The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Day One – Lesson One

Begin with the Motivational Strategy.

Students may be surprised to learn that today they are going to settle back and intently read as many personal narratives as they can in the time period you allow. (You will need to allow time for the distribution of the performance tasks, choosing tasks, and completing a contract, if you wish.)

1. Ask students to read empathetically, to put themselves in the place of the person about whom they are reading – to see what they see, feel what they feel, etc.
   
2. Distribute the performance task handout and ask them to choose one that best defines their own learning style. They may also choose an activity that is contrary to their preferred learning style as a challenge.
   
3. Decide on a due date. (You may want to have them formulate a contract advising you of which task they have selected.)
   
4. Familiarize students with a peer rubric so they will be aware of evaluation criteria. (Note: I always use a peer rubric for my own evaluation, but of course, you may have another that you will want to share with them.) For a sample rubric, visit
   http://teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/project/
   (This is from Teach-nology and may be a bit generic, but you can generate it using your name and a title. This website also allows you to easily create your own.)
   
   Note: The most comprehensive site I found to study the fire was The Great Chicago Fire and the Web of Memory. It is the result of collaboration between the Chicago Historical Society, from whose collections the contents of the exhibit are drawn, and Academic Technologies of Northwestern University, which was primarily responsible for the creation of the website. Many other sites merely summarized its contents. Most of the sites listed in this teaching unit originate from there. The site is: http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/intro/wom-index.php

1. Fannie Belle Becker, 10 at the time of the fire, wrote about it two years later http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/witnesses/becker.html
   
2. Joel Bigelow's letter to his family is dated October 10, 1871. It includes his own map of the burnt district. http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/witnesses/bigelow.html
   
3. Bessie Bradwell (later Helmer) was the daughter of James B. Bradwell, County Judge, and Myra Colby Bradwell, who was founder and editor of the Chicago Legal News, whose subscription book thirteen-year-old Bessie saved from the flames. The Bradwells lived in the South Division. She sent her memoir to the Chicago Historical Society on the fifty-fifth anniversary of the fire, in 1926. http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/witnesses/bradwell.html
   
4. Clarence Augustus Burley was a young man at the time of the fire, living with his family in the heart of the North Division's Old Settler neighborhood. He later served as President of the Chicago Historical Society. This excerpt is from "The Clarence Augustus Burley Family Record."
   http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/witnesses/burley.html
   
5. A.S. Chapman wrote his "Boy's Recollections of the Chicago Fire" in 1910. http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/witnesses/chapman.html
   
6. O.W. Clapp, who lived south of the fire, tells of his important part in the first relief efforts. This is taken from a presentation Clapp made to the Borrowed Time Club of Oak Park in 1914. http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/witnesses/clapp.html
   
7. William Gallagher was a student at the Chicago Theological Seminary. His letter to his sister in Boston is dated October 17. http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/witnesses/library.html
   
8. John J. Healy’s account is part of his longer essay, "A Bit of the Old North Side." His family was one of those that built a shelter house after they were burned out. He was then about eight years old. http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/witnesses/healy.html
   
9. Mrs. Alfred Hebard came from a pioneering family. She was a cousin of the oldest of the Old Settlers, Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard, who had arrived in Chicago in 1818 as a fur buyer for John Jacob Astor and who was living in the North Division at the time of the fire. After her marriage in 1837, Mrs. Hebard and her husband settled even further west, in Iowa. They were passing through Chicago on October 8, 1871. Her recollection was written in 1880. http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/witnesses/hebard.html
   
10. Anna E. (Tyng) Higginson's letter to Mrs. Mark Skinner, dated November 10, 1871. Mrs. Higginson was the wife of George M. Higginson, who had been an important figure in the Chicago real estate business for almost three decades. After the conflagration, he was very active in behalf of the Chicago Historical Society as a collector of fire narratives. http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/witnesses/higginson.html