  
  

Advertisement/Promotion:

• Eisenhower’s Presidency               
  •  Activity 1 part 3: Eisenhower as a Candidate: Students work in groups to create storyboards for a television political advertisement for either Eisenhower or Stevenson.
• I Like Mamie
  • Activity 2: Ike, Ike, He’s Our Man: Students create a political object (slogan, poster, etc.) to attract votes from 1950s women.
• Lincoln’s Legal Career
  • Activity 3: Lincoln’s philosophy: “The Right to Rise”: Students work in pairs to write up an advertisement for their fictitious legal practice similar to the 1858 advertisements.

Artwork/Drawing/Graphic Design:

• Family Life at Arlington House
• Activity 7: History through Objects: Students discuss the importance of heirlooms and how heirlooms connect with the people that owned them. Students then complete a written, drawing, or photographic response.
• Sitting in Robert E. Lee’s Writing Chair
• Activity 1: Students design/draw their ideal chair.
• Community Roles of Pueblo Peoples: Past and Present
• Activity 4: Roles in a present-day Pueblo village: Students use the information from either     
•  “Pueblo Girls” or “Children of Clay” to make a mural or drawing similar to the paintings they have seen, but set in the 21st century.
• Designing Civilian Conservation Corps Style Tinwork and Woodcarving
  • Activity 1: Students will learn all about these crafts by closely examining these objects; they will also design similar objects of their own.  
  • Activity 3: Design items using their own arrangement of motif: Students draw their own items as if it were a plan for a craftsperson to make the article.
• Exploring Cultural Continuity through Pottery   
  • Activity 5: Pottery Alternatives: Students draw pots, create their own design, or find a design in a magazine or online.
• A New Deal for Artists                
  • Activity 4a: Creating Pastel Scenes of the School Community: Students create their own art of either the playground or the school building.
• Passing Traditions Through Time
  • Activity 3: Creating Original Pottery Design: Students analyze pictures of traditional pueblo designs and discuss their significance. Students then experiment with shapes and create their own decoration design.
  • Activity 4: Use the book, “Children of Clay”: Students write or create a series of drawings showing the steps in a skill that they know.
• Working and Writing for a Living at Connemara
• Activity 1: Sandburg’s House and Mine!: After comparing their desk to Carl Sandburg’s desk, students draw a design of their dream desk and chair and then list what they would want at their desks and why.
• The American Revolution, A Revolution of Possibilities: Politics, Economy, and Society
• Activity 1: Declaring Freedom: Students will create a self-portrait collage illustrating what they think is important for others to know about themselves.      
• Activity 2 part 2: Musical Instrument Making: The Snare Drum: Students will create their own snare drum and decorate their drum with contemporary symbols of protest, patriotism, freedom, and empowerment.          
• Activity 2 part 2: The Making of a Military Camp: Students will complete tasks associated with a specific role that will contribute to the overall camp design. Students then present models or drawings to illustrate their plans.
• The Abraham Lincoln Home in Springfield, IL
• Activity 2: Lincoln’s Home: History and Design: Who lives here?: Students draw a picture of a house and write a short story about who lives there.
• Lincoln-The Candidate
• Activity 2: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: Students create a slogan representing the candidates beliefs and design a poster illustrating the candidates beliefs.

Cartography

• A New Deal for Artists
• Activity 4b: Art and/or Mapping: Students draw a different room/area of the school including both the structure and the people who use it. Students assemble their drawings into a large portrait of the school.

Charts/Graphs/Diagrams/Lists

•  Exploring Cultural Continuity Through Pottery
  • Activity 1: Students complete a Venn diagram after doing a compare/contrast analysis of collections.
  • Activity 3: Maria Martinez Video: Students watch the Maria Martinez video and complete a video scavenger hunt.
• A New Deal for Artists
• Activity 2: Compare and Contrast: Students compare/contrast elements of two artists’ work and create a Venn diagram.
• Working and Writing for a Living at Connemara
• Activity 1: Sandburg’s House and Mine!: Students compare/contrast their desk to Carl Sandburg’s desk and complete a Venn diagram.
• The Eisenhower Farm: Leaving the Land Better Than He Found It!
• Activity 1: Students compare/contrast modern day soil sample to the 1950 soil sample using testing kits. Students will then create a Venn diagram of their results.
• The Abraham Lincoln Home in Springfield, IL
• Activity 3: The Parlor: Furnishings and Purpose: What did the Lincolns do in the parlor?: Students will compare/contrast Lincoln’s parlor with reference books on Victorian homes and with contemporary living rooms. Students will then create a Venn diagram of their findings.
• Lincoln-The Candidate
• Activity 3: Campaign for the Republican Nomination: Students complete a chart of Lincoln’s travels and the events that occurred.
• Activity 5: Campaign Materials: Students compare/contrast commemorative tokens and record their findings in a Venn diagram. Mary Todd Lincoln and the Boys
• Activity 4: Mary’s Household Chores: Students discuss what is done with clothes as they get worn and complete a “Use Now and Then” assessment chart.
• Activity 8: Wrap up Activity and Discussion: Students discuss what they have learned about the similarities and differences between the lives of the Lincolns and their own lives. Have students create a Venn diagram showing those similarities and differences.
• Reminder of the Past, Lincoln Keepsakes
• Activity 2: Pocket Change: Students will engage in acquisition of knowledge about the penny and complete the “Use Now and Then” assessment chart.
• Activity 5: Lincoln Logs – Interesting Playthings Typifying the ‘Spirit of America’: Students will compare/contrast Lincoln artifacts using the Tri-Venn diagram and complete the “Our Lincoln Log” activity.

Compare/Contrast:

• Family Life at Arlington House               
  • Activity 3: Compare and Contrast Engraving and Print of Washington Family: Students compare and contrast historic images and share their observations with the class.
• Sitting in Robert E. Lee’s Writing Chair
  • Activity 3: Students compare and contrast modern technology and engage in discussion about the use and history of displayed objects.
• Exploring Cultural Continuity through Pottery      
  • Activity 1: Students do a compare/contrast analysis of collections.
• A New Deal for Artists
  • Activity 2: Compare and Contrast: Students compare/contrast elements of two artists’ work and create a Venn diagram. -Activity 4a: Creating Pastel Scenes of the School Community: Students compare/contrast their school community with the communities shown in the paintings.
• Passing Traditions Through Time
• Activity 1: Pueblo Pottery then and now: Students compare/contrast old and new Pueblo pottery making.
• Activity 4: Use the book, “Children of Clay.”: Students compare/contrast pottery traditions from long ago with those that exist today.
• Always the Young Seekers: Carl Sandburg, The Early Years               
  • Activity 2: Discovering Carl Sandburg’s early life: Students compare/contrast poems from Sandburg’s Chicago poems and explore elements of story.
• Carl Sandburg’s Rock: The Connemara Home 
  • Activity 1: Historical Detectives: Investigating the Sandburg Home: Students compare/contrast Sandburg’s home life to their own, identifying objects from their own homes that represent their home life.
  • Activity 2: Exploring the Poetry of Carl Sandburg: Students will compare/contrast possible meanings of Sandburg’s poetry and writing to selected objects from his home.
• Working and Writing for a Living at Connemara       
  • Activity 1: Sandburg’s House and Mine!: Students compare/contrast their desk to Carl Sandburg’s desk and complete a Venn diagram.
• The American Revolution, A Revolution of Possibilities: Politics, Economy, and Society 
  • Activity 1 part 3:  Symbolism and the Seat of Power-My Life as a Chair: Students compare/contrast an image of the Rising Sun Chair with the caption information and then students will do a comparative study of other kinds of “seats of power.”
  • Activity 2 part 4: Cooking for the soldiers: Students compare/contrast colonial mealtimes with contemporary ways of preparing and enjoying a meal.
• The Eisenhower Farm: Leaving the Land Better Than He Found It!     
  • Activity 1: Students compare/contrast modern day soil sample to the 1950 soil sample using testing kits. Students will then create a Venn diagram of their results.
• Eisenhower’s Presidency
• Activity 1: Eisenhower as a Candidate: Students will be examining campaign memorabilia from the 1950s and then doing a compare/contrast with current campaign materials.
• The Abraham Lincoln Home in Springfield, IL
  • Activity 3: The Parlor: Furnishings and Purpose: What did the Lincolns do in the parlor?: Students will compare/contrast Lincoln’s parlor with reference books on Victorian homes and with contemporary living rooms. Students will then create a Venn diagram of their findings.
• Lincoln’s Legal Career
  • Activity 2: Comparing Lincoln’s Desk: Students compare/contrast a portable writing desk and stationary pigeon-hole desk used by Abraham Lincoln and compare/contrast 19th century writing tools to modern writing tools.
  • Activity 3: Lincoln’s philosophy: “The Right to Rise”: Students will compare/contrast the 19th century legal professional with modern times.
• Lincoln-The Candidate
  • Activity 2: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: Students compare/contrast the views of Lincoln and Douglas on the major issues from the Galesburg debate.
  • Activity 5: Campaign Materials: Students compare/contrast commemorative tokens and record their findings in a Venn diagram.
• Mary Todd Lincoln and the Boys
  • Activity 2: Mealtime Etiquette: Students compare and contrast contemporary foodways with those of the Lincolns’.
  • Activity 3: Toys and Games: Then and Now: Students compare and contrast play time between the 1850s and today.
  • Activity 8: Wrap up Activity and Discussion: Students discuss what they have learned about the similarities and differences between the lives of the Lincolns and their own lives. Have students create a Venn diagram showing those similarities and differences.

Creative Writing/Story Telling:

• Sitting in Robert E. Lee’s Writing Chair
  • Activity 4: Students analyze a letter written by Lee and write a letter to one of their own family members. Students then write a letter to a commanding officer about their stance on the war.
  • Activity 5: Students write a cinquain or clerihew based on Lee’s life. They will create their poems and set them to music.
• Ancestral Pueblo Tools
• Activity 7: Students will create a story about their ancestral tool written as if they were living during ancestral times.
• Community Roles of Pueblo Peoples: Past and Present
  • Activity 1: Imagine yourself as a Pueblo person as depicted by Pablita: Students then choose a role from the painting and write a descriptive paragraph or story about their imagined experience.
• Activity 2: A picture is worth a thousand words: In small groups, students choose another painting and write their own questions about the details.
• I Like Mamie
  • Activity 1: Who is Mamie?: Students creative a commemorative plate and write a summary of what they think the plate says about them. Students then exchange plates and write a summary of what they think they plate says about the creator.
  • Activity 2: Ike, Ike, He’s Our Man: Students create a political object and write a memo from the perspective of an Eisenhower campaign staffer to his superior explaining why this object would  be effective in the 1952 presidential campaign.
• Magical Collaborations
  • Activity 3: Collaborative Story Writing: Students write a character description and story.
• Carl Sandburg’s Rock: The Connemara Home
  • Activity 2: Exploring the Poetry of Carl Sandburg: Students will write their own poems that provide insight into their own lives and philosophies.
• Carl Sandburg: Collector of Life in Word and Song
  • Activity 2: “I Am the People – the Mob”: Students write a poem about modern works from Sandburg’s perspective.
• Carl Sandburg: Visionary Poet
  • Activity 2: Poetry about Workers: Students write their own free-verse poem about their own negative work experiences.
• Working and Writing for a Living at Connemara
  • Activity 3: The Writing Tool: Students write in personification. They write what they think Carl Sandburg may have seen, heard, felt, or thought that would have inspired him to write that poem. Students write this from the perspective of a typewriter or pencil.  
• The American Revolution, A Revolution of Possibilities: Politics, Economy, and Society
  • Activity 1: Declaring Freedom: Students rewrite a paragraph of the Declaration of Independence into contemporary, formal language. Then students will rephrase the paragraph into hip-hop, spoken verse, and text message.
• The Eisenhower Farm: Leaving the Land Better Than He Found It!
  • Activity 3: Students pretend they interviewed Eisenhower and write a short news article summarizing the information.
• Lincoln’s Legal Career
  • Activity 4: Analyzing 1841Legal Document (LIHO 6761): Students write an affidavit using a current event such as an incident on the playground. Students use formal language used by Lincoln and also write an informal account of the same incident.

Debating:

• The American Revolution, A Revolution of Possibilities: Politics, Economy, and Society
  • Activity 1 part 2: Freedom and Independence for All:  Students will role-play as delegates at the meetings and debates about the formation of a new government. Each group will research and present an argument.

Design/Building:

• Family Life at Arlington House
  • Activity 6: Women at Arlington House, the Sampler: Students practice stitch work and create their own Sampler.
• Ancestral Pueblo Tools
  • Activity 4-5: Students work individually or in pairs to recreate an ancestral tool.
• Exploring Cultural Continuity through Pottery
  • Activity 4: Making Pottery: Students create their own pottery.
• Passing Traditions Through Time
• Activity 2: Pottery Making: Students create their own pottery.
• The American Revolution, A Revolution of Possibilities: Politics, Economy, and Societ
  • Activity 1 part 3:  Symbolism and the Seat of Power-My Life as a Chair: Students make a 3D model of their chair design using real mathematical measurements of a ratio 1:12 inches.
  • Activity 2 part 2: Musical Instrument Making: The Snare Drum: Students will create their own snare drum and decorate their drum with contemporary symbols of protest, patriotism, freedom, and empowerment.
  • Activity 2 part 3: Leisure Time in Camp and Colonial America: Students create their own games and share the game creation with their classmates.
  • Activity2 part 3A: Make your Own Document Box: Students create their own document box for storing some of the objects they have created in this lesson.
• Eisenhower’s Presidency
  • Activity 4: “Ike in a Box”: Students will be assigned a specific aspect of Eisenhower’s presidency and must decide on one item that would be included in a box to represent that event.
• I Like Mamie
  • Activity 1: Who is Mamie?: Students creative a commemorative plate and write a summary of what they think the plate says about them.
  • Activity 5: Making a “Fashion Statement”: Students design a personal toile pattern.
• The Abraham Lincoln Home in Springfield, IL
  • Activity 3: The Parlor: Furnishings and Purpose: What did the Lincolns do in the parlor?: Students create their own parlor. The parlor should be based on the 1800s Victorian style and use the measurements from Lincoln’s parlor. 
  • Activity 5: Hat rack: Displaying the Lincoln’s hats. What kind of hat do you wear?: Students will draw/design their own hats and hat racks.
• Mary Todd Lincoln and the Boys
  • Activity 4: Mary’s Household Chores: Students do hands-on sewing and discuss the advantages of taking care of clothes by hand.
  • Activity 6: Collectable Card Students learn about Victorian Calling Cards and Carte-de-visite and then create their own calling cards.

Diaries/Journals/Autobiographies:

• Family Life at Arlington House
  • Activity 1: We are Family: Students journal about different types of families.
  • Activity 6: Women at Arlington House, the Sampler: Students write a journal response to a Mrs. Lee quote.
• Always the Young Seekers: Carl Sandburg, The Early Years
  • Activity 5: Developing an Autobiography Timeline: Students identify significant events in their own lives and identify objects that correlate with these events. Students will then write their autobiography and using their future goals will write a future projection.
• Working and Writing for a Living at Connemara
  • Activity 2: Organize This!: Students write an autobiographical poem based on items from home
    that display what the students love, fear, feel, need, give, enjoy, and wear.

Drama/Role Playing:

• Family Life at Arlington House
  • Activity 5: Robert E. Lee’s absence in the family due to military obligation: Students role play as
    residents of Arlington.
• The American Revolution, A Revolution of Possibilities: Politics, Economy, and Society
  • Activity 1: Declaring Freedom: Students will role-play as delegates at the meetings and debates about the formation of a new government. Each group will research and present an argument.
  • Activity 2 part 2: The Making of a Military Camp: Students will complete tasks associated with a
    specific role that will contribute to the overall camp design. Students then present models or drawings to illustrate their plans.
• I Like Mamie
  • Activity 4: Home is Where the Heart is: Students role-play the dialogue that might result after the Eisenhower’s Thanksgiving feast photo is posted to social media. 
• Lincoln’s Legal Career
  • Activity 6: Mock Trial: Almanac Trial: Students will re-enact one of Lincoln’s trials and write a
    persuasive speech for closing arguments.
    

Expository Writing

• Family Life at Arlington House
  • Activity 7: History through Objects: Students discuss the importance of heirlooms and how heirlooms connect with the people that owned them. Students then complete a written,
    drawing, or photographic response.
• Sitting in Robert E. Lee’s Writing Chair
  • Activity 1: Students design/draw their ideal chair. Students then each write a 5 -7 sentence paragraph about what their designs tell us about our lifestyles in the early 21st century and
    share their observations.
• Passing Traditions Through Time
  • Activity 4: Use the book, “Children of Clay”: Students write or create a series of drawings showing the steps in a skill that they know.
• Carl Sandburg: Collector of Life in Word and Song
  • Activity 2: “I Am the People – the Mob”: Students choose one of Sandburg’s poems that best describes how he felt about workers. Students then write a paragraph to explain why they
    chose this poem.
  • Activity 4: Read All About it!: Students follow Sandburg’s directions for evaluating a new story
    and then evaluate articles Sandburg wrote.
    

Historical Interpretation:

• Community Roles of Pueblo Peoples: Past and Present
  • Activity 3: Roles in an Ancestral Pueblo village:  As a class, students look at Pablita’s drawings and think of as many things as you can that are different than they would have been when the Ancestral Pueblo people lived here before they met the Spanish and other people coming from other cultures.
• Working and Writing for a Living at Connemara
  • Activity 3: The Writing Tool: Students write in personification. They write what they think Carl
    Sandburg may have seen, heard, felt, or thought that would have inspired him to write that poem. Students write this from the perspective of a typewriter or pencil.

Journalism/Newspaper Reporting:

• Carl Sandburg: Collector of Life in Word and Song
  • Activity 4: Read All About it!: Students examine factual and distorted newspaper columns and tell how they would write the distorted column better.
• The Eisenhower Farm: Leaving the Land Better Than He Found It!
  • Activity 3: Students pretend they interviewed Eisenhower and write a short news article
    summarizing the information.
    

Oral History/Interviews:

• I Like Mamie
  • Activity 4: Home is Where the Heart is: Students prepare a two-page report describing a Thanksgiving food/tradition using oral history research.
    

Oral Reports:

• Magical Collaborations
  • Activity 4: Story Sharing: Students write a character description and story. Students then orally present their final stories to the class.
• Carl Sandburg: Collector of Life in Word and Song
  • Activity 3: Life in Song: Students bring in guitars and other musical instruments and perform songs from the American Songbag.
  • Activity 5: Sandburg Slam: Students perform a piece of Sandburg’s work or a piece of their own.
• Carl Sandburg: Visionary Poet
  • Activity 1: Introduction – How to Read an Object: In groups, students present their headgear to the class and share what the group observed about the wearer and the nature of the work.
• The American Revolution, A Revolution of Possibilities: Politics, Economy, and Society
  • Activity 1: Declaring Freedom: Students will role-play as delegates at the meetings and debates about the formation of a new government. Each group will research and present an argument.
• The Eisenhower Farm: Leaving the Land Better Than He Found It!
  • Activity 2: In groups, students will research a topic and present their findings in class.
• Reminder of the Past, Lincoln Keepsakes
  • Activity 5: Lincoln Logs – Interesting Playthings Typifying the ‘Spirit of America’: Students will research the history of Lincoln Logs and orally present relevant historic facts.

Persuasive Writing and Speaking:

• Carl Sandburg: Visionary Poet
  • Activity 3: Value of Labor: Students write a persuasive essay on the topic “If money and cost were not an issue, what ideals and factors would control your buying decisions?”
• The American Revolution, A Revolution of Possibilities: Politics, Economy, and Society
• Activity 1: Declaring Freedom: Students will role-play as delegates at the meetings and debates about the formation of a new government. Each group will research and present an argument.
• I Like Mamie
  • Activity 3: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner: Students compose an argument that addresses Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to the Eisenhower White House in 1959.
• The Abraham Lincoln Home in Springfield, IL
  • Activity 4: Lincoln’s mirror: Why did Lincoln grow his beard?: Students will write an informal, persuasive letter to either their teacher or a family member about what they would like to see done.
• Lincoln’s Legal Career
  • Activity 6: Mock Trial: Almanac Trial: Students will re-enact one of Lincoln’s trials and write a persuasive speech for closing arguments.
    

Photography/Videography/Computers:

• Family Life at Arlington House
  • Activity 7: History through Objects: Students discuss the importance of heirlooms and how heirlooms connect with the people that owned them. Students then complete a written,
    drawing, or photographic response.
• The American Revolution, A Revolution of Possibilities: Politics, Economy, and Society
  • Activity 1: Declaring Freedom: Students will create a self-portrait collage illustrating what they think is important for others to know about themselves. Students begin by taking digital portraits of each other and printing them out.
• The American Revolution, A Revolution of Possibilities: Politics, Economy, and Society
  • Activity 2: Camp Life: Students prepare a radio broadcast of contemporary protest and/or patriotic music identifying key current events inspired by the song.
    

Timelines

• Exploring Cultural Continuity through Pottery
  • Activity 5: Making Pottery: Students put together a timeline of photos showing the steps in making a traditional Pueblo Pot.
• Always the Young Seekers: Carl Sandburg, The Early Years
  • Activity 5: Developing an Autobiography Timeline: Students identify significant events in their own lives and identify objects that correlate with these events. Students then create a timeline of these events.