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.