Unit Central Questions:
What do primary and secondary sources teach us about the characteristics of “everyday life” of individuals living in Deerfield at the four turns of the centuries? What do these characteristics reveal about changes in the town since its beginning as an English settlement?
Key Content Ideas Taught in this Lesson and Teacher Background
In the period 1780-1820, Deerfield residents had increased access to education and books. By the end of the period, people believed that good citizens and moral individuals could be created through education. Previously, people had learned to read in order to read the Bible. Stories in schoolbooks began to evolve from religious tales that were Bible-centered, to moral tales aimed at creating an educated and moral citizenry. The devil, once portrayed as the evil tempter, was transformed into a symbol of ignorance with its negative outcomes. The angel, formerly a representative of religious goodness, became a symbol of knowledge. Books began to teach about the wider world as well.
For more information, read: Schools and Schoolbooks – 1780-1820
Intended Learning Outcomes
Understandings:
Students will understand:
- That at this time, primary schooling in Deerfield, Massachusetts, which had been available to a limited extent since 1698, expanded to include six school districts by 1787. In that year as well, 15 Deerfield residents met to plan what became Deerfield Academy.
- How schoolbooks changed. They will also understand what these changes reveal about alterations in attitudes about the purpose of education.
Skills:
Students will be able to:
- Read and understand information from a secondary source.
- Take notes from secondary sources.
- Write summaries from notes.
- Read and analyze primary sources such as schoolbooks.
In Preparation for Teaching
- Make copies of Ornamental and Useful Accomplishments, pages from schoolbooks, and Schoolbook Worksheet.
Activities
Activity 1: Deerfield, Massachusetts Schools
- Distribute copies of pages 7-13 from Ornamental and Useful Accomplishments: Schoolgirl Education and Deerfield Academy, 1800-1830.
- Instruct students to look through the pages and to comment on pictures, captions, and anything else that catches their eyes.
- Read the quote and first paragraph of page 7. Point out that the book from which the pages are taken is about the education of girls in Deerfield. The rest of the sources we will be using discuss schooling for both boys and girls.
- Instruct students to read Paragraph 2 beginning “Deerfield has long…”, underlining factual information about the history of education in the town. Students should take notes in their notebooks.
- Discuss the notes taken, clarifying misconceptions or vocabulary.
- Students should add to their notes any new ideas that come up in discussion.
- Instruct them to read the last paragraph that starts on page 8 and ends on page 9 and examine the samplers on pages 8 and 10, noting that they illustrate the information in the paragraph.
- Instruct students to read the paragraph beginning “If eighteenth-century…” underlining the information about how older Deerfield, Massachusetts’ children were taught during most of the 18th century. Take notes from this in student notebooks, and repeat steps 5 and 6 above.
- Instruct students to read the first two paragraphs on page 11, underlining the information about the beginnings of Deerfield Academy. Take notes from this in student notebooks, and repeat steps 5 and 6 above.
- Read from the last paragraph on page 11 to the end of page 13 together (either reading to the students, or asking for volunteers.)
- Instruct students to go back and underline information about Deerfield Academy that they think is interesting.
- Instruct them to list 3 things in their notebooks they found interesting about education in this period.
Homework Assignment for Activity 1
Using notes taken, write a paper entitled “Education in Deerfield, Massachusetts, from 1780-1820.”
Activity 2: Gathering Evidence from Schoolbooks
- Distribute individual packets of schoolbook pages.
- Instruct students to look through the packets.
- Distribute Schoolbook Worksheet.
- Lead a discussion about the schoolbook pages, using the questions on the worksheet as a guide.
- Instruct students to complete the worksheet.
- Upon completion, instruct students to make a list of 10 facts that show how Deerfield, Massachusetts citizens’ opinions about what children needed to learn changed over the years. This may be done in class, in work periods, or as homework.
Assessment
Use homework assignment for Activity 1, Worksheet pages, and number 5 from Activity 2.
