Commemorating Women's History
Lesson and project ideas to celebrate Women's History Month.
By Dawn Dodson
Originating from a California community’s celebration of women’s history and accomplishments, the national observance of Women’s History Month offers opportunities to honor and commemorate those women who have significantly impacted our society. The theme this year is “Women’s Education—Women’s Empowerment”, and the focus is to honor those women who made great strides in achieving access to learning and higher education. Famous teachers and advocates include: Anne Sullivan, Brenda Flyswithhawks, Emma Hart Willard, Charlotte Forten Grimke, and Gracia Molina de Pick. Spanning the month of March, this celebration and commemoration of honorees can lend itself to a variety of classroom lessons, projects, and tributes.
More Than a Report
Traditionally, research reports about famous women from history were a prevalent March assignment. However, by allowing each individual to take his research discoveries one step further, you provide the opportunity to create a real-life learning experience. A great example of a project extension is to create living museums.
After the research has been collected and your students have composed reports, they can share their learning through creating a cubical-like scene of their research discoveries. They depict the person, time period, and accomplishments in each room-like structure. In the past, we have used cafeteria tables and bulletin-board paper to construct museum booths. Each person is assigned his booth according to the time period of the person he studied. We arranged the booths in chronological order. The requirements included appropriate dress and props that gave an accurate portrayal of their person and her time period. Assuming the role of their distinguished person, and staying in character as others toured the museum, made the project interesting and enjoyable. In my own experience, this was an easier project to coordinate in the elementary and intermediate levels due to grade level and building schedules. As a variation, I’ve also had my classes create graphic timelines and murals in place of the museum project. In either situation, my young historians were synthesizing and utilizing the information they gathered, while also commemorating those who are no longer living.
Letters of Importance
Again, commemorating women through research and representation can aid in student comprehension of the significance of the person's contributions. But, it is paramount to extend the learning to a real audience. To do this, I assign the task of writing a personal letter. I enjoy this assignment because each person is writing a letter to a woman they consider to be significant in their lives. First, they choose a woman they admire and then compose a letter to thank them for their contributions. Some choose to write to women they know, while others write to women in the community. In either case, the quality of writing improves because the letters are being sent to a real, live audience.
Women of the Future
As a culminating research assignment, I ask each individual to use all of the information that has been read, studied, and discussed in order to create a forecast of monumental events that women may be a part of in the future. From politics, to education, to business, to human rights, they can identify areas that women initiate or continue change. Also included are areas where women are advocating change. These thoughts are then presented through a slide presentation. The objective of this assignment is to note the achievements made thus far and to devise a plan of future action. This is an inspirational assignment that concludes the classroom study with the feeling of accomplishment and hope.
More Lesson Ideas:
Study women serving in the U.S. government. As a culminating activity, create posters representing a current female Senator.
Study the fascinating history of women’s suffrage in the U.S. and around the world. Next, use this knowledge to compose a persuasive essay discussing women’s right to vote.
Wellesley College: Women’s Colleges, All Grown Up
This is a collection of ideas that can be combined into a unit of study, or completed individually. From creating a timeline of the struggle of higher education for women, to displaying a school-wide women’s higher education project, your class will learn the history behind the struggle to achieve rights for equal education.
Research women’s involvement in four different sports. Next, divide the class into groups to create a two-part timeline that focuses on comparing when men and women began participating in each sport.
