As promised, for this blog post, I will let my students speak. I teach sixth grade at a public charter middle school on Cape Cod. I have 84 students in my ELA classes. They cycle through in groups of 14 this year, sitting in beach chairs on the classroom floor as stiff breezes scatter leaves … Continue reading The Students Speak
Thanksgiving Takeaway
The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity on the Thanksgiving front, as we head into the holidays and the first big break for students. From all of the webinars popping up in my inbox offering to help me teach about Pilgrims and Native Americans to the wild turkeys roaming serenely through my … Continue reading Thanksgiving Takeaway
Are You Listening?
This past week, I sent my students outside to listen. With a pandemic shaping the ways teachers work with students this year, I've redrawn the curriculum to include an opening unit on nature writing in order to maximize our outdoor time this fall. The act of being outside and engaging with the world using all … Continue reading Are You Listening?
The Cesar Family
As I referenced in an earlier post, I am piloting a class on slavery in Connecticut/New England. It is going to be entirely project-based learning. My only required text is Anne Farrow, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank’s spectacular Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery. At this inflection point, I feel fortunate … Continue reading The Cesar Family
A Public Archaeology: The Archaeology of Malaga Island
My field notes on display at the Maine State Museum Research centered on Malaga Island, in coastal Maine, in order to better understand the regional potential for assessment of the African-American experience in this portion of Casco Bay and Southwestern Maine. Given the shallow soils, dominant softwood forest and irregular rocky topography, much of the … Continue reading A Public Archaeology: The Archaeology of Malaga Island
Not finding what you’re looking for
This summer, all four of Penobscot Marine Museum’s remote interns conducted research related to ships participating in the slave trade or early Maine African American residents. The process tended to be challenging and they didn’t always find what they were looking for. High school intern Audrey described her experience looking for African American residents in … Continue reading Not finding what you’re looking for
The Prince Project
\Prince. His name was Prince. Later in his life, he was often known to some as Prince McLellan, but his last moniker came later. For most of his life, and in death, he was just Prince. He had his singular name because he was a slave, and that was the way it was with slaves. … Continue reading The Prince Project
