I always read any Library blog post written by Michelle Krowl, and this one is no exception. It is centered on a letter written by a Civil War soldier named Private William M. Phile to his sister, in which he describes the effect of "picket duty" on his clothing. Unlike so many handwritten letters from that or any period, this one is clear enough that even students who may be less adept at reading cursive should be able to decipher it. 

This letter could be used alone as a prompt for the Question Formulation Technique. Another prompt could be simply "Picket Duty," with student-generated questions to be followed by handing out the letter for students to analyze in small groups. 

My guess is that few students will know the definition of picket duty. Can they build a definition by searching on the term at loc.gov? I also found a fascinating article from the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech that explained the importance of picketing:

"The security of an army depended on its pickets – the sentinels who provided early warning of infiltration or enemy attack. Without them an army was in constant danger of being overrun without warning. So important was this that a negligent soldier, especially one who fell asleep, was severely punished and might even be executed."

"Each January, NASA pauses to honor members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery, including the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia.

In 2024, the Day of Remembrance will be observed on Jan. 25."

Remembering:

Apollo I

Challenger

Columbia

Memorials and  Burials at Arlington National Cemetery

and more on that link...

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  NASA Day of Remembrance  

This is a powerful blog posting with links to resources providing such a rich background to understanding the Native American experience at the time. There are also Teaching Activities in the post to enhance bringing this post to students.

In this earlier discussion in the Maps & Geography group,   Sherrie Galloway  suggests several teaching ideas based on the geographic locations experienced by the formerly enslaved people interviewed for the WPA Slave Narratives project in the 1930s.   

This collection includes photographs, audio recordings and  transcripts of several of the former slaves who were interviewed by the Federal Writers Project.  While the many transcripts are powerful, the audio recordings are even more so.