Life in a Box

Submitted by Erin on Tue, 01/12/2010 - 10:14am

 

In this activity, students investigate Primary Source clues to figure out “Who Am I?” puzzles. Studying each clue in a pre-determined sequence, they need to rely on content knowledge and critical thinking skills to arrive at their conclusion.  Through the Life in a Box activity, students gain understanding and insight into the individuals under study.  This activity also can help students uncover new characteristics about the individual, to construct a new perspective on the chosen topic or individual.

 

PREPARATION

With one individual in mind, find 6-7 primary sources from the Library of Congress website. Select images to use as clues from photographs, illustrations, political cartoons or maps. You can also use written materials such as manuscripts, letters or journals, but be sure they do not contain the person’s name (unless it is one of the last clues) and that they are legible enough to make sense. Be sure the images are not all quick “give-aways,” as you want your students to puzzle over the box and not immediately find the answer.

For two sources of readymade “sets” from which you can select sources, see the Teacher Page, either Themed Resources. http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/themes/ or Primary Source Sets http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/. You can also look at American Memory Collections and search for the specific individual yourself. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

 

Creating Life in a Box
PROCEDURE

  1. Print the sources you have selected.
  2. Order the primary sources from the most difficult to the easiest. Be sure that the first few primary sources do not “give away” or reveal who the individual is. Likewise, the last few should point more clearly to who the individual is. Number these sources on the back, with 1 being the most difficult source.
  3. Fold the primary sources and place in a box or bag in order of the numbers.
  4. Prepare a sheet that includes the bibliographic information to the materials in the box. You will not want the students to see this information until after they have gone through the box so; you may want to place it in a manila envelope to prevent early reveals.
  5. Distribute the box(es) to students and have them go through the clues one at a time. You may want to use the Life in a Box Scaffolding Guide to help students slow down and consider each clue. You can have students work individually, in pairs, or in small groups.

Note: If you are using several different boxes, try differentiating between them according to reading ability and bibliographic record clues by using color codes on the outside of the box (ie. Red = most challenging, Blue = average difficulty, Green = easiest

 

 

Quick Links:

Optional Assignment for Credit
Connecting Through Images
Life in a Box
Found Poems
Discussion Board
Guide for using the unctps.org website to submit assignment

 

 

 

 

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