| Lesson 4: Deerfield Debates
its Future: Education
1 class period (85 minutes)
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| Key Content Ideas Taught in this Lesson and
Teacher Background |
We have seen how an expanding economy, a changing
population, and industry have arrived in the Connecticut River Valley.
- How did Deerfield respond to change?
- What happened to the schools?
Teacher Background Essay: Education
as a Constructive Tool for a Modern Political Society
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| Intended Learning Outcomes |
Understandings
Students will understand:
- Industry and technology reshaped life in Deerfield.
- South Deerfield became more influential as
industry and population expanded.
- Immigration reshaped the demographics and
culture of the Deerfield
Skills
Students will be able to:
- Make inferences from their readings and articulate
causality.
- Present learned information to their peers.
- Locate historical evidence on a web site to
support their presentations.
- Create artifacts (a newspaper, album or scrap
book) from their writings, drawings, and projects to archive.
- Analyze a variety of images and documents.
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| In Preparation for Teaching |
1. Read Teacher Background Essay: Education
as a Constructive Tool for a Modern Political Society
Further Background Reading:
Cubberley, Ellwood. A Brief History of Education.
New York: Houghton-Mifflin, 1922.
Greenberg, Ivan. "Reformers, Workers, and
the Half-day Mill School Movement in the 1870s". Education
in Massachusetts: Selected Essays. Michael F. Konig and Martin
Kaufman, eds. Westfield, MA: Institute of MA Studies, 1989.
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Primary and Secondary Sources:
- Regulations for the Government of the Schools
in the Town of Deerfield. (L02.068)
- "John Dewey." The
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- "Mann, Horace." The
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- History and Proceeedings of the Pocumtuck
Valley Memorial Association, pp. 5-7 (L99_138)
- "The Mount Sugarloaf School." Greenfield
Recorder, Feb 3, 1913. (L02.079)
- "Superintendent's Report". Deerfield
Town Report, 1915 (L02.071)
- "Superintendent's Report". Deerfield
Town Report, 1926 (L02.070)
- "South Deerfield School Troubles"
(L02.083)
- "Deerfield Section" (L02.084)
- "Dickinson High School" (L02.085)
- "Deerfield School Controversy" (L02.086)
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| Activities |
Materials in Context |
- Review the articles in the "packet"
related to the education reform ideals of Mann and Dewey
and discuss how they were applied locally. (Add additional
articles on school programs, class graduations, etc.)
• How does the architectural design
of Deerfield schools indicate progress in educational
reform?
- Using references from the articles,
respond to the title of the lesson: "Education as a Constructive
Tool for a Modern Political Society."
• Explain the function of education
as viewed between the 1880s and the 1920s
• What insights into the early private/public school relationships
do the articles from 1900 give you?
• What might be the cause of private/public school tension?
Homework: Prepare an
item for the archive -- either a position article in the
newspaper on a controversial issue, a picture and accompanying
writing for the scrapbook, or a letter home that includes
education information from the community.
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