Art and Content-Area Literacies

The three prints above were part of a multi-volume album that illustrates the uniforms and weapons of the Russian army from the early nineteenth century. The first print by Polka is of two privates of the Chevalier Guard. The second print is of privates and sergeant of the Palace Grenadiers. The third print by V. Adam is of Lancer and flag-bearer of the Chevalier Guard. These prints could be used in a social studies classroom to study the history of the change of the Russian army uniforms and weapons. Specifically, it could be used in a pre-reading exercise as front loading with images. It could be shown along with other Russian army uniforms and weapons to show the changes throughout time. After the students have viewed the images, they could talk with their table mates and compare the images. This could be used as a think/pair/share where the students discuss the differences in the Russian army uniforms and weapons. Then, the students would share out with the rest of the class their ideas from the images. This could also be used as a way for the students to create a timeline for the Russian army. They could have print outs of each image and have to arrange them within their table to find the correct order from oldest to newest.  

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