In this experience, students learn how art, music, and literature express the values and experiences of colonial society. They explore how creative works can reflect life in a specific time and place using both primary and secondary sources.
In this experience, students learn how art, music, and literature express the values and experiences of colonial society. They explore how creative works can reflect life in a specific time and place using both primary and secondary sources.
Students read an introduction explaining that colonial art, music, and literature are forms of historical evidence and review the lesson objectives. They examine a colonial painting labeled “Painting by a colonial artist” and complete a See-Think-Wonder graphic organizer to record what they observe, infer, and question about colonial life and society based on the image.
Teacher MovesClarify the difference between primary and secondary sources, using brief examples to help students distinguish them and understand their value. Introduce the experience overview and objectives. Model or scaffold the See-Think-Wonder process by emphasizing careful observation before interpretation and encouraging evidence-based reasoning and open-ended questions. After students share, reveal that the painting is The Copley Family by John Singleton Copley and note that one group will research Copley later in the lesson.
Students read Art, Music, and Literature in the Colonies to build background knowledge about how creative works reflected colonial society, then answer multiple-choice questions about how colonial art, music, and literature reveal beliefs, daily life, and cultural influences.
Teacher MovesFrame this scene as shared background for the upcoming group research. Encourage students to attend to images and captions as additional primary source evidence. After students answer the questions, prompt them to think about the purposes and perspectives behind different creative works, using guiding questions about how creators’ roles and backgrounds, and the functions of music and literature, shaped what was expressed.
In small groups, students choose one focus—John Singleton Copley, Winthrop Chandler, Anne Bradstreet, Samuel Sewall, Charles Wesley, or music of enslaved people—and use the corresponding research packet plus other curated sources to complete a graphic organizer answering how the person or group reflected colonial life and society, what their work shows about life in the colonies, and how it connects to events in the colonies. They then locate and evaluate one additional credible secondary source, recording its title, creator, relevance, and new or supporting information in a second organizer.
Teacher MovesPreview the six research topics in advance to form purposeful groups and ensure an appropriate match to student needs. Introduce the research task, emphasizing evaluation of source type and reliability and the need to support claims with text evidence. Model how to locate and assess a strong source by asking who created it, when and where it was made, its purpose, and how it connects to the research questions. Circulate as groups work to monitor collaboration, prompt deeper analysis, and check that students are selecting relevant, credible sources and using the organizers to structure their thinking.
Groups synthesize their research into a visual slideshow that clearly answers the research questions and explains how their chosen artist, author, musician, or group reflected colonial life and society, incorporating information from the additional secondary source they found. After completing their slideshows, students present to the class while their peers listen and use a graphic organizer to record each person or group studied and their key contributions to colonial society.
Teacher MovesReview expectations for academic presentations and basic slideshow design, modeling how to organize content across slides, caption images, and cite sources. Circulate during creation time to support equitable participation, focused collaboration, and accurate use of evidence. Set norms for respectful listening during presentations and build in brief pauses for students to take notes. Consider providing prompts for feedback and questions after each presentation, and close with a class discussion connecting the different examples of art, music, and literature to broader themes about daily life and values in the colonies.
Students individually respond to a series of reflection prompts posted on class walls, rating how well their group worked together, identifying areas for group improvement, rating their own contribution, and describing what they did well and what they can improve when planning and presenting.
Teacher MovesExplain that group-reflection responses will be discussed collectively while individual-contribution reflections are shared only with the teacher to encourage honesty. Create a respectful environment for reflection, and provide sentence starters as needed. Invite groups to briefly discuss their teamwork, prompting students to consider both strengths and areas for growth in communication, responsibility, and cooperation.
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