CASE FILE
Teacher: Carol Fontaine
School: The Willow School of Gladstone, NJ
Grade: 3rd and 4th Grade
Topic: Western Expansion
Thinking skills explicitly taught: Systems, Relationships, Perspectives
Duration: One Week
Challenge: Although Ms. Fontaine's students could usually recall many facts and events related to Western Expansion, she felt that they missed out on the deep conflicts in this contentious period of American History. She wanted students to achieve a deeper understanding of this era.
Executive Summary: A person's perspective influences the way they see the world around them. As students learn this, their learning of history becomes more than a collection of factoids. They recognize the important relationships, perspectives, and systems of historical events. Students not only develop a rich understanding of historical events but also gain important thinking skills. Carol Fontaine, a teacher at The Willow School in Gladstone, NJ, shared this activity that she created. In this example, students look at Western expansion in the United States from several perspectives: Native Americans, the government in Washington, the Lewis & Clark expedition, pioneers and immigrants. At the end of the activity, the class composed a poem about Western expansion that incorporated the many perspectives on this historical event.










Begin by building on students' prior knowledge. If they studied Native Americans earlier in the year, ask them to list key ideas or attributes of Native Americans. Have them write their ideas on medium ThinkBlocks and place these blocks inside a large block labeled Native Americans. As students use the Native Americans block later in the lesson, they will have access to the ideas they just constructed.




It may be helpful to understand a group's worldview, the parts making up that worldview, and the relationship between their worldview and the way they interact with the world. Note that HISTORY, RELIGION, and CULTURE are just examples. You and your students can explore the worldview of any individual or group.





Pointing the block's reflective sticker outaward, place the Native Americans block in front of the Western expansion block. The reflective sticker encourages students to take perspective on an idea. Ask what Western expansion meant from the point of view of Native Americans. They may respond that it meant losing a place to live or an unfair deal. As they provide ideas, write them on medium ThinkBlocks and place them inside the large Western expansion block.







Ask your students to imagine life as a recent immigrant in the mid-19th Century. What would it have been like to arrive in the United States with few language skills and a limited social network, perhaps facing hostility from your new neighbors. How would the frontier have looked to you: frightening, promising? A challenge or opportunity? Place a large block labeled Immigrants in front of the Western expansion block.







As students think from the perspective of immigrants, they may notice that the frontier experience transformed many immigrants into American pioneers.







Continue to explore the other perspectives on Western expansion. The Government in Washington perspective may include ideas like the Louisiana Purchase or Manifest Destiny.






The Lewis & Clark perspective may include 2 1/2 year expedition, exploration of the West or botanical discoveries.







As students explore each perspective, arrange the large blocks around the Western expansion block. When they have discussed all of the perspectives, students can compare the viewpoints on Western expansion.







Before comparing the perspectives, it may be helpful to investigate some of the relationships in greater detail. For example, students could look at the relationship between each group and the land.







The Pioneers and Native Americans, for example, made their living directly from the land. Despite this similarity, the parts of their relationship with the land differed.






The Government in Washington may have seen land as a sign of national strength, security and commerce. Lewis & Clark might have looked at land as new trade routes or territory to explore.







Students can examine other differences between the groups. Each group shared knowledge, but their methods of sharing were not all alike. Students can look at each group from the perspective of Knowledge and how it is passed on.





Another perspective could be religion and spirituality. Your students can look at these groups from the perspective of any idea.





The activity could culminate in students writing stories, poems or songs that incorporate the various perspectives they explored. For example, a student could write a poem about Western expansion from the point of view of a Native American forced to leave their home. Or, taking the perspective of a pioneer, a student could write a letter back to a family member on the East coast describing life on the frontier.






At the end of this activity, Carol's students wrote an amazing poem that she generously shared with us.
Western expansion is not just a list of dates, names and places; it is an idea that contains many rich distinctions, systems, relationships and perspectives. By infusing the history curriculum with the Patterns of Thinking, students achieve a rich understanding of the past and develop thinking skills that will allow them to thrive.