The Civil War Experience

Lesson 1: Creating a Visual Perspective

Time Estimated: 1 day

Objectives:

Students will:

1. Analyze photographs of the Civil War era in order to predict what kind of feelings, thoughts, or circumstances people confronted during this event.
2. Demonstrate the ability to work with partners or in small groups in order to share inferences and debate answers.
3. Contribute to a class discussion of the photographs.

Materials:

• Selected Civil War photographs — Library of Congress
• Civil War Photographs (Source Information)
• Student Handout: Analyzing Photographs of the Civil War
• Chalkboard or other large area to record student responses in class discussion
• Talking Points : What Factors Led to the “Inevitable conflict” of 1861-65?
• Clear plastic sleeves to preserve photos

Strategies:

1. Hook: Teachers should hand out packet to students. Group or pair them and randomly hand out photos. Students should answer questions on these (handout #1) and trade off with other groups until all have analyzed each photo. Students could place a “*” by the photo that stands out most to them and then voluntarily share this with the class.
2. After a discussion of their findings, the teacher will present notes of major events leading up to the Civil War.
3. Homework: Students will compose a paragraph describing what the photographs reveal about the Civil War and how as historians, they would use them to learn about various aspects of the war. For grade level ability or advanced students, have them also speak to the value of the pictures as an alternative to studying an event solely from a textbook.

Differentiation:

This activity is intended to pull together pieces of information that students have acquired through previous worksheets and notes. The photographs provide a concrete image for all levels of students. Assessment will be a matter of evaluating higher-level students for more abstract concepts about photos. For note taking, lower-level students receive fill in the blank format, as many have difficulty with this.