Poetry Month Poem #1

That Sure is My Little Dog

Eleanor Lerman

Yes, indeed, that is my house that I am carrying around
on my back like a bullet-proof shell and yes, that sure is
my little dog walking a hard road in hard boots. And
just wait until you see my girl, chomping on the chains
of fate with her mouth full of jagged steel. She’s damn
ready and so am I. What else did you expect from the
brainiacs of my generation? The survivors, the nonbelievers,
the oddball-outs with the Cuban Missile Crisis still
sizzling in our blood? Don’t tell me that you bought
our act, just because our worried parents (and believe me,
we’re nothing like them) taught us how to dress for work
and to speak as if we cared about our education. And
I guess the music fooled you: you thought we’d keep
the party going even to the edge of the abyss. Well,
too bad. It’s all yours now. Good luck on the ramparts.
What you want to watch for is when the sky shakes
itself free of kites and flies away. Have a nice day.

Grand Canyon

This is one of the activities on my road trip list...Can you imagine Native Americans living here? The Spanish explorers trekking through here? Missionary priests finding their way on this rocky passage?

Crazy Brainstorming for "The Trip": Mountain Meadows Massacre

Some of the most interesting history I've learned has been attached to stories that are little known, but reflect the perspectives, conflicts and challenges of the times.  I'm trying to come up with a list of these little know stories that will illustrate different time periods or different themes. Things that support themes I can build through my explorations during my road trip research this summer.   Sometimes, stories are avoided because they show something that we don't want to discuss because it shows an aspect of a group or place that we feel uncomfortable discussing.  Ironically, that discomfort opens a door and can often grab the interest of someone who was disengaged before.  People value honesty.  They value novelty.  I'm trying to compile a list of interesting topics that are little known.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre merits some further exploring because it wasn't uncommon for settlers to pose as Native Americans and attack other settlers in order to maintain control over a territory.  Definitely an interesting exploration of the challenges of western expansion, but also a possible segue to exploring propaganda and bias to the "wild Native Americans" or socratic dialogue on what is and is not acceptable in maintaining a territory, property, etc.  It might be interesting to watch some movies in the Western genre and then watch some Revisionist-Westerns.  This could tie in to my visits through Utah, the Grand Canyon and Tombstone, AZ.  It would be neat to contact some historians and even movie producers and see if I can get any video talking with them.  It's exciting to think of the possibilities.  I wonder where I'll end up going with is as I plan the trip in more detail.  

60 Second Civics

What a wonderful resource!  I love the idea of infusing every day with just a little bit of government.  Understanding how our government works and appreciating how far it has come is essential for an educated, involved citizenship.  It's crazy how much of what I know I have learned as a teacher, not in school.  

http://www.civiced.org/60-second-civics?show_all=1

Fund for Teachers Fellowship

I am so thrilled right now!  I just received the news that I was awarded a Fund for Teacher's grant for educational travel.  The program funds teacher travel with the purpose of enriching their classroom teaching.  I wrote a grant this winter break.  I poured my energy into writing a perfect grant, one that would give me experiences to build interest in the classroom. All of the things I've read about but could never picture... I wasn't sure I'd be given the chance to take this trip of a lifetime.  And now, I'm obsessed by thoughts of this wonderful learning experience I will get to have this summer.  :)

I'm posting the itinerary and also the narrative I wrote, because I spent so much time figuring out what I wanted to do with this trip and writing it up.  

Day	Drive from __ to __	Miles	Time	Activities
1	Lakeland to Charleston, SC	479m	6h 45 min	Spend day at Charleston, SC Explore and photograph the architecture of Charleston and connect to history of United States through different time periods.
2	Charleston, SC to Charlotte, NC	208m	3h 20m	Visit Greensboro, NC site of first sit-in of Civil Rights movement and the International Civil Rights Center and Museum Using this lesson plan
3	Charlotte, NC to Monticello, VA	270m	4h 46 m	Visit the home of Thomas Jefferson and explore the history of the birth of a nation
4	Monticello, VA to Harper’s Ferry, WV Harper’s Ferry, WV to Cass, WV	160m 35m	2.5h 1h 20 m	Stop in Appomatox, VA on drive Civil War and abolition research, history of place (location of town=water powered mill, strategic) free walking tour of upper town Harper’s Ferry National Park, Living History workshop John Brown Museum
5	Cass, WV to Beckley, WV	122m	2h 12m	spend morning at the Cass Scenic Railroad State Park- exploring the logging industry and how it has affected VW; 1900’s preserved village, classic steam engine to Bald Knob Run (4.5 hours) head to Beckley, WV and set up camp
6	Beckley, WV to Cumberland Gap National Park	234m	4h	Spend day at Beckley Coal Mining Museum exploring the underground coal mine with tour guide and homestead settlement recreation from 1840 to 1910 Check in at the Cumberland Gap Inn
7	Cumberland Gap National Park to Mammoth Cave KY	188m	3h 10 m	Cumberland Gap National Park- Hensley Settlement Tour- explore the homestead and living history village preserved from the 1850’s Drive to Mammoth Cave National Park and set up tent
8				Mammoth Caving Tour (3.5 hours, exploring the geological structures in the longest cave system in the world, African American and Native history links.   Research book: "Journey to the Bottomless Pit: The Story of Stephen Bishop and Mammoth Cave"
9	Mammoth Cave, KY to Oak Ridge, TN Oak Ridge, TN to Nashville, TN	175m 163m	3h 15m 2h 30 m	Visit the secret city where the Manhattan Project took place- driving tour visit the American Museum of Science and Energy Drive to Nashville, TN for the night
10	Nashville TN to Elephant Rocks State Park, MO Elephant Rocks State Park Topeka, KS	280m 345m	5h 5h 45m	Brief Stop at Elephant Rocks State Park, geological history of earth Brown v Board of Education lodging in Topeka
11	Topeka KS to Cottonwood Falls, KS Cottonwood, KS to Lindsborg, KS	75m 77m	1h 30m 1h 30 m	Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Lindborg is a small Swedish town settled in 1860 (second wave of immigration), stay at Swedish Country Inn
12	Lindsborg to Mesa Verde, CO	517m	11h 30m	driving day Economy Lodge or similar nearby motel
13	Mesa Verde to Ouray, CO	105m	2h 16m	Mesa Verde National Park, Mesa Verde CO- Visit the museum which details Native American pueblo life, take tour of mesa verde (Cliff Palace Photography Tours)  which involves climbing the ladders into the cliff dwelling drive to Ouray. Stay at Miner’s Inn
14	Ouray, CO to Dinosaur National Monument, Jensen UT	229m	4.5h	explore Dinosaur National Monument and Quarry
15	Jensen UT to Salt Lake City, UT	189,	3h 15m	830am-3pm Rafting trip to photograph petroglifts: http://adrift.com/split-mountain/ drive to Salt Lake City or nearby
16	Salt Lake City UT to  San Francisco, CA- travel day	735m	11h	driving day
17				Travel to local sites by Muni/Trolley Visit Oakland, explore Black Panthers history Literary history map
18	Travel from San Francisco CA to Big Basin Redwoods State Park, CA Big Basin Redwoods State Park to Santa Cruz to San Francisco	66m 54m	1h 15m 45 min + return 1.5h	visit the Big Basin State Park Santa Cruz- Explore the tourism history of CA (Leftmost city in the USA as a resource)
19	San Francisco to Yosemite National Park to Manzanar National Park, CA-	461m	7h OR 5h	Contact the Committee for pilgrimage Manazar   Visit Eastern California History Museum in Independence, CA
20-21	Manzanar CA to Grand Canyan National Park, AZ- 2 days	535m	8h 30 min	Mule trip- 3 hours into the South Rim with interpretive tour
22	Tombstone, AZ	406m	6h	Tour of historical old west town, fact or fiction
23-25,	Return HOME to Lakeland, FL	2010m	30h
		8118 miles

The historian George Macaulay Trevelyan said, “If one could make alive again for other people some cobwebbed skein of old dead intrigues and breathe breath and character into dead names and stiff portraits. That is history to me!”  I want what every teacher wants...to make learning come alive for my students.  I am a teacher at a public Montessori middle school, where I teach an integrated language arts, research and social studies curriculum.  I teach a multi-grade, two year cycle that covers a variety of history standards grouped thematically (instead of chronologically).  Every year, I begin with lessons on historical research and thinking like a historian.  Then, over a two year cycle, I present six week units in: Foundations of the Nation, Civil Rights (including Triangle Trade, Abolition, Civil War, and Civil Rights), Civics, Economics (including Industrial Revolution, Western Expansion, and the Depression), War and Peace, and Human Rights.  My school serves seventh and eighth graders coming from a variety of cultural, educational and socio economic backgrounds, and yet we have a unique model with time dedicated to inquiry and and critical thinking.

History and research are typically areas where students feel disengaged.  Because they have previously experienced history through textbooks and lectures, rote learning of a series of facts and dates, they often feel little connection to it.  In Marzano’s book, The Highly Engaged Classroom, he discusses the importance of teachers designing lesson plans for engagement.  He and his research team detail a number of ways that teachers can help students feel excited by and connected to learning.  He states, “When a teacher indirectly communicates, “This is fun!” or “This is exciting!” it is contagious for students.”  He suggests that personal stories and movie clips or media related to learning enhance the students’ emotional engagement.  In addition, through compelling introductions to new material that highlight the context and possible real life connections, teachers can facilitate student interest and a feeling of efficacy.  

Teachers can not manufacture experience; it has to be lived.  Two years ago, I was able to visit Philadelphia, the birthplace of our nation.  As I sat in Independence Hall, I got chills when the tour guide told us that in that very spot, on March 4, 1797, our nation had its first peaceful transfer of power when George Washington stepped down and John Adams was inaugurated.  Later, when I taught my students about the birth of our nation, I remembered that emotional connection I felt.  When I showed them pictures of that historic site, the weight of that moment became more real, for them, and for me.  I would like to feel that kind of connection to everything I teach.  Author Hannah Farnham Lee said that,”A mere compilation of facts presents only the skeleton of History; we do but little for her if we cannot invest her with life, clothe her in the habiliments of her day, and enable her to call forth the sympathies of succeeding generations.”  I want history to come alive for me, and I want to transmit that enthusiasm to my students.  

There is a wonderful program funded through the National Endowment of the Humanities called “Teaching with Historic Places.”  The program works to provide lesson plans based on registered national historic sites.  It combines exploring the site as well as the history of the site through primary sources, architecture, and readings.  Using real historic places creates curiosity and excitement about the people who lived long ago and the events they experienced.

Part 2

The main focus of my trip is to explore the geography and living history sites related to the curriculum I teach so that I can have a deeper understanding of history.  In addition, I will collect primary source materials in the form of first hand accounts, photographs, maps, video footage, artifacts, and other documents to use in my thematic units.  Over the course of my three week trip, I will explore sites related to the pre-Columbian, revolutionary, civil war, industrial revolution, and civil rights time periods.  Although the road trip will not unfold chronologically, I am able to research many different time periods over a relatively short period of time (25 days).  Because I am attempting, as often as possible, to utilize home stays with friends and family, and because a cross country trip involves much driving, there are a few days of simply driving through ecosystems and natural preserves that are different from my own.  

I will begin my trip by conducting an architectural research study in Charleston, SC.  Charleston is important because it has 2800 historical buildings which encompass 8 different architectural styles from colonial through modern times. By analyzing the form, function and structure of the different buildings, I will have insight into the lifestyle and philosophy of the people who lived there.  I can apply this research to my own small town, to a smaller scale, with my students.   From there, I will head over to Greensboro, NC, where, in 1960, four university freshman staged an instrumental sit in which later led to the reversal of Woolworth’s racial segregation policies.  I will visit the International Civil Rights Center and Museum which has preserved the site where students led their nonviolent protest.  

Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, is next on my list.  There, I will gather resources to explore not only the foundation of our nation, but also explore Mulberry Row, where enslaved people lived and worked on Jefferson’s plantation.  Then, I will make a brief stop at the Appomattox Court House where General Lee surrendered his Confederate troops, and I will head over to Harper’s Ferry, WV where I will visit the John Brown Museum and the national historic park.  I will gather resources so that my students can do a mock trial of John Brown, famous abolitionist who led a bloody revolt.  I will need to find primary sources related to his guilt and innocence.  

From there, I will explore a living village dedicated to the logging industry at Cass National Scenic Railroad Park and a tour of a coal mine in Beckley, WV.  At these locations, I will gain a deeper understanding of the causes and course of child labor at the turn of the century.  I will explore a living history homestead settlement at Cumberland Gap, and I will pass through Oak Ridge, TN, the Secret City where the Manhattan Project created the atomic bomb.  I will then go underground to explore the longest cave system in the world at Mammoth Cave, KY.  Deep in the caves, I will be able to see, first hand, artifacts from the Native American Woodland tribes over 2000 years ago.  On my way across the country, I will stop at Elephant Rocks State park where, 1.5 billion years ago, molten lava pushed to the surface to create this unique geological feature.  I’ll pass through Topeka, KS, and visit the Brown v. the Board of Education national site. I will pass through largest remaining Kansas prairie preserve.  

In the next week, I will explore by raft the Green River, stopping to examine Dinosaur National Monument and the Fremont Indian petroglyphs from over 800 years ago.  I will explore the Native American cliff dwelling pueblo society at the Mesa Verde National Park.  From there, I will cross to San Francisco, CA where I will explore Oakland, CA, specifically looking for primary sources relate to the Black Panthers and their contribution to the Civil Rights movement. On our cross back home, I will stop at Manzanar National Historic Site, where, during WWII, Japanese Americans were interned.  I will explore the Grand Canyon, taking a mule trip down into the canyon to explore the territory cleared by the Civilian Conservation Corp as a part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal during the Great Depression.  Finally, I will stop in Tombstone, AZ, where I will look for primary source materials related to Billy the Kid, so students can examine fact and fiction related to western outlaws.  I will also explore the town which is a replica of what a Gold Mine town would have looked like during the Gold Rush.

Part 3

Historical thinking is an act of interpreting multiple perspectives.  As a teacher, I have a multitude of goals.  One of the most important goals, for me, is to understand the different viewpoints in history.  Depending on the storyteller, the story changes, but there is evidence that makes some things indisputable.  I want to interact with history, to be a part of it.  When I read about the children in the coal mines of West Virginia, I want to know the feeling of being in the dark, the weight of the world above me.  This trip will give me the time and experiences to build this deeper historical understanding.  

In addition, I want to inspire my students, to be a role model historian who asks questions, explores, and analyzes.  Research has proven that teacher enthusiasm and knowledge both have a significant impact on student engagement.  

Finally, for years, I have toyed with using the idea of creating video introductions to my units, with a provocative question and a context that connects to the lives of my students.  First hand experience in the settings in which historical events took places will give me more ideas for how to connect to the world.

Student Growth and Learning

Students will benefit in many ways from this fellowship.  First, and foremost, they will benefit with increased engagement.  Students are motivated by real places, primary sources, and expert opinions.  They enjoy mock trials, and argumentation.   I will be better able to facilitate a deeper understanding for and interest in many different aspects of history.  They will benefit from my increased knowledge and understanding of historical content.  

Additionally, this research will lead me to using a new structure within the classroom, one better aligned with the aims of the new common core standards.  I will gain valuable knowledge of a variety of primary sources outside of the textbook learning.  Research, inquiry, and analysis of primary sources will lead students to build their critical thinking abilities.  They will have a better understanding of cause and effect, chronological reasoning, multiple perspectives, understanding historical context, interpretation, and synthesis.  Students will feel a great connection to the history we learn, much more than simple rote learning.

Benefit to school community

There are many ways that my school and professional community will benefit from this deeper understanding I feel.  In middle school, students typically pull away from their parents, and parents long for a way to feel connected to their children’s educational experience.  I will share my introductory video hooks with parents, along with ways they can participate in their child’s deeper understanding of topics, movies they can watch together, places they can visit.  This will create a collaborative community.  

Professionally, colleagues will benefit from this experience as well.  I will keep a detailed blog of my learning which I will share with my peers.  This will include videos, primary source documents, photographs, architecture, and oral interviews.  I will include lesson plan ideas on the blog, and will solicit opinions and ideas from my peers, so that I can benefit from their wisdom and knowledge as well.  I will use the lesson plan template for the Teaching with Historic Places website (http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/) and will submit a minimum of two lesson plans for considerations on their website.

PLAN FOR FELLOWSHIP IMPLEMENTATION OF LEARNING

Goals: My overall goal is to engage students in historical research using primary sources ….  Specifically, my goals are

1. To gather primary sources from a variety of different time periods.
2. To deepen my understanding of geography and history related to different parts of the country and different time periods.
3. To facilitate critical thinking about the connection between locations and events that took place there.
4. To create and share a number of lesson plans with a video hook and primary sources related to a variety of lesson I teach biannually
5. To share my enriched understanding through application to presenting at the American Montessori Society national conference, creation of a blog with resources, and submission of lesson plans to the Teaching with Historic Places website.

Strategies:  In order to accomplish these goals, I will

1. Keep a blog with photographs, videos, journaling, and research to document my learning in the six historical themes I teach.  
2. Use footage, facts, and photographs to create engaging videos to introduce the context, significance, and each unit.  
3. Collect primary sources at historical museums and sites (including oral interview).
4. Organize resources to facilitate student independent and cooperative research
5. Write lesson plans in the format of Teaching with National Historic Places in order to submit for use by other teachers.
6. Apply to present the lesson structure and plans at the American Montessori Society conference in

Outcomes:  

1. Students will demonstrate markers of engagement (Marzano, 2011) energy, interest, and perceived importance and perceived efficacy.
2. Students will analyze primary sources including historic sites and primary sources.
3. Students will demonstrate an awareness for multiple perspectives in history.
4. Students will apply their learning about historic places to research of local historic places.
5. Through sharing my experiences and exploration, other teachers will use historic places to teach with with, in the long term, affect people’s appreciation for national sites and dedication to their preservation.