
Kate Harris
Social Studies teacher
Pittsburgh CAPA
Middle School (13 to 15 years old), High School (16 to 18 years old)
Teacher/Educator
Language Arts And English, Civics, Literature, Cultures, Economics, Social Studies, Geography, Writing, US History, Arts, Other
I'm a history-lover, art fan, and bookworm. I taught high school history (U.S. History and World Religions) for ten years in North Carolina, teach currently in Pittsburgh, PA, and am working to help teachers make the most of this new resource!
Kate Harris's collections
Examining Icebergs
<p>What can we learn about global climate change by examining icebergs? This teaching collection provides resources to support a lesson on climate change and polar ice melt. It includes a video, link to a lesson plan and photo essay from the Global Oneness Project, images, and a Smithsonian article. </p><p>tags: climate change, global warming, iceberg, glacier, melt, temperature, environment</p>

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Evolution of an Artist: William H. Johnson
<p>The clippings, paintings, and other items here will all help you develop an understanding of William H. Johnson's life and growth as an artist. First, read the biography in the first resource. Then, try to order the remaining collection items from earliest to latest, using clues from the informational text and the style and subject of each work. Once finished, review the progression you have created. How would you describe the evolution of Johnson's art? Can you connect changes in his art to world or personal events?</p><p>tags: Harlem, Federal Art Project, sorting, folk art, African-American, painter</p>

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Evaluating America's First System of Government
<p>What kind of government best suited the needs of the rebelling colonists? In this learner resource, students will learn about the Articles of Confederation and determine if they should be remembered positively or negatively. What were the strengths of the Articles? What were the weaknesses that led to the Constitutional Convention, and the writing of a new form of government, our current Constitution?</p><p>tags: articles of confederation, whiskey rebellion, northwest ordinance, declaration of independence</p>

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Dulce et Decorum Est--Poetry from World War I
<p>Why are artists' representations of war important? This student activity uses a poem by Wilfred Owen, "Dulce et Decorum Est," and several images to encourage reflection on soldiers' experiences and views of war. Students will explore the descriptive language and artistic choices made to determine what emotions are evoked by the art and what attitudes towards war are represented. Finally, students will be asked to consider and write about their own beliefs regarding war.</p>

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3D Technology and Repatriation of the Kéet-S’aaxw
<p>This student activity introduces students to the concept of repatriation of cultural heritage items to the tribes to whom they belong, and the ways that museums and Native American groups are now using 3D technology to aid in the process. A killer whale hat, or kéet-s'aaxw, was requested to be repatriated by members of the Tlingit tribe. The Smithsonian Institution, under the repatriation provisions of the National Museum of the American Indian Act, did so. In the years following, the clan's leader decided that it might be beneficial to 3D scan the image in order to preserve its details and protect it in case of loss or fire. Having this data allowed the museum to create an accurate replica to be used for educational purposes, and provided the tribe with peace of mind. Learn more about this story and other cases of repatriation and replication in this collection which includes a 3D model and tour, video, website, and images of objects that have been part of the process. </p>
<p>Essential Questions include:</p>
<ul><li>How does the current process of repatriation reflect a change in traditional relationships between museums and indigenous groups?</li><li>What kinds of guidelines should be used to determine which objects should be repatriated?</li><li>What benefits does 3D technology provide for museums and Native American tribes? Can you envision other scenarios where 3D technology might play a similarly beneficial role?</li></ul><p>Tags: Native American, American Indian, Tlingit, repatriation, replication, 3D technology, whale hat, indigenous, rights, change over time, museums, anthropology</p>

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Droughts and Dust Bowls
This is a collection of teaching resources about droughts and the Dust Bowl. While it is mainly focused on 20th century American history, there are also some links to articles that cover droughts more broadly across time and cultures. I have included some artists (Woody Guthrie, John Steinbeck, nda Dorothea Lange) who recorded the effects of the Dust Bowl on American society. There is also a selection of lesson plans and videos that explain how farming practices and environmental changes lead to droughts, and how people have responded by changing practices and developing new technologies. <br />
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Resources in this collection might be used in Language Arts, Social Studies, or Science classrooms. Questions to consider might include:<br />
-How do people impact their environment?<br />
-How do changes to the environment impact peoples' lives?<br />
-How did government and society respond to the disaster of the Dust Bowl? <br />
-What is government's responsibility in times of natural disaster?<br />
-What steps can be taken to prevent future environmental disasters?<br />
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Discover the Story: A Miner's Life
This collection includes objects and artifacts representing life in as a miner. Students are challenged to write a creative story or narrative based on the objects in the collection, illustrating life at the time. The last two resources in the collection are a worksheet that teachers may use to frame the assignment and a grading rubric for the assignment.
Tags: Pennsylvania, narrative, Pittsburgh, mining, miner, immigration, coal, worker safety, child labor

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Context for Weikers Family Collection: Life in Nazi Germany and Resettling in the United States
<p>This collection was created to align with with the Weikers Family collection and provides general context about life in Germany for a Jewish family in the 1930s and their eventual resettlement to the United States. The artifacts in the collection are not necessarily specific to the Weikers family, but give some idea of how others might have shared similar experiences. </p><p>Tags: Nazi Germany, Holocaust era, primary sources, Pittsburgh</p>

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Communes, Counterculture, and the Back to the Land Movement
<p>This collection includes a variety of photographs taken by Lisa Law. Students will examine the photographs and a few artifacts and try to draw conclusions about the ways in which the commune or back-to-the-land movement challenged the norms of traditional United States society in the 1960s and 1970s. A link to an exhibit website is include and allows students to check their assumptions, and students are asked to compare elements of the counterculture with that of mainstream 1960s and 1970s culture. </p><p>Tags: counterculture, commune, hippie, granola, back to nature, communal living, co-op, cooperative, sixties, seventies, Woodstock, change over time, compare, ashram, silent majority</p>

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Claim-Support-Question: A Sharecropper's Shack
Using the Project Zero Visible Thinking routine "Claim Support Question," a routine for clarifying truth claims, students will examine a photograph taken by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. This exercise could be used as a warm up for a lesson about the Great Depression's impact on farmers, sharecropping, or the New Deal.
Tags: Roosevelt, New Deal, Farm Security Administration, Great Depression, tenant farmer, sharecropper, migrant farmer, Okie, Missouri, Oklahoma, Dust Bowl, Resettlement Administration.

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Civil Disobedience
<p>This is a topical collection on the concept of civil disobedience. Users are invited to explore the theme of civil disobedience through texts from Sophocles, Shelley, and Thoreau and a variety of images. </p><p>Questions to consider:</p><p>-Does civil disobedience pose a threat to society?</p><p>-What examples of civil disobedience are portrayed here? What are some other examples?</p><p>-What is the role of civil disobedience in today's society?</p><p>-Some people prefer the phrase "passive resistance" to "civil disobedience." Compare and contrast these two terms.</p><p>-How does one measure the success of an act of civil disobedience? Policy change? Public influence?</p><p>-What role does violence play in civil disobedience?</p><p>Tags: King, Gandhi, protest, Birmingham, Greensboro, suffrage, Boston Tea Party, Antigone, Masque of Anarchy, Tambo, nun, Randolph, civil rights, Mexican-American War, Goldman</p>

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Carlisle Indian Industrial School
<p>Perhaps the most famous of the Indian boarding schools created in the late 19th century, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania was founded by Captain Richard Henry Pratt (with funding and support from the United States government), with the purpose of assimilating (or Americanizing) Indian students. </p><p>Student will use archival materials to explore student life at Carlisle Indian School and to evaluate assimilation policy as practiced through the school. <strong>What was gained and lost through the process of assimilation? </strong></p><p>Using these resources as a starting point, users should research one former Indian student or one aspect of student life using the <a href="http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/" target="_blank">Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center</a>. Many student files record not only experiences that occurred while at the school, but information about occupations and life after the boarding school experience. Were students and families able to shape positive experiences despite the intended consequences of boarding school policy? </p><p><span>Students should create a writing or artwork that reflects information learned about that particular student or activity and that shares the learner's opinions on assimilation policy and the response of Native Ameri</span><span>cans</span><span>. </span><strong>How should the Carlisle Indian School be remembered? </strong></p><p>Tags: Native American, Indian, boarding school, assimilation, Pratt, Dawes Act, Jim Thorpe, allotment</p>

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