home

History and Memory Lesson 2: What Do You Know About JFK?

Exploring Prior Knowledge

Official presidential portrait of John F. Kennedy, taken by Seth H. Muse, c. 1960-63

John F. Kennedy and his collective memory legacy are introduced in this lesson. Students learn firsthand how collective memory is passed on through generations by examining their own knowledge (or lack of) regarding JFK’s presidency and assassination. Students interview a person who lived through JFK’s assassination and present their experiences to the class.

Suggested Time Frame:

Review: 5 minutes
"What Do You Know?" Handout: 10 minutes
Discussion: 10 minutes
Homework: 3 nights
Homework Review: 40 minutes

Total time frame: 2 class periods over one week if using homework option, 3-4 consecutive class periods if using in-class option

Objectives:

Students will brainstorm and list thoughts about John F. Kennedy
Students will recall and discuss elements of contemporary collective memory
Students will reconstruct pre-existing knowledge about JFK and the assassination
Students will form opinions on the importance of JFK’s assassination in American history

Procedure

John and Jaqueline Kennedy as newlyweds

Handouts:

The following handouts are
included in the Lesson PDF:

JFK Brainstorm Handout

Intergenerational Interview Handout

Procedure:

Present, review and discuss the following information with your students:

- The defining events students listed in the Lesson 1: Collective Memory.

- How collective memory is passed on.

- How collective memory is selective and subject to revision in the retelling of an event over time.

- The role of present-day people—students, historians and artists alike—who interpret the past based on all the old and new information available to them.

Brainstorm answers to the questions in the handout "JFK Brainstorm."
Discuss what (if anything) has been passed on to your students’ generation as the collective memory of John F. Kennedy.

The gravestone and memorial to President John F. Kennedy

Homework Option: Intergenerational Interview

Interview a person who lived through and remembers the assassination of JFK. Use the Intergenerational Interview Handout.

In-Class Option: Audio Points of View

Play the audio files in this unit to hear a previous generation’s response and collective memory to the assassination of JFK. Discuss the similarities and differences of the accounts.

Assessment

Warhol Education Rubrics

Click the Warhol Rubric headers below to reveal associated rubrics to which this lesson applies.

Critical Thinking

	Developing	Emerging	Proficient	Advanced	Exemplary
CT.1	Integrative: Able to identify, and integrate personal experience into one's thinking process	Sees little or no influence that their feelings and values have on their artmaking or critique of artwork.	Is increasingly more aware of how their own bias affects their artmaking or critique of artwork.	Possesses a concrete awareness of how their own preferences influence their art making or critique of artwork.	Adapts their personal perferences of artmaking and artwork based on an analysis of opposing viewpoints.	Integrates personal experience and formal critiques to examine the creative process or critique of artwork.
CT.4	Investigative: Able to conduct research and ask questions, know forms of arguments, inferences and fallacies.	Solicits information that may be superflous and draws inappropriate conclusions.	Highlights some relevant and useful details thorough research that support interpretation and analysis.	Acquires reliable and persuasive information from a variety of sources to support their interpretations.	Ranks the quality of information researched and develops nuanced interpretations.	Acquires new information that supports highly sophisticated analysis or revision of previous ideas.

Communication

	Developing	Emerging	Proficient	Advanced	Exemplary
CO.3	Listening and Speaking: Ability to express ideas and listen to others.	Somewhat organized, but off topic. Unable to respond adequately to questions from others or summarize others' conclusions or viewpoints.	Answers reveal a partial understanding of material. Misses some aspects of the topic and inconsistently comments on others statements.	Expresses ideas well. Listens and responds to peers thoughtfully and respectfully. Grasps concepts well enough to ask questions about what is still not understood.	Responds to questions accurately and with supporting facts that are engaging. Established eye contact and demonstrated an awareness of audiences’ needs. Demonstrates additional curiosity in subject.	Explores topic thoroughly providing multiple details, examples and supporting facts. Answers convey a deep understanding of topic. Highly responsive to audience. Active participation in discussion brings group learning to a higher level.
CO.4	Media Literacy: Use technology to express ideas.	Uses the technological and multimedia tools in a limited way to express conclusions or viewpoints.	Technological and multimedia tools are relevant and functions in a basic way to express intent.	Media choices convey message of work and are applied by student in conscious way.	Media is used skillfully to enhance the impact of the work. The media illustrates important ideas, details and relationships.	The media reinforces the main ideas in original and creative ways. The student's use of media is highly perceptive and intelligent.

Creative Process

	Developing	Emerging	Proficient	Advanced	Exemplary
CP.4	Planning: Making decisions about how resources and time will be used.	Works with little or no plan for how to produce an artwork.	Creates an artwork with basic revisions based upon internal and external critique.	Exhibits maturity of thinking in reception of critique. Is able to admit mistakes or difficulties and devises new strategies to solve problems.	Analyzes the feedback from peers, the effects or impact of work as well as own perspective and desires. Demonstrates flexibility in expansion or editing work because of assessment.	Completes work after multiple revisions and is able to share working process with others in a way that is inspirational.

Historical Context

	Developing	Emerging	Proficient	Advanced	Exemplary
HC.1	SocioCultural and Political: Understands how art relates to social movements, political events, or historical figures.	Interprets works of art as having limited influence or relationships to social movements, political events, or historical figures.	Increasingly recognizes that artworks can be shaped by or can express social movements, political events, or historical figures.	Explains how culture impacts artists and/or art through political events, historical figures and cultural contexts of an artwork.	Interprets, constructs opinions, and draws conclusions about an artwork based upon analysis of historical, political and cultural contexts.	Combines all previous knowledge about socio-political contexts to create new predictions, questions or insights about the relationship between art and history.
HC.4	Interpretative: Able to synthesize facts and opinions in own interpretation of historical/cultural significance.	Possesses a limited ability to develop an opinion about how an artwork relates to historical events and/or current events.	Recognizes multiple points of view about a historical event.	Forms opinions on the importance of events in history in relation to a work of art or to an artist’s process.	Synthesizes facts and opinions in own interpretation of the historical/cultural significance of a work of art.	Integrates historical/cultural evidence in unique interpretation of artwork and future implications (impact, effect, role) in society.