King Hutch aka John H.

 A grant through CSU-Pueblo sent me & 30 other Colorado history teachers to Philadelphia this summer as well as Boston last year with plans for Chicago next summer. Part of this grant is developing a lesson plan using information & resources from this two week trip. But another part of the grant is demonstrating that the experience will not only make us better American history teachers, but also explaining in these blogs how the information, experiences, & ideas I have discovered over the last two weeks will be utilized in my classroom. This blog will be a serious attempt to do just that.

Use of resources & lesson plans from Winterthur:

 Even though the Winterthur Estate is in Delaware & we are from Colorado, it is still possible to use some resources. There is a web site: http://www.winterthur.org/visiting/visiting.asp that has a hands on outreach program which could be very useful. The Winterthur Library is a center for higher study and is dedicated to the understanding and appreciation of America’s artistic, cultural, social, and intellectual history from colonial times into the twentieth century. There is also a link for School & Community programs that looks very user friendly!

Use of ideas from the Winterthur visit that I can change & incpourpte into the 6^th grade curriculum:

 I came away from the final portion of our day at Winterthur with several new ideas. I really thought the lesson designed for several stations of about 4-6 students fascinating! This lesson would have to be modified to fit into a more Western aspect of American history because that is the type of resources available to us in Colorado. But teaching it in the same way with every portion of the manufacturing process at different stations. This type of lesson would be easy to replicate for different parts of American history.

Using the teaching ideas presented at Winterthur, I plan to incorporate a field trip next year to local Pueblo museums such as the El Pueblo Museum, the Railroad Museum, or the Pueblo County Historical Society Museum. Using the teaching ideas presented at Winterthur, I would also like to set up a “Classroom Museum” project where each Roll Room would create a museum within their classroom that covers a different aspect of history. There would be an overall theme to the project such as Western History, Pueblo History, American History, American Regions, or Cultural History just to name a few. 

There is a pamphlet included with our Winterthur pack called K is for Kids. The pamphlet has several adaptable components that I will be able to use in my classroom such as the Kid’s code (vocabulary) & also the “Be the Curator” in which a person designs a museum room. This could be adapted for any portion of history being taught. There is also the booklet called Kids which actually leads a child through the early years of childhood. It also has several useful activity pages & suggestions.

Finally, I really liked the final portion of our lesson that the Winterthur staff presented for us. My group did an artifact research investigation. We each were given an object that was found at an archeological dig. Each object had to be examined by the group and then placed in a large world map. This process showed students that the economy was worldwide and already dependent on other countries. This lesson would be very fun to modify & teach in Pueblo.      

 

  

 

 

OK, I can’t help it; I have to do a fun blog! I told myself “Look, just write a totally serious blog about teaching in the classroom.” But after 12 exhausting yet educationally stimulating days of history, I (along with everyone else) needed to let my HAIR down! So our group of highly qualified educators, after 8 hours of educational stimulation, went for dinner at the Iron Hill Brewery (micro brew bar & grill).

You could just feel the emotion pouring out of everyone as we reached our seats. Feeling sorry for our waitress, several of us went up to the bar to order a drink. Our waitress was very nice and handled the 34 of us extremely well! Things did get funny real fast with jokes and wisecracks all around! Since Junior informed everyone within earshot that my new name is Sméagle, the table we sat at helped christen him as Hans. So there we were at the Iron Hill Brewery toasting everyone in German that I don’t even know & singing German Beer Songs that I have never heard and pretty much letting off about 2 weeks worth of steam!

If you really want to know, & even if you don’t, this trip is jam packed full of educational & historical information that will make every teacher who takes it seriously a better educator. Yes it is very hard & exhausting, but it is totally worth it! I give it a ***** rating for excellence!

And why did I choose that title? Hans asked two gentlemen at the bar what town we were in. They laughed about us not knowing the name of the town we were eating in. So Hans explained why we were there. They then shouted out that famous line of which I’m sure all good Wilmington people are so proud of. I didn’t think to get them on tape repeating it, opps, my bad! I know it sure made me laugh on a day when emotions were in need of relief. And Hans, I think he has 2 new friends for life where “Men are Men and the Women are too.”  

And yes Jonathan, I am working on the other more “serious” & eduactional blog right now!