Editorial cartoons can be a great resource to use with 4th-8th grade students when examining current issues. How might you use this cartoon in a social studies class? Or, alternatively, what do you think of the point of view about immigration that is being expressed by the cartoonist? Do you think his point is a valid one?
5 comments:
The sarcasm in this cartoon will allow those 4th-8th graders understand the humor of it. This cartoon could be used to close the unit of Westward Expansion; it can put the whole event into a full circle so that the kids can understand what really happened. I think the point of the cartoonist is a valid one in that a white man is just pointing his finger West and running over whomever may pass him, in so showing that is what essentially happened. Europeans pointed west to find Native Americans, and thus creating the United States. I think this cartoon is appropriate for this particular unit.
When I first saw this cartoon yesterday followed by the post, I remembered that in 7th grade my Social Studies teacher would put up a political cartoon for us to read and write a short journal response to. I really disliked the teacher but today I see his connection to our history and these types of cartoons. It shows the multipule perspectives of different groups of people in history. In 5th grade we are teaching the students about the Westward Expansion and this cartoon would have been a great way to get kids thinking about multiple perspectives.
I think this cartoon is great at showing another perspective. The white man wants to get rid of the imigrants. However, the Native Americans were here way before the Europeans, and says he'll help pack to get rid of everyone. I agree with Kelly that this cartoon would be great in a Westward Expansion unit. My fifth grade class is learning about it right now and so far they have just learned how great the expansion was for the United States. They are now just learning about how we just ran over the Native Americans and pushed them aside. This cartoon would be great to show the students what really happened how our actions impacted the Native Americans.
All three of you say that this cartoon would be great to use in a unit on Westward Expansion. I agree. So for those of you currently doing such units, how about actually using the cartoon? Could you talk with your mentor about developing a mini-lesson that ties issues of the westward movement of European settlers with U.S. immigration issues today?
I think this cartoon is an excellent way to start off a lesson. Unfortunately, my second grade students will not understand this cartoon like an older grade would. I think this is a great way to capture your students' attention. Katie said that her teacher would do an exercise similar to this, but maybe since she didn't enjoy it as much, if she were to incorporate it into her class she could make it more engaging. I wish I would have had teachers bring cartoons like the one above to class because it would have made social studies class more fun since all we ever did was read from a textbook. This cartoon can provide a great discussion that a textbook can not.
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