Here we are at the Fleur de Lys and Tomahawks course at Fort Ticonderoga, NY. We arrived on Sunday and met at the Super 8 Motel where we donned our French and Indian War Commerative Commission T-shirts and then headed up to the fort. We were to be there for the dedication of the new Deborah Clarke Mars Education Center at Fort Ticonderoga. The ceremony was brief but well attended. The French ambassador to the US and the NY Representative, Carolyn Maloney, were in attendance as were representatives of the Pell family. By all accounts it was a lovely ceremony and it was great to finally see the new addition to the fort open to the public.
The rest of Sunday was spent at the Country Club Restaurant where we got to know one another and at the Super 8 where we received an overview of the course and the French and Indian War. By 10.30, it was time to end the day and get ready for Monday.
More updates to follow.
Pete
Monday, July 7, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Living History Showcase
This past weekend the Living History Education Foundation sponsored a course for teachers that focused on Fort Montgomery. This course was designed to show teachers what they could possibly do with their classes on a day trip, or even an overnight trip, to Fort Montgomery.
The class began Saturday morning with the group of teachers setting up a company street for the tents and getting into period dress(we don't wear "costumes" in Living History). Once this was done we talked a little about setting up a program and what it takes to do that. We heard from teachers who have "been in the trenches" for a while and exchanged ideas about what to do and how to do it. After a bit of that, we were treated to a 2 hour showcase of students in various Living History programs from area schools.
The showcase was, perhaps,on the worst possible day given the intense heat, but the kids were absolute troopers! They did not let the heat get them down and they were impressive in their marching, music playing and excitement for our history. A great deal of gratitude goes out to the teachers and parents who made this all possible.
As a re-enactor and teacher, it was very encouraging to see these young people so dedicated and passionate about what they were doing. I truly believe that if we continue on supporting the Foundation and our students, that the sky is the limit. These kids showed us on Saturday what was possible if we just try.
Before I close, I would be remiss if I did not thank Grant Miller and his staff at Fort Montgomery for their continued professional support of the Foundation. I know that sometimes we make you nuts Grant, but we really do appreciate all of your hard work and that of your wonderful staff! Additionally, we should also thank the members of the 5th NY Regiment who were in attendance on Saturday to support the showcase. You all looked great and made it so look effortless.
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who attended the showcase and especially to the kids who had to wear those hot uniforms. You were all terrific!
Pete
The class began Saturday morning with the group of teachers setting up a company street for the tents and getting into period dress(we don't wear "costumes" in Living History). Once this was done we talked a little about setting up a program and what it takes to do that. We heard from teachers who have "been in the trenches" for a while and exchanged ideas about what to do and how to do it. After a bit of that, we were treated to a 2 hour showcase of students in various Living History programs from area schools.
The showcase was, perhaps,on the worst possible day given the intense heat, but the kids were absolute troopers! They did not let the heat get them down and they were impressive in their marching, music playing and excitement for our history. A great deal of gratitude goes out to the teachers and parents who made this all possible.
As a re-enactor and teacher, it was very encouraging to see these young people so dedicated and passionate about what they were doing. I truly believe that if we continue on supporting the Foundation and our students, that the sky is the limit. These kids showed us on Saturday what was possible if we just try.
Before I close, I would be remiss if I did not thank Grant Miller and his staff at Fort Montgomery for their continued professional support of the Foundation. I know that sometimes we make you nuts Grant, but we really do appreciate all of your hard work and that of your wonderful staff! Additionally, we should also thank the members of the 5th NY Regiment who were in attendance on Saturday to support the showcase. You all looked great and made it so look effortless.
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who attended the showcase and especially to the kids who had to wear those hot uniforms. You were all terrific!
Pete
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Summer Courses
Well, it is that time again. We, as educators, are beginning to look forward to the summer vacation and the freedom that comes with it. We are starting to think about where we are going to spend some off time and how great it will be to have those ten weeks off. Imagine camping out and getting back to nature for a little while or going for a swim in the cool, refreshing waters of Lake George. Yeah, I can't wait either.
Before we start to think about camping or going to Disney, let's think about taking a couple of classes and getting those credits up. Let's think about taking some Living History Education Foundation courses and let's think about brining our American history to our students in the fall in new and exciting ways that will guarantee they remember what they've been taught. Let's think about bringing history alive to our students and let's light a fire in them so that they visit Disney, but also want to visit Mount Vernon, Gettysburg and Saratoga. Let's think about making our classrooms place where they want to come and learn every day and not one they dread because "it's sooooo boooring." Let's make history fun again.
Let's think about looking at the LHEF web site at www.livinghistoryed.org and think about taking some of our courses this spring and summer. These courses are a great way to not only increase our credits, but they are a great way to help our students benefit from our experiences in the courses. Let's think about bringing our knowledge back to the classroom and putting our history into the hands of our students.
Don't you want to be a part of this exciting way to teach history to our students? Of course you do! Visit the Foundation Classes page on our site and consider taking a couple of courses with us. You won't regret it. I promise.
I hope to see you out on the trail this summer,
Pete
Before we start to think about camping or going to Disney, let's think about taking a couple of classes and getting those credits up. Let's think about taking some Living History Education Foundation courses and let's think about brining our American history to our students in the fall in new and exciting ways that will guarantee they remember what they've been taught. Let's think about bringing history alive to our students and let's light a fire in them so that they visit Disney, but also want to visit Mount Vernon, Gettysburg and Saratoga. Let's think about making our classrooms place where they want to come and learn every day and not one they dread because "it's sooooo boooring." Let's make history fun again.
Let's think about looking at the LHEF web site at www.livinghistoryed.org and think about taking some of our courses this spring and summer. These courses are a great way to not only increase our credits, but they are a great way to help our students benefit from our experiences in the courses. Let's think about bringing our knowledge back to the classroom and putting our history into the hands of our students.
Don't you want to be a part of this exciting way to teach history to our students? Of course you do! Visit the Foundation Classes page on our site and consider taking a couple of courses with us. You won't regret it. I promise.
I hope to see you out on the trail this summer,
Pete
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
A New Challenge
We at the Foundation have reached a point where we need some help. If you are reading this blog, then you are aware of the Foundation and what we do. However, not everyone is aware and we need to change that. If you are a teacher who has taken courses with the Foundation and or you have a Living History Program at your school, we would like to know what you think we could do get the word out to more teachers. If you are not one of out teachers, and you are reading this, we would also be interested in how you think we could spread the word about the Foundation more effectively. You can send any ideas or suggestions to us at webmaster@livinghistoryed.org because we really want to get more teachers and more students involved in Living History. Hopefully, we can more more teachers, students and adminstrators involved with the Foundation and continue our mission of honoring our past in the present with our future.
Thanks for readin'.
Pete
Thanks for readin'.
Pete
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Our Trip--Again.
Summer's finally here and it's time to think about the next school year before it is on top of us. I will finish up my April trip in this post and start to think about the next trip.
To finish up, our hike took us over the 1777 trail, over the Dunderburg and through Doodletown. During our trip, we made sure to use water breaks to teach our students about what they were seeing and doing. We used every opportunity to impart whatever we could upon our students so they would be fully immersed in the experience. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, bt it sure worked out better than I hoped. The questions they were asking were a direct result of experiencing the hike rather than reading about it and then each question built on the previous answer. The time, and the hike flew by and the kids didn' seem to want the trip to end.
Before the trip could end, Ed & I had p[romised the kids (again high school age with permission slips!) that they could fire blank cartridges from our muskets. Once we got back to Ft. Montgomery and went through a very detailed safety brief, we turned 4 muskets over to the kids and ran them through a real firing line. At first, some were hesitant and didn't want to fire because of the recoil. Once we assured them that there was no recoil, and they saw their friends fire, there was no holding some of them back. As we gave the command to "prime & load", the students had to follow a detailed procedureto load and then fire the weapon. They all saw immediately how much time this took and developed an appreciation for the Revolutionary War soldiers who had to do this with en enemy firing real lead back at them. Try that in a traditional classroom!!
I know. Some people will read this (I hope) and say that what we simply had a play day when we should have been in class learning. To the detractors I say, to teach history in the 21st century is akin to trying to juggle flaming chainsaws. Simply put, most students, at the high school level anyway, are not interested in history. That is, they are not interested in names, dates, battles and forgotten treaties. But, if you can put something into their hands, they will certainly have more interst in the subject matter and will have a greater prospect for learning and retaining the information that is being taught.
To that end, next year's trip will be to Stony Point Battlefield and we hope to have more kids than this year and to do an overnight as well. I think that as word of our program (soon to be a recognized club!!) spreads, more students will join and we will have a unique (in our District at least) program that benefits the students more than the talk and chalk model. So long as we keep our minds open and are willing to be flexible, we will only limited by our imaginations.
The next few posts should be about the LHEF courses that are being taught throughout the summer. I am personally taking the Fleur De Lis course at Fort Ticonderoga and will post about that course first hand in late July.
Thanks for readin'
Pete
To finish up, our hike took us over the 1777 trail, over the Dunderburg and through Doodletown. During our trip, we made sure to use water breaks to teach our students about what they were seeing and doing. We used every opportunity to impart whatever we could upon our students so they would be fully immersed in the experience. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, bt it sure worked out better than I hoped. The questions they were asking were a direct result of experiencing the hike rather than reading about it and then each question built on the previous answer. The time, and the hike flew by and the kids didn' seem to want the trip to end.
Before the trip could end, Ed & I had p[romised the kids (again high school age with permission slips!) that they could fire blank cartridges from our muskets. Once we got back to Ft. Montgomery and went through a very detailed safety brief, we turned 4 muskets over to the kids and ran them through a real firing line. At first, some were hesitant and didn't want to fire because of the recoil. Once we assured them that there was no recoil, and they saw their friends fire, there was no holding some of them back. As we gave the command to "prime & load", the students had to follow a detailed procedureto load and then fire the weapon. They all saw immediately how much time this took and developed an appreciation for the Revolutionary War soldiers who had to do this with en enemy firing real lead back at them. Try that in a traditional classroom!!
I know. Some people will read this (I hope) and say that what we simply had a play day when we should have been in class learning. To the detractors I say, to teach history in the 21st century is akin to trying to juggle flaming chainsaws. Simply put, most students, at the high school level anyway, are not interested in history. That is, they are not interested in names, dates, battles and forgotten treaties. But, if you can put something into their hands, they will certainly have more interst in the subject matter and will have a greater prospect for learning and retaining the information that is being taught.
To that end, next year's trip will be to Stony Point Battlefield and we hope to have more kids than this year and to do an overnight as well. I think that as word of our program (soon to be a recognized club!!) spreads, more students will join and we will have a unique (in our District at least) program that benefits the students more than the talk and chalk model. So long as we keep our minds open and are willing to be flexible, we will only limited by our imaginations.
The next few posts should be about the LHEF courses that are being taught throughout the summer. I am personally taking the Fleur De Lis course at Fort Ticonderoga and will post about that course first hand in late July.
Thanks for readin'
Pete
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Our Trip, Part 2
On Friday, the day of our trip, we made another mistake: We issued our students their gear in the morning at school. This should have been done the day before, after school so that things could have flowed more smoothly and the students could have had an opportunity to make the necessary sizing adjustments. We scheduled the bus for 8AM, but we did not roll out of the building until 8.35AM, which put a slight damper on the schedule. However, given weather constraints, this wasn't such a large issue.
Once we were moving, things proceeded well. We arrived at Fort Montgomery and were greeted by the outstanding staff, and the site director, Peter. They were ready to meet our needs in any way and were very accommodating in showing us the History Channel film about the Fort as well as the trailer for the new Visitors Center film that is due to be released any day now....
The films were instrumental in giving our students a better understanding of what it was they were about to embark upon. They had a much better sense after seeing the films what the significance of the fort and the Hudson Highlands was all about. In addition, they got to see my colleague, Ed, dressed as a Loyalist in one of the films and had the opportunity to give him some good-natured razzing.
As we left Fort Montgomery on the bus and headed south to the trail head on Route 9W, the heavens opened. Given how the weather had already impacted the trip, I was not surprised. Quite the opposite actually. I was silently hoping for rain as it would add to the experience. I certainly wanted none of my students to get hurt or sick, but I thought if they got a little wet as well as tired, then so much the better for living the life of a soldier. When we got off of the bus, no one seemed to mind the rain. Perhaps they were think the same way as I?
We started out hike on the west side of Route 9W at the 1777 Trail Head. (I had made this hike the day after Thanksgiving last year to gauge the level of difficulty. I wanted to make sure ahead of time that the students would be able to do this and to prepare them for what lay ahead.) The trail starts out with a little (very little) grade and then flattens out for a bit. Once we ran into the first steep incline, we marched a little bit more and then we stopped them for water. At this point we wanted to make sure everyone was still OK and then to give them a little insight into the trail and the march. A friend in the 5th NY Regiment, John Cronin, made use of this opportunity to tell the kids a bit about the trail and the style of marching and how hard a soldier's life would have been. Ed then jumped in with information specifically about the British and Loyalist experiences. We also discussed a bit about how the Rebels could have, had they enough manpower, put out pickets to harass the British as they advanced.
As we continued along the march, our students really got into the whole role of an 18th century soldier. Maybe it was the uniforms and the replica muskets, but the students really began to take hold of this idea and they became less 21st century and more 18th century. They certainly asked more questions than they had before which I think was a result of their actually being their and thinking about all of the "what if" scenarios. That alone was worth the trip.
That's it for now more to follow.
Thanks for readin'
Pete
Once we were moving, things proceeded well. We arrived at Fort Montgomery and were greeted by the outstanding staff, and the site director, Peter. They were ready to meet our needs in any way and were very accommodating in showing us the History Channel film about the Fort as well as the trailer for the new Visitors Center film that is due to be released any day now....
The films were instrumental in giving our students a better understanding of what it was they were about to embark upon. They had a much better sense after seeing the films what the significance of the fort and the Hudson Highlands was all about. In addition, they got to see my colleague, Ed, dressed as a Loyalist in one of the films and had the opportunity to give him some good-natured razzing.
As we left Fort Montgomery on the bus and headed south to the trail head on Route 9W, the heavens opened. Given how the weather had already impacted the trip, I was not surprised. Quite the opposite actually. I was silently hoping for rain as it would add to the experience. I certainly wanted none of my students to get hurt or sick, but I thought if they got a little wet as well as tired, then so much the better for living the life of a soldier. When we got off of the bus, no one seemed to mind the rain. Perhaps they were think the same way as I?
We started out hike on the west side of Route 9W at the 1777 Trail Head. (I had made this hike the day after Thanksgiving last year to gauge the level of difficulty. I wanted to make sure ahead of time that the students would be able to do this and to prepare them for what lay ahead.) The trail starts out with a little (very little) grade and then flattens out for a bit. Once we ran into the first steep incline, we marched a little bit more and then we stopped them for water. At this point we wanted to make sure everyone was still OK and then to give them a little insight into the trail and the march. A friend in the 5th NY Regiment, John Cronin, made use of this opportunity to tell the kids a bit about the trail and the style of marching and how hard a soldier's life would have been. Ed then jumped in with information specifically about the British and Loyalist experiences. We also discussed a bit about how the Rebels could have, had they enough manpower, put out pickets to harass the British as they advanced.
As we continued along the march, our students really got into the whole role of an 18th century soldier. Maybe it was the uniforms and the replica muskets, but the students really began to take hold of this idea and they became less 21st century and more 18th century. They certainly asked more questions than they had before which I think was a result of their actually being their and thinking about all of the "what if" scenarios. That alone was worth the trip.
That's it for now more to follow.
Thanks for readin'
Pete
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Our Trip Part I
Well, it's certainly been a while since my last post and for this I apologize. I guess that if you teach you know how things can go from calm to hectic in 3.2 seconds. That is exactly the way my life has been in recent months. That is also something that teachers of living history need to keep in mind when developing a program.
When my colleague, Ed, and I decided to create a living history program, we thought that it should really not take up much of our time at all. Ed has been doing living history for about 3 years now and I thought it would be pretty easy for me to jump in and get a club going. Was that ever an optimistic thought! What we though would be no big deal has turned into a very time-consuming, albeit, rewarding process during which we have managed to take 13 high school students into the field for a day as Revolutionary War soldiers.
What we've learned thus far I'd like to share with you now. Perhaps the most important thing that I've learned in the last 6 months is that you never have enough time to plan and organize a program like this. It is literally never to early to start the planning process and thinking about what it is that you want to do and what it is that you need to do. Maybe it won't work for all, especially in this digital age, but I have learned that I need to make lists and stay on top of the lists. Lists for what? Everything!! We needed to make sure we had all of the proper paperwork done and in on time to the district for approval and that by itself will often require multiple lists of things to accomplish. Why multiple? Because I found that there are numerous hoops to jump through and ancillary hoops that not only need to be jumped through, but jumped through again. Be sure that you keep a list of what you have done and what you need to do. In addition, be sure to keep copies of everything. We found that at the last second, our paperwork had been mislaid and the trip was in jeopardy just a couple of days before our departure date.
Because our paperwork was not forthcoming from the district, and because the weather was working against us (heavy rains & lightning predicted) we also neglected to put together a list for the attendance office of what students would be with us. The result of this little oversight resulted in one unhappy parent, numerous cut classes for the students with us and a phone call to the Attendance Office by the above mentioned parent who also said that a call to the principal was in order. All of these headaches could have been avoided had we been better prepared.
I will say that we absolutely dropped the ball as far as attendance was concerned, but we did manage to secure the bus back in October for an April trip. That was a huge sigh of relief for us as we would not have had the transportation paperwork in on time otherwise. For our next planned trip, we will have the paperwork in this June for next September/October. Of course that is our plan and we all know about the "best laid plans of mice and men...."
I will post again in the very near future and continue to recount what we did right and not so right for this trip. In the meantime, I would like to just say once again that the key to any trip of this nature is in the pre-planning stages. Remember: You never have enough time!
Until next time,
Pete K
When my colleague, Ed, and I decided to create a living history program, we thought that it should really not take up much of our time at all. Ed has been doing living history for about 3 years now and I thought it would be pretty easy for me to jump in and get a club going. Was that ever an optimistic thought! What we though would be no big deal has turned into a very time-consuming, albeit, rewarding process during which we have managed to take 13 high school students into the field for a day as Revolutionary War soldiers.
What we've learned thus far I'd like to share with you now. Perhaps the most important thing that I've learned in the last 6 months is that you never have enough time to plan and organize a program like this. It is literally never to early to start the planning process and thinking about what it is that you want to do and what it is that you need to do. Maybe it won't work for all, especially in this digital age, but I have learned that I need to make lists and stay on top of the lists. Lists for what? Everything!! We needed to make sure we had all of the proper paperwork done and in on time to the district for approval and that by itself will often require multiple lists of things to accomplish. Why multiple? Because I found that there are numerous hoops to jump through and ancillary hoops that not only need to be jumped through, but jumped through again. Be sure that you keep a list of what you have done and what you need to do. In addition, be sure to keep copies of everything. We found that at the last second, our paperwork had been mislaid and the trip was in jeopardy just a couple of days before our departure date.
Because our paperwork was not forthcoming from the district, and because the weather was working against us (heavy rains & lightning predicted) we also neglected to put together a list for the attendance office of what students would be with us. The result of this little oversight resulted in one unhappy parent, numerous cut classes for the students with us and a phone call to the Attendance Office by the above mentioned parent who also said that a call to the principal was in order. All of these headaches could have been avoided had we been better prepared.
I will say that we absolutely dropped the ball as far as attendance was concerned, but we did manage to secure the bus back in October for an April trip. That was a huge sigh of relief for us as we would not have had the transportation paperwork in on time otherwise. For our next planned trip, we will have the paperwork in this June for next September/October. Of course that is our plan and we all know about the "best laid plans of mice and men...."
I will post again in the very near future and continue to recount what we did right and not so right for this trip. In the meantime, I would like to just say once again that the key to any trip of this nature is in the pre-planning stages. Remember: You never have enough time!
Until next time,
Pete K
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