I was lucky enough to end my April Vacation with a trip down to Boston to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the opening of Fenway Park! The celebration began by commemorating 100 years of
history at Fenway Park with a large-scale pregame ceremony. The Red Sox played the New York Yankees, the same team (then the New York
Highlanders) they played on April 20, 1912. Both teams wore 1912
throwback uniforms!
Part of the pre-game ceremonies included welcoming back and honoring
former Red Sox players. We just happened to be walking into Fenway as
all of the players were getting off the busses and got some great
photographs! In the photos below are Pedro Martinez, Terry Francona, Mo Vaughn, and Nomar Garciaparra followed by a group shot of players from yesteryear!
It was so special, even for a person who isn't necessarily a die-hard baseball fan, to be a part of history. All of these memorable players in one place was quite remarkable! There was even an attempt to set the Guinness Book of World Records record for the largest toast (with sparkling grape juice)!
Anyone who is interested in the Red Sox history should check out this website.
You can take a virtual tour of Fenway Park through the years and read about the history of the park, the city of Boston, and baseball! The website also highlights members of the Red Sox Hall of Fame and offers an interactive tour of the Park with videos.
As we enter into our Gilded Age unit (more lessons from this unit), we've been discussing technology and its impact on society. As a way to hook students into this lesson, we read a list of predictions about the future that were made by Americans in the 1950s.
Some of the predictions have come true, like the flat screen tv, but others have yet to happen. Nonetheless, the list provides the basis for much discussion. For instance, we discussed the root causes of warfare as well as how people could in fact live to be 115 years old. After discussing the future of yesterday, we took our discussion back to cutting edge technology of the late 1800s.
Steel production, oil refining, the telegraph (Samuel Morse), telephone (Alexander Graham Bell), and light bulb (Thomas Edison) were all part of our discussion. I used video clips and digital resources to explain each item.
To illustrate exactly how the telegraph operated, we took a virtual visit to the Museum of Obsolete Objects.
It is fun to explore all of the items in the museum that have been replaced by more advanced technology. The students really enjoy discussing both the technology of the past as well as what it is been replaced with today.
To end the lesson, the students were asked to choosean invention from the past, describe what current piece of technology does the same job, and then make a prediction about what will replace the technology in the future. Making predictions also brings the lesson full circle to where we began, which was reading other people's predictions about what American society would be like in their future!
Two of the skills that my students work on throughout the school year are writing and research. They are assigned two project based research projects and two traditional essays. This trimester the students were asked to choose any topic they wanted to research as long as it related to the American Civil War. They were required to use a minimum of 4 different sources, including a book and a primary source, and then had to write a research paper, complete with thesis, using MLA formatting.
As illustrated in the screen shot above, my comments (the yellow stickies) when grading the essays are very comprehensive. This is because each student is given the opportunity to go back and revise their paper based on the feedback they are given. We meet to discuss their revisions and then they can earn back half the points that they lost on the original essay. I want to encourage good effort on the first attempt but also want to encourage them to revise their papers so they can learn from their mistakes and become better writers. I'm sure you can imagine that grading 70 papers with such detail takes a good amount of time and I appreciate the patience of both parents and students as you wait anxiously for the grades!
We recently went on a field trip to Museum L-A, which "...documents and celebrates the economic, social and technological legacy of Lewiston-Auburn and its people." The museum is housed in what was once a fully functioning textile mill (in the Bates Mill complex) whose origins date back to the 1850s. As part of the tour we were able to see how shoes are made, discuss the history and origins of the industrial revolution, explore child labor issues, and see actual spinning and textiles machines.
My hope is that by actually visiting the mill and seeing it first hand, the students will have a better grasp on what the industrial revolution was all about, particularly here in Maine, and will remember these concepts far longer than if we had simply read and discussed them during class!
The tour started with an explanation of how shoes were constructed in the mill...
We then had a round table discussion about the industrial revolution, cotton, and textile mills...
If you look closely at the right in the picture above, you can see the many 'shoe lasts' that remain in the mill...here they are from another angle:
Here we are touring what was once the main floor of the spinning and weaving workshop. Most of the workers were French-Canadian and Irish immigrants...
We saw where they hid the child laborers when the inspectors came! They would put the children in the tall barrels and place piles of cotton over them...
Our guide explained how the spinning and weaving machines worked and the students got to explore a bit...
A special THANK YOU to the staff and volunteers at Museum-LA. It is clear how passionate you are about keeping Maine's history alive and sharing your knowledge with young people! We had a great time!
Hmm, what a provocative title! We are indeed studying the American Civil War and as part of our studies we've discussed the unbelievable amount of carnage in the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. As if the battle isn't interesting enough, I'm always trying to find new ways to engage my students and what better way to do this than with a ghost story?
One of my friends from college grew up in Gettysburg. Her mother Stephanie's house, The David Stewart Farm, dates back to pre-Civil War times and was used as a make-shift hospital for Confederate soldiers after the battle. Supposedly there are a few 'spirits' who live in the house, one being a Civil War soldier! Both a medium and a paranormal 'ghost hunter' team have been to the house to communicate with the spirits. The following is a video of one of their visits:
Whether or not you believe in 'spirits', it's a pretty interesting video and an even more fascinating part of history! I've been wanting to visit Gettysburg for a long time and I'm hoping maybe this summer I can pay a visit to Margaret and the other spirits on Stephanie's farm!
We are finishing up our unit, The Expanding Nation, where we have been studying post-Revolution American government as well as westward expansion. One recent lesson was the analysis of John Gast's 1872 lithograph, American Progress, which has become a visual representation of Manifest Destiny (the idea that it was God's intent for America to expand).
As a class we discussed the concept of Manifest Destiny as well as symbolism. Then, in pairs, students were asked to brainstorm and come up with a list of the different elements in the painting and what each represents in terms of westward expansion, also keeping in mind the title of the piece, American Progress.
Next we discussed the symbolism in the painting. For example, the right side of the painting is lighter to represent the fact that progress and technology had already come to the eastern part of the United States. The figure in the middle seems to be bringing technology and progress to the 'unenlightened' West.
Art analysis is a wonderful way for students to develop critical thinking skills and, in the case of this painting, it allowed us the opportunity to review what we had learned and read about throughout our unit of study. Additionally, this painting allows for further discussion of primary source documents, much like this lesson.
We just came back from our 6th annual U.S. History field trip to Boston (6th year I've planned the trip, different group of kids each year, of course)! We started the day with lunch at Quincy Market, followed by a 90 minute guided walking tour of the Freedom Trail, then finished with a tour of the U.S.S. Constitution. This trip is a great way for the students to see some of the places they've been reading and learning about in regards to the American Revolution and colonial American history.
Lunch & Exploring Quincy Market
Tour of the Freedom Trail with Costumed Guides
Tour of the USS Constitution (saw battle in the War of 1812)
We are starting a unit on the American Revolution. As a way to discuss viewpoint and perspective, we look at the events surrounding the Boston Massacre from multiple sources, one of which is by reading a chapter from the novel Rise to Rebellion.
The first chapter of the historical fiction novel is from the perspective of a British soldier, Hugh White, who is stationed in Boston in the early 1770s. He is standing guard in front of a custom house when he is antagonized by a group of rowdy young men. The events that follow would become known as the Boston Massacre.
We then view the opening scene of the HBO mini-series John Adams in which Adams comes upon the scene just after the Bostonians have been shot by the Redcoats.
A third perspective is offered when viewing and interpreting Paul Revere's famous etching in which he termed this event 'The Bloody Massacre':
We finish the exercise on perspective by reading primary source accounts from the perspective of Captain Prescott, a British officer involved in the incident, and an anonymous colonist's account of the event. This leads us in to a discussion about fact vs. interpretation when it comes to history.
