Unit 4: The Empire State
Big Idea Activity: How does technology change people’s lives?
Students should role-play a person from New York. How has technology changed that person’s life? Encourage students to act and speak as the person they are role-playing. Have them explain why they selected this particular person. Be sure that the students speak in the first person.
Explore the lives of famous New Yorkers.
Visit the New York State Office for Technology.
Discuss each of the People Who Made a Difference with students. Ask them to explain how New York was affected by each of these people. How would the state be different if these people had never been in New York?
These websites emphasize the impact these figures had on American history and their influence in New York. Students will learn more about the People Who Made a Difference through discussion and activities.
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)
Ask students how they think technology changes people’s lives. How did New Yorkers change their behavior because of new technology? How did technology play a role in the Civil War in New York? How did the People Who Made a Difference use new technology to help them achieve their goals?
Writing Activity: Writing Activity
Students will write a 2 paragraph essay answering the Big Idea Question – How does technology change people’s lives?
1. The graphic organizer will be used to list the main ideas that will be in the essay. Complete the graphic organizer as a class or have the students complete it themselves.
2. The writing activity will focus on how technology has changed New Yorker’s lives. Students should think about how these different peoples affected communities in general as well as their own community specifically.
3. Once the graphic organizer has been completed by the students individually or as a group, assign the type of essay that they will write: Descriptive, Narrative or Persuasive.
Biography: Sojourner Truth
In 1827, Sojourner Truth escaped slavery and moved to New York City. In the 1840s, she joined a group of abolitionists in Massachusetts. Truth worked to help African American soldiers and newly freed people after the Civil War. Later she retired with her family to Michigan.
Biography: Lillian Wald
In 1891, Lillian Wald volunteered to provide immigrants in New York’s tenements with nursing care. She opened the Henry Street Settlement in 1895. Wald spent the rest of her life caring for and educating people in immigrant neighborhoods.
A Day in the Life: A Young Person’s Life in the 1950s
American life changed in the 1950s. After the Great Depression and World War II, Americans wanted to relax and have fun. The 1950s began a time of fads, trends or activities that were popular for a short period of time. Discuss with students life right after World War II, when inventions changed life for American families. Have students list examples of different fads from the 1950s.
Biography: Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes wrote poems, essays, books and plays. A few of his best poetry collections include The Weary Blues (1926) and Shakespeare in Harlem (1942). Discuss how music can influence someone’s poetry.
Biography: Steven Chu
Steven Chu is a scientist. He built a machine that slows down atoms by making them very, very cold. For his work, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997. Discuss how Chu shows leadership.
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