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Activity 2
Our Plea to Preserve a Historic Place


Title:

Our Plea to Preserve a Historic Place

Benchmarks:

H-1C-M18 - identifying and discussing significant political, economic, social, cultural, and technological trends that have had an impact on the modern world

C-1D-M2 - identifying the rights and responsibilities of citizens and explaining their importance to the individual and to society

C-1D-M3 - discussing issues involving the rights and responsibilities of individuals in American society

C-1D-M4 - describing the many ways by which citizens can organize, monitor, and help to shape politics and government at local, state, and national levels

C-1D-M5 - communicating the importance of knowledge to competent and responsible political participation and leadership

Procedure:

Explain to the students that they will use the information gathered from Activity 1: Processes of Preserving Historic Places– Learning Centers to do two tasks:

  1. Create a proposal to defend preserving a historic place in Louisiana (in the region they were assigned in Learning Center #6). They are to act as if the building has NOT been preserved, so they will have to use some high order thinking skills and the information in the document that is found in the National Register database.

    2.
  2. Sit on an advisory board for a team presenting a proposal.

    Post the Advisory Board Sign Up sheet and ask the students to sign up within the next two days and prepare two questions for the proposing team.

    Group members will use their folders to create a proposal using a slide show presentation software (alternative suggestions could be to develop a website or create and design a three sided presentation board like the ones used for the Social Studies fairs).

    The information on the historic place in Louisiana should come from The Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation (click on National Register Database, then Search, and refine the search by entering a city, parish, etc.).

The proposal must include, but is not limited to, the following:

    1. Historic name
      2.
    2. Address
      3.
    3. City
      4.
    4. Proposed level of Significance
      5.
    5. Proposed area of Significance
      6.
    6. Property type
      7.
    7. Architectural Style
      8.
    8. Theme
      9.
    9. A description of the historical place
      10.
    10. A list of the notable changes which have occurred to the building since it was constructed
      11.
    11. What will happen to the building if it is given tax incentives as a historic place
      12.
    12. Why this place is significant to the community/state
      13.
    13. Why the group feels this place should be preserved and the organizations that can help to preserve this place
      14.
    14. Credits for any and all information in the presentation
      15.
Students should divide the criteria among group members to evenly distribute the work load. All students should be involved in the planning, creating the proposal, and the presentation. Each student must speak to the Advisory Board at some point during the presentation.

On a date determined by the teacher, the teams will present their proposals to the class members. All team members should be ready to defend their historic place according to the questions asked by the board.

Have the Advisory Board sit in a special group of chairs. Allow students to role play their parts (one group presents and the Advisory Board asks questions).

It would be great if the teacher had access to a projector that could display the student’s proposals for the entire class. If a projector is not available, connect the computer to a television for whole class viewing.

Invite someone from the local historical society, zoning board, or historical commission, or from the state Division of Historic Preservation, to be a guest during the presentations and act on one or more of the Advisory Boards.

Assign one member of the board to serve as chairperson and preside over the meeting, another to take the minutes, etc. Instruct the chairperson to allow members of the audience to speak for or against the property after the group makes its presentation. Then have the board vote on whether or not to designate the property as historic. This gives the students experience in the way formal meetings are run. Have them dress for the occasion as they would if they were doing this in the real world. Consider having a student video tape the proposal to show during open house or another school function. Most importantly…have fun!!!

The groups should be ready to defend their historic places according to the questions asked by the board.