Procedure:
After the motivation, inform students that we are going
to be looking at one of Theodore Roosevelt's major concerns
and in the process we will be solving a mystery:
where does the idea of the teddy bear come from?
Put students in four small groups and give each group a Berryman cartoon to analyze as well as a political cartoon analysis sheet. Give groups ten minutes to analyze the cartoon (you may want to model a cartoon analysis for the entire class before breaking into groups).
Students will switch groups to form new small groups in which all the participants analyzed different Berryman cartoons (Jigsaw). Students must identify on the analysis sheet how the cartoons are the same and how they are different.
Class Discussion:
What were the cartoons we looked at and what did they all have in common? Students will discover Sthat each cartoon has a small teddy bear included in it.
The teacher will then project the image of "Drawing
the Line in Mississippi." Students will be
asked to describe what they see in a whole class discussion
format. What do they think is happening in this cartoon?
How does this make them feel about the character of
Theodore Roosevelt? Why would Americans like the
way this cartoon shows their president? What is
a nickname for Theodore? Teachers should be sure
to clarify that although Roosevelt would not kill an
old, infirm, and captured bear, he was not opposed to
hunting and considered it a favorite pastime.
Finally, the teacher will ask, "from where do
we get the teddy bear?" Students should be
able to answer that the teddy bear comes from this cartoon
that shows Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear that has
been tied.
Closure:
Students will read the quotation,
"To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed."
Ask students to put this quotation into their own words. What was an important issue for Theodore Roosevelt and why?
Extension:
Students will write a short essay on the prompt: Do you think the teddy bear should be named for Theodore Roosevelt? Why or why not? |
