Learning From Yesterday

Overview

Students investigate how teachers’ lives and clothing have changed since they were in Year 1. By comparing carefully selected photographs, students place events in order, identify similarities and differences, and consider how learning about the past can help people make thoughtful choices for the future.

Learning intentions

• WALT ask questions about photographs from the past.
• WALT compare the past with life today.
• WALT put events in the correct order.
• WALT share an idea about how the past can help shape the future.

Success criteria

• I can say what I notice in a photograph from the past.
• I can describe one similarity and one difference between the past and today.
• I can put photographs or events in order.
• I can explain one way learning from the past may help us in the future.

Curriculum links

• History — Past and present: exploring family and community experiences to understand that life in the past was different from today.
• History — Past and present: recognising that history is made up of events that happened in a particular order.
• History — Past and present: learning through stories from the distant past and stories of people who have made a difference.
• Social Sciences: developing knowledge about people beyond students’ immediate experiences and participating respectfully in a multicultural community.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Inquiry hook. Display the question “What can old photographs teach us about the future?” and open with the photograph inquiry hook. Students silently look at a teacher’s Year 1 photograph, then turn and talk about what they notice, wonder and think may have changed.

2. 5–11 min · Establish the learning. Show the WALT and success criteria on the WALT and success criteria slide and read them together, explaining that “past” means a time that has already happened and “present” means now. Students repeat the key ideas and give a thumbs-up when they hear an example of past or present.

3. 11–21 min · Compare photographs. Use the teacher photograph comparison slides to show photographs of two or three willing staff members as young children and as adults. Ensure photographs are shared respectfully and captions identify the person and approximate time, where appropriate. Model: “The clothing is different, but the smile is similar.” Students work with a partner to name one similarity and one difference for each pair. Do not ask students to match or identify classmates by their faces; the matching task uses only teacher-provided childhood and adult photographs.

4. 21–29 min · Order the story. Present the sequence prompt on the putting-events-in-order slide: “A teacher is in Year 1; the teacher grows up; the teacher becomes a kaiako; the teacher teaches our class.” Students help place the events in order and explain how they know. In five groups of three, students rehearse the sequence orally using “first”, “next”, “then” and “now”. Link this to students’ own lives: “What might happen first, next and later for you?”

5. 29–39 min · Independent response. Distribute the past-and-present comparison worksheet. Students draw or write one similarity, one difference, and one ordered event from the photographs. They then complete the prompt, “Learning from the past might help our future because …”. Adults scribe children’s words where needed. Pause halfway to revisit the worksheet example and sentence starters and model a complete response without giving students the answer.

6. 39–45 min · Share and assess. Invite three or four students to share their future idea and return to the reflection and exit question slide. Students complete an oral exit ticket with a partner: “One thing I learned about the past is …” and “One way it could help the future is …”. Finish by revisiting the WALT and asking students to show one, two or three fingers for how confidently they can meet the success criteria.

Resources

• the complete photograph inquiry slide deck
• the past-and-present comparison worksheet
• Teacher-provided, permission-cleared Year 1 and current photographs of participating teachers
• Projector or interactive whiteboard
• Pencils, crayons and erasers
• Optional adult scribing support
• Five table spaces for groups of three

Assessment

• Listen during partner talk for accurate use of “past”, “present”, “same” and “different”. Ask, “What evidence in the photograph makes you think that?”
• Check group sequencing for the correct order and note whether students use temporal words such as “first”, “next” and “now”.
• Collect the worksheet and use the exit response to identify whether each student can describe a change and connect learning from the past to a possible future choice.

Differentiation

• Provide picture cues, gestures and sentence starters: “In the past I notice …”, “Today …”, “They are the same because …” and “The future could …”.
• Pair students strategically and allow oral answers, drawing, pointing or dictated responses. Use adults or a buddy to scribe ideas without correcting the child’s meaning.
• For English language learners, pre-teach “past”, “present”, “future”, “same”, “different”, “clothes” and “school”; accept home-language discussion and invite whānau connections where appropriate.
• Avoid assumptions about families, clothing or access to photographs. Offer a familiar school-based comparison for students who do not have family images, and use only photographs with consent. Extend confident students by asking, “Which change might make school better or fairer in the future, and why?”