A History Lesson Tied to CCLS & ELA

I had heard of Anna Jarvis, the woman responsible for Mother's Day, but wasn't aware of the whole story.  I just read an article called "Mother's Day Turns 100: Its Surprisingly Dark History" from National Geographic.

I found it interesting and could see this type of article being used in a few ways. 

For example, if you're doing a lesson on singular and plural possessives, this article talks about how Anna Jarvis fought to keep Mother's Day as a singular possessive.  She wanted Mother's Day to be less about capitalism and more about honoring someone's own mother. 

When I think of lessons that I remember, I think of stories tied to the skill that helps me remember long term.  This article might be a good example to help students understand the difference between Mother's (singular possessive) and Mothers' (plural possessive).

If I were preparing students for Common Core assessments, I might ask the following questions to help students learn to make claims and cite evidence:

1. In the title of the article, Mother's Day is described as having a "dark history."  What does "dark" mean in the title?  Use evidence from the article to support your answer.

2. How did the observance of Mother's Day change over time?  How did this change affect Anna Jarvis?  Use details from the story to support your answer.

Use the Comments section to share questions that you might ask your students about this article. Feel free to comment about how to adapt the questions I created to help make them better.

English Idea: The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson

@EdTechSandyK posted a great link to a blog article offering a strategy for helping students reading "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. Awesome stuff!

The teacher in the article had her students participate in a lottery similar to the one in Jackson's short story. The student with the black dot by his or her name was "stoned" with crumpled up papers. She then had her students write a brief reflection on their experience during this lesson. She posted their responses and they are very thoughtful.

Not necessarily a tech lesson, but a creative way to get kids thinking about a story from a personal point of view!