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Teach PA History
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"Everything's Coming Up Roses:" Creating Beautiful Areas in Your Neighborhood
Equipment & Supplies
  • Overhead sheets LCD Projector (optional) Highlighter markers
Procedures

Steps:

Preparation: The website http://terraserver.microsoft.com/ provides excellent pictures of any area. Simply type in the upper left hand corner the address of your area for an aerial photo and/or topographical map. Print and copy one picture for each student.

Day One


1. Introduce the lesson by telling the class that they will be working to beautify a local area. Brainstorm what "beautifying" means and give some examples of the recreational and green spaces that they might create.

2. After students have been given the opportunity brainstorm, explain that in the early 1900s a woman named Mira Lloyd Dock was leading a campaign to beautify Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Show Mira Lloyd Dock. When documenting improvements to the Harrisburg area, Dock tallied the availability of these recreational areas. Show Harrisburg Park System Data. Give the students an opportunity to add spaces inspired from the Harrisburg Park System if they would like.

** Remind students that beautifying the area may not only mean adding recreational and green spaces to it, but also may include freeing up areas from pollution, litter, abandoned or rundown areas, etc.**

3. For this image interpretation exercise, you may show images using Student Handout 1-City Beautiful and/or an overhead or LCD projector. Show students the picture State Capitol from railroad station and say something like this:

"In the early 1900s, Harrisburg looked a little different than it does now. Several people wanted to change that look."

"This image shows a photo of Harrisburg taken from the nearby railroad station. Do you like the look or would you like to change it?" Lead class discussion.

[Possible comments may include: "It isn't pretty";"I wouldn't want to live there"; "I don't see any grass or trees or flowers"; "It looks dirty", etc.]

• What changes would you make? What do you notice about the area?
• Does anything seem to be missing?
• What would you like to add?
• Is there anything that you would like to take out?
• Would you live here?

Model drawing the improvements in by placing an overhead sheet on top of the photo. Draw on the improvements by using pictures and symbols to represent the changes.

4. Now show the page "Your turn…your town" in Student Handout 1 or via overhead. Explain:

"Now, we are going to set up groups and you are going to try to change a part of our town."

And in case you were wondering…
Here is a more updated picture of Harrisburg that shows some of the area's changes…"
Show Beautified State Capitol


5. Break the class into groups of five. Each student in the group will have an assigned role for the lesson. The roles can be adjusted for group dynamics, size, etc.

Materials Manager – gathers maps, overhead sheets, markers, paper, etc.
Artist – draws on the overhead sheet what the group decides to add to the area
Recorder – keeps record of group discussion
Speaker - presents the points make by the group to the "council" of their peers
Coordinator - keeps the group on task, initiates discussion, works out problems.

6. Distribute Student Worksheet 1-Beautification Plans and the aerial and/or topographical map of your area which you printed before class. The worksheet will guide the group through the process of beautifying their space.

7. Homework: Tomorrow speakers of each group will present their persuasive speech for their project. They may include pictures of areas, stories, historical references, appropriate statistics, and personal experiences to try to earn the "council's" support. Ask students to prepare their supportive material for homework. The entire group is responsible for this task. They should be creative and convincing!


Day Two

1. Remind the class that today all of the speakers will be presenting their plan to the "Class Council". Students may not vote for their own group and may only vote one time to give their money and support to one project. Pass out Student Worksheet 2-Council Vote to keep students on task.

2. Have the speakers of each group present their persuasive speech on their project. They may include pictures, stories, historical references, and personal experiences to try to earn the "council's" support.

3. Have the students vote on who they would like to support.

4. Tally the votes. You can break the tie or revote as necessary.

5. Discuss with the class who won and why that group received the most votes. What were the strengths to this project? Or was it the weakness of the other projects? Were there other things that the presenters cold have done to persuade you outside of their presentation to get your vote? Signs, other supporters, candy, etc. Relate this to the process of voting and passing projects.

6. Relate the process that they just went through with the "City Beautiful" movement spearheaded by Mira Dock. Show the pictures of the improvements such as:
Yard into Garden with boys
Harrisburg Island Park Garden
Harrisburg Parkway


If you have classroom internet access, it is also highly recommended that you project images of the following site: Then and Now of Harrisburg's Old 8th Ward [link to http://www.old8thward.com/n1.htm]. These images clearly reveal in side-by-side photographs the state of specific areas in Harrisburg before and after the city's clean-up.

7. This "wrap up "activity can be done as a group, individually, or a combination of both by using Student Worksheet 3-Comparing Today to Yesterday. Mira Dock used slide shows as her main means of communicating her goals with larger groups of people. Read and discuss the propaganda that was used to gather support for the project. Would any of this have helped your project pass? [For assessment see below or use the worksheet's corresponding teacher's guide (same responses are provided on both).]

Show Park Support Slide 1


• Have a student read the message.
• What does "appropriation" mean? Please define. [Note: Do not use "appropriate" in definition.] [to set aside money for a particular use]
• In your own words, what is this slide saying? [The slide is asking citizens to support their Park Commission if they like the city parks. It asks them to contact a council member and ask them to set side a good amount of money for the Harrisburg park system in 1909.]
• What are some ways you could "urge your Councilmen" to support the park system? [Write a persuasive letter. Suggest that this issue would affect your vote.]
• Who are your Council members?
[This answer will change according to time and place.]

Reveal Park Support Slide 2


• Five cents in 1909 is about the equivalent of $.40 today (2008). [*Statistic calculated from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis-Consumer Price Index.]
Would you spend 40 cents a month to make improvements to your city parks today? [Accept any response.]

Show the third slide, Harrisburg-Albany Park Comparison.

• How much does it cost people a year for the city to maintain Harrisburg's parks and playgrounds? [36 cents]
• Is this more or less than people in Albany pay to maintain their parks? [less]
• Who has more park space[FIX ME ’–"“”]Harrisburg or Albany? [Harrisburg[FIX ME ’–"“”]589 acres]
• If people from Harrisburg wanted to "be even with" Albany on the amount of money they spend PER ACRE, what would [FIX ME ’–"“”]Harrisburgers" have to spend per year? (Extra credit) [$1.20. It is 315/589 = .64/X.]
• Is the comparison effective? Explain your answer. [Yes. It tugs at one's civic pride.]
• What is the main message of this slide? ["More Money, More Service." Ask your council member to support the increase of appropriations for the park system.]

Display the next image Cameron Parkway Slide


• What does the Cameron Parkway offer? [It offers fine shade, good grass, running water, and more than a mile of park along Spring Creek.]
• Where is Spring Creek? [Use map.]
• Why does the slide say "Good for rich and poor alike."? [It appeals to a sense of social unity.]
• What does the message direct you to do? [Use the parkway.]

Show the final slide: Park Support Slide 3

• According to census information from 1900, Harrisburg only had 50,167 people living in it in 1900, and it was the 77th largest city. So were 446,000 people a lot of people to use the River Front Park? [Yes, this is an impressive statistic.]

• Why is it important to tell you council member you are using and enjoying the park? [It is important tell your council member you are enjoying the park, so that when he/she is faced with decisions about how to allocate and spend city money, he/she will know just how much the community values this park resource.]

In general, most of these slides encourage you to be in communication with or contact your city council member. What does the city council do?

[Seven citizens from the community are elected to be on council. They look at legislative concerns on all kinds of topics: Administration, Budget and Finance, Building and Housing, Community and Economic Development, Children and Youth, Parks and Recreation, and Public Safety and Public Works.]



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