Picture Walk: How Alma Has Changed Over Time

Goal: The goal of this lesson is for students to understand how a communitys (Alma) land,
roads, transportation, and buildings change over time.
Objective: After the picture walk, students will be able to give feedback of their observations
they made of the primary sources.
Standards:
H2.02.04- Describe changes in the local community over time (e.g. types of businesses,
architecture, and landscape, jobs, transportation, population).
Materials:

Images of America: Alma by David McMacken

Alma College Library: Special Collections Archive Photos
Page protectors
Note-taking guides
Pencils
Clipboards if needed
Online stopwatch

Instructional Procedures:
Introduce lesson by asking students what they remember about how a community

changes over time. (Reference I can statement

On the document camera, display graphic organizer of changes in communities from the

MAISA packet.
Introduce how to analyze a primary source (photographs) by modeling how students will

be looking at and taking notes on a photograph from the past.

Tell students that libraries have archives of old photos of our community, and that today

we are going to take a look at pictures of Alma from the past.

Draw a timeline on the board if needed to show students how years went fro 1800, 1900,

and the 2000s.

Tell students they will be getting a clip board and a note taking guide. Their job is to find

as many ways Alma has changed as they can. Tell students to look at the roads, the
transportation, the stores, the people, and the buildings.
Pass out clipboards and note taking sheets. Read the questions if needed.

Divide students into their social studies teams and explain the rotation. Explain

expectations for the note taking guide:

Each question needs to be answered.
It will be turned in so it needs to be neat and complete.
Give students 5 minutes at each station to take notes and put up the time on the online

stopwatch on the document camera.

After students have completed their final station, have volunteers collect materials and
call groups to put away clipboards. Have students keep their note taking guide and gather
students either in desks or at the camera for a discussion.
Use guiding questions to facilitate discussion:

Was there anything you recognized in the photos?

What did you notice about the buildings? How are the buildings different today?
What about the roads? Are they the way they are today?
Did you notice anything about the graduating class?
What picture did you find that was the oldest?
Tell students that we are going to be looking at a timeline of Alma tomorrow and learn

what order these events happened in. If time, students can put the photos in order.
Transition students to turn in their notes and get ready for math.

Differentiation: Note-taking sheets have pictures to guide the students that struggle with
reading. Groups are purposefully made to have a mix approaching students with on-level and
high-achieving students.