1. Old Mill Museum Research Project
By: Jessica Solis
ED358 Foundations of Education
April 6, 2017

2. Purpose
For my research project at the Old Mill Museum, I have grown curious to explore the subject of writing and the similarities and differences in what the children were required to do at various grade levels in the 1900s versus now. I find the subject of writing very fascinating, as I am a former writing tutor and English is my area of concentration for elementary education, so I have decided to look deeper into this.

3. Schedule
In the 1800s, writing, grammar, and language were taught as separate subjects. In today’s schools, the subject of writing has grammar and language embedded into its curriculum.
West Kentuck One-Room Schoolhouse

4. Schoolwork of McPherson County, 1903, Book 11
WRITING
This picture shows the writing assignment of a third grade student, John Peters. He is practicing writing a certain letter. In each line, the first three words must start with the same letter and the last of those three words must have the beginning letter capitalized. The last word of those three, that is capitalized, MUST be completed with one or more words to create a phrase that makes sense. Some are noun phrases while others are verb phrases. In third grade now, students usually only practice writing the letter over and over, and using it in complete sentences. This is taught in Handwriting.
Schoolwork of McPherson County, 1903, Book 11

5. WRITING
Penmanship
While younger grades focused on repetition as a main component in writing, essays were part of what students had to learn to do in writing, more so at the higher age levels. Although more strict now, essays are still taught in education today, and many teachers require them as either part of the curriculum or as a form of assessment.
Kansas Educational Exhibit, 1904, Book 7

6. Schoolwork of McPherson County Public Schools, 1907, Book 2
Grammar
Diagramming sentences was a big part of the curriculum for the intermediate grades. In today’s grammar, you learn to diagram sentences at a younger age, usually in the lower elementary grades. However, it’s not usually as complex as these. Our sentences that we diagram in elementary are a lot simpler with just a noun, verb, and direct object.
Kansas Educational Exhibit, 1904, Book 7
Schoolwork of McPherson County Public Schools, 1907, Book 2

7. Grammar
In the intermediate grades of the 1900s, parts of speech and tenses were crucial to learn. You would write out or apply the definition of these concepts to show your understanding. Parts of speech are taught anywhere from early elementary to intermediate grades now. Tenses are normally taught in late elementary or junior high now, unlike in the 1900s where they are taught in intermediate grades.
School Work of McPherson County, 1903, Book 11
Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1904, Book 9

8. Integration With Language
This shows a fifth grade student’s arithmetic and language integrated work. The student was required to write complete sentences to write the question and answer, just like a lot of schools today do. Although language was taught as its own subject, it was also integrated in the 1900s, just as language is integrated into many subjects today. Teachers are strongly encouraged to integrate across content fields in today’s schools for all grade levels.
Kansas Educational Exhibit, 1904, Book 7

9. Language
This fourth grade student’s work shows mastery of the student’s understanding of punctuation rules in a sentence. What differs in this student work sample from one of today’s is that we usually practice punctuation in a sentence with editing marks, unlike in the 1900s, they had to write their understanding of punctuation in complete sentence format.
This second grade student’s work shows mastery of the student’s understanding of punctuation rules in a complete letter. Practicing writing letters is still taught today, as some teachers spend several weeks trying to teach the proper format for a letter.
McPherson County Fair, , Book 3
Kansas Educational Exhibit, 1904, Book 7

10. Comparison
1900s
today
In the 1900s, teachers had certain requirements on what their students were required to learn for writing, grammar, and language. It didn’t go by grade level like how it is now in today’s schools.
In today’s schools, writing, grammar, and language are all taught into the single subject of writing (the class name differs depending on grade level: Writing, Language Arts, English), at all grade levels.
Source: Sheila Malm, personal communication, March 30, 2017.

11. Why Age Levels?
These students’ work that we are seeing were farm family children, so they were expected to help out on the farm. So, if there was harvest to be done, they would have to do that instead of going to school. School wasn’t a top priority for families in the 1900s.
Source: Lenora Lynam, personal communication, March 30, 2017.

12. The Change in Education
We don’t always take the time to think how much education has really changed. However, in reality, the change is a drastic one! I thought it was so interesting to see how different age groups had to learn the simpler things that we have to learn at younger ages now. What I had to do during K-12 in writing differs a lot from the 1900s and what they were required to know at a certain age.

13. Conclusion
After intensive research, I first learned that writing, grammar, and language were each taught as their own respective subject across various grade levels. For younger ages, writing focused on a lot of repetition to show mastery of a concept. For older ages, writing focused on essay writing. Grammar focused a lot on sentence diagramming, parts of speech, and tenses. Language’s main priority was writing in complete sentences that make sense, usually conveyed through some type of formal writing, such as a hand-written letter. These concepts of writing are things that we are all taught in school today, just at different grade levels. We also apply a lot of these concepts differently than they did in the 1900s. Writing and its concepts were a big part of school in the 1900s, and it has only grown since then. We use writing in everything we do in school, and many teachers try to integrate it into other subject areas. It also fascinated me to discover that school hasn’t always been taught through grade levels like it is now. The most striking thing that I learned was that school was not a main priority for children in the 1900s, so it is very possible that there could be a 14-year old in the fifth grade!

14. Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Dr. Norland for giving us the opportunity to explore how much education has changed. I would also like to sincerely thank Lenora Lynam, Sheila Malm, and the Old Mill Museum staff members for helping me with my intensive research and allowing me to use the museum resources! Words cannot explain how thankful I am for each one of them! I could not have completed this project without their genuine help and giving me the time of day!

15. References
Kansas Education Exhibit District Schools, McPherson County, Book 7.
Louisiana Purchase Exposition, McPherson County Public Schools General Work, 1904, Book 9.
McPherson County Fair, McPherson County Public Schools General Work, , Book 3.
Schoolwork of McPherson County Public Schools General Work, 1903, Book 11.
Schoolwork of McPherson County Public Schools General Work, 1907, Book 2.
West Kentuck One-Room Schoolhouse.