Spring 2016 Programs

Historical Maps 2.0: Using GIS in the Classroom to Promote Historical Thinking
Sugar River Professional Development Center
Claremont, NH

• March 3    8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

This workshop will provide an overview of online sources of historical maps and how to create and use maps to develop end enhance historical thinking skills. Compare before and after scenarios, mark change over time in a series of maps, give a tour of places/features with shared characteristics, explore a particular problem in depth. This workshop will explore the basics of building story maps and the different ways to display your information using publicly accessible Story Maps.

Nature’s Fury
Southeast Vermont Learning Collaborative, 

Dummerston, VT

• March 29   8:30 - 3:00

Large-scale current events are rooted in historical patterns of human adaptability. After a presentation about human response to major weather events in the past, participants will explore relevant primary sources and learn how to find primary sources at the Library of Congress website, using climate change as an example. They will have work time to explore the LOC and begin developing a classroom activity on a grade-appropriate topic.

Taking a Stand in the Antebellum Era

What does it take to stand up for an idea?  Why do some people choose to take action to address a wrong, while others choose to stand by and watch?  What do primary sources reveal about how people in the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire took action to address the problem of slavery during the antebellum era?

We have assembled a set of primary source packets that provide examples of how citizens took a stand for (or against) antislavery. Some individuals participated in direct action, some supported causes they believed in by making financial contributions, some took a stand through music, others took action even though their neighbors disapproved.

Thinking Skills:  Contextualizing documents; synthesizing primary source docs to answer an EQ.

Prior Knowledge Needed: These primary sources provide insight in to how men and women in the Upper Valley participated (or didn’t participate) in reform movements during the antebellum era. An overview of issues related to anti-slavery and women’s reform would be helpful–especially the Underground Railroad, the Fugitive Slave Act (1850), The Kansas/Nebraska Act

Link to the Packet

Process for Analyzing the Documents:

Step 1: Source the document

• Who wrote the document? 
• When was it written? 
• Where was it written? 
• Why was it written? 

Step 2: Closely read the document

• Underline key words the author used 
• Summarize what the document is about 

 Step 3: Contextualize the document

• What was going on at the time that might have influenced the person or people who created the document or are described by it? 
• Can you think of any noteworthy events or trends? 

Step 4: Make a claim

• How did the individual stand up for a principle or a belief? 
• What were some challenges or risks involved in taking such a stand? 
• What choices did the individual have in choosing to take a stand? 
• What might have been some consequences and effects of their actions? 
• Why do you think the person acted the way s/he did?

Neighborhoods Then and Now

Have you ever tried to sketch a map of your neighborhood? If you did, what would you include? What would your students include? What do you consider the center of your neighborhood? What bounds it?
David Sobel, in Mapmaking with Children: Sense of Place Education for the Elementary Years, discusses a developmental approach to children's understandings of maps and geography. He argues that if children begin with what is closest to them, mapping their own world first, they will then better understand more distant maps of time and place.

Before introducing historic maps, consider having your students begin with what they know. Have them draw their own neighborhoods and narrate their own stories of place.

Beers Atlas maps are very detailed maps of New England counties and towns from the late nineteenth century. These maps include the names and locations of residents and businesses as well as the locations of schools, churches, and cemeteries. In addition to maps, the county atlases provide statistical information, engravings of important businesses, town histories, and biographies of prominent citizens. Many of these atlases can be found in local libraries and historical societies; they are rare and should be treated with care. Some can be found online at: www.davidrumsey.com. You can purchases Beers maps at www.old-maps.com.  

Print out a map of your town or, better yet, go to your local library and make a clean photocopy. Then enlarge the map and cut it apart along the school district lines to make a puzzle. Hand each small group of students a puzzle piece using the following procedure.

Hand out Beers Puzzle Pieces

OBSERVE DETAILS

• Look in silence

• Find geographical features 1 by 1. 

•       Color river and water features blue; mountains green and make a key

• What cultural features can we find? Color schools red; churches yellow; railroads orange. Add to the key. 

ANALYZE THE PIECES

• What is at the center of the puzzle piece? Anything there? Lead them toward seeing that the centers of the neighborhoods usually have a school or church. Why is that?

• Choose a name/home. Trace a route to school.  Would a child need to go over/through major geographical features to get to school?

INTERPRETATION

• Put puzzle pieces together. What town is it?  Where is the school today? Where do students live? How would you trace route to school today?

• Look at businesses. What businesses are in this town? What sort of trading would be going on? Where’s the general store?

• How have neighborhoods changed?

• How does geography relate to settlement?

Here is another source for Beers maps of Vermont:http://middarchive.middlebury.edu/cdm/search/collection/vtmaps

Village Life Lesson: From Farm to Factory

Overview: The sheep boom created new work for women and girls. On the farm women and girls had many new chores to help process wool and prepare it for market. Jobs in the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, Manchester, New Hampshire, and other cities provided girls with new opportunities away from home.

Focusing Question

How did women’s work change with the sheep boom?

Topical Understandings

• The sheep boom spurred an increase in fulling mills (to wash wool), carding mills (to comb wool), and spinning mills in New England. These mills depended on rivers and streams for water power. 
• Farm women’s work became focused on processing wool. 
• Many farm girls left their homes to work in the new textile mills. 

Materials:

• Map and Worksheet: Vermont Textile Factories 1840—1849
• Diary excerpts from The Diaries of Sally and Pamela Brown and note-taking worksheet
• Letter Excerpts: AVermont girl goes to Lowell

Procedures:

1. As a class examine the Vermont Textile Factories map and use a Vermont state map to conclude that the factories were located on Vermont rivers and were water powered.

2. Provide students with the following two diary excerpts and note-taking worksheet.

The Diary of Sally Brown (born 1807) 1832 – 1838 Plymouth Notch, Vermont

June 1833 4. Tues. Worked about. A.M. Asa came down to attend the training*, brought Lephia and is to stay and  help Father shear sheep. In the evening finished knitting George’s stockings. 5. Wed. Worked about house. Tonight three men have come to shear the sheep Father is keeping for  Squire Walker. 6. Thurs. Worked about house. Susan found some ripe strawberries. The men finished shearing sheep. 7. Fri. Washed and did some other housework…Mother finished my gown. 8, Sat. Ironed and other housework. Marcia and I went to the old place for some green currents. 10, Mon. Helped milk morning and night. Did some chores and picked tag locks*. Father had given  lots of wool to me. Father has finished planting tiny potatoes. 11, Tues. Worked the same as yesterday. 12, Wed. Two Tin Peddlers stayed here tonight. 13, Thurs. Worked about house. Picked locks as I could get time. Mr. Pratt and Mr. Henry came  and bought Father’s wool. Two hundred and thirteen pounds. They gave fifty-three cents a pound.  He is to carry it to Woodstock Saturday or Monday. They were here to dinner… 14, Fri. Did some chores about house and finished picking tag locks except the dirtyest which I washed.  Last night was a heavy thunder shower. Today is some cloudy…

The Diary of Pamela Brown (born 1816) 1832 – 1838 Plymouth Notch, Vermont September 1836 Thur. Sept. 1st. Spun five skeins. Fri. 2nd. Spun some and went to the funeral. It was at Joseph Moore’s House. Mr. Davis preached. Sat. 3rd. After Mr. and Mrs. Jennison had gone I spun five skeins and worked on Marcia’s veil. Mon. 5th. Spun six skeins and began me a pair of stockings. Wed. 7th. Spun six skeins. Thurs. 8th. Spun two skeins and worked on my veil. Marcia and I went to the post office for a letter but found none. Friday. 9th. Spun six skeins. Silas and Rebbeca Brown and Mrs. Leland a girl Silas brought from Grafton took tea with us. Sun. 11th. I am twenty today. A rainy day. Mon. 12th. We had a housefull all day but they are all gone. Tues. 13th. Spun some stocking yarn to send to Michigan. Wed. 28th. The ground was white with snow this morning. Spun my days work and made Hannah’s’ work bag. I think it very handsome.

3.  Discuss their answers and summarize women’s work on a sheep farm. What sort of chores were they doing? Have students write a summary paragraph describing a woman’s typical day on the farm.
4. Provide students with the excerpts of Mary Paul’s letters. Ask them to take their own notes about work in a textile mill. Have students write a summary paragraph describing a woman’s typical day in a textile mill.
5. Create a 2-column chart comparing women’s work on the farm and women’s work in a textile mill.
6. Discuss as a class. Would they have left home to work in a textile mill? Why or why not?