Students will learn about early American childhood by studying paintings and readings. They will discuss and write about the ways in which childhood was represented in art and some of the differences in how childhood is regarded today.
1. Provide each student with a copy of the Image Analysis Chart. Assign the class to examine The Mason Children: David, Joanna, and Abigail and Sir William Pepperrell and His Family. Ask the students to record their observations on the Image Analysis Chart.
2. Have the class explore Old Sturbridge Village’s website on childhood in the nineteenth century.
3. Divide the class into pairs. Assign each pair of students to review the written material accompanying the image of The Mason Children: David, Joanna, and Abigail.
4. Assign each pair of students to combine their information on the Image Analysis Chart to create the best compilation of information from the interpretation of the paintings and the information from the article.
5. Assign each student pair to write collaboratively a one-page paper explaining how John Singleton Copley’s depiction of children communicates new ideas about childhood emerging at the end of the 18th century.
6. Hold a brief class discussion focused on comparing childhood in the colonial era and the present day.
Escrito por Zoe Voigt, profesora de Humanidades
Vocabulario
Colonial
Composition
Interpretation
Mood
Setting
Style
Asunto
Handouts
Cuadro de análisis de imágenes
Enlaces
A Child’s World: Childhood in 19th Century New England
Freake artist painting of Mason children
For comparison to British images of childhood:
