Historical Understanding Lesson

Name Shanice Cambra

Title: Introduction to Comparing Historical People Using Primary Resources
Duration: 45 minutes
Materials:
1. Pictures of students in Hawaii during the 50s
2. Butcher paper
3. Markers
Standard/Benchmark
Standard 3: History: HISTORICAL CONTENT- Understanding children, people, and
groups in time and place.
Benchmark SS. 1.3.1 Compare own life with those of children in history.
Standard 2: Historical Understanding: INQUIRY, EMPATHY AND PERSPECTIVE- Use
the tools and methods of inquiry, perspective, and empathy to explain historical events with
multiple interpretations and judge the past on its own terms.
Benchmark SS 1.2.1 Use a variety of primary sources (e.g., artifacts, letters, photographs) to gain
understanding of historical events.
Assessment Task
Formative:
Students will help complete a compare and contrast chart as a class. Students discussions and
contribution to the chart will be observed throughout the duration of the activity to see where the
student stands at the beginning and end of the lesson.
Activities/Instructional Strategies
Preparation:
1.
2.
Lesson:
3.
4.

Tape butcher paper to board.

Have pictures ready (printed or ready to be pulled up on smart board)

Students will be asked to sit on the run in the front of the classroom.
The teacher will explain to the students that they will be comparing their lives to
the lives of kids in Hawaii in the 1950s.
5. The students will be asked to think about school in relation to them.
6. They will then be asked the following questions:

a. What are some things you do in school?

b. What do you wear at school?
c. What does our classroom look like?
7. Their responses will be recorded in the section labeled 2014 on the butcher paper.
8. Next the students will be told that they will be shown a picture of students who
went to school in Hawaii in the 1950s
9. They will be asked to look at the picture closely and remember at least one thing
they noticed that was similar and different to what they do in school now.
10. Students will be asked the following questions during the lesson to ease them into
thinking about comparing and contrasting the pictures to the present time:
a. Do you think these students do the same things in school?
b. What do you notice about their classroom?
c. What are they wearing?
d. Are their any differences between the things you do in school and the
things you see in the pictures?
11. The students will be asked to turn and talk to a partner about their noticing.
12. The students will be asked to pair up with a pair next to them to form a group of
four to share their wonderings after two minutes.
13. Finally the students will be asked to share their findings with the entire class.
14. Their responses will be recorded in either the Both column or the 1950 column.
15. After the chart is created we will go over the similarities and differences.
16. The class will also briefly discuss some of the challenges the students in the
1950s might have faced because of the differences.
17. The class will also go over wonderings about how school might have been in the
1950s, how the students lived back then, etc. This will help build interest in a
follow up lesson.
Connection to GLO(s):
Community Contributor: Students will work in groups to share their ideas.
Complex Thinker: Students will build ideas based on previous experiences.
Enduring Understanding(s):
Primary historical sources can be helpful in comparing the lives and actions of historical
figures/people of the past to life in the present day.
Essential Questions:
1. What are some things you do in school?
2. What do you wear at school?
3. What does our classroom look like?
4. Do you think these students do the same things in school?
5. What do you notice about their classroom?
6. What are they wearing?
7. Are their any differences between the things you do in school and the
things you see in the pictures?