Project Overview

At King Middle School in Portland, Maine, eighth-grade students explore the concept of freedom by first looking at Norman Rockwell’s famous illustrations of the four freedoms, printed in the Saturday Evening Post in 1943. These images of Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear, Freedom of Speech, and Freedom from Worship were inspired by Franklin Roosevelt’s State of the Union speech in 1941.

As students examine these images and what they meant in the 1940s, they study the concepts and meanings of freedom today through a variety of reading assignments, discussions with guest lecturers, movies, and other research. Students then express their personal experiences and reflections on the ideas of freedom through visual art projects. Students then write an informative essay about their specific political message that was exhibited with their collage. Students also refine their research skills through Noodle Tools and focus on freedom of speech and freedom of worship by investigating the following Supreme Court cases: West Virginia vs. Barnette, Tinker vs. Des Moines, and Texas vs. Johnson.