October 5th, 2022

Middle School Resource: Rolling on the River by NGA

Middle School Resource

Rolling on the River by NGA

In this activity, students will explore how westward expansion increased the number of jobs available in the nineteenth century, including being a flatboatman through a painting by George Caleb Bingham. Working in pairs, students will write a letter to their partner from the standpoint of a person moving westward. Then they will construct a poem in the guise of Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing” about a modern-day job.

Related NY State Academic Standards: W.5.3, W.5.3.a, W.5.3.b, and more!

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