Our first Summer Insititute is past and the response has been very positive. One of the things that we spoke about several times was making the blog a much more interactive part of our experience.
Why don't we start with individual feedback about the Institute.
What presentations worked best for you and why?
What did you learn that you truly never knew about before?
What ideas do you have about applying this in your classroom?
Over the next several weeks, lets share our insights and experiences with one another here so that when we come together again in October we can feel that the important dialogs we began this past week have continued.
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Wow there was a lot to digest, but now that some time has passed and I’ve had a chance to think about the Summer Institute I think I can offer some thoughts.
ReplyDeleteFirst off it was a terrific week. It was wonderful to get out of the classroom and into the classroom. The interaction with the other members of the group was very intellectually stimulating. I enjoy lectures, so I appreciated the presentations by the scholars. Tom as always was terrific as was David Silverman, Margaret Newell, Hillary Wys, Alden Vaugn, and Neal Salisbury.
I guess what surprised me the most was the attacks on Indian identity in New England. It was one thing to diminish the value of their culture and deprive these people of their property and freedom, but the efforts to “de-indianize” them and seemingly make them disappear was startling.
The lectures, primary sources and other resources that were made available to us will be invaluable in the classroom. I already created an introductory lesson giving an overview of the causes of conflict between Europeans and Indians. I’m also using this lesson as a way to reinforce document analysis skills with my students.
In the future I plan to create lessons highlighting economics, freedom, and identity.