Portraits of the Progressive Era

Each student in a 7th grade history class will receive a photo of a child who just immigrated to US or who recently moved to the a city. The students have already talked about immigrants/immigration and have moved on to studying the relationships between immigrants and Americans as both groups assimilate to life in cities. You could vary your photos between immigrants that moved to the city and Americans that migrated to the city.  They will embody this person and tell that person’s story from their perspective.They will describe this person and create a narrative about their life in an effort to see history through the eyes of someone living it. Students will have options for how to present their work is presented. Most of the student's’ research will be self-guided. They will be given resources and skills to do their research.

Student Group Targeted:
7th grade history

Prerequisite skills/knowledge
Students completed industrial revolution and rise of big business prior to the start of this unit.
Overall Unit Student Objectives
Students will create a visual journal that reflects and shows the conditions of children living in the United States during the Progressive Era. Students will learn and research about this time period in order to create a realistic representation of the conditions people faced during the progressive era. Students will practice independent research skills and explore the connection of the artist as a researcher.

Related Visual Arts Standards of Learning

• 7.4 The student will communicate ideas, experiences, and narratives through the creation of works of art, using traditional and contemporary media

Related Academic Standards of Learning

• USII.4e

Essential Questions and Key Concepts
Essential Questions:

• What are the major events that happened during the Progressive movement?
• What were conditions like for people living during the Progressive movement? How did the conditions for people change?
• How can someone teach their self? Why is this skill important?
• How to artists research and learn about the world?
• What is the progressive movement?

Key Concepts

• artists do independent research before creating a work of art  
• Progressive movement
• Labor unions + child labor
• Temperance movement
• 18th and 19th amendment
• Women’s suffrage

Essential Skills

• Analyze and interpret primary and secondary source documents to increase understanding of events and life in United States history. (USII.1a)
• Make connections between the past and the present. (USII.1b)
• Sequence events in United States history. (USII.1c)
• Interpret ideas and events from different historical perspectives.

Full List of Works of Art and/or Other Sources of Content
Websites for independent research:

• History.com
• Khan Academy
• Scholastic.com
• Scholar.google.com
• bbc.co.uk

Lesson Plan 1:
The students will be introduced to the portrait project and discuss how artists are researchers. The students will fill in progressive era notes worksheets based on their homework reading as well as researching additional information on computers. They will work independently as first, then pair up to compare notes with others.
Resources: History.com, khanacademy.com, Wikipedia.com, scholar.google.com, vmfa.museum, scholastic.com, BBC.co.uk

Students will be given the image of their progressive era child to use as a frame of reference for their research on day 2.  

Lesson Plan 2:
The students will create a journal out of folded reams of paper (3 sheets per student). They will decorate the cover of their journal and put the image of their child in/on it. They will fill out a character profile worksheet describing the facts of life for this person. They will be encouraged to do independent research on computers to fill in the gaps they didn't learn from their notes on day 1.

Lesson Plan 3:
Students will work in their journals. They will choose 3 forms of portraiture from the tick-tack-toe board to display the life of their child. They will discuss how many artists sketch and brainstorm before creating a piece. They may do that in their journal or on separate paper if they think it will be helpful.

Lesson Plan 4:
Students will continue work in their journals. They will choose 3 forms of portraiture from the tick-tack-toe board to display the life of their child.

Lesson Plan 5:
Students will spend the first half of class finishing their artworks, then they will put them up for display. After spending time viewing the work of their peers, students will do a written reflection critique of their own work.


LESSON 1 
The students will be introduced to the portrait project and discuss how artists are researchers. The students will fill in a progressive era notes worksheets. They will work independently as first, then pair up to compare notes with others.
Resources: History.com, khanacademy.com, Wikipedia.com, scholar.google.com, vmfa.museum, scholastic.com, BBC.co.uk

SOL/Learning objectives
US11.4e

Essential questions & understandings/big ideas
​How do we research new information?
What is the first step before beginning an art project?
What is the progressive movement?
Artists are researchers.
Research is the first step to creating a work of art.

Key vocabulary
Progressive Movement
Industrialization
Organized Labor
Immigration
Women’s suffrage
Temperance Movement

Assessment part 1
Class discussion:
What sources do you use when you need to find something out?
What are “credible sources” and why do we need to use them in an academic setting?

Possible misconceptions or learning gaps
Students may not have experience using “credible sources” and have a hard time telling them apart from non-credible sources.
Students may not know what types of keywords will get them the best results.
Students may not be familiar enough with sites we show them to easily navigate them

Snapshot / warm-up activity
Name 3 major problems that arose during the Progressive era.  Take out computers when done.

Instructional strategies
Independent research
Class discussion 

Teaching and learning activities
**Hand out reading about the progressive era for homework before the unit begins**
Essential skills question (on the board): Why did industrialization cause so many problems for the common worker?
Snapshot
First 20-25 mins:
Option A: Students will find a partner that is seated close to them, one will work on half of the worksheet, the other will work on the second half. They will use computers or their reading to complete worksheet.
OR
Option B: Half of the class will work independently on the first half of the worksheet, and the rest will do the second half.
A: Students will come back to their partner and share their half of the notes. They will have 15 minutes to do this. Then we will discuss answers as a class.
B: Students will pair up with someone who did the half of the worksheet that they did not do and share answers.
Go over worksheet as a class to make sure everyone has consistent answers.

Differentiation - Higher level thinking, technology use, connections to other subject areas and/or authentic applications
Kids will have freedom to research using  whichever method works best for them.
We will talk about how in all subjects/careers, you’ll need to learn skills. There isn’t one way to learn them. In the internet age, we’re lucky to have options for everyone

Checking for understanding
Go over terms at the end of class.

Lesson closure & Student summarizing of their learning
​Have students pick out a photo of a child from the progressive era. Introduce what we will be doing starting next class: creating a character profile and making a journal that we are pretending belonged to this child.
Homework: Give the child a name, age, tell where they are from, where they live now, describe their personality

Assessment part 2
Class discussion about worksheet
​Collect worksheet to check if it’s complete


LESSON 2
The students will create a journal out of folded reams of paper (3 sheets per student). They will decorate the cover of their journal and put the image of their child on it. They will fill out a character profile worksheet describing the facts of life for this person. They will be encouraged to do independent research on computers to fill in the gaps they didn't learn from their notes on day 1.

​
SOL/Learning objectives
US11.4e

​
Essential questions & understandings/big ideas
What is a character?
Why is it important to try to imagine the everyday life of people when studying history?
A character is a person in a story.
Trying to see a different time through the eyes of someone who lived it provides a better understanding of the past.



Key vocabulary
Journal
Visual journaling
portrait



Assessment part 1
Discuss what we did the day before - why are we researching independently from our computers? What are different ways people learn?
Ask if anyone keeps a journal (aka a diary, a sketchbook, a notebook)



Possible misconceptions or learning gaps
Students who were absent previous class don’t have an understanding of primary v secondary sources/scholarly vs non scholarly sources



Snapshot / warm-up activity
What is a primary source? What is a secondary source? Define in your journals. Which do you think gives a more accurate picture of history?



Instructional strategies
Independent writing reflection
Class discussion
Group work




Teaching and learning activities
Essential skills question (on the board): Why should we try to interpret history through the eyes of someone who lived it? (Think about context.)
Discuss snapshot- talk about the difference between secondary and primary sources. Is your photo primary or secondary? How about your reading?
Pass out character worksheet and ask students to spend 15 minutes brainstorming and researching for their character.
Pass out paper to make books. Show students how to fold the paper into reams and how to staple the spine. Students will decorate the cover of their journal and put the image of their child in/on it. Pass out tick-tack-toe board and discuss the options for their portrait. Open the floor for questions about the options.
Closure: What is it like to create a character using facts from history? What’s still missing?

Differentiation - Higher level thinking, technology use, connections to other subject areas and/or authentic applications
Higher level thinking: How to teach self and conduct own learning
Technology use: computer, scholarly websites
Connections: conducting research is applicable to every subject and learning how to teach yourself is essential in any level of education

Checking for understanding
Touch base with students. Are they using credible sources, are they creating a realistic character? (i.e. a child factory worker isn’t typically overweight)

Lesson closure & Student summarizing of their learning
Discuss how character creation is coming


Assessment part 2
Class discussion similar to snapshot. Knowing what you know now, did anything from the progressive era stand out as unfair? Were people justified in fighting for change? Why?


LESSON 3 
Students will work in their journals. They will choose 3 forms of portraiture from the tick-tack-toe board to display the life of their child. They will discuss how many artists sketch and brainstorm before creating a piece. They may do that in their journal or on separate paper if they think it will be helpful.



SOL/Learning objectives
USII.4e
Essential questions & understandings/big ideas
What is a portrait?
What is the purpose of a journal?
Portraits can take many forms. They can be an image of a person, a sense of them based on their belongings, stories about them, and so on.
Journals record the life of a person - their thoughts, images of their lives, their dreams, etc.



Key vocabulary
Visual journal


Assessment part 1
discuss any previous experience with creative writing and/creating comics.



Possible misconceptions or learning gaps
Some students struggle with paragraph structure in writing.
Students may get overwhelmed by the number of options they have.

Snapshot / warm-up activity
writing exercise: answer any of the following prompts. (If they ask how long, saw however long it needs to be to answer the question)
It’s 1919 and….
...you're mother thinks women should not be able to vote because….
...you’ll never have to work a day in your life because…
...you never want to drink alcohol because...



Instructional strategies
Independent research


Teaching and learning activities
Essential skills question (on the board):
What are different forms of portraiture? What can a portrait tell us about the past?
Those who have not completed their character profile will do so.
Students will look at a few examples of visual journals for inspiration.
Students will work on their visual journal independently. Teacher will float around and touch base with students. Students will be encouraged to treat the room as a studio space: sketch their ideas ahead of time, get materials as they need them, talk with others about their work, listen to music (from the 1900s)
Materials: crayon, colored pencil, pen, pencil, marker, watercolor, collage. Students chose whichever they prefer.
Homework: work on journal. There is still another workday, so you don’t need to finish. 

​Differentiation - Higher level thinking, technology use, connections to other subject areas and/or authentic applications
Students will be encouraged to use laptops to find out any further information they need to know about their character, to view art examples.


Checking for understanding
The teacher will check on students and ask them about their characters as they are working.

Lesson closure & Student summarizing of their learning
Talk about any issues kids are having and what they need help with.


Assessment part 2
Character profile worksheet
Active working in class
Portrait elements


LESSON 4 
Students will continue work in their journals. They will choose 3 forms of portraiture from the tick-tack-toe board to display the life of their child.


SOL/Learning objectives
US11.4e

Essential questions & understandings/big ideas
What was it like to live as a kid during the progressive era?
Portraits should reflect the daily life of progressive era children.
History must be viewed in the context of everything else going on. Viewing in the context of today can add an unfair bias. 



Key vocabulary
Context
Bias



Assessment part 1
Open with going over homework. Take questions from the class about issues they had with their journals.  



Possible misconceptions or learning gaps
Unfamiliarity with artmaking materials
Unfamiliarity with creative writing
Being overwhelmed by how broad and open the assignment is

Snapshot / warm-up activity
Write a haiku about your character. Haiku is a poem that is 5 / 7 / 5 syllable poem
Margaret is not home
She works every single day
Child labor is tough 


Instructional strategies
Class discussion
Individual discussion with students
Group work



Teaching and learning activities
Essential skills question (on the board): What about your character’s daily life differs from your own? Students will work on their visual journal independently. Teacher will float around and touch base with students. Students will be encouraged to treat the room as a studio space: sketch their ideas ahead of time, get materials as they need them, talk with others about their work, listen to music (from the 1900s)
Materials: crayon, colored pencil, pen, pencil, marker, watercolor, collage. Students chose whichever they prefer.
Homework: Work on journal. There is a half-workday left, so you should be close to done.

Differentiation - Higher level thinking, technology use, connections to other subject areas and/or authentic applications
Students have a lot of freedom to tailor their projects to their strengths and interests.
Practice with thinking and making decisions about how best to convey an idea will help them with later open-ended assignments



Checking for understanding
The teacher will float around the room to discuss projects with students as they work.

Lesson closure & Student summarizing of their learning
Discuss tomorrow: Students will have the first half of the class to finish then we will display all work for the kids to view. If they need to take materials home to work, that’s fine. Check them out and bring them back.

Assessment part 2
Assessment based on
Class participation
Staying on task
Connections made between the child and the progressive era notes we made


LESSON 5 
SOL/Learning objectives
US11.4e

Essential questions & understandings/big ideas
Why do artists put up their work for their peers to see?
What do you as a viewer gain from viewing all of these pieces?
Displaying and viewing art is a way of sharing ideas.

Key vocabulary
Gallery
Critique ​

Assessment part 1
Ask if students have ever critiqued artwork before?  Or viewed it in a gallery?


Possible misconceptions or learning gaps
Students may feel self conscious of their work and not want to display it, now knowing that their value as a person is independent of their work.

Snapshot / warm-up activity
What is the part of your work that has been the most difficult or frustrating and why?

Instructional strategies
Independent work time
Group work

Teaching and learning activities
Essential skills question (on the board): Why do artists make work about the past?
First half - finish working on pieces. Hand out rubric at the beginning of class so students can double check they have everything.  
Second half:
They will lay their journals out on tables so books are easily accessible. They will then do gallery walk through.
Crit format:
Everyone will spend time walking around reading and sharing the stories.
The class will reflect in writing on their and 1 others piece.
What do these stories tell you that the textbooks don’t?
Did this help you understand the subject better? Why or why not?
What information is still missing about your character?
What is something that you learned from a peer’s journal that you didn’t already know?

Differentiation - Higher level thinking, technology use, connections to other subject areas and/or authentic applications
Students will reflect on their own learning experiences and art making. Will be asked to make connections on how researching can help them in other areas of their life.

Checking for understanding
Discussing artwork while students look at it. What does this story tell you that the textbooks doesn’t?

Lesson closure & Student summarizing of their learning
Talk again about arts integration and how artists think and research:
There’s a plethora of information out there. Study it however is best for you. Formulate an opinion or a statement on it. Make art about it so you can communicate that idea to others.

Assessment part 2
Class participation in gallery walk
complete journal turned in to the teacher



Character Bio Sheet
Name:__________________________        

Character Name:_____________________________________

Age:____________

What do they look like? (Hair color, eye color, are they short? Tall? Skinny? overweight?): __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Where they are from:__________________________________

Where they live now:__________________________________

What’s their home like? (is it a fancy apartment? An overcrowded shack? Who lives there?):_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What’s their family like? (Parents? Siblings? Pets? What do their family members do?): __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Who are their friends? What are they like?: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What skills do they have? What are they good at?: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What do they do all day? (Do they work? Go to school? Why?): ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What do they like to eat?:
______________________________________________________________________

What do they like to do in their free time?:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What are they afraid of? Why?: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________




Name: _____________________________
Visual Journal Prompts

• Choose 3 of the following formats to convey the life of your progressive era child. Please circle the ones you choose. Look on the back to see the list of things that need to be included with your journals.
  
• Draw and Design a facebook profile for your character. What type of things may they be posting? journal entry that describes a typical day of your character
• Design a poster that showcases the negative effects of industrialization
  
• Your character is at a rally for women’s right to vote, write 5 tweets about the rally
  
• Draw a storyboard that describes the typical day for your character
• Draw a comic strip that describes the typical day for your character
• Design the cover of a newspaper that your character may have seen. What’s the headline?
• Design a suffragette poster
• Write a song
• Write a narrative story that describes the typical day for your character
• Draw and Design 3 instagram posts your character may have posted. They should include posts about temperance movement, working conditions or women’s right to vote
• Design a temperance movement poster or ad
• Write a poem that describes how your character feels about working conditions in factories
• Write a choose your own adventure story that describes the typical day of a progressive era child
• Draw a cartoon that shows the living conditions of your character
• Write a newspaper article about the recent formation of labor unions. What effects have they had on industrialization?

Journal Checklist:

• Name of character is on the front of journal
  
• Photograph of character is on the front of journal
  
• Your name is on the front of journal
  
• Entries are circled on tic tac toe board and turned in with your journal
  
• Character bio sheet is turned in with your journal
  
• You have 3 journal entries and they are all different
  
• Your entries are at least 1 page in length
  
• Your entries fit and reflect the conditions of the era
  
• Check for spelling or grammar errors
  
• Your entries complete all parts of the prompt

Name: ____________________
Progressive Era        

1 Describe the shift in society after big business and industrialization:



Negative effects of industrialization
2 Why was it impossible for a worker to support his family on his own?



3 What kind of jobs did children do during the progressive era?



4 Describe what made working conditions unsafe.



Rise of organized labor                             
5 Define labor union and give an example of one.  



6 What did union workers do when their demands were not met?



7 Why did the Homestead strike happen? What were the consequences?




Progressive Movement workplace reforms                             
8 Who were the Progressives?


9 What were they fighting for?



Temperance movement                             
10 What did temperance movement reformers want? Why?


11 Define the 18th Amendment.


12 Why was the 18th Amendment repealed?


Women’s suffrage
13 Define women’s suffrage. What did they want?


14 Name key leaders.


15 Define the Seneca Falls Convention.


16 Define the 19th Amendment



How did the reforms of the Progressive Movement change the United States?




Visual Journal Rubric
Name:_______________________ Character Name:___________________

Exceeds Expectations
16 -20 Points
Meets Expectations
11-15 Points
Partially meets Expectations
6-10 Points
Does not meet Expectations
0-5 Points

Progressive Era Worksheet & Snapshots
Exceeds: Worksheet and snapshots are answered fully
Meets: Worksheet and snapshots are mostly filled but lacking in a couple places
Partially: Worksheet is not finished and/or 3 snapshots are not answered
Does not: Worksheet is lacking significantly and/or snapshots are not completed

Character Design
Exceeds: Character bio sheet is filled out entirely and reflects the progressive era. Character picture and name is on journal cover
Meets: Character bio sheet is mostly filled out and somewhat reflects the progressive era. Character picture and name is on journal cover
Partially: Character bio sheet is lacking detail and/or character picture and name is not on journal cover
Does not: Character bio sheet is lacking significant detail and/or character picture and name is not on journal cover

Entry #1
Exceeds: Entry is at least 1 page long. Prompt is completely addressed. Information is accurate and shows understanding of the progressive era. Effort is clearly visible.. Minimal spelling and grammar errors.
Meets: Entry is at least 1 page long. Prompt is addressed. Information is accurate and shows understanding of the progressive era. Effort is visible. Minimal spelling and grammar errors.
Partially: Entry is not 1 page in length and/or does not complete all parts of the prompt. Information is somewhat accurate but lacking and/or does not show understanding of the progressive era. Some spelling and grammar errors
Does not: Entry is not 1 page in length and/or does not follow prompt. Information is lacking and does not fit conditions of the character. Lack of effort apparent. Major spelling and grammar errors

Entry #2
Exceeds: Entry is at least 1 page long. Prompt is completely addressed. Information is accurate and shows understanding of the progressive era. Effort is clearly visible.. Minimal spelling and grammar errors.
Meets: Entry is at least 1 page long. Prompt is addressed. Information is accurate and shows understanding of the progressive era. Effort is visible. Minimal spelling and grammar errors.
Partially: Entry is not 1 page in length and/or does not complete all parts of the prompt. Information is somewhat accurate but lacking and/or does not show understanding of the progressive era. Some spelling and grammar errors
Does not: Entry is not 1 page in length and/or does not follow prompt. Information is lacking and does not fit conditions of the character. Lack of effort apparent. Major spelling and grammar errors

Entry #3
Exceeds: Entry is at least 1 page long. Prompt is completely addressed. Information is accurate and shows understanding of the progressive era. Effort is clearly visible.. Minimal spelling and grammar errors.
Meets: Entry is at least 1 page long. Prompt is addressed. Information is accurate and shows understanding of the progressive era. Effort is visible. Minimal spelling and grammar errors.
Somewhat: Entry is not 1 page in length and/or does not complete all parts of the prompt. Information is somewhat accurate but lacking and/or does not show understanding of the progressive era. Some spelling and grammar errors
Does not: Entry is not 1 page in length and/or does not follow prompt. Information is lacking and does not fit conditions of the character. Lack of effort apparent. Major spelling and grammar errors

EXTRA CREDIT
Entry #4
Exceeds: Entry is at least 1 page long. Prompt is completely addressed. Information is accurate and shows understanding of the progressive era. Effort is clearly visible.. Minimal spelling and grammar errors.
Meets: Entry is at least 1 page long. Prompt is addressed. Information is accurate and shows understanding of the progressive era. Effort is visible. Minimal spelling and grammar errors.
Somewhat: Entry is not 1 page in length and/or does not complete all parts of the prompt. Information is somewhat accurate but lacking and/or does not show understanding of the progressive era. Some spelling and grammar errors
Entry is not 1 page in length and/or does not follow prompt. Information is lacking and does not fit conditions of the character. Lack of effort apparent. Major spelling and grammar errors

Reflection
Reflection is detailed and answered fully. There is at least one sentence from the journal exchange
Reflection is answered fully. There is at least one sentence from the journal exchange
Reflection is mostly answered, lacking an answer for one or two questions and/or missing sentence from journal exchange
Reflection is lacking significantly or missing and/or missing sentence from journal exchange

Total Points:________/120
Grade:            
Teacher Notes: