Although I thought that today at the Baseball Hall of Fame would not be relevant to anything that I would be teaching I was pleasantly surprised. The museum is set in the most picturesque town with baseball paraphernalia on every corner. As we traveled there I wondered how people in this area provided their living. There are beautiful farms but not a great deal of other industry to employ people. But as we pulled into town I was no longer wondering how people made their living. Clearly that is taken care of by the Hall of Fame. Walking through the halls I got a sense of what baseball meant to America. As people strolled through the exhibits with silent reverence, it was clear how respected this past time truly is. Our presenter was very enthusiasm about her job and that is always a pleasure. The variety of exhibits gave a bit so history on a multitude of genres. Its beginnings was interested, I had never know that the beginning of history was so contentious. I now know how it was invented, I think. I liked the Viva la Baseball exhibit; I knew that a great deal of baseball players moved here from Latin American countries, I was interested in how influential it was in Latin America. One of my most favorite exhibits was the Women in baseball. Not only were they players at different times in history, but they also wrote about, managed and owned teams. Their sphere of influence was more then just a pretty face.
The most useful part of the museum was the distance learning component. This is the piece I will bring back and use in my classroom, hopefully. In years past as I have taught geography, I have used basketball teams to help my students that were sport fanatics learn states. This always was a big hit. The students felt successful because they could relate to the material that was being taught. And this connection helps cement those ideas in their heads. Hopefully this year we will use the America History and Multicultural piece. Both of these, I am sure the students will be excited to do unfortunately it may have to be taught to a large classroom, but the expense piece is a reality.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that I enjoyed the day so much. The Hall of Fame was only one piece of history we saw today. The Fennimore Museum of Art, and the Farmers Museum was very interesting, I really liked all the items they had to offer. I was surprised to see such quality museums in such a small town. Surprisingly the one I will be most likely to use is the Baseball Hall of Fame. I am pleased I had the opportunity to visit it.
Ann, It’s pretty obvious that I enjoyed the Baseball Hall of Fame since I’m such a baseball nut but I have to admit I was a little overwhelmed with all that was presented at the Hall. I have known for a long time that baseball was tied into our past, but it was displayed in a way I would have never dreamed of. I spent quite a lot of time in front of the Jackie Robinson exhibit and watched some of the footage and interviews with him. I think it would be easy, when talking to classes about prejudice toward early immigrants, to bring up Jackie Robinson and the battle he fought playing America’s favorite game. There would be many similarities between Robinson and some immigrants–his color, their language, etc. I enjoyed reading your comments, especially since I know from talking to you that that wasn’t going to be your favorite stop on our whirlwind history tour. It’s always good to keep an open mind, and I think you did just that with the Baseball Hall of Fame!
Donna,
I had my hat handed to me on that one I was amazed at all that I saw at that museum. I was glad that I had the opportunity to see that.