The Civil War through a
Child's Eye
Overview
The Civil War through a Child's Eye lesson focuses on the use of
historical fiction and primary sources to expand students' perceptions
of the Civil War era. Literature and photographic images reflect,
communicate, and influence human perspectives of historical events.
Specifically, the unit helps students to view the Civil War era through
a child’s eye, rather than from an adult perspective.
Following an introduction to the Civil War using photographic,
daguerreotype, and non-fiction sources, students read Paul Fleischman’s
Bull Run in Readers Theater format. Next, students examine and
interpret primary source images of Civil War era children. Then,
students reveal their understanding of a child’s perspective in a
literary portrait. In sum, this lesson integrates reading, writing, and
US history standards.
Objectives:
Students will:
- differentiate between primary and secondary source materials as
they explore perspectives of the Civil War;
- understand multiple perspectives of the Civil War through the use
of historical fiction;
- make inferences about how children were affected by the Civil
War; and
- create a literary portrait that conveys a child’s perspective of
the Civil War era.
Steps:
- View the slide show, "Children
in the Civil War", which uses
photographs, daguerreotypes, and facts to learn about the boys who
participated in the Civil War.
2. Read
your assigned part in Bull Run.
Participate in the class reading of Bull Run.
3. Next, explore the Civil War era
photographs and daguerreotypes from the American Memory collections.
View the
gallery of Images
and select one image of a child to
examine more closely.
4. Work as historians to carefully
examine and analyze the photographic image you selected. As you work,
complete the
Photo Analysis Guide (Requires:
Adobe
Acrobat Reader 5.0). Remember to
describe the physical attributes, age, and
other traits that
you observe or infer from the photographic image.
5. Read
the criteria listed on the Literary Portrait
Scoring Guide. (Requires: Adobe
Acrobat Reader 5.0). Using your
detailed responses on
the Photo Analysis Guide, write a literary portrait of your selected
child. Remember that the
literary portrait
needs to be written from the point of view of the child. Get ready to
share your literary portrait with the
class.
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