Another fun filled day in New York. As I started out this morning I thought wistfully that today was the last day in New York City. As I look back on the week I think of all the wonderful experiences and new items of knowledge gained from this trip. As I looked at what I could most use, I thought colonial. I mostly teach from early history (Bering Land Bridge) through Reconstruction. As we went through the various days of early nineteenth century history, although I can use that information in some classes, I was very pleased to see the colonial side. I have not had as much experience in this area of history and am always pleased to have new information to bring to my students. Today was wonderful; it helped clear up how slavery affected New York. I now understood how the New York economy was so intimately tied to the south. I understood the trade but today it was interesting to tie in the political and social aspects of the affects of King Cotton South.
I was so pleased that once again we received a large amount of primary sources that we can use in class. So much of the time when using primary sources, there is a great deal of searching involved. The sources we were given today were very relevant to the curriculum of US History I. This idea of looking at the primary sources and using the simplified set of questions that we used to complete the assignment is easily transferred to my classroom. I have usually used the analysis document on the National Archives site, but these questions are much more useful for the lower level of students in my classroom. They can complete higher level thinking skills and analyze but it is not as deep as the National Archives sheet of questions.
As we continued our day we went to the Natural History Museum. And thanks to the finesse of my roommate Sheila we were able to visit the Silk Road Exhibit, for free. This was also very useful as I teach World History as well. They did a wonderful job displaying the economic impact of the trade route and all the unique items available because of this trade. We were discussing the book Salt and I believe that may be a book I want to read.
Today was an awesome wrap to our whirlwind tour of New York. As I a first time visitor, I feel that I have truly seen the city. I absolutely love the subway and wish that we had this type of mass transit to use in Colorado. This bus just does not cut it. This was truly a once in a lifetime trip.
