1—Teacher’s Guide
1—Teacher’s Guide
Table of Contents
Palmetto Roots
The Purpose3
The Background3
Character List4
Setting4
Plot Summary5
Chapter by Chapter Summaries
1—This is My Life6
2 —My Neighborhood8
3 —Overnight Fame10
4 —A New Opportunity12
5 —My New Job14
6 —Reading Between the Lines16
7 —The Other Side of the Story18
8 —Mixed Reactions20
9 —A New Game22
10—A Visit from an Old Friend24
11—On Assignment26
12—A Better Offer28
Integrating Across the Curriculum
Language Arts and Social Studies30
Assorted Subject Areas34
Primary Sources
Life in the 1930s36
The Native The Purpose
Progressive Pete was written to help elementary school teachers integrate language arts and social studies within a unit on the early 1900s, immigration, “Big Business”, and the Progressive Movement. It is “Read Along, Read Aloud” story, purposefully written at a readability level that is suitable for mid-stage elementary school students.
The story itself revolves around the Progressive Movement in 1908, and is told through the eyes of a twelve-year-old Italian immigrant boy. The setting of the story, combined with this Teacher’s Guide, will enable a teacher to walk through a complete unit of this historical era as dictated by the South Carolina social studies standards.
Progressive Pete can easily be read in the classroom by allowing ½hour of reading timeeach day over a five day period—this includes extra time for a five to ten minute discussion each day. In this guide, each chapter is outlined with an “estimated reading time” in the top right hand corner. This reading time is based on general averages, and has been included to help teachers outline a pacing strategy.
This Teacher’s Guide contains a number of features to help teachers. There is a plot summary for each chapter, along with a highlighted section for important quotations or talking points. There are also several discussion questions for each chapter, and sample PACT-like questions.
The Native The Background
The story takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and it is told through the eyes of a twelve-year-old Italian immigrant who becomes a newspaper boy after getting fired from his factory job.
The Progressive Movement
The Progressive Movement was a period of great reform during the early 1900s. Progressives wanted to identify the problems of society and work to solve them. Critics accused them of being too simplistic, too patronizing, and too eager to spend taxpayer’s money. A few of the ambitious goals of the Progressives included:
- Ending child labor
- Fixing poor and dangerous working conditions
- Helping the plight of immigrants
- Limiting the power and influence of “Big Business”
- Exposing and punishing political corruption
- Building hospitals, libraries, playgrounds, highways, etc.
- Ending the “abuses” of alcohol (this led to Prohibition in the 1920s)
- Giving women the right to vote, securing racial equality
- Improving the efficiency of the political and social system
The Native Character List
Pete Ross (real name – “Pietro Russo”)—A twelve-year-old Italian immigrant who uses his American name when he is not at home. Also the narrator of the story. Pete is working at a steel mill to help support his family when a photographer takes his picture. The picture shows up on the front-page of a major newspaper, and Pete gains unwanted fame. He is fired from the factory for being underage, but quickly lands a job as a newspaper boy. As he is selling papers on the corner, Pete realizes that he has become a symbol for the Progressive Movement—like it or not.
Mr. Rafferty—Pete’s boss and the editor of The Progressive newspaper. Mr. Rafferty prints outrageous headlines in support of the Progressive Movement—but only because they help sell newspapers. When he realizes that telling the other side of the story can also be profitable, he has no problem switching gears and attacking the Progressive Movement. Meanwhile, his paperboy, Pete, is stuck in the middle.
Paolo Russo (Pete’s father)—Pete’s father moved the family from Sicily (an island off the coast of Italy) to America when Pete was only five. He is working at the steel mill, which is how Pete was able to get a job there. Unfortunately, Paolo loses his hand in an accident at the factory. He is forced to take a job at the local grocery store, leaving the family’s financial well-being largely in the hands of twelve-year-old Pete.
The Native Setting
While the story is fictional, many of the towns and cities that are mentioned are quite real. The characters live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which was a highly urban area in 1908. Do to its heavy industry in the early 1900s, the population of the city was actually greater than at the time than what it is today (around 500,000).
Beginning in the late 19th century, Pittsburgh became a major hub of the steel industry in America. The beginning of the story takes place in a typical steel factory of the time period.
The story also details how Pete’s family came to the United States from Italy in 1903. During this period, thousands of Italian immigrants were making this same trip each year. The immigrants from Europe came onto America through Ellis Island, where they were examined before setting foot on the mainland. This novel makes a brief reference to that experience. The immigrants landed in New York City, and would then disperse around the country, usually in search of employment.
The Progressive newspaper discussed in the story is fictional, as are the names of the other newspapers. However, an effort has been made to present the newspaper industry as it was in the early 1900s.
It is important to note that, while the locations mentioned in the story are real, the story itself is fictional. The characters are purely invented, and the specific events never actually took place in the areas mentioned. Every attempt has been made, however, to make the general setting and circumstances consistent with the time period.
The Native Plot Summary
The story is told through the eyes ofCarol Ann, an eleven-year-old girl who has just moved with her family to the suburbs in 1957. Having lived in the city all of her life, she is a little nervous about life in the suburbs, although she is happy to have her own room apart from her little brother and sister.
As important events take place around the world—such as the launch of Sputnik by the Russians—Carol Ann gets used to the relatively easy life in the suburbs. She finds a friend to roller-skate with around the neighborhood, and she joins the Campfire Girls. Meanwhile, her brother spends all of his time building model rockets and reading comic strips about martians.
Like most eleven-year-old girls, Carol Ann is more interested in listening to Elvis records than learning about McCarthyism. She hardly listens whenever her father talks about his experiences in World War II, or how he is now working to make microwaves affordable enough to put in every kitchen (which nobody in the family believes will ever happen). However, her father does manage to get her attention when he says that her life in the suburbs is “too easy” and that she needs to become a “contributing member of society.”
Suddenly, Carol Ann feels guilty that she is wasting her time. She reads the newspaper and sees headlines like, “Explorer Hillary Arrives at South Pole.” It makes her life seem so unimportant. Unfortunately, Carol Ann doesn’t know what a young girl can do to change the world.
One day, her friend mentions a “Young Female Inventions” competition. Carol Ann is nervous at first, but her mother motivates her with the story of Rosie the Rivetor and other stories of successful women. She reminds her, “This isn’t the Dark Ages… This is the 1950s.”
Carol Ann decides that the inventor’s competition is going to be her chance to change the world. She thinks about all of the things the world needs—like a computer that can fit onto a desk, or a rocket that can take a man into space—but she quickly realizes that she can’t possibly invent those things. Her father senses her frustration and reminds Carol Ann that not every invention has to be complicated. Some of the world’s greatest inventions were designed just to make people happy (like Mr. Potato Head).
With a new outlook, Carol Ann decides to go roller-skating to think of a new idea. That is where she does her best thinking. Unfortunately, she can’t find her skate key to tighten her skates around her feet. Carol Ann begins to wish that there was a way for her to skate without having to strap something to her feet. That’s when she comes up with the idea for her new invention—the “roller board.” This is just a flat board with wheels that people can ride (very similar to today’s “skateboard”).
While the idea is clear, turning the design into a reality isn’t so easy. Carol Ann has never used tools before, and she even resorts to getting help from her little brother. She learns a lot more than she expected from building the roller-board, but the hard work finally pays off. She is able to construct a working model (one of the requirements of the competition).
On the day of the competition, Carol Ann walks around to see all kinds of interesting inventions (these include Styrofoam peanuts, a Hackensack, and Post-it-Notes—none of which had been invented by 1957). She still thinks that her roller-board has a good shot at winning. Unfortunately, the winning entry is a “Bomb Shelter Kit” that stores supplies that will be needed if the Russians launch a nuclear attack.
Carol Ann is disappointed by the results, despite what her parents say. Her father tricks her by telling her to get him a ¾” socket wrench. When she does so, he reminds her that she wouldn’t have had any idea what a socket wrench was before she built the roller-board (and she knows he’s right).
After a few days, Carol Ann realizes that all the neighborhood kids lover her roller-board. She thinks that it might actually be popular someday, so she is no longer bitter about the competition. She starts thinking about next years invention, which will be “roller shoes” that can act as skates or walking shoes. Carol Ann’s competitive spirit is renewed at a Campfire Girls meeting when she hears about an upcoming canoe race. She nudges her best friend’s arm and asks, “What do you know about steering a canoe?”
CHAPTER 1
Plot Summary—“This is Who I Am…”
The first chapter introduces Mico, a 9 year-old Italian Native American boy living in the year 1576. Mico’s clan lives near the Spanish village of Santa Elena, which was one of the first European settlements built in what is now South Carolina (along the Atlantic coast, on Parris Island).
Mico has never seen a white man before, but he knows that the white settlers are a major concern fpr the men in his clan. Some of them go to the white village to trade animal skins and beads (usually for rifles, seeds, and rum), while other members want nothing to do with the white man and feel that Santa Elena is the beginning of the end for the Natives.
At only 9 years-old, Mico doesn’t have much opinion about whether the white man is good or bad.
Quotations and Talking Points
Page1
— I knew that I had been around for nine harvest festivals, and that seemed like the easiest way for me to keep track of my age.
Harvest Festivals In the story, Mico makes a reference that a major event in his clan is the annual harvest festival. This annual event would have been a typically celebrated by Native American tribes in the 16th century. Contrary to some beliefs, most of the Natives at this time (especially on the East coast) did not rely solely on hunting and gathering, but were actually skilled farmers. Many of the European settlers received agricultural help from the Natives upon arriving in the New World.
page 2
— I also never thought of myself as a “native” to anywhere, much less a land called “America” (and I’d certainly never heard of the explorer Amerigo Vespucci who it was named after).
“Native American” The term “Native American” is commonly used to describe the people living on the American continent prior to the arrival of the European Settlers. Since that time, it has been used to describe the ancestors of those people. This definition not only describes the Indians, but also other Natives such as the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incans. It should also be noted that in the early 16th century, the term “America” was not common in Europe. The name “America” caught on early in the century in honor of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, but many Europeans still referred to the American continent as the “New World” in the 1500s.
page 2
— My name is Mico, which translates to “King”.
Native AmericanThe name “Mico” is the Muskogean word for “King.” Muskogee was one of four language families prominent in South Carolina, and it included most of the tribes that lived on the southern AtlanticCoast (where this story takes place). Language families are the primary method for categorizing Native American tribes because the spoken language gives details about the tribe’s location, culture, and history.
page 2
— There were about 150 members of my clan…
Clan Tribe NationIn the story, Mico often speaks of his “clan.” This was the most local setting for a Native American, usually referring to the men and women of a certain village. A “Tribe” consisted of several clans, often scattered near the same area. An Indian “Nation” was the broadest description and included several different tribes, usually of a similar culture and language family.
page 4
— Many of the men in our clan went to the white village often. They went in with melons, animal skins, and beads, and they came out with guns, vegetable seeds, and bottles of rum.
Bartering with the Not all interactions between the white settlers and the Native Americans were tense or violent. The line above describes the most common form of friendly relations between the two groups—bartering. Natives would often trade their goods (melons, animal skins, beads, etc.) for the goods of the white man (guns, seeds, rum, etc.). Many language and cultural barriers were overcome during this barter, however it can be argued that introducing guns and alcohol to the Natives created a new set of problems.
CHAPTER 2
Plot Summary—“A Meeting on the Beach”
Mico has never seen a white settler before, so he is very surprised when he comes out of the woods after a long walk and sees a white boy standing on the beach. The boy is about his age, and doesn’t seem to dangerous.
Cautiously, Mico approaches the white boy, holding his walking stick like it is a spear. When the white boy approaches, Mico throws the make-shift spear down the beach to scare him. Instead, the white boy thinks it is a game and wants Mico to teach him to throw a spear.
Mico quickly realizes that he has nothing to fear from the white boy. In fact, he spends a long time playing with the boy on the beach even though the two do not understand one another’s language.
Quotations and Talking Points
page 6
— “You’re never lost. You just might not know where you are for a little while.”
Early NavigationThe Native Americans did not use compasses, sextents, or other early tools of European navigation. However, they were very adept at navigating through the terrain of their own country. Through hunting and interaction with other clans, a Native American became familiar with the trails and landmarks that marked an area. The Natives also used natural tools of navigation, such as the sun and stars.
page 7
— That’s what I was doing when I saw my first white man.
First InteractionsThe story takes place in 1576, over 80 years after the European discovery of the New World. However, even at this time very few Native Americans had interacted with the white settlers. White settlements were very scattered during the 16th century, and primarily limited to the Atlantic coastline. Only the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine, founded in 1565, survived to modern times (the first British settlement of Jamestown wasn’t founded until 1607). In the late 1500s and early 1600s, Europeans began arriving in higher numbers, vastly increasing the first interaction between the Natives and the settlers.