America’s One-Room Schoolhouse
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
Crystal Thompson
Olympia Middle School
Summer 2009
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
One-room schoolhouse closed for the summer. Bristol Notch, Vermont.
Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.
Rosskam, Louise, 1910
Students will participate as a whole class in the KWL process to determine their familiarity with one-room schoolhouses. Utilizing either the computer lab, students will analyze photographs from the LOC, included in a PowerPoint presentation to answer critical thinking questions and make predictions about life in a one-room schoolhouse. These activities will add to their understanding of life in a one-room schoolhouse as experienced in the novel The Teacher’s Funeral – a comedy in three parts. Follow-up activities are provided under the “Extensions” heading.
Overview/ Materials/Historical Background/LOC Resources/Standards/ Procedures/Evaluation/Rubric/Handouts/Extension
Overview Back to Navigation BarObjectives / Students will:
· complete a KWL chart from whole class discussion.
· analyze photographs from the LOC in a PowerPoint presentation.
· answer critical thinking questions regarding the topic.
· complete a photo analysis worksheet on specified pictures from www.loc.gov .
· discuss photos analyzed, compare information, and complete Venn diagram on Promethean board and transfer to paper.
· read/listen to “A One-Room School” (Historic Communities) by Bobbie Kalman and validate predictions.
· use the computer lab to write a paper, comparing one-room schoolhouses to modern-day schools, including personal preference for attendance and why.
· complete an extension activity of choice at the novel’s conclusion. (The Teacher’s Funeral – a comedy in three parts.)
Recommended time frame / Five one-hour sessions
Grade level / 6th
Curriculum fit / Reading/Language Arts/Social Studies/Technology
Materials / 1. Computers
2. KWL chart
3. PowerPoint presentation
4. Photo analysis worksheet
5. Photos from PowerPoint (LOC)
6. Promethean board
7. Venn diagram
8. Book A One-Room Schoolhouse, by Bobbie Kalman
9. Rubrics
10. Extension activities
11. Pencils/highlighters
12. Book The Teacher’s Funeral—a comedy in three parts by Richard Peck
Illinois State Learning Standards Back to Navigation Bar
Social Science:
GOAL 16: Understand events, trends, individuals and movements shaping the history of Illinois, the United States and other nations.
· 16.A. Apply the skills of historical analysis and interpretation.
· 16.A.3b Make inferences about historical events and eras using historical maps and other historical sources.
· 16.A.3c Identify the differences between historical fact and interpretation.
GOAL 18: Understand social systems, with an emphasis on the United States.
· 18.B. Understand the roles and interactions of individuals and groups in society.
· 18.B.3a Analyze how individuals and groups interact with and within institutions (e.g., educational, military).
English Language Arts:
GOAL 1: Read with understanding and fluency.
· 1.C. Comprehend a broad range of reading materials.
· 1.C.3a Use information to form, explain and support questions and predictions.
· 1.C.3c Compare, contrast and evaluate ideas and information from various sources and genres.
· 1.C.3d Summarize and make generalizations from content and relate them to the purpose of the material.
GOAL 3: Write to communicate for a variety of purposes.
· 3.B. Compose well-organized and coherent writing for specific purposes and audiences.
· 3.B.3a Produce documents that convey a clear understanding and interpretation of ideas and information and display focus, organization, elaboration and coherence.
· 3.C. Communicate ideas in writing to accomplish a variety of purposes.
· 3.C.3b Using available technology, produce compositions and multimedia works for specified audiences.
GOAL 5: Use the language arts to acquire, assess, and communicate information.
· 5.A. Locate, organize, and use information from various sources to answer questions, solve problems and communicate information.
· 5.A.3a Identify appropriate resources to solve problems or answer questions through research.
· 5.B. Analyze and evaluate information acquired from various sources.
· 5.B.3a Choose and analyze information sources for individual, academic and functional purposes.
· 5.B.3b Identify, evaluate and cite primary sources.
Procedures Back to Navigation Bar
Day One:
· Introduce lesson and answer discussion questions projected on the screen via the In-focus machine.
· List on Promethean board, what students K-(What I know) about one-room schoolhouses as students fill in the K column of their KWL worksheet . Continue on with the W (What I want to know) column and discuss.
· Present PowerPoint photographs of one-room schoolhouses from the Library of Congress and discuss questions. Add new information/questions to the KWL chart.
Day Two:
· Using the computer lab/mobile unit, use computers to log on to PowerPoint presentation viewed the previous day.
· Divide slides among students (two-three students will have same photograph) and provide the Photo Analysis Worksheet to complete.
· Team with partner(s) and discuss findings.
· Orally discuss results with class as each slide is shown again.
· Revisit and edit KWL charts.
· Day Three:
· From information gathered earlier, complete the Venn diagram on worksheet as the teacher completes it on the Promethean board.
· Read/listen to A One-Room School, by Bobbie Kalman to determine accuracy of predictions and findings.
· Discuss children’s book and complete L (What I learned) column of KWL chart.
· Day Four:
· Log on to www.loc.gov . Follow the navigation directions on the overhead. (hard copy provided for absentees)
· Discuss findings and review rubric for upcoming writing assignment.
· Day Five:
· Using the KWL chart, Venn diagram, and Writing Rubric students will write a comparison/contrast paper on One-Room Schoolhouses and Modern-Day Schoolhouses, with the conclusion stating which they would rather attend and why.
· Students will be assessed on their writings using the rubric discussed and given.
Evaluation Back to Navigation Bar
· Students will be assessed using the Research/Writing Rubric as well as the Teamwork Rubric.
· Students will display an understanding to the One-Room Schoolhouse throughout the novel unit The Teacher’s Funeral a comedy in three parts.
· Students accurately complete the KWL chart and Venn diagram.
· Students complete the Photo Analysis worksheet with detail and understanding.
· Students successfully complete an extension activity as a culminating event to the classroom novel.
Extension Back to Navigation Bar
Opportunities for extension activities include:
· further investigate the LOC on topics related to the time period studied and create a resource table and write paper on findings
· create a game board as a culminating activity to the novel The Teacher’s Funeral (game board rubric)
· conduct an interview with a former one-room schoolhouse student and completing a written summary of findings. (student interview questions)
· interview a former one-room schoolhouse teacher and complete a written summary of findings.
(teacher interview questions – could also be used prior to writing paper)
Historical Background
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America’s One-Room Schoolhouses
Believe it or not, there was a time in America’s history when there weren’t any schools. Children of colonial, wealthier families received their education at home, while some were taught in a neighbor’s home, and others did not receive any formal education at all. In 1647, Massachusetts was the first colony to establish public schools. The subjects of reading, writing, and arithmetic were instructed by schoolmasters. However, the most attention was devoted to both Latin and religious instruction.
President Thomas Jefferson was convinced that in order for democracy to survive, public education was imperative. He believed that with an education, people would be able to participate intelligently in the affairs of the new United States republic and fulfill their civic duties.
With the exception of frontier expansion, public schools were replacing private instruction, by the 1830s. In the frontier states, schoolhouses were erected by homesteaders made of logs, sod, adobe, or dugouts, depending on the area and its resources. These simple school buildings often had only a roof and four walls. There was enough sunlight entering the classroom for students to see what they were doing as they sat at their “desk,” which were slanted shelves attached to the walls on either side of the room. Stools or benches were used for seating and the class was heated by a wood or coal burning stove. The instructor was often a traveling schoolmaster (man) unless a local widow (woman with a deceased husband) was available to carry out the responsibilities. The teacher’s desk was originally constructed of rough timber and was placed at a slightly elevated level, facing the students. Schools were blessed to have any books, as they were sparse and often unavailable. Therefore, students, or scholars, as they were known originally, recited their lessons orally in order to learn them. The proper elocution of lessons was essential to the progress of the students and the satisfaction of the teacher. Because of the sound the recitations made as students were learning out loud, “blab schools” became a popular nickname.
As time progressed, more children were attending school, so larger buildings were needed at a location where each child would be able to walk to school. This location could be at a country crossroads or on acreage that a farmer had donated near the middle of that particular school district. The schoolhouses were sturdier wood-frames (few being red or white until post 1870s), stone, or brick in replacement of the older log and sod buildings. There was still a single room and one instructor. These “modernized” structures often had two entries with the boys using one and the girls using the other. Actual desks replaced the makeshift desks of shelving and stools from earlier days. The younger students were in the front of the room, nearest to the teacher, with the grades progressing toward the rear of the schoolhouse. The schoolmaster or school marm had a blackboard made of slate behind the teacher’s desk for writing, while the students had their own personal slates for practice. Paper, ink, and quill pens were also used. Any textbooks utilized were chosen by the school board who was also responsible for hiring the teacher. Effectively and efficiently running a school was everyone’s job.
One-room school house teachers were often men, known as schoolmasters. These educational leaders had to possess the ability and skill to read, write, and handle the students. This was true for a female teacher, as well. Although, a woman teacher had to remain single in order to teach. Any woman choosing to marry was no longer qualified to teach. The teacher had many responsibilities around the schoolhouse besides instruction and discipline. School buildings had to be properly supplied, have a “free from soot” chimney, swept floors, presentable blackboards, washed windows, and much more. (see attached Rules for Teachers) Students often enjoyed assisting the instructor with these chores, sometimes being asked and sometimes volunteering their assistance. It was a lot of work to keep a schoolhouse functioning properly.
The school day began with the ringing of a hand bell at 8:00 a.m., reciting the “Pledge of Allegiance, The Star Spangled Banner,” or the song, “My Country Tis of Thee,” as well as reciting the Lord’s Prayer, reading from the Bible, and taking roll to see who was present. There were generally three recesses included in the days’ activities - one in the morning, one after lunch, (which was brought from home or cooked by the teacher), and one in the middle of the afternoon. (These were perfect times to use the privy, outhouses). The three “Rs” were taught (readin-ritin’ and rithmatic) throughout the course of the day, as well as geography, speech, history, Latin, and religion. Grades taught were generally primary through eighth grades. At the end of the school day, the teacher would announce what was to take place the following day and then the class was dismissed around 4:00p.m. Anyone who had misbehaved or needed extra help with their learning that day was kept after school. This schedule was repeated for both the summer and winter terms. Boys from the farm were often needed to help during planting and harvesting, so were only able to attend school during the winter session, which ran from the middle of November until the middle of April. Once the 1900’s arrived, the schedule was changed to one, eight month term.
One-room schoolhouses were often the source of pride for its surrounding communities. Social events, meetings, and activities were held there throughout the year. Naming the schoolhouse took much deliberation. The end result was often a reflection of what the community people loved, experienced, or hoped for in their futures. (For example, “Union School,” located at Weldon Springs State Park in Clinton, Illinois, was named in honor of the Union soldiers in the Civil War.) The community showed much devotion to their one-room schoolhouses. They were grounded in the political traditions of the community and country. Voting often took place in the schoolhouse, just as it is in some locations today. These traditions continued into the middle of the 20th century, with just half of America’s children regularly attending the remaining 212,000 schoolhouses. The numbers continued to dwindle as consolidation and standardized instruction rose and people moved to larger cities. By 1954, around 700 one-room schoolhouses were all that remained. Once these rural treasures began closing and selling at auctions, people in the community often felt that their rural heritage suffered. Although the one-room schoolhouses diminished over time, those that remain are symbolic of a way of life that was shared and treasured within the community and a place that belonged to all and for all.
Primary Resources from the Library of Congress
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Library of Congress Research Table
Image / Description / Citation / URL/ One room schoolhouse on land use project. Albany County, New York. / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number LC-USF34-025939-D DLC (b&w film nitrate neg.) ] / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8b38858))+@field(COLLID+fsa))
/ Rural school near Osnabrock, North Dakota : Miss Netta Baker, teacher. / Fred Hultstrand History in Pictures Collection, NDIRS-NDSU, Fargo. / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ngp:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(ndfahult+b368))+@field(COLLID+ndfa))
/ Sod school house, [?], Nebr. / by F.M.B. / Fred Hultstrand History in Pictures Collection, NDIRS-NDSU, Fargo. / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ngp:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(ndfahult+b004))+@field(COLLID+ndfa))
/ Soper school near Fairdale, North Dakota : teacher, Mr. Martinson. / Fred Hultstrand History in Pictures Collection, NDIRS-NDSU, Fargo. / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ngp:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(ndfahult+b370))+@field(COLLID+ndfa))
/ Rural school near Milton, North Dakota, 1913 : Miss Margaret McKay, teacher. / Fred Hultstrand History in Pictures Collection, NDIRS-NDSU, Fargo. / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ngp:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(ndfahult+b369))+@field(COLLID+ndfa))
/ Buffalo Hill, Aroostook County, Maine. Congregational choir services held in one-room schoolhouse in isolated rural community. / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, LC-USW3-030736-E DLC (b&w film nitrate neg.)] / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8d30488))
/ Interior of one-room schoolhouse. Grundy County, Iowa. / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, LC-USF34-028432-D DLC (b&w film neg.)] / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8b18619))
/ Teaching the fifth grade in a one-room schoolhouse. Grundy County, Iowa. / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, LC-USF34-028439-D DLC (b&w film neg.)] / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8b18626))
/ Lois Slinker teaching the fifth grade in one-room schoolhouse. Grundy County, Iowa. / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, LC-USF34-028434-D DLC (b&w film neg.)] / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8b18621))
/ Interior of one-room schoolhouse near Scotland, Saint Mary's County, Maryland. / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, LC-USF34-061369-D DLC (b&w film neg.)
] / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8c17872))
/ Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Martha Royer teaching two first graders in her one-room schoolhouse. There are fourteen pupils in the school and the grades run from first to second year high school. The little girl on the right comes from an Amish family. / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, LC-USF34-040323-D DLC (b&w film neg.)] / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8c02287))
/ Children (pupils of one-room schoolhouse) eating lunch. Grundy County, Iowa. / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, LC-USF34-028422-D DLC (b&w film neg.)] / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8b18609))
/ Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Student in Lancaster County Mennonite public school where Amish, Mennonite and Pennsylvania Dutch children attend this eight grade, one-room schoolhouse. / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, LC-USF34-082254-E DLC (b&w film nitrate neg.)] / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8c33929))
/ Farm children walking to one-room schoolhouse with lunch pails, Nebraska. / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, LC-USF33-T01-001230-M1 DLC (b&w film dup. neg.)] / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8a03638))
/ One-room schoolhouse closed for the summer. Bristol Notch, Vermont. / LC-USF34-012781-E DLC (b&w film nitrate neg.)
LC-USZ62-130565 DLC (b&w film copy neg. from file print) / http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3c30565))
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