Lesson Plans:
What Was Life Like?

Macon Highlands
Macon Highlands

Class: History of N.C., U.S. History
Interdisciplinary Connection: Art, Language Arts
Target Grades: 8-12

Materials: Internet access, poster board, other materials for creating visuals (markers, magazines, scissors, glue, etc.).

NCSCS Objectives:

  • NC History 1.01 - Assess the impact of geography on the settlement and the developing economy of the Carolina Colony.
  • US History 7.04 - Examine the impact of technological changes on economic, social, and cultural life in the United States.

Learning Objectives:

Students will gain an understanding of the lifestyle of a resident of western North Carolina in the Craft Revival. They will analyze how the geography of western North Carolina affected the economy of the region from the colonial era through the Craft Revival, reflecting on continuity and change. They will utilize critical thinking, creative processing, and factual styles of knowledge and learning. Students will also examine the complexity of utilizing an object or material culture as a historical source.

Procedure:

    1. Students will explore the Craft Revival website and identify five objects/images/photographs that they feel are representative of the culture and lifestyle of western North Carolina at the time of the Craft Revival.
    2. Students will write a brief explanation describing the relevance of each of these objects/images to lifestyle.
    3. Along with consultation with the instructor, students will choose the one object/image that they feel is the best representation and discuss it in greater detail in a journal entry or short essay. The focus of their writing will answer the question, “What does this object or photograph tell us about western North Carolina?" Other questions for the student to consider include the following: How was this object made and what is the significance of that practice? What was the function/purpose of the object/activity? Does the object/activity reveal any sort of cultural or economic change taking place within western North Carolina communities?
    4. Students will design a “visual web” that shows the representative nature of the object/image/activity chosen from the website. This visual will display the chosen item at the center of a web with branches out to a variety of other related activities, which taken as a whole should provide a comprehensive understanding of the workings of a community in western North Carolina during the Craft Revival.
    5. Check your findings on the culture of western North Carolina with other sources. Utilize the internet, encyclopedia accounts, and other secondary sources.

    - Patrick Velde