Activities
Photo Timeline – Instagram Template
In small groups of three or four (depending on class size), students will create a photo timeline using an Instagram template.
Students will use pictures to display Pittsburgh’s transformation from industrialization throughout Deindustrialization. Students will print ten-twelve pictures they have found and place them on the Instagram template they have created using poster paper. Additionally, students will need to create a caption for each photo but each caption cannot exceed 30 characters.
After the students have finished, the photo timelines will be displayed throughout the room. Then a gallery walk will take place and each student will receive post-its to comment on at least one photo for each group.
Document Analysis
In small groups of three or four (depending on class size), students will work together to analyze four documents. Each student will receive a document packet and a document analysis handout for each document. The document analysis handouts I use can be found on the National Archives website in the Teachers’ Resources section.
While each member of the group will analyze the same four documents, each group will have a different document set. Students will examine two excerpts, one from a primary source and one from a secondary source. They will also examine a photograph and a table.
The primary source excerpts will be from Eliza: Remembering a Pittsburgh Steel Mill by mark Perrott and the secondary source excerpts will be from Twentieth-century Pittsburgh the Post-steel Era by Roy Lubove. Students will examine an image and a table which have been listed in the appendix.
After the students have analyzed each document, they will answer a writing prompt and will be required to use evidence from their sources in their response.
In the future, students will examine six or seven documents and will only occasionally work in groups to complete this type of assignment. However, since this unit will be taught as the first unit of the school year, I have modified it. As the school year goes on, students will examine more than three documents and will eventually work independently.
Interview
Students will independently create questions and conduct an interview regarding Pittsburgh and deindustrialization.
After reviewing “Principles and Best Practices: General Principles for Oral History” by the Oral History Association as a class, students will independently develop seven questions to use during an interview. Students will create a draft of these questions and I will then collect them and provide feedback. The following day, students will modify their questions based on my feedback as well as create a list of five people they will interview.
Students will then meet with me to discuss their questions and who they will interview. The students will be asked why the chose the people they did because they should be interviewing people who were impacted by deindustrialization or witnessed the impact it had on the city.
As a homework assignment, students will have a few days to conduct their interview and answer the writing prompt I have assigned. Students will need to use evidence from their interviews when answering the prompt.
Additionally, students will be required to record the interview as part of the assignment, which will also be used for part of their culminating project.
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