"What's In a Name?"
Learn about the origins and meaning of your name. Ask your parents who you were
named for? Does your name have any special meaning or significance? Where does
your name come from, and what does it mean?
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/theme/fam48what.htm
A reproducible questionnaire from Scholastic Book Club to help students learn
about their names.
"From Generation to Generation: Transmitting Family History, Cultural Traditions,
and Values"
According to Elizabeth Jameson: "Jewish women lugged with them the resources
to sustain Jewish life and identity: candlesticks, kiddush cups, challah covers,
family photographs, and prayer books. They also carried the knowledge to prepare
the Sabbath and Jewish holidays. They braided loaves of Sabbath challah, baked
unleavened matzo for Passover, and the three-cornered hamentaschen cookies for
Purim. Each family recipe for gefilte fish, cholent, kreplach, chopped liver,
kugel, latkes, matzo balls, or borscht carried a particular memory of survival
from Jewish communities of Russia, Poland, Germany, or Hungary-a heritage passed
through generations of women."
Consider the importance the Jewish pioneer women placed on maintaining their
religious and cultural practices and values, even when it was difficult. In
what ways did their cultural identity help them cope? In what ways, if any,
do you think they made their lives harder?
When people immigrate, they must decide for themselves to what degree they will
try to hang on to their old culture and to what degree they will attempt to
assimilate into the new one. Think about your own family's cultural traditions.
Do you have any special foods that you eat or rituals or holidays that you observe?
Have these traditions changed over ther years? Do you maintain cultural traditions
in the same way as your grandparents? Think about how traditions change over
time, and how culture changes and adapts to new circumstances.
Is it still important to maintain cultural traditions in the contemporary world?
Why or why not? Think about the family history, cultural values and traditions
that have been passed down to you. How did you learn them? Do you want to pass
down to your children, if you have them? Which ones? Why or why not? How will
you do it?
Explore the different ways that family history and cultural values are transmitted
from generation to generation-from family heirlooms to the ethical will.
Think about an heirloom in your family. Conduct research on it. Ask family members
about its history. When and where was it made? Who made it? Who owned it in
the past? What is it made out of? How is it used? Why is it important? What
does it symbolize? What does it mean to you? After learning about the object,
do you think of it in a different way?
Pretend you are a museum curator considering acquiring this object for the museum's
collection. Write a report about it including its dimensions and as much information
as you were able to find out. Include a photograph or drawing.
Hold a debate on cultural preservation vs. assimilation.
www.melitz.org.il/n2k/heirlooms.html
Study a family heirloom.
www.ethicalwill.com
The Ethical Will is a unique way that Jewish parents have passed down their
values to their children.
"Families: the Roots of History"
A strong family support structure was a common element among the stories of
the Jewish pioneer women portrayed in Andrea Kalinowski's artwork.
Learn about your relationships with your relatives, conduct interviews and research,
then organize your findings into a family tree, migration map, other visual
presentation. Place events in your family history in a wider historical context
by creating a timeline.
www.myhistory.org/guidebook/family
A great web site from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Interview guidelines
and projects including a family quilt, museum, portraits, web album, and cookbook.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/fieldtrp/socstu/family.htm
A teacher's resource from the Scholastic Book Club. "Families: The Roots of
History"
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/theme/48.htm
A reproducible from the Scholastic Book Club. "We are Family - Teaching About
Families"
"Immigration-Stories of Yesterday and Today"
Explore places of origin, learn to appreciate cultural diversity by learning
about the historical context and circumstances that got you and your family
to where you are-ask relatives, conduct research. Study the causes of worldwide
migration in our own times. War, religious persecution, political repression,
poverty or natural disasters are a few of the factors that might cause people
to uproot from their homes and move to a new land. Of more than 100,000 million
migrants worldwide, it is estimated that more than 26 million are refugees who
have been forced form their homelands by circumstances, not choice.
Imagine that you are suddenly caught in a situation where your continued security
or even your life is threatened. You must leave your home tomorrow. What situation
caused you to decide to leave your home and family? You can only bring with
you what fits in one small suitcase. What should you take? What will you have
to leave behind? What do you wish you could bring that you must leave? Think
about the things that you value as you pack. What do you imagine your new life
will be like? What will your journey be like? How will you travel? Will you
need to cross borders illegally? Will you need to bribe people to help you?
What hardships and dangers will you endure?
www.ellisisland.org
A great site.
www.angelisland.org
Entry point for many Asian-American immigrants.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/theme/famk1where.htm
Simple interview questrions from Scholastic Book Club.
http://pbs.org/kbyu/ancestors
Web site that accompanied the PBS Series "Ancestors."
http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/oralhist.htm
Oral history.
"Bridging Generations"
Building strong communities was crucial to survival on the frontier. Learn about
your community and your family's place in the community by conducting oral history
interviews. How will you document your interviews. Will you take a photograph
of your subject? Audio- or videotape your interview?
www.cofc.edu/~jhc/oha/guidelines.html
Oral history interview guidelines.
www.westernfolklife.org
Great links. Check out the fabulous "Voices of Youth" Project.
www.folklife.si.edu
Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife. Click on Education.
www.wowmuseum.org/trails/walk
Women of the West Museum, "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes," Elementary school students
learn about ten amazing women from their neighborhood.
"Family Matters: History from Scraps"
Start a scrapbook of family history.
www.hadassah.org
Click on "Hadassah Magazine Past & Present," May '02.
"Primary Sources"
Be History Detective. Learn how to use firsthand accounts to learn about the
past.
Create a firsthand account of your own life. Keep a journal for a month. In
it, describe your daily routine, the experiences you have and your reaction
to them, and any observations you have about the society you live in. Think
about the things that you found interesting and important in the first hand
accounts from the frontier that you have read. Record your thoughts, feelings,
questions, and quotations that you find especially meaningful. With this in
mind, include things in your journal that you think someone reading it 100 years
form now would find useful in understanding what it was like to be your age
in the United States in the early 21st century.
http://web.uvic.ca/history-robinson
"Who Killed William Robinson? Solve an historical murder mystery using primary
source materials.
"Tell It Like It Ought to Be"
Study folklore, folk stories, sayings, humor to learn how they can encode values
and transmit cultural history from generation to generation. Listen to a storyteller
like Joel Ben Izzy, Joe Hayes, or someone from your own community. Learn how
folk culture can influence mainstream and popular culture.
Jewish writer and humorist Sholem Alecheim wrote stories about shtetl life in
Yiddish, the vernacular language of Jews. Some of his stories were adapted into
the play Fiddler on the Roof, which premiered on Broadway in 1964 and was made
into a movie in 1971. Another important Yiddish writer was Nobel Prize winner
Isaac Bashevis Singer, who also set many of his stories in the shetls of his
youth. One of his stories was adapted into the movie Yentl in 1983. Read these
stories, then watch the movies. How were the original stories changed in the
movies and why?
http://i.am/zora
Check out a web site for the Africa-American writer and anthropologist Zora
Neale Hurston and Mary Ellen Riccio's curriculum based on her folktales, with
projects including a folktale anthology, class play, illustration, and discussion
of dialect.
www.storypage.com
Web site for award-winning traveling Jewish storyteller Joel Ben Izzy.
www.patriciapolacco.com
The author of numerous picture books, including "The Keeping Quilt," whose whole
oeuvre comprises a Keeping Quilt of family memories and cross-cultural understanding.
"Thanks for the Memories"
Create a School or Community Archive.
www.edheritage.org/articles/archives.htm
"Stitching Together Community: Making an Issues Quilt"
Quilts have often been used to make social or political statements. During slavery,
quilts were used to indicate "safe houses" along the Underground Railroad. They
were used as banners by the Temperance Movement. During the Civil War, they
were used to raise money. People have used quilts to indicate a sense of community
and to raise awareness. Think of an issue that is important in today's society,
or an event you would like to commemorate as a group or individually. Make a
quilt that pieces together your thoughts and feelings.
Think about what you would like people to learn from your "issues quilt." How
do you hope your project will increase awareness about a social or political
issue, help change people's attitudes, or help promote social change?
www.aidsquilt.com
The Official web site of the AIDS Quilt Project.
www.oxygen.com/quilt
Oprah Winfrey's on-line digital quote quilt of reactions to the terrorist attack
on the World Trade Center.
"Mixed Message/Mixed Media"
There is an old African saying that until the lions have their historians, the
stories of hunting will always glorify the hunters. Similarly, until there were
women historians of the American West, the historical view focused on larger-than-life
male personalities as romanticized in novels, movies, and other representations.
Andrea Kalinowski's artwork allow us to appreciate the daily lives and experiences
of ordinary people, specifically Jewish immigrant women, as the basis for a
new understanding of history.
Many historical accounts and media images distort the past and need to be analyzed
critically. They can reinforce stereotypes and prejudices and demean people
by omitting mention of their experiences and contributions. What things have
you read or watched that have influenced your image of the American frontier?
Read in your history text book, supplemented by primary source readings from
The American Frontier: Opposing Viewpoints. Primary source material provides
perspective on the diversity that existed on the frontier and demonstrates that
the American West was not an uninhabited and undiscovered territory, as it is
often represented. Develop Media Literacy-the ability to deconstruct the underlying
messages you receive from the media and the effect they have on your thinking.
Learn to evaluate content and think independently. Learn the conventions of
academic writing. Choose a topic or issue related to the history of the American
West to study and think about. Develop a personal viewpoint that challenges
conventional wisdom or a commonly held belief, assumption, or stereotype.
Write an essay or lead a class discussion on how this exhibition and your research
have changed your preconceptions about the history of the American West. What
had you imagined life was like on the frontier and how has that image changed?
Were women and children part of the frontier you imagined? What about Jews,
women, Native Americans, African-Americans, Spanish-Americans, and other ethnic
groups?
www.nmmlp.org
New Mexico Media Literacy Project
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/
Official site for the Ken Burns PBS television series on the American West.
www.ala.org/West
American Library Association.
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/rediscoveringamerica-thefrontier
Lesson plans.
"Celebrating Who We Are, Sharing What We've Learned"
Plan and produce a class or community event for friends and family - include
performances, an exhibition, and food.
"Empowering Children in the Aftermath of Hate"
Think about and discuss how Jewish pioneer women were able to maintain their
cultural values, traditions and identity under challenging circumstances. What
are some examples of how they demonstrated moral courage in the face of personal
danger?
What factors contributed to their abilities to endure and overcome their fears,
language barriers, poverty, hunger, grief and discrimination to survive and
eventually prosper? What inborn qualities of personality? What strength of character
and moral fiber developed form experience? What kind of support from family
and friends? What cultural values? How did they help themselves by helping others?
Put yourself in the shoes of one of the women, or think of a difficult situation
that you have faced in your own life or that you might face. What factors have
helped you cope with adversity or grief? Create a work of art expressing your
ideas and feelings or write about them.
www.adl.org/guide
The web site of the Anti-Defamation League with suggestions about talking to
children about September 11th.
www.tolerance.org
The fabulous web site of the Southern Poverty Law Center full of resources for
learning about the importance of preserving cultural diversity and combating
hatred in the world.
www.wowmuseum.org/exhibits/resources
Women of the West Museum, recommended reading list for women's history, all
ages.
"Meet a Mentor"
An exhibition like "Stories Untold" involves the work of people in a variety
of careers-artist, writer, librarian, archivist, historian, museum worker, anthropologist,
and photographer, to name a few. Pick some aspect of the project that might
interest you as a career. Find a person in your family or community to interview
or conduct research on someone with that career. Write a short biographical
sketch of that person.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/theme/fam48mentor.htm
A reproducible about a cultural anthropologist from Scholastic Book Club.
"Cultivating History"
Learn about who we are and where we came from from the food we eat. Conduct
research into which foods that we eat are native to North America, and which
ones were brought here by immigrants. Learn about the efforts to preserve heirloom
seeds. What parallels can be drawn between cultural diversity and biodiversity?
Grow a heritage garden and create a festive meal to share with friends and family
with the harvest.
www.mnh.si.eu/garden
Seeds of Change Garden from the Smithsonian Institution, includes history, gardening
instructions, diversity activities, and recipes.
www.kidsgardening.com/Dig/DigDetail
A wealth of information for teachers about gardening with your class from the
National Gardening Association.
"Modern by Design"
Kalinowski uses traditional quilt designs as a symbol of personal narrative.
The artist's digital renderings combine these designs with photographs and excerpts
from the journals and diaries of Jewish pioneer women in much the same way that
a writer might write a biography or autobiography. But Kalinowski's works communicate
the stories more directly than any of the elements would do by themselves. As
Elizabeth Jameson writes: "Patchwork becomes a precise metaphor for the scraps
of documents, letters, memoirs, and artifacts from which historians now piece
together the larger patterns of women's lives."
Research the work of an artist who combines personal narrative and contemporary
techniques. Some possibilities include Faith Ringgold (African-American), Judy
Chicago (Jewish), Victor Masayesva, Jr. (Hopi), May Stevens, Suzanne Lacey,
Hung Liu (Chinese), and Martina Lopez (Latina).
www.faithringgold.com
Faith Ringgold
www.judychicago.com
Judy Chicago
www.art.uh.edu/dif/lopezStateBio.html
Martina Lopez
www.sla.purdue.edu/waaw
An on-line course about Women Artists of the American West.
www.artincontext.org/artist/may_stevens.html
May Stevens
www.renabranstengallery.com/liu.html
Hung Liu
"Memory & Imagination: Combining Fact & Fiction."
Consider the connections between memoir, autobiography, and fiction.
Choose one of the books from the "Dear America" or "My Name is America" Series.
These books are written as if they were diaries. As you are reading, consider
the following questions: What time period did the character live in? What was
happening then, and how did that shape the character's experiences? Did she
encounter challenges? What were they and how did she handle them? Did she have
support from anyone to help her deal with her situation? Who supported her and
how? Did you relate to the character? Can you think of any comparable that you
or anyone you know has gone through?
Learn the conventions of a writing form and for example a diary entry, letter,
newspaper article, or obituary. Write a fictional piece in that style, based
on your reading or a real life event or experience.
http://scholastic.com/dearamerica/books/guides
Teachers resources of the "Dear America" series from Scholastic Book Club.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/bookupdate/mynameisamerica/discussguide
Discussion Guides for the "My Name is America" Series from Scholastic Book Club.
The Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Craft, edited by Henry Louis Gates,
Jr. Possibly the first novel by an African-American woman. Read how Gates rediscovered
this fascinating piece of fictionalized slave narrative and did the detective
work to track down its probably author and the family who owned her.
"Something Old, Something New"
During the 1970s, when feminist artists began the process of uncovering women's
history that had been largely omitted from conventional accounts, they often
incorporated or referenced traditional women's handwork that ordinary women,
usually anonymous women, created within the confines of their socially defined
roles. In this way, the artists honored the women from history.
In honoring the lives and contributions of nearly-forgotten Jewish pioneer women,
Kalinowski's mixed media works merge modern technology with the traditional
art form of quilting. By creating her artworks digitally and then handworking
them, she has created a very modern manifestation of an age-old art. Why did
she choose to do this? How has modern technology affected the choices available
to the artist? What kind of parallels can be drawn between the quilt, pieced
and layered by hand, and the digital photograph, created through a mechanical
process of layering?
Investigate art forms other than quilts that have traditionally considered "women's
work." What about making lace, embroidery, needlepoint, or weaving? Find out
if they have also been adopted by contemporary artists. Create your own mixed
media work about yourself or an historical person or someone you know who is
important to you that combines a traditional art form with a contemporary one.
See the links under "Modern by Design."