Objectives:

• Students will observe, discuss, and interpret Radcliffe Bailey’s work By the River.
• Students will recognize the similarities and differences between oral history and documented history.
• Each student will create a personal narrative or assemblage that offers a perspective on the experiences of a people who came to the U.S. during the 18th or 19th century.
• Students will practice presentation skills by delivering monologues and presenting their artwork.

Connections to 8th grade TEKS for social studies:

• Student describes how different immigrant groups interacted with the environment in the United States during the 18th and 19th centuries. (8.12C)
• Student identifies selected racial, ethnic, and religious groups that settled in the United States and their reasons for immigration. (8.24A)
• Student analyzes the contributions of people of various racial, ethnic, and religious groups to our national identity. (8.24D)
• Student differentiates between, locates, and uses primary and secondary sources such as computer software, databases, media and news services, biographies, interviews, and artifacts to acquire information about the United States. (8.30A)
• Student analyzes the relationship between fine arts and continuity and change in the American way of life. (8.27B)
• Student creates written, oral, and visual presentations of social studies information. (8.31D)