Related Michigan Content Standards:

• II.3.3. Explain how transportation communication link people and communities
• V.1.3. Locate, organize and interpret information from a variety of sources.
• 1-3. Distinguish between verbal and non-verbal communication and practice elements of effective listening and speaking.
• English Language Arts 3.4. Read and write fluently speak confidently, listen and interact appropriately in situation.
• English Language Arts 11. 2. Identify resources that are most readily available for the particular questions or topics they wish to investigate. Develop presentations to communicate conclusions based on investigations.
• Math III.2. Organize data using a variety of formats.

Materials: paper, pencils, tape recorder and tape (optional), graph paper

Online Resources:

Related Content Standards and Benchmarks:

• I.3.1. Use primary sources to reconstruct past events.
• II.3.3. Explain how transportation and communication link people and communities.
• II.4.3. Describe the geography of Michigan at different times in history and explain the reason for change.
• IV.1.1. Use economic reasoning when comparing price, quality and features of goods and services.
• IV.1.2. Identify the opportunity costs in personal decision making situations.
• IV.1.3. Use a decision making model to make a personal choice.
• V.1.1. (Information Processing) Locate information about communities using a variety traditional sources, electronic technologies and direct observations.
• 11.2.(Inquiry and Research) Identify and evaluate questions and resources related to a specific topic.

Materials: paper, pen, markers

Online Resources:

Jenny Brown's Journal, Planning Our Trip--August 1, 1919

Jenny Brown's Journal, Philadelphia Here We Come--August 10, 1919

Jenny Brown's Journal, A Stop to Fuel Up--August 10, 1919

Jenny Brown's Journal, On the Road to Toledo-- August 10, 1919

Jenny Brown's Journal, Veterans of the Road--August 10, 1919

Jenny Brown's Journal, Calling it A Day--August 10, 1919

AAA Online ~ www.autoclubgroup.com/michigan

Travel Michigan ~ www.michigan.org

Road Map Collectors of America ~ www.roadmaps.org

Procedure:

1. Use the online resources in Jenny's Journal and more contemporary resources--the Internet(see suggestions listed above), newspapers, brochures, maps, postcards, advertisements, etc.--to plan Michigan vacations in 1919 and today.
2. Organize into travel groups like the Brown family or other "travel groups" of your own design--for example, imagine groups of women, African Americans or other minorities traveling at these times.
3. As a group agree on:
   • the budget and time you have for this trip.
   • an itinerary of sights to see and places to eat and sleep;
   • daily mileage, driving time and gasoline needs and costs;
   • "purchase and pack" the necessary clothes, tools, equipment and supplies;
   • select or create driving games to occupy your time in the car; etc.
4. Plan at least one calamity--flat tire, closed auto camp, running out of gas, lodging or car service denied, no room at the inn, etc.--and the resolution of this problem.
5. Each group will develop their vacation plans with all of the above information incorporated to present to the class.
6. Compare and contrast car travel and changes in cultures, places and communities in Michigan between the two time periods:
   • What is the same about planning and taking vacations in 1919 and today? What is different?
   • How has Michigan changed? How is it the same?
   • What was the travel groups decision making process? What factors influenced their decisions and choices?
   • How did problems encountered or imagined change between 1919 and today?

Additional Reading:

For teachers:
Belasco, Warren. Americans on the Road: From Autocamp to Motel, 1919-1945. (The MIT Press, 1979)

 

Braden, Donna. Americans on Vacation. (The Henry Ford, 1990)

 

For students:
Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Watsons Go To Birmingham. (Delacourt Press, 1995)

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Related Content Standards and Benchmarks:

• I.3.1. Use primary sources to reconstruct past events.
• I.3.2. Interpret conflicting accounts of events in both Michigan and United States history and analyze viewpoints of authors.
• I.4.4. Select decisions made to solve past problems and evaluate those decions in terms of ethicla considerations, the interests of those affected by the decisons and the short and long term consequences of those deciosn
• IV.2.1. Using a real example, describe how business practices and a willingnes to take risks, enabled an entrpreneur to take risks.
• IV.3.1. Compose an essay expressing a decisions on an issue.
• Arts 3.8. Express their reactions to a visual, written and/or electronic text and compare their responses to those of others.

Materials: paper, pen, markers, overhead projector, transparencies

Online Resources:

Press release on $5.00 day

Newspaper excerpts regarding the $5.00 day

Letter regarding $5.00 day

Procedure:

1. Divide into small groups to review press release. Select a recorder to list each of the main points in the press release. Report out main points.
2. Discuss and decide the positive and negative consequences of this announcement.
3. Split the class into two groups. One groups receives/reviews documents that favor the $5.00 day and the other group receives documents that oppose the $5.00 day.
4. After completing reading, begin charting on the blackboard or transparency support for and opposition to the $5.00 day. Discuss advantages and disadvantages for Ford Motor Company and Ford workers.
5. Write a persuasive essay:
   • Develop a thesis
   • Provide information: Include arguments; refute opposing arguments; quote an authority or expert in the field
   • Write rough draft
   • Revise draft
   • Compose a letter or editorial.

Additional Reading:

For teachers:

Lewis, David. The Public Image of Henry Ford. (Wayne State University Press, 1976)

Meyer, Stephen. The Five Dollar Day: Labor Management and Social Control in the Ford Motor Company, 1908-1921. (State University of New York Press, 1981)

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Related Content Standards and Benchmarks:

• I.3.1. Use primary sources to reconstruct past events.
• I.3.3. Show that historical knowledge is tentative and subject to change by describing interpretations of the past that have been revised when new information was uncovered.
• V.1. Interpret social science information from a variety of primary sources
• V.2.3. Construct answers to the questions posed and support their answers with evidence.
• 3.8. Express their responses to a visual, written and/or electronic text and compare their responses to those of others.

Materials: Lined paper, pens/pencils, Questions for "Reading" a Photograph sheet (may be a handout, written on the board, or written on an overhead), photograph

Online Resources:

Photograph of family with car

Questions for "Reading" a Photograph

Procedure:

1. Introduce the topic by discussing the importance and variety of historic sources other than written texts and documents.
2. Organize class into small groups.
3. Provide the photograph to the groups
4. Provide the Questions for "Reading" a Photograph sheet to the groups. Emphasize the importance of recording as much information as possible. Educated guesses are good, but make sure that every part of an answer is backed up by fact.
5. After completing the Questions for "Reading" a Photograph sheet, groups will use it to write a summary paragraph about the photograph.
6. Groups present their summaries to the whole class. Discuss the similarities and differences of each groups observations. What accounts for the similarities and differences?
7. Conclude the activity by comparing the information the class has discovered with the actual history of the picture.

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Related Content Standards and Benchmarks:

• IV.1.3. Analyze the reliability of information when making decisions.
• V.1.3. Interpret social science information from a variety of primary sources
• 3.8. Express their responses to a visual, written and/or electronic text and compare their responses to those of others.
• Arts 12.1. Begin to differentiate their individual standards for different communicative purposes.

Materials: paper, pens/pencils, old and new car advertisements

Online Resources:

Car advertisements from Jenny Brown's Journal

Car advertisements from the Henry Ford Museum Showroom of Automotive History

Procedure:

1. Students brings in a car advertisement from newspaper or magazine.
2. Organize into small groups.
3. Give each group some old car advertisements.
4. Have groups compare what has changed and what has not changed in these car advertisements over time by asking:
   • What claims are being made?
   • Who is the target buyer?
   • What methods of persuasion are being used?
   • What social changes are reflected?
5. Have groups present their conclusions to the whole class.
6. Discuss as a class:
   • What has changed more, the product being advertised or the advertisement techniques? Are these conclusions true for other products also?
   • Iidentify all the methods of persuasion that advertisers use?
   • Poll students about which kinds of advertisements are the most effective? Which are the least effective? Do opinions vary? Why?

Additional Reading:

For teachers:

Lewis, David L. and Goldstein Laurence, editors. The Automobile and American Culture. (The University of Michigan Press, 1983)

Packard, Vance. The Hidden Persuaders. (David McKay, 1957)

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The Henry Ford ~ http://www.TheHenryFord.org