Hello everyone:
It's that time again!
Please respond to the following questions before February 1, 2009:
1. A brief summary of the seminar. Include any highlights for you – new information, a particularly useful exercise, a favorite moment. Be sure to identify the main historical themes and the core documents presented in the seminar.
2. What questions did the seminar raise for you and how will you follow-up on those questions? Will you need to do further research – and if so, how will you approach that research and what sources are available to you?
3. How would you use this material in the classroom?
4. How does the material presented in the seminar deepen your understanding of the relationship between representation and reality in the history of New England natives?
While posting reflections about the workshops may be a bit onerus at times, it fulfills the requirements both for those taking graduate course credit through Worcester State College and for the grant itself.
The four questions/reflection guides are meant to give each participant a chance to give his or her own "take" on te workshop and to invite others to give feedback.
It is the second aspect of the posting requirements that seems to be most difficult. How do we actually have an ongoing dialog about what we are learning in the workshops, what we hope to learn in the future, and where we are struggling--individually and as a group. Your feed back here will be most helpful for making this site truly interactive.
John
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1. A brief summary of the seminar.
ReplyDeleteAgain the theme of the “Vanishing Indian” was presented by Tom. This was a fascinating look at the disappearance as it appeared in the literature and art of the day. I try to include as much art as possible in my classes to get the kids to look beyond the obvious. The images we saw were terrific. The readings we had prior to the session were also thought provoking. In particular the whole “…Last of…” articles and novels gave me another perspective on appreciating the vanishing theme. The McKinney portfolios were wonderful. I had just completed a lesson on the Trail of Tears in my US classes so when I saw the painting of Major Ridge it was especially meaningful. Wish we had more time just to explore them for their own sake.
2. What questions did the seminar raise?
I’m impressed by the feeling of inevitability of the vanishing and the acceptance by seemingly all aspects of white society. There was very little opposition and what opposition there was seemed to accept the disappearance as matter of fact. Aside from the clash of cultures and assumed inferiority of the Indian, why were the people who actually didn’t disappear ignored? Why were they written out of the mainstream by the very people who were making a living representing them? I guess I’d like to examine issue of conflict of interest as it concerns the Indians and their protectors.
3. How would you use this material in the classroom?
I continually use references from our sessions anecdotally. The earlier session where Alice Nash presented a lecture on Manifest Destiny, I used as background information to examine the concept and to aid in having the students examine the John Gast “American Progress” painting. Images are very useful to get the kids to go beyond the readings.
4. How does the material presented in the seminar deepen your understanding of the relationship between representation and reality in the history of New England natives?
Each session adds to my appreciation of the experiences of New England Indians and Indians in other regions of the country. While New England Indians may have been the first to “vanish” they were not the last. As the non native population moved westward the more of the native peoples had to continue to vanish, and I’m not sure the vanishing was looked at as a melancholy fact of life. Assimilating the information from each seminar does help to paint a larger picture but at the same time continues to raise more questions of why did it really happen.
As far as the second requirement of the posting we all seem to be struggling with how to put the information we are using to effective use in the classroom. For me the interchange among the participants is invaluable. My understanding of the issues surrounding Indians has increased many fold, and while I realize there is an awful lot more to learn and think about, the learning aspect of the seminar seems to be working well. To get together with teachers at this level and in this forum is terrific. During our discussion at the teach back last week many of us expressed concern about how we can put what we are learning to practical classroom use and satisfy the Mass Frameworks we must follow. It was suggested that we set aside more time to actually create lessons to be used back at our schools. One suggestion was to perhaps dedicate some time during the summer institute. Another suggestion was to use the blog to work in teams to create lessons. With the talent we have we should be able to come up with some very nice materials.