Lesson Three

Asia Rising and Yellow Promise/Yellow Peril – Lesson 03

The Power and Patterns of the Postcard

Introduction
Communication in the modern world has taken many forms. This lesson captures the time when technological advances and newly accepted standards for postcards created a global market for their mass production and consumption. The conjuncture of this global interest with the breakout of the Russo-Japanese War meant that people all over the world were viewing the same war in the same way. But what were they viewing? And what narrative or story was being created from this mode of communication? In this activity students will consider postcards as an important mode of communication during the Russo-Japanese war while engaging in a SiteQuest; an activity with the exact same format and procedure as a Web quest, but limited to one source—in this case MIT Visualizing Cultures’ Asia Rising: Japanese Postcards of the Russo-Japanese War. Through guided but open-ended inquiry, students will identify visual patterns and the narratives established by these patterns. As a group, students will synthesize those narratives and present a PowerPoint on postcards as a mode of communication in the Russo-Japanese War.

National History Standards

Objectives
1. Understand postcards as an important medium of communication during the Russo-Japanese War.

2. Identify visual patterns.

3. Identify the narratives produced by visual texts.

4. Create generalizations based on specific evidence.

5. Work cooperatively in groups.

Time Required
Two class periods

Materials and preparation
Individual computer and Internet access
Class set-up for PowerPoint
SiteQuest instructions (handout 03-A)

Procedure:
Lesson 01A is highly recommended prior to this lesson.

1. Discuss with students the postcard as mode of communication today. In this discussion, include the following items:

• For what reasons are postcards utilized?
• What makes postcards different from other forms of communication?

2. Although students won’t think of postcards as a particularly “modern” form of communication, in fact advances in technology made this mode of communication possible. Discuss the conjuncture of events that made postcards an important form of communication. At the same time postcards were becoming more widely used, an historic conflict in the world began. It was the Russo-Japanese War. Give the students a very brief history of the postcard and the 1904 to 1905 Russo-Japanese War. In this short background include the following points:

• The postcard was developed in Europe and adopted by Japan in the Meiji period (1868–1912).

• By the 1880s, the postcard was a very popular form of communication in Japan.

• Postcard manufacturing was opened up to private companies in Europe and Japan shortly before the Russo-Japanese War.

• Postcards were mass produced.

• Postcards became a major form of communication for people all over the world in the early 20th century and so this is the way people all over the world “viewed” the Russo-Japanese War, not just the Japanese.

• The Russo-Japanese War was watched very closely by people all over the world because all of the major nations were involved, either through the actual fighting (Russia and Japan), through financing one of the two sides, or through political alliances. Also, the war involved the most up-to-date military tactics and technology.

(Alternatively, students can read the first and second sections of the Essay.)

3. What ideas, messages, and knowledge were people acquiring through these postcards? That is exactly what the students are going to investigate in the following SiteQuest activity. Introduce the idea of a Web quest or SiteQuest to students. Tell them that these are activities designed to use information on the Web—in this case, the MIT Visualizing Cultures unit “Asia Rising.” In this SiteQuest, students will be assigned a theme and will try to identify visual patterns and meanings around that theme. In groups, students will produce a PowerPoint to display their findings.

4. Assign students to groups with four members and assign each student one of the themes and direct them to the SiteQuest.

5. After students have completed their SiteQuest, do the following activity in class or for homework. Direct students to Saito Shoshu’s postcard series “The Battle of the Japan Sea.” The final postcard in this series has not yet been found. Students are to complete this last, missing postcard. (Teachers can choose to do this activity in class in the same groups or as individual homework.) Students should examine this series, determine the author’s intent and the visual patterns established to convey that intent, and then construct the final postcard in this series to convey the message.

Evaluation
Teachers are encouraged to create their own rubric based on their own emphasis.

Rubric Guidelines
Evaluation Rubric for PowerPoint Presentation Team (Word doc)

Online rubric generators:
Rubistar
Kathy Shrock’s Guide for Educators

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