New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs

Parallel Historical Events

Back to Quarterly Educational Activities

Level: Classroom
Grades: 9-12
School Quarter: 3

Related Grade Level Activities:

All-School Cultural Festival

Activity: Parallel Historical Events

Be a Journalist:

  • Write a newspaper article that reflects a historical event in NM
    • Identify the event’s contribution to the state or
    • Relate it to the United States from 1760 – 1780.

Theme Alignment: Historical Reflection and Progress
Contemplating where New Mexico and the nation were 250 years ago, where we are today, and the journey taken to get here; and history as a lens to inform our futures.

Toolkit Overview (In this toolkit):

  • Background
  • Step-by-step guide or how-to checklist
  • Resources

Background:

In 1776, New Mexico already had multiple cultures contributing to the unique character of the region. Since then, people from all over the world have come to call New Mexico home. This quarter, students will review New Mexico’s timeline and discuss the core concepts of journalism in class. Then students will select an event from New Mexico history to research and write a newspaper article about. Students can either write about the event from a historical perspective or a modern one. Students writing from a historical perspective should connect or compare it to events elsewhere in the US in the same era (i.e. events in the 1700s related to the 13 colonies, events in the 1940s related to Europe or Asia) Students writing from a modern perspective should include how this event impacts the location where they occurred and New Mexico as a whole today. This activity can build on skills that students developed in Q3 with the Local Hero Research activity.

How To:

Link to Implementation / How to checklist

In Classroom Activities:

  • New Mexico Timeline Review
    • Use resources from NM History Museum and other resources below
    • Have students develop a timeline for their own town, village, or county
      • How is it similar to New Mexico’s overall timeline?
      • How is it different?
    • Overview of diversity of New Mexico’s population
      • Point out lesser known histories, including black colony established in 1900s, Buffalo Soldiers
      • European groups, including Italian and German
      • Asian, particularly Vietnamese (after fall of Saigon), Korean, Filipino, Chinese, South Asian
  • Lesson: Journalism Basics
  • Lesson: History of Newspapers in New Mexico
  • Historical Newspaper article assignment
  • Teachers bonus activity:
    • Turn student historical articles and essays into a newspaper for the class to read, using a free template like this one or a digital one like this.
    • Distribute the newspaper to students, parents, or the whole school.

Resources

New Mexico History Timeline/Overview

History of Journalism in New Mexico

Newspapers and other Primary Sources

Journalism 101. Writing styles and news reporting.