Highsmith, Carol M. The imposing Church of Latter-Day Saints (or Mormon) Temple in Manti, a small city sometimes called Manti City, in south-central Utah. 2022. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2023696865/.
This resource will spur questions about the value of important buildings and how they can affect the surrounding community. Students will be using this resource to consider the importance of architecture on a community as well as to reflect on westward expansion and the impact of Mormon settlers.
Since the beginning of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), also known as the Mormon Church, the building of temples has been an important part of the religion’s development and worship. Soon after LDS settlers entered Salt Lake, various groups were sent to settle and build temples in communities all around the Utah area.
Source: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples/history-of-temples?lang=eng
- How does the architecture of this building represent the people who built it?
- When do you think this building was built?
- What clues can tell you when this or any other building was built?
- How might this building affect the community that surrounds it?
ELA Standard
Oral Communications 1. Engage in collaborative discussions about grade-level topics and texts with peers by setting rules for collegial discussions and decision-making, defining individual roles, tracking progress on specific goals; responding to others’ questions and comments and diverse perspectives with precise evidence, relevant observations, and ideas; and making new connections considering the evidence and reasoning presented.
Social Studies Standard
6-12.USH1.2.3.3. Illustrate westward migration across North America
Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
- Writer’s Notebooks: Students should answer one or all of the following prompts in their freewriting notebooks:
- What is the most important building in your life?
- What is the most important building in your city?
- What makes a building important or emotional?
- What is a building you’ve always seen but never been inside or that you want to go inside?
- Students should be given time to share their responses, either with the entire class or with a partner/group.
- Think-Pair-Share: With the image of the LDS Manti Temple displayed on the board, students should engage in a short Think-Pair-Share activity.
- Think: Individually, students should respond to the following questions:
- Who do you think built this building and why? What is it for?
- When do you think this building was built? What clues could help you know?
- How might this building affect the community around it?
- Pair: With a partner, students share their responses.
- Share: With the whole class, pairs share their responses, noting what they agreed on and what questions they still have.
- Think: Individually, students should respond to the following questions:
- Mini-Lesson: With students prepared with the Think-Pair-Share anticipation, the teacher should now give a brief lesson about LDS Westward migration, temple building, and the importance of architecture. The teacher should consider these points:
- LDS Westward Migration: Note the importance of LDS pioneers in Westward expansion and settling large portions of Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, and California. Read more here.
- LDS Temple Building: Note the importance of temples in LDS worship and how they might affect their communities. For example, in the case of a rural area such as Manti, Utah, much of the surrounding economy is related to temple attendance and Western history tourism.
- Importance of Architecture: It is essential that students understand that architecture is a reflection of the community (consider how an urban community would look different than an industrial community because of the economy that is prevalent there). Read more here.
- Freewrite: Give students the chance to write about which buildings in their community reflect and affect the community. This can be a short or long writing activity.
Historic American Buildings Survey. Kirtland Temple (Mormon), 9020 Chillicoth Road, Kirtland, Lake County, OH. 1933. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/oh0043/.