Essential Questions

• How does the Statue of Liberty symbolize the ideal of individual liberty?
• Why is liberty important to citizens?

Background

This student-centered lesson provides the opportunity for students to uncover the meaning of liberty by studying an American symbol, the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. This lesson uses as its main resource Liberty for All, published in 2002 that tells the story of the 1986 historic restoration of the Statue of Liberty. Many American citizens demonstrated civic responsibility by volunteering time or money (or both) to preserving a national symbol. The book contains photographs by Peter Kaplan and text by Lee Iacocca, the head of the Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation that oversaw the restoration.

Instructional Strategies

Strategy 1

Gathering Information: Anticipation Guide

Anticipation guides help students’ generate prior knowledge at the beginning of new units. New learning should be built on the foundation of previous learning. The guide may also “hook” students interest, particularly if opinion based questions are included. In addition, both teachers and students can understand the misconceptions that the students have about the upcoming content or concept.

A well constructed anticipation guide requires students to answer not only yes/no or agree/disagree types of questions/statements focused on concepts students are expected to understand, but also require students to explain why they answered the question the way they did.

Have students complete the anticipation guide individually, and then compare the responses with a partner.

Check for Understanding = Formative Assessment

• What word or words in the Anticipation Guide do I understand well?
• What word or words in the Anticipation Guide do I understand a little bit?
• What word or words in the Anticipation Guide do I not understand well?

Strategy 2

Gathering Information: Think-Pair-Share

Focus on the following concepts from the Anticipation Guide in order to group together students with differing background knowledge.

Volunteerism Freedom Liberty

Citizenship Civic responsibility Symbols

These groups should, as much as possible, not be homogenous. For example, having four students with a strong understanding of the same concept (e.g. civic responsibility) will not promote a sharing of ideas. Groups should be no larger than four students, and 2-3 is preferable.

In their groups, students should

• examine only the front and back covers of Liberty for All.
• describe the covers to each other.
• talk about the Statue of Liberty, the torch or the crown.

Ask students to think about and write down what liberty means to them, then share with a partner.

Record this initial understanding of liberty on the board. Potential student responses are freedom, peace, able to do things alone or without interference.

Check for Understanding = Formative Assessment

• Which response written on the board makes the most sense to you right now? Why?
• Which is the hardest to understand? Why?

  

Strategy 3

Extending & Refining Information: Graphic Organizers and Think-Pair-Share

Post the first essential question for students to use as a goal.

Maintain the student groups. Have the groups go to Chapter 2 in Liberty for All. Students should read through the chapter in their groups focusing on the photographs and captions, to explore the symbolism found in the Statue of Liberty.

Have students write down responses to the posted essential question:

• How does the Statue of Liberty symbolize the ideal of individual liberty?

Have the students compile their answers into a graphic organizer, such as a web. Write the words “symbols of liberty” in the middle of the web.

Students might write: broken chains (page 46 – 47), torch lighting the way to freedom (page 50), date the Declaration of Independence was signed (page 50), rays on the crown – liberty is worldwide across the seven continent and seas (page 50).

Ask students to think about and write down what liberty means to them, then share with a partner. Record this initial understanding of liberty on the board. Potential student responses are freedom, peace, able to do things alone or without interference.

Ask students to think about and share with a partner other symbols of liberty and to then share with the class. Students might mention the Liberty Bell, a bald eagle, Uncle Sam, a soldier fighting, or an image of the Capitol Building or White House.

Check for Understanding = Formative Assessment

• In your graphic organizer, add to, delete, or modify your understanding of liberty based on the images.
• Explain how the symbols chosen in the images demonstrate the ideal of liberty.
• Why is liberty important to citizens?

Strategy 4

Extending & Refining Information: Summarizing

Summarizing requires the student to process the text and then write in their own words the main and supporting ideas of the material. Many suggestions for this process are available. Following is one model:

• Create a topic sentence that represents the main idea
• Delete what is trivial
• Delete what is redundant

Maintain the student groups. The group should use a summarizing strategy to focus on text excerpts related to the concept of liberty from these specific pages in Liberty for All:

• Pages 8-9, The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
• page 43
• page 93
• page 115
• page 223

Have the group summarize the ideal of liberty based on the excerpts from Liberty for All . Share each group’s summary with the rest of the class.

  

Strategy 5

Applying Information: Cubing

Use cubing to lead students to think critically about the topic under study. A teacher can use the strategy with the whole class, as small group work, and/or on a one-on-one basis. Cubing requires students to think about a concept in new ways.

This strategy allows students to understand a concept from six different points of view. The name "cubing" comes from the fact that cubes have six sides and students explore a topic from the following six perspectives:

Describe it: What words would you use to describe liberty?

Compare it: What is liberty similar to? Different from?

Associate it: What does liberty make you think of? How does liberty connect to other topics/issues/subjects?

Analyze it: How is liberty made? How would you break liberty down into smaller parts?

Apply it: How does understanding liberty help you understand other people’s point of view?

Argue for it: Take a stand and list reasons for why liberty is important.

• It is important because. . . .

Differentiation Tip:

• Some of the understandings above are more difficult than others.
• Ask students to draw or otherwise graphically represent liberty, without using any symbols previously discussed or shown in class.