In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex Lesson Plan

Picturing Nantucket

Kind of Activity:

Mixed Media

Objective:

To use multiple sources in order to visualize historic Nantucket

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.7, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.2

Structure:

Have students review the text, video, and images about how the appearance of 19th-century Nantucket was created for the “In the Heart of the Sea” film (https://www.awn.com/news/rodeo-fx-recreates-1800s-whaling-village-heart-sea). Nathaniel Philbrick said in Nantucket Magazine that when he walked onto this Nantucket set, it really looked like Nantucket in 1819.

Students will compare this imagery with the description of Nantucket from today’s reading and...