Kevin Terrell.

ELED3223 – History Through A Child’s Eyes Essay

For the photo portion of this essay, I chose to use the above photographs due to their mix of
youth culture in different time periods and images that depict how the influences of society and
politics effect young people’s lives. I asked my son who is 8, to have a conversation with me
about what he noticed. I asked him to lay the printed photos in order of when they were taken.
The images in color were the most difficult for him to place and understandably so due to their
span of time. I asked him to look closer at the images and describe what he sees in the
background. The image on the upper left taken in Mobile, Alabama in 1956 had an unsettling
effect on him when he noticed the “white only” drinking fountain and having heard enough
about segregation and Jim Crow laws to make the connection. The image on the lower right was
taken in Bronx, NY in 1977 and he took notice of the car, clothes and the building with its doors
and windows burned-out. I asked him to compare this image with that of the one on the upper
right, an advertisement for lunchboxes and told him these photos were taken around the same
time. His response was “this one is real and this one isn’t” pointing to the Bronx photo and then
the advertisement. I then asked him to explain his response to which he responded, “the kids are
all posing, just that the one with the kids in front of the car looks like real life and the other is
just to make people want to buy things they don’t need.”

Interview:

• Do we have a king in our country? (If students say "yes," ask who it is.)
o “No.”

• Who is the president?

o “Donald Trump”
Kevin Terrell.ELED3223 – History Through A Child’s Eyes Essay

• What do you think the president does when he goes to work?

o “Begs the government for a wall because he’s a bully.”

• How does someone get to be president? (If students say the president is elected, ask if
they know of any other people who get elected.)
o “It’s a complicated process, they need to be over thirty years old. They do it so they
can make changes, they run for president and people vote for them and whoever gets
the most wins.”

• What do judges do?

o “When people need a decision made like between two people. Also if they did
something wrong and get caught by the cops they have to go in front of a judge and
he gets to choose whether that person has to go to jail.”

• Tell me something about George Washington.

o “He was the first president and he had slaves.”

• Tell me something about Martin Luther King.

o “He believed it wasn’t right that all people were not allowed to be together and be
treated the same. When he was a kid, he had a friend who was white and one day his
friend said he couldn’t play with him anymore. When he grew up he tried to change
things by marching and protesting to get laws changed.”

• Who do you think is the most important woman you’ve ever heard of?
o “Rosa Parks”

• When you buy something in a store, who decides how much the price is?
o “The person who owns the store.”

• How do they decide how much to charge for it?

o “They see what other people are selling it for, look at the size of it and put a price on
it.”

• Where does the store get the things it sells? (If students say they buy them from
somewhere else, ask , if you paid five dollars for something at the store, how much would
the store have paid for it when they got it—five dollars, more than five dollars, or less
than five dollars?)
o A. “From company’s or from people who make the things.
o B. “I think less so they can make money room you.”

• What are taxes? What are they used for? Who decides how much taxes will be?
o A. “extra money you get charged after you buy something.”
o B. “Don’t know”
o C. “I think the government.”

• Have you ever been to a building called a bank? What is it for?

Kevin Terrell.ELED3223 – History Through A Child’s Eyes Essay

o “Yes. It is where extra money gets stored.”

• What happens when you put your money in a bank?

o “You have an account and they put your money in a room. If it isn’t cash, they
add the amount to your bank account.”

• If you put your money in the bank and then take it back out later, do you get the same
amount you put in, less than you put in, or more than you put in? Why?
o “Maybe more. I don’t know.”

• Can you borrow money from a bank? If you borrow money, when you pay it back, do
you pay back the same amount you borrowed, more than you borrowed, or less than you
borrowed? Why?
o A. “Yes, because I’ve played the game of LIFE.”
o B. “Don’t know”

• What city do you live in? What are the names of some other cities?
o “I live in Charlotte.”
o “Gastonia, Belmont, New York City, Yuba City.”

• What state do you live in? What are the names of some other states?
o “I live in North Carolina.
o “California, Texas, Florida, Hawaii, New York.”

• What country do you live in? Tell me the name of some other countries.
o “The United States.”
o “China, Japan, Australia.”

• What things are different in other parts of the world? How are they different?
o A. “Not as much freedom.”
o B. “Don’t have Trump. Don’t know I’ve never been.”

• Where have you learned about other parts of the world?

o “School”

Conclusion:

I definitely noticed a few misconceptions as well as some hesitancy even when giving a
correct answer during the interview. I think a lesson on the election process and a follow up
concerning the three branches of government would help to construct a greater connection to
how our governmental systems operate and to what degree they extend concerning taxation, laws
and rights afforded to those living in a democracy. Since he seems to have a good grasp on the
basics of geography I might also include in the electoral and government lessons an extension to
the unit that includes the operations of state and local governments and how these differ from
Kevin Terrell.ELED3223 – History Through A Child’s Eyes Essay

that of our federal government. Concerning the economic questions, I felt he understood how
basic exchanges of currency are typically handled in our society but felt there is opportunity to
discuss the global impacts of trade and how decisions made by corporations and governments
can have negative and detrimental effects for some, while others benefit. I feel there is also an
opportunity here to delve deeper into the historical figures of the past and provide a broader
glimpse into the many unsung heroes of the civil rights era and make connections to the ongoing
struggles that still exist today.

Lesson Ideas for classroom instruction:

o Staging an election and introducing the complexity of the electoral college by

dividing up groups of students, would be beneficial in showing how the popular
vote or number of votes per candidate does not signify a victory.
o I would follow this activity by having the elected classroom president attempt to
make a significant change and the students divided into the three branches of the
government, where they must work collaboratively to enact these changes. I
might include two or three suggestions that can be implemented in the daily
operations of the classroom environment such as “moving snack time up by thirty
minutes,” or “deciding among a variety of fundraising activities that we as a
classroom can work on collectively.”
o I think it is also important to have the students discuss and explore how people
living in a democracy have choice and voice to make changes. I would use the
lesson template and guiding questions from the “We March” by Shane Evans
lesson in Notable Books, Notable Lessons: Putting Social Studies Back in the K-8
Curriculum to show the necessary struggles for change and how these ideas and
dreams are still very much a part of the social fabric of our society.
o I would also want to include the lesson idea from class that discusses the
economic and political implications of communism, capitalism and socialism
having students make connections about different political ideologies and
institutions.
o For a lesson on economics, I could easily build off of the previous lesson and
introduce the manufacturing process and the basics of trade. I like the idea of
setting up a lesson similar to that of The History of Money: Bartering and
Banking found in Notable Books, Notable Lessons: Putting Social Studies Back in
the K-8 Curriculum where students learn about production, supply chains and
consumer demand. I might further the activity by having them make purchases
based on needs and wants and how and why an individual might choose one over
another.
Kevin Terrell.ELED3223 – History Through A Child’s Eyes Essay

References

Libresco, Andrea. Notable Books, Notable Lessons: Putting Social Studies Back in the K-8
Curriculum . ABC-CLIO. Kindle Edition.

Image References

http://time.com/4431300/see-the-bronx-in-the-days-of-the-get-down/
https://sheldonartmuseum.org/work/at-segregated-drinking-fountain-mobile-alabama-1956

https://www.buzznick.com/tough-80s-kid/

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/1920s-c1d330f6-18c4-4cf7-80eb-6ab3f85e568b

https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/history-of-mechanical-engineering/top-10-
technology-innovations-got-rock-rolling