Teachers

Determining Chronological Order from Visual Cues

This teacher-submitted, elementary-level lesson plan appeared in Badger History Bulletin. Please adapt it to fit your students' needs. 

Author: Terry Astin, Instructor, Albany Middle School, Eighth Grade History Class, 1998

Summary

Albany Schools in Green County worked on a local history project that would involve learners at all grade levels in developing a better understanding of local history as it relates to state, national, and world history. The students in Eighth Grade History brainstormed, developed, and tested this activity in an attempt to relate the people of this poster set to events, locations, and time periods already familiar to them. This activity fits nicely into the framework of celebrating the state's sesquicentennial. It could be a two- or three-hour activity, or broken up into smaller periods as time allows.

Objectives

• Students will become familiar with the individuals of Advocates for Change Classroom Poster Set, and the impact these people had on Wisconsin and the world.
• Students will develop their ability to observe differences, similarities, details, and other visual clues in historic photographs.
• Students will display their understanding of history by arranging historic photographs in chronological order, using visual clues.
• Students will see connections between the historical events described on the posters and local developments.

Procedures

1. If your school has more than several copies of Advocates for Change, collect them for this lesson, so that several groups can work simultaneously. Using the envelope, which pictures all of the posters' portraits is another option. This material can be taught as a stand-alone unit, broken up and used as a bell-ringer activity at the start or finish of the class period over many days, or as part of a thematic unit on change.
2. However the materials are being used, introduce students to this study with a brief, teacher-led overview dealing with the concept of change and the relationship it has to historic events. Explain the connection of the people in the set to Wisconsin in a general way, avoiding specific information on any individual because it can give students clues in determining the chronological order.
3. To keep the information covered until after students have studied and ordered the photos in chronological order, cover the text, especially the captions which include birth and death dates for each individual, with heavy paper, carefully taping it over the print. Using drafting tape (such as 3M), which is available at any art supply store, will help keep the posters from ripping when the heavy paper is removed. Leave the name of the individual at the top uncovered, as well as the large portrait on the left. You may wish to cover the photos on the right of each portrait with a separate color paper than that covering the text, so students can remove the "clues" in layers.
4. Students will begin to arrange the photos in chronological order based on visual cues contained in them. Possible clues to a time period include hair styles, clothing, background details, style of photograph, and so on. This activity could be done on an individual basis, or as an entire class together, but may be most enjoyable as a group competition.
5. Request that students not only arrange the photos in chronological order but be able to discuss their reasons for the order they select. Be sure that students use the names of the people instead of identifying them in some other way, as this will help students retain those names with their photo image.
6. Go through several rounds where individuals or groups arrange the posters in order and discuss the selections made. Provide students with information about how many they have in the correct order but not which ones are correct.
7. Once the correct chronological order (easily identified by using the poster text) has been established, allow students to uncover the text for study and discussion.
8. Conclude this activity with a discussion centered around the impact the people of Advocates for Change had on the state and the local area. Continued references to Golda Meir, John Muir, and others can be included in a wide variety of contexts across the curriculum.

Enhancement Activities

Students can make geographic connections by locating the individuals of the set on a map of Wisconsin and connecting to the parts of the world where they originated or influenced.