People and
Cultures
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Middle Level: Grades 6-8Middle-Level Standard: Current Issue Analysis
Based on images from the unit and from other suggested sources, discuss the concept of stereotype and examine how visual materials support or challenge stereotypes of Native Americans. (See Extension Activities, "The American People: Native Americans.")
To complement study of Cadzi Cody's Painted Hide, research then- and-now facts about life on an American Indian reservation or about American Indian boarding schools. Define the issues, and address either the pros or cons as a member of a debate team. (See Extension Activities, "The American People: Native Americans.")
Middle-Level Standard: Geography and Culture
Consider how certain art images are inspired by and reflect the natural environment (e.g., Caddo Effigy Bowl, Cropsey's Catskill Mountain House, Morrison's Collage IX: Landscape).
Discuss specific visual images that reflect the importance of water to early settlers in America, and also consider other natural resources that might attract settlers to a locale. Individually or in small groups, create a map of an ideal settlement location, including a key showing symbols for features such as mountains, rivers, and forests. (See Extension Activities, "The American Land: Westward Ho!")
Write an advertisement that encourages people to settle in a site portrayed in one of the unit's landscapes (e.g., View of Fort Snelling, Catskill Mountain House). (See Extension Activities, "The American Land: Westward Ho!")
Research and discuss the importance of rivers and falls in choosing sites for the settlements of Minneapolis, St. Anthony, and Fort Snelling. (See Extension Activities, "The American Land: Westward Ho!")
To complement study of Henry Lewis's St. Anthony Falls, read the report about Lewis's sketching trip on the Mississippi River, research and discuss how a similar contemporary trip would be alike and different, and write and illustrate a journal about the latter. (See Extension Activities, "The American Land: Changing Landscapes.")
Compare Lewis's depiction of St. Anthony Falls with how the site looks today. (See Extension Activities, "The American Land: Changing Landscapes.")
Compare Koehler's depiction of Hennepin Avenue with how the site looks today, and use suggested resources to document the changes that have occurred. (See Extension Activities, "The American Land: Changing Landscapes.")
Middle-Level Standard: History and Citizenship
Investigate the belief systems and social customs of various peoples by viewing and discussing the unit's 28 visual images, which represent diverse cultures contributing to the history of art in America.
Examine how specific images reflect major events or periods in U.S. history (e.g., Migrant Mother and the Great Depression, Reminiscences of 1865 and the Civil War, The Steerage and immigration).
Discuss the concept of discovery, and then use the visual timeline to locate the earliest American work of art in relation to Columbus's discovery of America. Write a persuasive position paper or participate in a debate that addresses this question: Did Columbus really discover America in 1492? (See Extension Activities, "The American Land: Discovery.")
To complement study of Cadzi Cody's Painted Hide, research then- and-now facts about life on an American Indian reservation or about American Indian boarding schools. Define the issues, and address either the pros or cons as a member of a debate team. (See Extension Activities, "The American People: Native Americans.")
Discuss specific visual images that reflect the importance of water to early settlers in America, and also consider other natural resources that might attract settlers to a locale. Individually or in small groups, create a map of an ideal settlement location, including a key showing symbols for features such as mountains, rivers, and forests. (See Extension Activities, "The American Land: Westward Ho!")
To complement study of the Connecticut Room (1740) and/or the Charleston Drawing Room (1772), work in a small group to determine 10 items to pack if emigrating to America at that period and explain why those items were selected. (See Extension Activities, "The American People--Newcomers: Home Sweet Home.")
After reviewing the unit's specific images that honor heroes and heroines, consider the definition of hero/heroine and why the people represented by the images can be considered heroic. (See Extension Activities, "The American People: Heroes and Heroines.")
To complement study of the unit's images of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, read biographies of these presidents, and compare how the biographers and the artists have emphasized personal and professional aspects of these presidents. (See Extension Activities, "The American People: Heroes and Heroines.")
As a small group activity, write and perform an imaginary dialogue that would occur with an original resident of the Connecticut Room (1740) or the Charleston Drawing Room (1772) after that person had stepped through a time machine into a comparable room in a contemporary house. (See Extension Activities, "The American People: Back to the Future.")
To complement study of the Connecticut Room and/or the Charleston Drawing Room, imagine being a resident of the original house for a day and write a corresponding diary entry. (See Extension Activities, "The History of America: Dear Diary.")
To complement study of the terms artifact and archaeologist, discuss what the unit's artifacts teach about the lives of the people who made them, and participate in creating a classroom "museum" of labeled artifacts that would reflect the contemporary life of a student for future archaeologists. (See Extension Activities, "The History of America: Archaeology.")
Based on a sampling of visual images from the unit, examine and explain how the diversity of American art reflects the diversity of the American people. (See Extension Activities, "The Arts in America: What's American about American Art?")
Read one or more of the fictional or nonfictional selections correlated to images in the unit, and compare the viewpoints expressed. (See Extension Activities, "The Arts in America: Literature and Art.")
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