
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
Powerful Symbols and Words: Abolitionism & Women's Rights
<p>This collection looks at an image and phrase used widely in abolitionist materials, and at how that symbol was adopted and adapted by Sojourner Truth and/or other women's rights activists. Students will examine an abolitionist medallion and then learn about Sojourner Truth through a short reading, image analysis, and video. They can then review two version's of Sojourner Truth's speech and consider why the second version, as reported by another suffragette, Frances Gage, is markedly different. This collection is designed to be used as a short stand-alone lesson on the topic of the abolition movement and its intersection with the women's movement in the United States.</p><p>Tags: compare and contrast, change over time, "Ain't I a Woman?", abolition, slavery</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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Exploring American Ideals in Art
<p>How can American ideals be defined and expressed in different ways? The United States of America is associated the ideals of Democracy, Rights, Liberty, Opportunity, and Equality. Those values have served as sources of inspiration for artists as goals that the nation aspires to (even if they are not always achieved). This collection contains artworks inspired by one or more of the ideals listed above. Students should choose a work and identify which ideal it relates to: Democracy, Rights, Liberty, Opportunity, and Equality. </p><p>In a short essay based on the artwork, students should answer the following questions:</p><p>-How would the student define Democracy, Rights, Liberty, Opportunity, or Equality?</p><p>-What is the artist trying to communicate about how this idea plays out in America?</p><p>-Does the student agree or disagree with the artist's interpretation?</p><p>If desired, students could create their own artwork based on one of the American ideals.</p>

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Bushido, Bun, and Bu: Life as a Samurai
This collection includes resources reflecting the ideal characteristics of a Japanese samurai. After reviewing the resources in this collection, students will be able to:
-analyze the changing role of the samurai in Japanese society
-define and give examples of bushido, bun, and bu
-compare the expectations for samurai with those of other social groups
Students will begin by visiting two websites in order to gain background information on samurai. They will then read an excerpt from The Way of the Samurai and answer questions. Next, they will review a series of resources and determine whether they represent bushido, bun, or bu. Finally, students will begin a comparative research assignment.

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The 1850s and Causes of the Civil War
This collection includes artifacts, stamps, political cartoons, portraits, and videos representing various long-term and short-term causes of the Civil War. Students could use the collection as the basis for a sorting activity:
Which causes are long-term and which are short?
Which represent economic, social, or political differences between the North and South?
Can they be put in chronological order?
Which show attempts at compromise and which show that violence was difficult to avoid?
Additional teaching ideas are listed in the Notes to Other Users section.

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Great Ideas, Modern Art, and Advertising
This collection consists of advertisements created for the Container Corporation of America in the 1950s. Each advertisement pairs a quote from a "Great Idea of Western Man" with a work of original art. After reviewing the collection, students will create their own art work to reflect a "Great Idea" that they think is important and meaningful in the world today.

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How a Bill becomes a Law
<p>How can ideas become legislation? This student activity reviews the process of how a bill becomes a law. Students may choose from two videos to watch, and then can read through the collection and investigate the resources. They may want to take notes on the process. Finally, a sorting activity assesses whether or not students truly understand the process of creating new legislation in the United States.</p>

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Sitting for a Portrait
<p>Have you ever sat while someone painted your picture or took a photograph? How does it feel? What do you think about while it occurs? This student activity begins with a portrait of George Washington and a letter describing his attitude towards portraits. After students reflect on these, they will choose another portrait from the set and focus on developing observational skills and an attitude of empathy by examining the work closely and imagining the perspective of one of the people in the image. </p><p>Tags: portrait, point of view, perspective, Washington, Pine, de Kooning, John F. Kennedy, JFK, Norman Rockwell, Mitchell, Spalding, video, self-portrait</p>

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Globalization and Cultural Diffusion
<p>This student activity focuses on the concepts of globalization and cultural diffusion. Students will look at a variety of artifacts and explain how they illustrate the two concepts and/or help answer the guiding questions below:</p><ul><li>What is globalization and how does it affect people and places?</li><li>What leads to cultural diffusion?</li></ul>

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Numbers
<p>This collection is an example of how the Learning Lab could be used to create number or alphabet books for younger students. Students can search for the numbers and letters represented in the art, sculpture, and artifacts that exist throughout the Learning Lab. </p><p>Alternatively, students could be given a specific theme (animals, for example) and be tasked to find images representing the theme for each letter or number. Annotation (notebook tabs) can be used to include additional text or explanations. Quiz questions could be used to ask "how many ________ are in this image?".</p><p>Have fun!</p><p>Tags: reading, books, alphabet, numbers, counting, math, young learners, early childhood</p>

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From Silk Worms to the Silk Road
This is a collection of resources that could be used to support a lesson on the discovery of silk and the impact of the silk road(s). Artifacts include images of silkworms and the silk-making process, websites with information about the luxuries traded on the Silk Road, and video summary.
Possible guiding questions include:
-Why did silk become such an important commodity in China?
-How did the development of the silk trade routes impact both Europe and Asia?
-In what ways do artifacts from Europe and Asia reveal the cultural connections created by the Silk Road?

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Artifacts from the Battlefield: WWI
This is a collection of artifacts from World War I, including photographs, uniforms, and some surprising contributors. Students will watch a video to observe how a curator connects an object (in this case a woman's AFFW uniform) to the person who used it, and then choose three objects from the collection to study before sharing findings with other classmates. Students should think about the guiding questions below as they investigate the objects in the collection.
Guiding questions:
How was World War I different from wars that came before?
What impact did technology have on the war?
What kinds of threats did soldiers face during World War I?
How did soldiers find comfort during World War I?
How might the experience of World War I have influenced the culture and politics of the years following it?

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