Louisa May Alcott's Little Women is a literary masterpiece as well as a timestamp of the formative mid-nineteenth century in America. Using a primary source set of photographs, letters, and portraits, readers discuss the ways contemporaneous experiences compare to the fictional events in the novel. They then write a letter from the perspective of one March sister, including details of daily life based on their primary source research.

Concepts

little women, louisa may alcott, primary source analysis, primary source images, narratives, Narrative Writing

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Use as a model for your own lessons that include primary source sets
• Connect to a US History class during a unit on the Civil War era

Classroom Considerations

• Best used during or after a class reading of Little Women
• Requires access to the Internet and either projected or printed images of the primary source documents

Pros

• Provides citations for Chicago, APA, and MLA styles for the source set
• Site is easy to navigate
• Comes with links to additional resources for further research
• Includes tips for inquiry-based instruction

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.6.1 RL.6.3 RL.6.10 RL.7.1 RL.7.3 RL.7.10 RL.8.1 RL.8.3 RL.8.10 RL.9-10.1 RL.9-10.3 RL.11-12.1 RL.11-12.3 RH.6-8.1 RH.9-10.1 RH.11-12.1