Who are these people anyway?

We just comleted our two week trip of Philadelphia.  In someways it seems like ages ago we stepped off the jet and entered the plane of learning.  I’m amazed at how much ground we covered, but even more amazed at how many stones we left unturned.  One thing I wish we’d seen more of is the town of Gettysburg. I barely snapped a picture of David Will’s house as we rounded a corner and there were many other things (besides the gift shops!) that I really wanted to see.  We passed several historic buildings enroute to the restaurant, and our guide pointed out (quickly) a few more places of interest.  At the end of the first day of battle the confederates occupied the town and for weeks and months after the battle, the townspeople cared for the wounded. We saw or heard little about this. Then there was the unburying and reburying of the dead to prepare for the dedication of the National Cemetary there.  Gettysburg, alone, was huge, but so is Philadelphia. 

We got much of the tourist history, but some of the paintings we saw like in the library of the APS and also in the slide presentation by Carol Matsen, showed another layer of Philadephia–historical and cultural–scenes that underly the Philadelphia of today.  In every image there is a world of stories.  In every old building a culture of people who lived daily lives with much the same concerns as we have: money, family, health, work..  And there are the stories of important leaders whose work made a mark on the world today.  I imagine if you sat in the City Tavern long enough, you could hear them speak–not only about politics and business but about things like gout, the weather, annoying neighbors, the next shipment from England…

There are layers upon layers of things to learn about in each place we visited, but being there makes a difference. A unique thing about Philadephia is not only what happened there, but the ammount of history that has been preserved.  Also, to be in travelling distance to Revolutionary Battle sites, Valley Forge, and Gettysburg and also to be able to listen to experts such as Carol Berkin made this location an exceptional place for learning. And the learning has more meaning in context than to read about it or listen to the information.  I’m thinking back to the Colloquia and Yazawa’s talk.  He covered alot of the same background information and time period, but being immersed makes all the difference. So, in general, if you leave the trip sorry for some of the things you missed and still wanting to learn more, then it is a good thing. 

I’m going to end this blog with a couple of great travel quotes that sum up my thoughts about the trip, and also a few more pictures. 

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain

“I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.”  ~Lillian Smith

Thanks so much to everyone who made this trip a great learning experience. 

Nancy Oswald

After today I’ve decided I’m a whole to part learner which is a great disadvantage if you’re trying to learn either history or math.  Fortunately, in the past two years on our trips to both Boston and Philadelphia, I’ve been able to put together a few pieces of the puzzle into a unified whole, or at least bigger chunks that are fitting together.  That’s what our trip to Gettysburg did for me with today.  Not only did we have an excellent tour of the Battlefield that helped pull together and unify some bits and pieces there, but the visitor’s center had an excellent walk through display which put Gettysburg into the context of the war as a whole.  One of the puzzle pieces I was missing was the role the border states played in the Civil War. The interactive display in the visitor’s center, and with the help of Matt, I now understand that the situation in these states was never clear cut. I should have known this by now, not only that factoid, but the big idea about history   that nothing is simplistic.  It’s the gray areas that define and deepen understanding and also make history such a fascinating discipline to study. 

I’d like to say that I have a clear idea about how I will translate this learning into the classroom, but this trip and the Boston trip as well have so enriched and rounded my historical understandings of American History, that I am convinced the best thing I take into the classroom is my increased content knowledge.  One thing that was obvious in the classroom last year, after the Boston trip, was my ability to elaborate answers to my student’s questions.  Instead of parroting back an answer to a question according to the way it was presented in the textbook, I could provide anecdotes, extra information, and pose questions for my students in order to get them thinking for themselves a little more and considering some of the bigger ideas about change and human choices.

So specifically, many lessons could be spun out of the information presented today.  One obvious one would be a comparison of numbers and percentage of deaths at Gettysburg which were phenomenally high, but so were other battles such as Chancellorsville and Antietam.  Numbers could also be compared to percentages from the Revolutionary War.  I think you could also work in a lesson on any aspect of Lincoln or the Gettysburg Address in either a President study or by revisiting the Declaration of Independence and how it affected Lincoln’s thoughts at Gettysburg.  The material we learned today as well as from Boritt’s book open up endless possibilities including a look at how the war affected both the town and the people of the community after the battle….  As with the other days on this trip, it was full, but I can’t stop writing without mentioning our visit with Gabor Boritt.  It actually was our first stop for the day, and one of the most delightful. We spent about 30 minutes at his farm and he spoke of his book “The Gettysburg Gospel” and some of the information in it. He didn’t really offer anything new that wasn’t presented in the book, except maybe the fact that it is unknown where Everett slept.  I was under the impression after reading his book that Everett was one of the people who shared a bed with another visitor since Lincoln was given the only “single” room.  Now I’m going to have to go back and reread because Boritt very cleverly wrote his way around this issue or else I missed this point entirely. Anyway Gabor, the man, was a real treat.  His place was beautiful, and his Boxers entertaining.

Summer in Winterthur.  It was green and gorgeous.  Everything was manicured, trimmed, and mowed at the DuPont private archive for material culture.  The collection is housed and displayed in the seven stories of the DuPont house which has undergone many changes throughout the years.  Now it is a private non-profit museum, library and educational center supported by private funds.

We started our day with a lecture on the consumer revolution by Kathy Matsen.  In her talk she discussed the spike in consumption as well as production of goods in the colonies between the years of 1740 and 1750.  Then she proceeded to show us evidence and examples of the kinds of things that began to show up in daily use for most people during those years.  This was a huge shift from the earlier years in the colonies when luxuries were few and most items had to do with day to day subsistence.  Matsen discussed an increase in the use of non-nutrient stimulant foods such as sugar alcohol and tobacco, and also an increase in the variety of goods available:  cookware, domestic items such as barrels and buckets, hand tools, lighting and heating devices and even a variety of pots for serving chocolate.  The variety of consumer items, alone, indicated that the colonies had become a thriving business center—a place that had made it past the “survival” stage and entered fully into the world of trade, commerce, and consumption.

After Matsen’s talk, we were able to go into the museum library where many of these goods have been archived.  One section of the library was dedicated to old books, but the other had more of a variety of items that included things like paper dolls from France, hand written recipe books, trade cards, Milner account books, diaries, sewing instruction books, and other items that gave “material” clues into the lives of the people who owned them.

We had lunch and a garden tour and spent the afternoon touring some of the rooms of the museum.  After that we spent time in the education center learning about the program offered to school children their.  We were able to take photos in the museum, but in the education center, no cameras were allowed.  I would have loved to have had pictures of the clock shop and also the carpenter shop because those recreated rooms showed the tools of the day and how they worked.  Also on “Shop Lane” they had reproduced some of the signs that would have been hanging during the colonial days.  These I think would have been of great interest to students—especially the barbershop pole which as it was explained to us is red and white because the barber often had a second job of being the blood and bandage man.  The rooster on the top of the pole signified that this particular shop opened early.  Cock-a-doodle doo.

There were many things from today’s trip that could be taken into the classroom.  In the education center, we did a simulated shopping trip which demonstrated how goods were exchanged for credit or other usable items.  For example, a farmer would take a pound of butter to the shopkeeper and could purchase goods with it such as eggs, nails, or other daily items.  We also did an activity where students had to classify artifacts and place them on a world map to show where they came from.  This could easily be reproduced in the classroom using photocopies of items, and it would also be a great way to integrate geography and history.

We ended the day at a great restaurant where we were able to sit down together.  It bordered the Pristina (sp?) River that is a tributary to the Delaware.  The bus trip going home went fast. It didn’t seem at all like we’d gone to another state and back, but then Delaware as it has been pointed out to us is a pretty small state.  Don’t blink and and you’ll miss it. We were reminded, however, that Delaware had a well-known contributor to the Constitution.  John Dickenson, who helped create the famous compromise.  Because of illness Dickenson never actually signed the Constitution because he had to leave the Convention early because of an illness.  Another delegate signed in his behalf.

ITEMS REPRSENTING THE CONSUMPTION REVOLUTION:

Items used daily.

  Paul Revere Silver.

 Hand tools.

 Today was proof of the fact that there is always something new to learn and a new perspective to take into consideration.  I enjoyed both of our morning lectures in College Hall because of the new information and viewpoint they added to topics that have already been written about extensively. 

David Waldstreicher set out to discuss Franklin and his attitudes towards slavery as being in conflict with the three very important roles in his life—as a leader, a scientist, and a politician.  At the conclusion of Waldstreicher’s lecture, I became convinced that above all Franklin was a politician who was able to put a spin on most anything depending on his audience and the role he was playing at the time.  During the years of his printing business Franklin owned slaves, sold ads for the sale of slaves, and probably acted as a middle man for the sale of slaves by using his print shop for transactions.  Any printing he did for the anti-slave publications was done anonymously.  As time progressed, his views shifted depending on the circumstances.  In the 1760’s when England was critical of slavery, Franklin blamed England for the problem—forcing the necessities of slavery on the colonies because of economic hardship.  In the 1770’s he criticized slavery to his anti-slavery friends, but only in private correspondence.  In France, Franklin encouraged people to think of him as the anti-slavery Quaker, but in 1781-82, he asks Britain for compensation for the run-away slaves during the Revolutionary War.  Franklin played his various roles well, and he may very well have earned his title as president of the Abolitionist Society in 1787, but his actions did not consistently demonstrate his abolitionist beliefs.  So rather than agree with Waldstreicher that Franklin’s views on slavery demonstrated a conflict in his three dimensions, I think they illustrated that of all of his dimensions, the role of politician trumped the others.  This was a great talk.

The second lecture, also, provided fodder for thought.  Robert Engs made the point quite well that it wasn’t Lincoln who emancipated the slaves, but they emancipated themselves.  He presented four questions as a focal point for his talk.  Would the slaves rebel if given a chance?  Did slaves want freedom?  Will they fight for freedom?  Will they know what to do with freedom once they have it?  To this, Engs answered yes, yes, yes, and yes, and he gave examples to support all of these “yeses”, giving the statistic that during the Civil War over 400,000 escaped slaves provided manpower for the Union effort.  They proved without a doubt that they “wanted” to be free by enlisting regardless of the fact that they were denied enlistment bonuses and they endured and continued to fight even when white members of their own regiments fired on them, and in spite of the fact that Confederates massacred black prisoners rather than treat them as prisoners of war. The blacks consistently returned from battle with more troops than they started with, proving that they had a personal stake in winning the war, not only for themselves, but for all their people. Their desire was for the same things as the whites: land, education, political power, and autonomy, or the four houses as Engs called them, farm, school, church, and home.  I think in the classroom this would be a perfect opportunity to point out that all humans have the same basic needs, and the slaves were no different.  They proved their true desire for freedom through their actions, and knew what to do with it once they got it.

In the afternoon we made our last trip into Philadelphia, visiting the Second National Bank, the Underground Museum, Franklin Square, and Carpenter Hall where the First Continental Congress met.  Photos to follow.

 Carpenter Hall

  Inside Carpenter Hall.  Benjamin Franklin’s Green Tree Insurance Emlem beside chairs

 In the Franklin Underground Museum: chair that converts into a step ladder

Franklin’s conveyance to the Constitutional Convention when he was too frail to walk.

 Reproduction of a desk from Franklin’s house.  He wrote home and asked Debra to send him an item from the little drawer on the right.

“Peoples places, and things—and our ideas and questions about them—are always changing and always ready to be explored again.”

This quote from the wall of the Museum of the American Philosophical Society could easily be incorporated into the teaching of European exploration.  The museum focused on five explorers from the early 1700’s to the present.  The idea that the period of exploration did not start with Columbus and end with Lewis and Clark is a great one to teach 5^th graders or history learners of any age.  Exploration is a state of mind as this exhibit reminded us.  Exploration is also the incorporation of new ideas, technology, and insight into existing fields of study, and it involves looking at the micro, as in the case of Ruth Patrick when she discovered diatoms in freshwater ecology, and also at the macro in the case of David Rittenhouse who explored the external world, surveying new territories.  To give students this idea about exploration instead of the limited version taught in most Social Studies textbooks is expansive and opens imaginative possibilities for the future.  In history classes, a point often missed by our students is that we are making history today by the choices we make and the decisions we act on.  Expanding the content and focus of a study on exploration is a good way to help students reflect on this major historical theme.

Our visit to the APS had some other interesting aspects to it.  Across the street from the museum was Benjamin Franklin’s library.  It was in a room upstairs which is now the APS library.  This room held about ½ of the books owned by Franklin during his life and the other half held books that were printed by Franklin.  The APS library holds about 75 percent of the surviving papers of Franklin and we were able to see  a letter written by Franklin to his grandson and carried by balloon over the English Channel which is said to be the first air mail delivery.  There was also a letter from Washington to Lee asking for money for Thomas Paine and a later letter written to Washington from Paine.  We learned a little bit about Charles Vincent Peale and his contributions to the APS including the bones of a mastodon which have since been destroyed in a fire.  Some current members of the APS are Sandra Day O’Connor, Neil Armstrong, and Jimmy Carter.  Today it continues as an institute to support research and the expansion of human knowledge.

The afternoon we spent a couple of hours at the Atwater-Kent Museum where we had a lecture on Philadelphia and abolitionist movement.  From this I learned about Philadelphia as a hub for the anti-slavery movement.  Again we were able to access documents and material resources that told the story of Philadelphia in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. One document we viewed was the “Declaration of the Anti-Slavery Convention” written in 1833.  For students it would be interesting to compare the idea of equality in this document with the ideas stated in the Declaration of Independence, and the Gettysburg Address.  Since the Anti-Slavery document bridged the years from the Constitution to the Gettysburg Address, it would be a unique perspective to explore.  I would NEVER do this with fifth graders, but if I were working with older students, I would divide them in groups for the readings of the documents and ask them to research the parts of the document that contained the phrases relating to equality and then layer that on top of some research about the geography and political climate of the time and place where the document was written. 

Other related ideas discussed in the afternoon session had to do with people’s views towards amalgamation versus equal but separate and also the fact that the Revolution forced the issue of equality itself.  The 1700’s were years that questioned the idea of status and social standing.  Philadelphia was the city where much of this took place.  On a continuum, they were at the forefront of much of much of this thinking with the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society, and the Free Produce Movement.  Well before any other colony took a stand, Philadelphia became known as a safe-haven for slaves not only by the white community but by the slaves themselves as evidenced in the story of the liberation of Jane Johnston (Johnson??).

There were many other interesting things about the two places we visited, but I will show you a few of them here at the end with photos.

 Journals of Lewis and Clark APSJefferson draft of the Declaration with edits by Arthur Lee

 Dunlap copy of the Declaration on capskin (only copy in existence)

 Fundraising document for the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  Pledges were made by four presidents and it is the only document that exists with all four signatures on it.  Washington pledged $100 unsure of the others.

 The Amish represent one of the many diverse groups of people whose beliefs caused them to reform and split off from an existing religion.  In this way they join the Pilgrims, the Puritans, Quakers, Mennonites and others who established themselves in the colonies in pre-Revolutionary War America. This is one way you could incorporate the learning of today’s trip into the classroom—by comparing the beliefs of these groups as well as looking at the broader picture of what made the colonies an ideal place for living if you were a reformist in the 17^th or early 18^th century.

Here is what I learned about the Amish.  They are Anababtists which means they believe in voluntary (adult) baptism.  They were first part of the Mennonite reform and later formed their own group under the leadership of Joseph Aman because they believed the Mennonites had become too lax. The Amish believe in following the teachings of Christ in all of their daily actions and part of this has to do with simplicity—excluding telephones, radios, televisions, automobiles, public utility electricity and fancy clothing from their lives. They also believe in service, community and unity with much of the structure of their lives focusing on helping and building bonds with others. They are also pacifists, but as stated in their informational film, this is a belief in “peace”(with a capital P) more than “not going to war.” 

Much of the above I already knew, but a few myths were also dispelled.  First, I thought the Amish lived in a closed community with very little interaction with the rest of the world.  I also did not know they would ride in cars even though they do not own or drive them and I did not realize the extent to which they have access to and use modern conveniences.  A more accurate way of describing their life style would be using alternative methods for powering machines rather than giving up on them together.  An example of this would be a horse drawn lawnmower which resembles in everyway a regular lawnmower except for the way it is moved.Our guide, Ada Fisher, also added some information about ways in which the Amish have and are changing.  She, herself, is an Amish/Mennonite who formed their own community because they disagreed with the severity of the practice of shunning.  When asked what she felt was the biggest change in the Amish community in the past several years, her reply was the increase in the number of taxi services that have sprung up just for the transportation of Amish from one place to the other.  This tells me that while the Amish will not bend their own belief about driving cars, they are becoming more and more comfortable with technology and conveniences it offers. The topic of change is another broad historical theme that can be explored in the classroom as it relates to the Amish people in the 21^st century.

There are many other interesting things about our visit to the Amish country.  A couple of quick footnotes are that the Amish believe in an “articulation by life” rather than by “word” meaning they choose to live by example and not by having to explain their faith to others.  I also learned that they are constantly balancing the two extremes of perfection and humility, and finally that you can look at them both culturally and religiously. The main religious difference, Ada cleared up for me, is not one of doctrine, but rather of practice.  This can be said of many of the protestant faiths as well.  Overall the day both informed and expanded my knowledge of this unique group of Americans.

This last picture was taken at the Allgyer’s Farm where we enjoyed an Amish meal.  Our guide Ada Fisher is on the porch with other 591 students. Amish houses are interspersed throughout the community, but can be told apart by the green shades.  The garden and surroundings of this home were beautiful and we enjoyed some after dinner singing by the family which is a part of their daily practice.

Not travel in stages (giddy-up), but travel in stages.  This is how the day began with our trip down to Christ Church where we attended the Sunday morning service.  And so, literally it was stage one of our daily activities via subway to 2^nd and Market.  Stage two we tried to navigate by committee from the downtown area to the Philadelphia Art Museum, which was a little bit like working a hand saw with eight people grabbing the handle.

How many teachers does it take to change a light bulb?  Eight.  One to change the bulb, six to turn the switch on and off, and one to say, “There’s a bus over there. Let’s get on it.”  This whole trip was complicated by a bike race, creating detours everywhere around the city and a “helpful” subway toll booth operator who obviously forgot there was anything going on above ground and recommended the bus in the first place. But, “I digress,” as Carol Berkin would say.

Travel in stages.  This was the theme of the sermon at church which was quite thoughtful and well presented. The Reverend Susan Richardson talked about our journey through life and our relationship with God as a balance between two beliefs—one extreme is that God is a micro-manager ( in every single one of our daily decisions), and on the other extreme that God creates us and then basically says, “I’m done.  You figure it out from here.” 

In a much more eloquent way, Reverend Richardson made a case for a belief that is somewhere in the middle.  God does not micro manage, or abandon us to fend for ourselves, but guides and nudges us a little at a time.  We travel in stages.    

So this seems like a pretty good metaphor for history—American or other.  Change happens over time, and our visit to the Philadelphia Art Museum illustrated this perfectly. As we walked through the exhibits, we witnessed the record of change as seen stylistically and technologically.  The art spanned centuries and crossed cultures using media that ranged from wood, textiles, glass, marble, paint, silver, natural fibers and more.  Nothing in the museum was created instantaneously but evolved through the creative process, molded by culture and the historical time period. Travel in stages.

One of the great things about museums is you can get lost in them.  I got lost in a room full of glass and learned about a pit mold that takes three people to operate.  One person holds the mold open while the glass blower puts the chunk of molten material in it.  The mold is closed, the glass is blown to fill the mold (which makes the design or impression on the glass) and a third person finishes the lip of the bottle.  Pretty interesting, and I have to say I spent a little too much time in this room because I didn’t get around to seeing some of the other galleries.  I did, however, see Van Gogh’s sunflower and some paintings by Cézanne, Monet, Manet and Renoir.  I wish I’d had time to walk down and see Rodin’s  “Thinker” but by that time the bus was ready to leave for the final stage(giddy-up) of our journey back to the University of Pennsylvania.

One of the questions that is being asked on this trip, is, “How do you plan to use this information in your classroom?”  It’s my belief that anytime you can learn or see something new and enriching, this will translate into a higher quality of learning for your students. That’s what all of today was about.

  Today on our trip we followed the movements of Washington chronologically from the winter before Valley Forge to the summer after.  Through the extremes of cold and heat, Washington continued to prove himself as an astute political and military leader.  With perfect timing, he moved into the area across the Delaware from Trenton just as Howe was leaving. With a bold plan in place, he made sure all of the boats along the river were moved to the Delaware side of the river to prevent the invasion of Philadelphia and then went about collecting his own fleet of Durham boats that were the best made at the time.  On December 25, in the middle of fog, freezing rain, and a river full of ice, Washington led his men across the river for an attack on Trenton.  He had the use of the McConkey and Johnston?? Ferries, and also had plans for two other officers to cross at different points and meet him on the other side for the battle.  The other two crossings failed, but Washington succeeded in routing 500 Hessians, capturing 900 and killing around 100.  It is believed the Hessian hubris had a part to play because their lack of respect for the American army led them to underestimate them.  This battle and the Battle of Princeton that followed about 10 days later are considered to be turning points in that they proved the mettle of the Continental Army as well as the capability of Washington.A second “turning point” followed the army’s winter at Valley Forge.  This was the Battle of Monmouth and according to the historian at that site, Washington never intended to make a battle stand, but to harass the British from the rear in a show of strength and also to box the enemy in at New York. These objectives were contrary to the British General Clinton’s.  Clinton believed he could fight the Americans and win, and so when he turned the rear of the army back to fight, his intention was to win.  One interesting side note is that it was at the Battle of Monmouth that Washington met General Lee (who wanted to dethrone Washington and take control of the army for himself) and they exchanged some words when they met.  No one knows the content of this exchange, but it is assumed Washington cleared up any misunderstandings about who was in charge. 

Most historians describe the Battle of Monmouth as a draw, but Garry the historian at the sight disagrees.  He believes that Washington accomplished his objective of making a “show” without unnecessary losses.  It was never intended to be a full blown battle.  And so this and one other myth was dispelled at the site—the myth of Molly Pitcher.  According to battle folklore there was a woman amid the battle, notably showing up more than one place at once, bringing water to the soldiers who were fighting in 90 degree plus temperatures, very much like the weather was for our tour.  There is a woman named Mary Hays who helped carry ammo for the cannons, but no Mary Pitcher that can be documented.

This brings me to another myth or maybe not a myth.  In Bodle’s book, on Valley Forge, he downplays the role Von Steubon played in the battle of Monmouth.  The Monmouth historians, as well as the Valley Forge park rangers, both agree that Von Steubon played a large role in shaping the Continental Army.  In the case of Monmouth, Garry Stone stated that Von Steubon’s technique for closing ranks and quick-marching, helped the Americans cross the bridge safely and quickly so that the cannons from Comb’s Hill could barrage the British and keep them from advancing. I guess this is a case in point that historians can disagree in both interpretation and how much emphasis they place on any one piece of research.

Overall,this was a cool (not literally) battle sight.  It was quite a bit more interesting than Princeton in both the presentation by the historian and also in understanding the strategy of Washington.  A couple of myths were dispelled, but Von Steubon, contrary to what Bodle says came back into the picture for me. I think it may be true what Bodle said in his book about the Battle of Monmouth not lending itself to Von Steubon’s tactics, but it was illustrated in at least one case that all of the drilling and practice came in handy.

“if we lived long enough and were good enough, God might permit us to be pirates.”  Mark Twain

After going through the Pirates exhibit at the Franklin Institute, I’m about to agree.  It was so well done and such fun to follow the story the sinking of the pirate ship, Whydah, and captain Sam Bellamy (1717) that I’m ready to sign up.  Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.  Even though it was not related directly to Franklin and his life, this had to be a highlight of the day.  I learned more about pirate ships and how they affected trade than I’d ever known before and it was fascinating how pirates made their life and their living.  I enjoyed learning about the pirate’s code of honor as well as how they split the booty.  If we’d been allowed to take pictures, I definitely would have taken one with the treasure chests overflowing with silver pieces, but many of the other items were fascinating, too, including the items that over time had been cemented together into large rusted lumps.

Other than that, Franklin as a scientist was fascinating.  After his 30 year career as a printer, he focused on both his political life and that of a scientist.  Not exactly in a linear way.  I believe he always was a scientist and approached life with a curiosity about almost everything, mixing a desire to solve practical problems with a genius to figure out how to make things work.  He was a keen observer of nature and was able to use those observations in his discoveries.  In the Franklin Hall, we saw models of his first electrical experiments and also models for other things including an apparatus to demonstrate “timing” and for the first time I understood the purpose of a timing light on an automobile, or at least old cars used to have these.  I’m clueless about what they have now with all of the electronic stuff.

Franklin was a genius by any standard.  It is said he was the best known American in the world because of his discovery of electricity.  He also was well read, well written, and well-liked especially in France where he was presented with a sword by Louis the XVI, and a set of tea cups by one of his lady friends.  These were among the artifacts shown to us by the curator of the institute.  Other items included a lightning rod made by Franklin, a book written by him and printed in 1751, his own personal silver tankard and the glass tube sent to Franklin from the English merchant and scientist, Peter Collinson.  We also saw money printed in Franklin’s print shop after he partnered up with David Hall.  Besides the denomination on the money, the words “To Counterfeit is Death” were printed on the bills.  This is probably a good place to end this blog.  Franklin, himself, was a one of a kind man…a leather-apron man and more. Any reproduction would be a counterfeit.

I loved the visit to the Constitution Center, especially the talk by Carol Berkin.  I could have listened to her all day.  Her anecdotes made the writers of the Constitution come to life, and while she repeated much of what she wrote about in her book, it was great to get a recap and her opinion which men she believed were truly genius (a very small percentage.)  Her list included Hamilton, Franklin, Dickenson, James Wilson, Guevernor Morris, and possibly James Madison.  The rest of the men, according to Berkin, were quite ordinary except for the fact they were landed, educated, and had access to both information and travel.  This group of men was bound together by a common goal and a common confidence in the fact that they had the right and the duty to rule.  What they were not confident about was that what they created would last, and according to Franklin, if it lasted for 10 years, it would be a success. Carol went on to say that the ideas in the Constitution were not new, but the combining of ideas to give power to both the states and the national government in what she called “divided sovereignty” is what elevated this document to the “genius” category.

 In summary, Carol believes that the writers of the constitution should be admired for the facts that they:  faced up to a crisis, entered into the Convention in a spirit of compromise, they were self-reflective—checking even their own desires for power—and finally, they were forward thinking enough to acknowledge that the Constitution should be flexible enough to allow for the changes in the future.  “Our Constitution is a living, breathing document.”

Aside from Berkin’s talk, the Constitution Center itself was an impressive place.  The three concentric circle design of the center emphasizes the ideas of Civic Knowledge, Public Action, and Democratic Deliberation.  One ideology of the center is that every teacher is a Civics teacher, and in the afternoon session we were given some examples of how to combine all three ideas into a single lesson.  The model can work with any type of lesson from fractions to learning adverbs, and I think it is a usable idea for the classroom.  Other resources were also shared including sites for where to get information on political office holders and where to go to locate and research both primary and secondary sources.

For me this day gets a rave review.  The other days were good, but this one was great in terms of sparking imagination, stimulating thought, and inspiring new ways to teach and integrate lessons about the Constitution into the classroom.

A little post script to this day is that in the middle of writing this blog, the emergency dorm evacuation siren went off with the loud robotic voice informing us to move to the nearest fire exit. (Do not use the elevators. Move to the stairwell.)  So we had a little walk down 10 flights of stairs and back up 10 flights of stairs because when we got back in the building, the elevators hadn’t been reset. Basically we had three cardiovascular thrills:  one walking down the steps, one walking back up, and one when the alarm went off.

I’m not exactly sure how I’ll apply this knowlege to the classroom.