TeachRock

Materials Needed:

• A device with internet access

Motivational Activity:

1. Ask students to raise their hand if they have ever moved to a new country, state, city, or school. (Explain to students that this includes moving from elementary school to middle school, or middle school to high school, ensuring that likely all students will raise their hand.)
   
2. Instruct students to form groups of two and then ask students to share their experiences moving with their partner,
3. Instruct pair groups to join another pair group creating groups of four and ask them to share their experiences with their new group members. 
4. Bring the class back together for a whole group conversation using the guiding questions below:
   • Why do people move away and change locations?
   • Have you ever moved to a new country, new state, new community, new house?
   • Where did you move from?
   • Where did you move to? 
   • Was it your choice to move?
   • What do you remember about the process?
   • How did moving make you feel?
   • What do you miss most about where you came from?
   • What keywords would you use to describe this experience?

Procedure

Crofutt, George A. American Progress. , ca. 1873. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/97507547/.

1. Display Image 1, American Progress. Assess familiarity with the painting and the concept by asking the class informally if they have ever seen the painting and if they have ever heard of the concept, Manifest Destiny. Using the Teacher’s Guide for Analyzing Photographs and Prints from the Library of Congress as a guide, have students examine the painting closely and assess its message, its symbolism, and its inherent bias. Focus on the following questions from the Teacher’s Guide: Analyzing Photographs & Prints:
   • Describe what you see?
   • What did you notice first? 
   • What is the physical setting? 
   • What are the modes of transportation in the image?
   • Why do you think this image was made? 
   • What can you learn from examining this image? 
   • What do you wonder about while viewing the image?
   • What do you think the message of this image is?
     

     United States Army. Quartermaster Corps. Map of land-grant and bond-aided railroads of the United States. Washington, 1892. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/98688343/.

2. Display Image 2, Map of land-grant and bond-aided railroads of the United States (1892), or allow students to examine the image from their devices. Instruct students to partner with a classmate. Using the Teacher’s Guide for Analyzing Maps from the Library of Congress as a guide, have students analyze the map. Focus on the following questions from the Teacher’s Guide: Analyzing Maps:
   • What is the first thing you notice about this map? Find something unique and interesting.
   • What do you notice that you can’t explain? 
   • Can you locate your location on the map? 
   • Is your hometown on or near a railroad line? 
   • Do any of your extended family and friends live on or near a railroad line? 
   • Have you ever been to any towns or cities that have a rail line running through it?
   • Have you ever been on a train? If not, do you want to? 
   • Do you have an opinion about trains one way or another?
3. Play the video  “The Great Pacific Railway” from PBS Learning Media. Then, ask students: 
   • How did the U.S. Government contribute to the planning and building of the railroad? (The US Government passed the Pacific Railway Act in 1862,  designated the route, and provided bonds to fund the project and large land grants to clear the route.)
   • In what ways did the business and government partnership mutually benefit each other? (The government promised bonds to fund the construction and awarded companies 6,400 acres of land and $48,000 for every 10 miles of track completed. Railroad companies accumulated enormous wealth as a result of this partnership and the railroad was completed.)
   • In your opinion, did the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad elevate the status of the United States in the world view at the start of the 20th Century? (The completed railroad elevated confidence in America, changed the way the world viewed the US as this transformative project became a symbol of America’s industrial power and potential.)

4. Play the audio, “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” by the Sandhill 16. Then ask students:
   • Have you heard this song before? Where?
   • Why might have people written songs about the railroad?
   • What type of people might sing this song at the end of the 19th century?
5. Explain to students that the construction of the railroads relied on workers who were often paid very little. To pass the time railroad workers would often sing work songs, many of which were about the railroad. Tell students that they will be listening to some railroad songs recorded by American folklorist and “song collector” John Lomax. 
6. Divide students into groups and distribute Handout – Railroad Song Analysis. Instruct groups to complete Part 1 of the handout using their devices, then ask students to share the song they chose and the answers to the questions with the class. 
7. Instruct students  to complete Part 2 of the handout, and then share their answers with the class.
8. Remind students that the Transcontinental Railroad didn’t just transport people, it transported goods. It allowed customers to order goods by mail, and have their purchases delivered without having to travel long distances. The Sears company was one of the first businesses to capitalize on this new form of shopping through its mail-order catalog.
9. Distribute Handout – Musical Instrument Pages from 1927 Sears, Roebuck and Co. Catalogue. Ask students:
   • What do you notice at first from the musical instrument pages?
   • What did you learn from viewing these pages?
   • What do these pages reveal about musical instrument preferences?
   • What factors might influence a buyer looking for a musical instrument?
10. Play the NPR audio clip,“How The Sears Catalog Was Revolutionary In The Jim Crow Era.” Then ask students:
    • How was the Sears catalog considered “radical” in its approach to shopping?
    • What obstacles did black shoppers face in the Jim Crow Era?
    • What was the role of the Sears catalog in helping marginalized communities?
    • How did anonymous mail ordering provide a solution to in-person shopping for Black shoppers?
    • How might the Sears catalog have contributed to the development of Black southern music?

Summary Activity:

1. Ask students:
   • How do people purchase goods today? Is there anything like the Sears catalog, where you can order something to be delivered to you?

1. Inform students that online shopping requires infrastructure, like the railroads provided for mail order shopping. Display Image 3, Internet Timeline: The First 10 Years. Read the timeline together as a class, then ask students:
   • When was the internet invented? (1969)
   • What sort of organizations, institutions, and groups helped invent the internet and funded its invention? (The U.S. Department of Defense, universities, private businesses, and individuals.)
     
   • What role did the United States government play in the development of the internet? What about nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individual citizens? (The U.S. Government financed the development of the internet by funding scientists through grants and other programs, which allowed researchers, companies, and individuals to help create the internet.)
     
   • In what ways was the development of the internet similar to the development of the railroads? In what ways was it different? (Both were public-private partnerships in which the Federal Government helped finance an infrastructure project.)
     

Extension Activities:

1. Read more about the Transcontinental Railroad on the Library of Congress website.
2. Read this blog post about poet’s Henry David Thoreau’s view of the railroad.
3. Read more about railroad workers on the Central and Union Pacific Railroads.

Handout – Railroad Song Analysis Teacher’s Guide for Analyzing Maps from the Library of Congress Teacher’s Guide for Analyzing Photographs and Prints from the Library of Congress

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Social Studies Standards

History

• D2.His.8.9-12. Analyze how current interpretations of the past are limited by the extent to which available historical sources represent perspectives of people at the time.
• D2.His.10.9-12. Detect possible limitations in various kinds of historical evidence and differing secondary interpretations.

Massachusetts History and Social Science Framework Standards

Topic 1. The role of economics in modern United States history [USII.T1]

• 9. Analyze the impact of events such as wars and technological developments on business cycles. Examples: the impact of the Civil War; the impact of the expansion of canals and railroads in the 19th century and the invention of space-age technology and the Internet in the 20th century.

Topic 3. Economic growth in the North, South, and West [USI.T3]

• 1. Explain the importance of the Transportation Revolution of the 19th century (e.g., the introduction of steamboats, canals, roads, bridges, turnpikes, and railroad networks; the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad and its stimulus to east/west trade, the growth of Midwestern towns and cities, and the strengthening of a market economy).

Topic 6. Rebuilding the United States: industry and immigration [USI.T6]

• 4. Using primary source images, data, and documents, describe the causes of the immigration of Germans, the Irish, Italians, Eastern Europeans, Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the major roles of these immigrants in industrialization and the building of railroads.

District of Columbia Social Studies Standards

11.3. Students analyze the social and economic contributions of immigrants to the building of cities and the economy during the Industrial Revolution.

• 2. Trace the expansion and development of Western railroads (the Transcontinental Railroad), the Golden Spike event (1869), and the role that Chinese immigrant laborers (Central Pacific track) and Irish immigrant laborers (Union Pacific track) played in its construction. (G, E, S)

Social Studies – National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)

• Theme 1: Culture
• Theme 2: Time, Continuity, and Change
• Theme 7: Production, Distribution, and Consumption
• Theme 8: Science, Technology, and Society

Common Core State Standards

College and Career Readiness Reading Information Text Standards for Grades 9-12

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing for Grades 9-12

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening for Grades 9-12

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.2 Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.2 Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.