A Suitable Job for a Woman Part of the Unit: Light in the Storm Unit

Lesson Overview:

Students identify the model for the character, Amelia Martin, by discovering information about four women: Abbie Burgess, Louisa May Alcott, Ida Lewis, and Clara Barton. Students improvise the character of a historical figure. Students pantomime each of the women’s work and interview each of the women as reporters. Students write a postcard from the past about one of these women.

Length of Lesson:

Two 45-minute periods

Notes:

This lesson is particularly suitable for grades 4 - 6.

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• act as reporters and interview each of the women.
• identify the model for the character of Amelia Martin from A Light in the Storm, by researching and discovering information about: Abbie Burgess, Louisa May Alcott, Ida Lewis, and Clara Barton.
• improvise the character of historical figures.
• pantomime each of the women’s work activities.
• write a postcard from the past about one of these women.

Supplies:

• Post-it Brand notes (four or more colors)
• Large blank index cards
• Props such as a bucket, lantern, scrub brush, book, journal, bandages, apron, and shawl.
• Cardboard signs to hang around the neck or badges on pins that say: Abbie Burgess, Louisa May Alcott, Ida Lewis, and Clara Barton
• Large print outs or index cards with the following questions:
• Who is a teacher?
• Who is a companion?
• Who is a nurse?
• Who kept the lights burning for a month?
• Who was visited by a President for her actions?
• Who founded the American Red Cross?
• Who became a famous author?
• Who lived the rest of her days as a lighthouse keeper?
• Who might Daniel have met while he was ill?
• Who is the model for Amelia Martin?

Instructional Plan:

Warm Up

Ask students about the jobs Amelia Martin has. (Responses should include lighthouse keeper, assistant teacher, companion, and nurse.)

Discuss which jobs of those mentioned seem to be suitable for a woman 140 years ago? (Companion ranks first. A female teacher was becoming more accepted. Women as nurses were not readily accepted at the start of the Civil War. Female lighthouse keepers were only appointed after the death of a male relative who had already held the position.)

Introductory Activity

Select four students to wear either signs or badges with the following names on them: Abbie Burgess, Louisa May Alcott, Ida Lewis, and Clara Barton.

Using the game show To Tell the Truth as a model, have the selected students stand up and say, "My life was the inspiration for the character of Amelia Martin."

Have the rest of the class make predictions about who they think is telling the truth.

Guided Practice

Mount the note cards on the board. Number the questions from 1 to 8. (The answers are the initials that follow.)

The questions are:

Note card #1-Who was a nurse? (CB, LMA)

Note card #2-Who was a companion? (LMA)

Note card #3-Who was a teacher? (CB, LMA)

Note card #4-Who kept the lights burning for a month?(AB)

Note card #5-Who was visited by a President for her actions? (CB,IL)

Note card #6-Who founded the American Red Cross? (CB)

Note card #7-Who lived the rest of her days as a lighthouse keeper? (IL,AB)

Note card #8-Who might Daniel have met when he was ill? (CB, LMA)

Note card #9-Who is the model for Amelia Martin? (IL)

Divide the class into teams of four. Assign each team a woman to research.

Give each team a colored Post-it pack to write the answers. The answers should each have two supporting details. Post the answers under the question. WARNING:  Not every question will be answerable for each woman.

"Jigsaw" the groups by assigning each a number from 1 to 4. Have the odd numbers try to answer the odd questions, from #1-7. Have the even numbers try to answer the even questions, from #2-8.

"Jigsaw" the groups further "within-teams," so that teams 1 and 2 work on Internet sources of information. Teams 3 and 4 should work on book resources. All numbers try to answer question #9. Each team of four is reunited to share information. They are to be experts on their assigned woman.

Reassemble the four contestants and reveal the identity of the model for Amelia Martin. (This is Ida Lewis. The answer is found in the interview with Karen Hesse at the Scholastic site, Dear America, A Light in the Storm. She saves 22 from drowning and takes over the job of assistant lighthouse keeper after her father has a stroke. She marries but after a brief time chooses to live alone, and delivers books by boat after retirement.)

Independent Practice

Have students return to their original groups and prepare a pantomimes of the work involved in the lives of the famous women they studied. Students may use props and costumes.

After twenty minutes, teams present their pantomimes to the class.

Have the class, acting as reporters, ask four questions of the actors in the scenes. The actors should stay in character. The questions may be about the actions in the scene or any other actions the woman did.

This repeats until all teams have presented work.

Distribute large blank index cards. Have each student create a picture postcard about the past of the woman their group studied. It should include her name, a picture of the woman or an event in her life, and a reason for her to be remembered.

Assessment:

Use the Assessment Rubric to assess your students' works.

Extensions:

Students may research the male characters in the story. The lives of a male lighthouse keeper, a shopkeeper, a teacher, and a soldier are mentioned in A Light in the Storm.     

Sources:

Print:

• Alcott, Louisa May. Hospital Sketches. Applewood Books, 1989.
• Bolotin, Norman and Herb, Angela. For Home and Country—A Civil War Scrapbook. Lodestar Books, 1995.
• Brill, Marlene Targ. Extraordinary Young People. Children’s Press, 1996.
• Clifford, J. Candace and Mary Louise. Women Who Kept the Lights—The Illustrated History of Female Lighthouse Keeper. Cypress Communications, 1995.
• Clinton, Catherine. Scholastic Encyclopedia of the Civil War. Scholastic Inc., 1999.
• Collins, David and Landgraf, Ken. Clara Barton. Barbour Publishers, Inc., 1999.
• Damon, Duane. When This Cruel War is Over—The Civil War Home Front. Lerner Publications Company, 1996.
• Farnsworth, Bill and Vaughn, Marcia K. Abbie Against the Storm—The True Story of a Young Heroine and a Lighthouse. Beyond Words Publishing, 1999.
• Fleming, Candace and Watling, James. Women of the Lights. Albert Whitman Publishers, 1995.
• Giacoia, Frank and Stevenson, Augusta. Clara Barton—Founder of the American Red Cross. Simon & Schuster Children’s, 1982.
• Gormley, Beatrice and Henderson, Meryl. Louisa May Alcott—Young Novelist. Simon & Schuster’s Children’s, 1999.
• Hanson, Peter E. and Roop, Peter and Connie. Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie. Carolrhoda Books, 1985.
• Hesse, Karen.A Light in the Storm.Scholastic, Inc., 1999.
• Hollinger, Deanne and Johnston, Johanna. Women Themselves. Dodd, Mead, & Company, 1973.
• Meigs, Cornelia. Invincible Louisa. Little, Brown and Company, 1933,1968.
• Morlin, Josee and Saavedra, Jennifer.The Lights Never Failed. Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
• Oates, Stephen B. A Woman of Valor—Clara Barton and the Civil War. The Free Press, 1995.
• Smith, Carter (Editor). Behind the Lines.The Millbrook Press, 1993.
• Zeinert, Karen.Those Couragous Women of the Civil War. The Millbrook Press, 1998.

Web:

• The History Net
  http://www.thehistorynet.com

Authors:

• Mary Beth Bauernschub, Teacher
  Kingsford Elementary School
  Mitchellville, MD