What is History?

What do young students know about history? Find out by first providing each student with an index card and asking them to complete the sentence, "History is...." Read the cards together and create a list of their ideas.

Virginia Lee Burton's, The Little House, is a picture book that works well to introduce the concept of history. It tells the story of a house built on a hill far out in the country. Eventually a road is built in front of a house and, bit by bit, the far away city expands to encompass the house. 

Read the book to the students then hand out to pairs of students photocopies of the major illustrations in the book. Create a picture viewer for each pair by cutting a 1" square in the center of a piece of paper. Have students slide their viewer over the picture and create a list of details in the picture.  Once finished, have students come up to the front of the room and put the pictures in order. Have someone narrate the story based on the pictures on the wall.

As a class discuss what they think the main ideas of the book might be. What specific details illustrate these ideas?

What information did they need to tell the story of the house? They needed to activate their prior knowledge of the story and they needed lots of details from the pictures. From a literacy perspective they have just worked on understanding the narrative structure of the book and summarizing the main idea. We have also just modeled how closely historians look at evidence.

For our larger question about what is history we now add to our list. Some new ideas about history might be: Chronology, change over time, landscape changes, technology changes landscape, historians tell stories, and historians use details to tell stories.

Now--go to your local antique mall and buy some old postcards, preferably postcards that have been mailed and have stamps and postmarks.  Using old postcards gives students the opportunity to actually handle "old stuff."  Create a graphic organizer that asks them to list what they see on the front of the postcard. They should be good at this because they just did it with The Little House. 

They should make a map of the back of the postcard. By doing this, they will notice everything from the address to the postmark to the publisher. Finish by having students list at least 3 questions.

Postcards like this force students to identify some of the first details any historian asks of a primary source--who wrote it? who was the audience? when was it written?

Share the postcards. If you're lucky, you've found a collection written/sent by the same person and that tells a bit of a story.

Now add more to their definitions of history. They might add that history is about real people and places, it can be personal, it is interpretive, and it is about asking questions.

If you're really lucky, you now have a crowd of kids who are desperate to be historians and to find out more!

Here's a book where you can find some answers to all those questions your students now have about postcards:

  Allen Davis, Postcards from Vermont: A Social History 1905 - 1945 (2002)

Civil War Poetry Prompt—Remembering the Past

A eulogy is a spoken or written tribute that reveals the virtues and accomplishments of a person who died.

Write a eulogy for the a soldier from your local cemetery. You could look at examples from local newspapers or historical newspapers to help with the writing process. Consider:

• Biographical information: the name of the person, date of death, and age at death, and a possible cause of death as determined through your group analysis
• Accomplishments/honors: What is this person known for? Why should we remember him or her? List two or three possible accomplishments of the person during his or her life. (For example: wife, mother, etc.)
• One or two events that actually occurred in history during the life of this person that might have had an effect on his or her life.
• Turn it into a Wordle—this example is drawn from Walt Whitman’s eulogy to Abraham Lincoln

  Walt Whitman

O Captain! My Captain!

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.


O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills; 10
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.


My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won; 20
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead

Civil War Poetry Prompts—The Citizen Soldier

Focus Question: What did Full Duty mean to people in our region?

1. Poetry with Two Voices—poetry written for two or more voices is a poem that is written for two or more people to perform. The poetry usually has two columns—one for each person who is reading the poem. Sometimes the poet wants the two readers to say something at the same time, then the poet will write the words on the same line in each column. 

The compare/contrast nature of this creative writing exercise translates well to history.

·       Think about two people who might have been in communication during the War, two people who might have opposed each other, or what an optimist and a pessimist would say to each other about the War.

·       Write a phrase that both people can say together that reflects agreement. For example “I love my country” or “He is my brother.”

·       Collect quotes from letters or other primary sources that illustrate how the two people might disagree.

·       Write 5 – 8 pairs of statements showing how they might disagree.

·       In the middle, once or twice, have another statement they make together.

·       End with a statement they both make together.

Another option would be to adapt the two versions of The Battle Cry of Freedom.  The Union version is below. The confederate version can be found online. How could the two different versions oppose each other in one poem and come together in unity as well?

2. Ballads—In a ballad, verses can give little vignettes of the soldier’s life on the battlefield, while the refrain, repeated between each verse, describes him. The key is to retain the shape of a ballad with verses followed by the refrain with the verses telling different things and the refrain repeating the same words. Often ballads have 4 lines for each verse and begin and end with the refrain.

Begin by writing a refrain with 4 lines that describes your soldier.

Choose a battle that your soldier was involved in.  Take notes on the on the battle and tell its story in verses of 4 lines each. You could have a verse that is descriptive, one that is full of action, and one that is full of feeling. You could also choose photographs from the battle to inspire you. 

Drawn from: The Story in History: Writing Your Way into the Experience

George Frederick Root

The Battle Cry of Freedom- Union

Yes, we'll rally round the flag, boys,
We'll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom,
We will rally from the hillside,
We'll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.

CHORUS: The Union forever,
Hurrah! boys, hurrah!
Down with the traitors,
Up with the stars;
While we rally round the flag, boys,
Rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.

We are springing to the call
Of our brothers gone before,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom;
And we'll fill our vacant ranks with
A million free men more,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.-CHORUS

We will welcome to our numbers
The loyal, true and brave,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom;
And although they may be poor,
Not a man shall be a slave,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.-CHORUS

So we're springing to the call
From the East and from the West,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom;
And we'll hurl the rebel crew
From the land that we love best,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.-CHORUS

Civil War Poetry Prompt—The Home Front

Focus Question: What did Full Duty mean to people in our region?
Six-Word Memoir

Try writing a six-word memoir for a Civil War person in a local cemetery.  First create a list of core words that connect to your person. Then look for synonyms for the core words. Have you chosen your best word?  Put the six best words in the best order. Find more Six-Word Memoirs at the online project here.

Be specific about an aspect of the person’s life. Let the limitations push you to be creative. Revise, revise, revise with a thesaurus. Rearrange, rearrange, rearrange until you’re satisfied.

Example— Abraham Lincoln

“Split wood, split country, saved it”

Example—Drawn from Come up from the Fields, Father

“Stricken mother’s soul, son is dead”

Walt Whitman (1819–1892).  Leaves of Grass.  1900.

Come up from the fields father, here's a letter from our Pete,
And come to the front door mother, here's a letter from thy dear son.

Lo, 'tis autumn, Lo, where the trees, deeper green, yellower and redder,
Cool and sweeten Ohio's villages with leaves fluttering in the moderate wind,
Where apples ripe in the orchards hang and grapes on the trellis'd vines,
(Smell you the smell of the grapes on the vines?
Smell you the buckwheat where the bees were lately buzzing?)

Above all, lo, the sky so calm, so transparent after the rain, and with wondrous clouds,
Below too, all calm, all vital and beautiful, and the farm prospers well.

Down in the fields all prospers well,
But now from the fields come father, come at the daughter's call.
And come to the entry mother, to the front door come right away.

Fast as she can she hurries, something ominous, her steps trembling,
She does not tarry to smooth her hair nor adjust her cap.

Open the envelope quickly,
O this is not our son's writing, yet his name is sign'd,
O a strange hand writes for our dear son, O stricken mother's soul!
All swims before her eyes, flashes with black, she catches the main words only,
Sentences broken, gunshot wound in the breast, cavalry skirmish, taken to hospital,
At present low, but will soon be better.

Ah now the single figure to me,
Amid all teeming and wealthy Ohio with all its cities and farms,
Sickly white in the face and dull in the head, very faint,
By the jamb of a door leans.

Grieve not so, dear mother, (the just-grown daughter speaks through her sobs,
The little sisters huddle around speechless and dismay'd,)
See, dearest mother, the letter says Pete will soon be better.

Alas poor boy, he will never be better, (nor may-be needs to be better, that brave and simple soul,)
While they stand at home at the door he is dead already,
The only son is dead.

But the mother needs to be better,
She with thin form presently drest in black,
By day her meals untouch'd, then at night fitfully sleeping, often waking,
In the midnight waking, weeping, longing with one deep longing,

O that she might withdraw unnoticed, silent from life escape and withdraw,
To follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son.

Civil War Poetry Prompt--Raising an Army

Erasure poetry is a form of found poetry created by erasing words from an existing text in prose or verse and framing the result on the page as a poem. The results can be allowed to stand in situ or they can be arranged into lines and/or stanzas.  
Want to see more erasure poetry? Check out Newspaper Blackout


Three Hundred Thousand More by James Sloan Gibbons

We are coming, Father Abraam, three hundred thousand more,
From Mississippi's winding stream and from New England's shore;
We leave our plows and workshops, our wives and children dear,
With hearts too full for utterance, with but a silent tear;
We dare not look behind us, but steadfastly before,
We are coming, Father Abraam, three hundred thousand more.
If you look across the hilltops that meet the northern sky,
Long moving lines of rising dust your vision may descry;
And now the wind, an instant, tears the cloudy veil aside,
And floats aloft our spangled flag in glory and in pride;
And bayonets in the sunlight gleam, and bands brave music pour,
We are coming, Father Abraam, three hundred thousand more.
If you look all up our valleys, where the growing harvests shine,
You may see our sturdy farmer - boys fast forming into line;
And children from their mothers' knees are pulling at the weeds,
And learning how to reap and sow, against their country's needs;
And a farewell group stands weeping at every cottage door,
We are coming, Father Abraam, three hundred thousand more.
You have called us, and we're coming, by Richmond's bloody tide,
To lay us down for freedom's sake, our brother's bones beside;
Or from foul treason's savage group to wrench the murderous blade,
And in the face of foreign foes its fragments to parade;
Six hundred thousand loyal men and true have gone before,
We are coming, Father Abraam, three hundred thousand more.


Example 1: Three Hundred Thousand More

steadfast.
lines of rising dust
bayonets
boys fast forming into line;
brother's bones.
murderous blade
fragments
six hundred thousand gone before
three hundred thousand more.

Example 2: We are coming

We are coming, Father Abraam, three hundred thousand //////////////////////////more////////////
From Mississippi's winding stream and from New England's ///////////////////////shore//////
We leave our plows and workshops, our wives and children dear////////
With hearts too full for utterance, with but a silent tear///////////////////////////////////////////////////
We dare not look behi////////////////////////////// us, but steadfastly before,////////////////////////////
We are coming, Father Abraam, three hundred thousand more/……………////.../...////////// f you look across the hilltops T///////////////////////ha////t meet the northern sky,///////////////////
Long moving lines of rising dust your vision may descry////////////////////
And now thewind,/////////////////////////// an instant, tears the cloudy veil aside,///////////////////
And float aloft///////////////////////////// our spangled flag in glory and in pride////////////////////////
And bayonets within the sunlight gleam, an////////////////////////////d bands brave music pour..
We are coming, Fathe////////////////////////////.r Abraam, three hundred thousand more.///////////If you look a////////////////////////////ll up our valleys, where the growing harvests shine,/////////
You may see our sturdy farmer - boys fast forming into line;///////////////
And children fr////////////////////////om their mothers' knees are pulling at the weeds,/////////.
And learning how to reap and sow, against their country's needs;////////.
And a farewell gro////////////////////////////up stands weep at every cottage door,/////////////////////
We are coming, Father Abraam, three hundred thousand more.//////////////////……//////////….You have called us, …………………and we're coming, by Richmond's bloody tide//////.
To lay us down for ////////////////////////////freedom's sake, our brother's bones beside/////////////
Or from foul treason's savage group to ………………wrench the murderous blade/////
And in the face of foreign foes,’ i………………..ts fragments to parade/////////////////////////
Six hundred thousand loyal men and true have gone before//////////////////
We are coming, Fath…………………..er Abraam, three hundred thousands more////////////

Civil War Poetry Prompt—The Industrial Revolution and the Civil War

List Poems are comprised of a list of persons, places, things, or abstract ideas that share a common denominator. Walt Whitman’s “I hear America singing!” is a list poem. This poem was published in 1860 on the eve of the Civil War and honors mechanics, carpenters, boatmen, ploughboys who, for Whitman, embodied democracy.   How might this poem be changed to reflect the mood of the nation after the Civil War? How might it reflect the south or the north? Would he hear America crying? Sighing? Mourning? Singing a different tune? What might the list of person, places, things, or ideas be?

Substitute the words singing and songs for words that depict a different emotion. Or keep the singing and substitute the people, places, and things for Civil War themes.

Drawn from: Read, Write Think

Walt Whitman (1819–1892).  Leaves of Grass.  1900.

I Hear America Singing

I HEAR America singing, the varied carols I hear;
Those of mechanics—each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong;
The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work;
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat—the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck;	5
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench—the hatter singing as he stands;
The wood-cutter’s song—the ploughboy’s, on his way in the morning, or at the noon intermission, or at sundown;
The delicious singing of the mother—or of the young wife at work—or of the girl sewing or washing—Each singing what belongs to her, and to none else;
The day what belongs to the day—At night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs.	10