Using Collage to Represent Themes of the Melrose House Experience Lesson Plan
By Barbara Bureker

Overview

In this lesson, students will explore, interactively online, the home and slave quarters of a wealthy pre-Civil War family from the perspective of the slaves who lived and worked there. As they learn about the daily lives of the Melrose House slaves, students will consider big ideas or themes. Students then will create a collage to represent one theme they feel represents an aspect of the Melrose House slave experience.

National Curriculum Standards met by this lesson

For a list of standards that this unit addresses, click here.

Students will:

• Understand how slavery shaped social and economic life in the South after 1800 (e.g., how the cotton gin and the opening of new lands in the South and West led to increased demands for slaves; differences in the lives of plantation owners, poor free black and white families, and slaves; methods of passive and active resistance to slavery; escaped slaves and the Underground Railroad).
• Understand different economic, cultural, and social characteristics of slavery after 1800 (e.g., the influence of the Haitian Revolution and the ending of the Atlantic slave trade, how slaves forged their own culture in the face of oppression, the role of the plantation system in shaping slaveholders and the enslaved, the experiences of escaped slaves).
• Know how to view the past in terms of the norms and values of the time.
• Use reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts.
• Use viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual media.
• Understand the characteristics and components of the media.
• Understand and apply media, techniques, and processes related to the visual arts.
• Know how to use structures (e.g., sensory qualities, organizational principles, expressive features) and functions of art.

Time Required

Three days (possibly more if students share collages)

• Computers and Internet access for students
• A teacher computer with projector, if possible
• Blackboard, whiteboard, butcher paper, or overhead transparencies
• Poster paper or large pieces of construction paper
• Old magazines to cut up
• Scissors, glue sticks, or glue
• Optional material:
• Other material that could be used for collages--examples: bits of textiles, leaves, buttons, beads
• Headphones to allow the audio part of the site to be used without creating 'conflicts' with students on either side

The Lesson

Anticipatory Set

1. Tell students: "Pretend you are from another planet and you have never seen a school before. If you spent a day observing this school, what are some things you would see and hear? Students' responses may include things like:


• crowds in the hallways between classes
• empty halls during class
• groups of kids that dress alike
• "cliques"
• some kids getting picked on
• lots of kids and few adults
• noisy lunchroom
• bells
• a schedule (bell, quiet, bell, noise, bell, quiet...)
• laughter
• yelling, a student sleeping
• people asking questions


2. Write students responses on the board, butcher paper, or overhead transparency.


3. Then, say to students: "For the people at your home planet to understand what the school experience is like (what it feels like to be in school), they want you to tell them what the school experience themes are. " Explain to students that a theme is a big idea. All people can relate to and understand a big idea, even though they may have a different 'picture' of what the details are. For example, one theme in the school experience might be "Order and Chaos" (or Confusion). Most people know what order feels like, although for them it may not look the same as a quiet classroom. Most people know what chaos or confusion feels like, although for them it may not look the same as a crowded hallway. But because they know what the ideas of order and chaos feel like in their own lives, they will have a connection, some understanding, of what the experience of school is like.


4. Ask students to come up with other school experience themes. Some examples might include:


• "Control" (many rules that must be followed)
• "Segregation" (students choosing to stay within their own groups)
• "Challenge"
• "Possibility"

Depending on students' own feelings and beliefs about school, the responses may include things like: "Sadness", "Boredom", "Lack of freedom", etc. All responses that show understanding of the concept of theme should be written down and valued.

5. Then, tell students that they will be exploring an environment that is new and unfamiliar to them. They will be exploring the home of a wealthy pre-Civil War family, a family that owned slaves. In fact, they will primarily be looking at how the slaves lived and worked. Tell students, that as explorers, they are to take notes about the things they observe.


6. After the exploration, have the class as a whole use their observations and notes to develop a list of themes that might be used to describe the experience of Melrose House and slavery. Students will then, individually, create a collage that will represent one of the themes (of their own choice) of the Melrose House experience.

Procedures

1. Have students sit at a computer, if they aren't already. This lesson would work well with students working in pairs. Ideally, you will be using a computer with a projector. If that is not available, you should monitor students as you walk them through the first part of this lesson.


2. Launch the Melrose Interactive Slavery Environment; instruct students to do the same. Ask students to follow along as you move through the beginning of this site. Younger students, particularly, may need to be taught how to navigate through the site (using the arrows at the bottom, and once in the house, using the arrows to move from room to room).


3. Go through the introductory pages with the students. Discuss the first few screens with them, talking about the things that an observer might be writing down. For example, you might say: "This area is very wealthy because of slavery. The home was built by slaves. Many slaves were needed to maintain it. Large trees were dug up and planted for the owners' pleasure." Ask students also to write down any words that they may be unfamiliar with, for example Coffle ("a caravan of slaves or animals fastened together").


4. When students are comfortable with the site and how to navigate, let them begin to explore on their own. If students are working with a partner, allow them to take notes together. One student might do the navigating while another takes notes. Be sure to encourage discussion. Tell them to explore every part of the home and grounds possible. Explain that there are objects in many of the rooms that are highlighted. They should click on those objects to get more information about them. Tell them to keep the audio turned low so it doesn't interfere with neighbors. Remember to walk around and monitor students' progress.

Day Two (or when students have all had the opportunity to explore the entire site):

1. Have materials for collage-making out and ready for students to use (poster paper, construction paper, old magazines and possibly other collage items, glue sticks or glue, scissors).


2. First, ask if there was anything--words for example--students didn't understand in the web site.


3. Put students into groups of four to six students per group. Ask them to share their notes, then to think about and write down themes that could be used to describe the experience of being a slave at Melrose House. You should walk around and monitor, possibly giving suggestions if students are having difficulty coming up with themes.


4. When the groups have finished with their lists, ask each group to choose a spokesperson who will read their list of themes. Write the themes on the board (and consider adding your own ideas to the list). Some possible examples of themes might include the following:


• Invisibility (the expectation that slaves would never be seen except when absolutely necessary)
• Wealth vs. Poverty
• Control
• Lack of Freedom
• Loss


5. After the list has been generated, tell students that they will now work individually. They are to choose one of the themes, then work on creating a collage that will represent the theme they chose. Tell them their collage should make some connections between their own personal idea of this theme and the theme as it relates to Melrose House. An example might be: A collage representing "Lack of Freedom" might include a picture of a clock (or alarm clock) showing that time controls freedom. It might also include chains to represent slavery. It might also use dark colors, representing the darkness of prison, as well as the dark skin of the slaves at Melrose House. Remind them that color is an important part of a collage, and that color creates certain feelings in the viewer. You may wish to ask them about colors: What does red make them feel like? Blue? Yellow? Black?


6. Tell them that your evaluation of their collages will be based on how they represent their theme. Can they explain why they chose certain things to include in their collage? Does their college "get the message" across to the viewer?


7. Give students time to work on their collages. This will probably go into the next day. If desired, you can ask students to complete their collages at home.


8. When they have finished their collages, provide students the opportunity to share them with the class. Ideally, students will explain to the class what their theme is and why they chose to design their collage as they did. If there is no time to share this way (or in addition to this), you may ask students to write a paragraph or two explaining the decisions they made.


9. Finally, hang the collages up for display.

Assessment

1. Evaluate students based on their involvement in the process of this activity. You can base this on students turning in notes and group lists, or on your own observation.
2. Evaluate students' collages on the following:


• Understanding of theme.
• Intentional choices of things, colors, etc. used to represent the theme.
• Effectiveness: does the viewer see, and connect with, the theme in some way?
• organization and neatness, possibly, of the final product.


3. It is recommended that students write a self-evaluation of their collage and turn it in. You can use this as part of your evaluation, as well.

Related Works

Teachers may wish to show students some of the images in the Slaveryinamerica.org site as examples of other artists' representations of slavery. They can be found in the Image Gallery.

Interdisciplinary Links

This lesson could be used in a U.S. History class. It could also be used in an art class, in which case the elements of design might become part of the lesson.

This lesson was submitted by Barbara Bureker, a language arts teacher in Vancouver, Washington.