Revolutionary Reflections

As I have reflected on this amazing trip that we were able to take it is hard to sum up what we experience in a short paragraph because we saw so much. The three main places that stand out to me are first, the Adams homes. After reading about John Adams and also seeing the movie. I got chills as I stood in the homes that he lived in. It was so neat to see the furniture and belongings. The second place was Mystic, CT. This city did not have major connections to the Revolutionary War, but I am glad we stopped there because it was so beautiful . Since I have lived on the West coast my whole life seeing a seaport on the east coast was very memorable for me. The last of the three events is being inside of Independence Hall where the Constitution was created. This was also a place where I got chills, it is such a sacred place. I am just so grateful for the experience. I was able to learn so much from all of you. I know there are many many students that will benefit from this opportunity.

Miracle Philadelphia- A New Language

Noah Webster created Webster's American Spelling Book because American's were making up a new language. The College of William and Mary took special pains that their students learn correct pronunciation. Tutors were advertised as "educated in good schools upon the continent". A common phrase to complement someone on their speech would be "you speak good American". Some of the most common changed words were dew for do and tew for too. It is a fascinating idea that as the different groups of people came to America the pure English evolved into a new way of speaking.

Miracle at Philadelphia

During the convention the question of whether a man will confide in a government a thousand miles distant was brought up. It was a problem that was not familiar to the men at the convention. Many of the European countries were fairly small compared to the size of the United States. As they came up with ideas on giving states freedom to make laws and regulations they helped to solve the problem. I thought this quote was very fitting. " Federal liberty is to states what civil liberty is to private individuals. "

Joseph Hodgkins- 1776

Joseph Hodgkins wrote a letter to his wife after the battle at Brooklyn. He said, "I had my sleeve button shot out of my sleeve and the skin a little grazed, but through mercy received no other hurt." As his wife read this letter I am sure she was counting her blessings, but at the same time realizing how precious life is and how easily it can be taken. Many lost a family member in the Revolutionary War and for their sacrifice I am truly grateful that I live in a free country where I feel safe and blessed with many opportunities.

1776- Fire in New York

On September 20-21 a fire was started on the Southern Tip of New York and was blown quickly into a wildfire. Many people had to move a second even third time as they thought that they were safe in there first location but soon found out that the fire had caught up with them. I can't even imagine how horrible it would be to see most of the city you live in burned to the ground. We are so lucky to have resources that can better control similar situations.

Bitter Sweet Friendship- John Adams

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had a great relationship in the beginning while they worked on treaties and met with dignitaries from other countries to get support from them. When they returned to America. Their friendship started to sour and they lost contact for a while when John was Vice President. Later on Jefferson and Adams were able to reconcile and create amazing correspondence in letters to each other. They wrote about many topics over the years from war to family affairs. Ironically they both died on the same day July 4, 1826 and Adams last words were "Thomas Jefferson still survives".

John Adams

As I have read John Adams I have been amazed at what a dedicated man he was to this country. He had to leave his family so many times to take care of the business of creating a new country. When John told Abigail that he was going to leave once again, to France this time she said, "There is a cost to love". It truly was a cost for her. After being married for 14 years they had only spent half of it living together. While learning more about their relationship I think they are great examples of dealing with the give and take of marriage.

Simple Thanks

I was reviewing my notes and I just wanted to express gratitude and respect for the companies that made this all possible. The Larry H. Miller Education Project and Zions Bank History Seminar have stepped out of the everyday business world and made a huge difference in the education world. Thanks for dreaming big!

Post Trip Wrap Up

As I reflect this evening on our trip, I believe there were three important things I will take away from this experience. First, a better understanding of the placement of these events and what these places looked like and what these people went through. The whole "walk a mile in their shoes" kind of thing. I have gained a greater appreciation for how much work it was just to live let alone to communicate with the different colonies and create a unified front against a very formidable opponent. Second, a greater desire to learn more about everything in history so I can pass that information on to the next generation. I firmly believe that no matter whether you are a new immigrant or your family came to this country on the Mayflower, the culture and story of the US is the culture and story of us. Only by learning about our past can we avoid repeating the same mistakes and can we understand why we are as strong and powerful and sometimes pigheaded as we are today. We, ourselves and our students, want to be in this country for a reason and that reason is contained in our history. It is the history of US. Third, I am taking away from this experience a new desire to build and maintain friendships with fellow teachers. I have a lot to learn and the masters I got to share this seminar with taught me a lot and reminded me that I may teach history but I teach it to students who are excited to learn and it is my responsibility to fan that flame, not to douse it. Thank you all.
I'd be ungrateful if I didn't also take a moment to thank Mr. and Mrs. Larry H. Miller and all the other amazing people who made this experience possible. I keep calling it an experience because I can't think of a better word to describe it all. This seminar went far beyond learning to a exercise in friendshiping and self-discovery and many other activities and understandings. So, because I'm not very eloquent and I don't know a better way to express myself, I will keep it simple and say again, thank you so very much.

Philadelphia

Morristown and even to some extent Valley Forge have found a new home in my curriculum. In the past, I have touched on the hardships of winter during the Revolution but now I have stories I can tell of what happened and why the winters at these two camps were so different. I can bring to life the toils of the soldiers through a few of the stories I picked up while I was there. It won't have to take a lot of time out of my unit but it will make the events more meaningful.
As with all the locations/events we studied, the pictures Philadelphia will make everything more meaningful for my students. The huts at Morristown, the native structures contrasted with the British settlers' colony from Plimouth, and the National Constitution Center with Independence Hall in the background. Pictures truly can convey more than a thousand words ever could.
The tour through Independence Hall was amazing! I had looked forward to it the whole trip. Yet, I have to say the highlight for me was the National Constitution Center. I left that exhibit with a new,deep, and profound gratitude not only for the founding fathers and their foresight but also for the good leaders we have today and the indescribably courageous and selfless men and women who are fighting and are willing to fight for US to maintain our freedom today. As I left the Center, I actually felt the need to send a text to everyone I knew in the service and thank them for what they do.
Already I have changed what I do in the classroom because of the events of this day. I taught a summer school class after we got home and even though the class focused on the US between 1945 and 1989, I spent a lot of time explaining how events and decisions were influenced or effected by the Constitution and how the Constitution had been amended to reflect the changed America was facing. From now on in my classes, the US Constitution will be one of the continuous threads that ties the class together. No longer will I leave the Constitution and its intricacies for my government classes and just cover the broad strokes in US History.

New York

I've been to New York before. I've seen many of the places we went to on this trip but it was good for me to see them with a new purpose. Like Boston I very much enjoyed the day we spent walking, going at our own pace and setting our own goals for what we saw. Of course I loved that I got to Tiffany's, but I also developed a new love of Trinity Church. I must admit that the bus rides across the city to Prospect Park and back to Fort Washington were not as valuable to me as the time we spent getting there. As a suggestion for future trips, I would pick one or the other and not try to cross the city twice, especially in Monday morning traffic.
The one part of our trip to New York that should be given more time in the future was West Point. As a military historian, I thoroughly enjoyed those few hours. I could have spent days there. I must say a thank you to Gene and to our West Point guide. That was the highlight of the few days we got to spend in New York. The view from and stories of Fort Putnam and the chain across the Hudson will definitely become part of my classroom curriculum. I have not talked about any of these events in my class up to this point but I now feel I have done my students a disservice by not sharing these little stories with them.

Boston

I am so blogging illiterate that I hope this works!
Boston was a wonderful experience for me, as was the whole trip but I would like to make one post for each major stop so ...
The Mayflower was great as was the Addams' homes but the day that made Boston wonderful for me was the day we walked the Trail. We read about these places and that historical figures traveled from here to there but until you walk it, you have no concept of what that meant. For me, it was amazing to see how close things were to each other, and not just in the cities but the cities themselves. As I traveled the Trail, I realized how well these people must have known each other. They were "neighbors" in the 17th century form. Though these cities were large for the time, there was still a lot of undeveloped ground and space between homes. Though not all of them were intimate friends, as I walked I began to undertand the true nature of thier relationships.
The highlight of Boston, and arguably the entire trip for me, was the time we got to spend on the USS Constitution. This was mainly from a personal connection to the Navy and those who serve in that particular branch of the military. Yet, the Constitution was also the first frigate of that era I had ever been on and brought a new understanding to the perils and challenges faced by sailors of that war.
From Boston, I will take a new admiration for our founding fathers' humanity. I will teach my students to look beyond the myths and the demigod facades to the reality that these men were men, though unusually talented and insightful as they may have been.

SPAM

For some reason this blog was identified as SPAM. I have submitted a request for review to verify that it is not SPAM. You may still post as usual and do not have to worry that this is SPAM connected. If you have any questions please email me at tallen@morgan.k12.ut.us

Thanks
Terry

Extreme Gratitude

Extreme Gratitude
I first would like to express my extreme gratitude to Larry and Gale Miller for providing me with this opportunity. I am one who had never really traveled very much and had only seen the world through pictures and the stories of others. I come from a family of ten children where going to the McDonalds was considered the family vacation and although I loved the taste of those fresh French Fries they never brought me to tears. But then to be given such an amazing gift as this I became teary eyed a couple of times while on this trip. Both because of the amazing historical events that happened there along side with the notion that I was standing in these historically altering places because of someone's amazing generosity.
Gene kept using the phrase a "religious experience" and I had several while on this trip. The First and foremost has to be standing in Independence Hall. I stood there and closed my eyes and just listened imagining the sounds of John Adams and Ben Franklin pleading their case for Independence. What a phenomenal feeling to be standing in that room. The second would be going to Plymouth Rock. While standing along the shore I tried to imagine the Mayflower pulling into the bay. It was remarkable for me to think that this is where this great nation of ours started. There is a line from the movie "Good Will Hunting" where Robin Williams is telling Matt Damon’s character that no matter how smart he is he would never know how the Sistine Chapel smells by reading about it in a book. This is how I felt as I smelled that salty sea air and touched the water and ran my hand through the sand. I had seen this place in a book and even tried to describe it to my students. But standing there imagining I was back in 1620 when the Pilgrims first walked off the Mayflower and touched that heavenly soil for the first time. For those Pilgrims who were searching for that religious freedom I too shared that "Religious Experience" and then was over whelmed by a sense of patriotism and I couldn't help but think of my own religion and the freedoms that I now enjoy because of the great sacrifice of the Pilgrims. My third religious experience came from walking the grounds at West Point. Maybe it has extra significance because we are currently in a war and this is where our best and our brightest are trained to help retain the freedoms I so gratefully enjoy. It was fun to think about how West Point started during the Revolutionary War and continues today. It was pretty moving to stand at the top of the fort just above West Point and look over the Hudson River just as George Washington had. Another of my favorite things about West Point was to walk down trophy point where there were canons from our enemies from every conflict dating back to the Revolution.
These were just a few of many of the “religious experiences” as Gene would put it that I experienced. I will be able to take them and share them with my students hoping to ignite a passion in them for the History that Larry loved. I would like to just express once again my gratitude to Larry Miller for providing me with this opportunity.

July 4th

July 4^th takes on a new meaning after this seminar. Having the opportunity to visit historical sites with those who love history changes prospective. I appreciate all the insights and knowledge that was shared. For me, Washington’s Crossing was a wonderful climax to the trip. I often tell my students, “History is about people, everyday people, who applied themselves at pivotal moments and changed the world because they were there.” I think this applies to all those that made this seminar possible. One cannot fathom the ripple effect these 9 days will have on students and families in Utah. The river Washington and his men had to cross on that fateful night was wide and fraught with danger. But they did it and changed the course of history. Today, we have many wide rivers to cross as we teach America’s youth. I wish you all the best as you make the journey into history more real and meaningful for all our students. Happy July 4^th to everyone!

What do you mean-favorite?

First of all, sorry that my picture was so big on the other one-I've never posted a photo before. I really have to say that I cannot choose a favorite place that I went. I loved them all for their own reasons. Massachusetts was amazing for the personalizing that we could do with some of history's great men and landmarks. Even at Plymouth Rock, though we could say, "That's it?" it was more like, "Whoa, that's it!!!" Plus, this was really the place for the exercise! Mystic really brought a different cultural experience. New York made connections I'd never made before and I was able to cross a few things off of my life list of things to do. It was a place of perspective. The sites of the battles, forts, and winter camps were places of realization. Philadelphia brought places of celebration! In between on the bus and in the hotels, we were given places of friendship and amusement. That's a whole lot of enlightenment in just nine days.

Going through Withdrawls

Well, how do we get over not being around each other all the time? I've gotta say, I'm lonely. My cat just isn't as entertaining as the rest of you were. Is anyone else feeling almost lazy now? Man, I feel like if I haven't visited six or more historical places within three hours during my day that I haven't accomplished anything. I almost crave gas station quick lunches now! Anyway, *sniff*, I really am glad that I got to meet so many amazing teachers during our seminar. I feel honored to have been chosen for such an adventure. I can't wait to start sharing all that I learned and all the pictures I took with my upcoming students. Too bad my school doesn't have much of any kind of technology to work with, but I'll make due. I already had the chance to share with several of my district peers that many of the historical sites will send out teacher packets. They were all very excited to learn of that.
Thanks to everyone for making it a fantastic experience!