Day One: Religious Roots of Reform

• "Religion is neither inherently moral or immoral." 
• Bronson Alcott was a vegetarian, but didn't let his family eat root vegetables because he believed they grew toward the devil." 
• Henry David THUH-ro whipped six boys on the day before he resigned his post as school teacher in Concord.

"Historical Debate and Controversy"

I'm betting that even seasoned teachers of U.S. History heard some new ideas and information on the first day of the summer institute, and as I reviewed the day in my mind, I'm wondering about what sticks. Going over the "how" of all the content that was offered today: the day included group work that was largely constructivist (making meaning with the course text, the historical thinking benchmarks, and objects from the Thoreau collection at the Concord Museum) a 90-minute lecture from a leading scholar in the field, a field trip that placed us in the space where leading reformers lived, experimented, and debated ideas, and one that invited us to learn through modern museum exhibits, using objects and themed displays. Then, skimming for what rises to the surface of my memory from the day (listed in the bullets above), I remember a big idea, neatly packed, that happens to affirm what I already believed, a quirky, colorful fact that disturbs my schema of Bronson Alcott and transcendentalists in general, and a not-so-quirky fact that also disturbs my schema, in this case of Henry David Thoreau (and the sound of his name.) The question emerged--was he not a pacifist? Did I make that up in the association with civil disobedience?

John Stauffer's Lecture on the Religious Roots of Reform

So that happens. Not surprising. I think we all know that having a schema going into a learning situation is key to absorbing and processing more information about it. At the same time, I know that I can almost always do better at setting this up for students than I do--"front-loading," as educator Jeff Wilhelm called it, for improved comprehension. In today's case, Steve Mintz's lecture and book set the stage for John Stauffer's in-depth discussion of Millenialism for all of us. I'm sure we each have individual experiences as well of studying this material that are deepened and enhanced by approaching the material once again, from where we are today and from the new perspective. New connections were snapping left and right for me today: the last time I sat in Bronson Alcott's school building, over ten years ago, with 28 sixth grade girls, probably the toughest class I ever had, and certainly the most empowered. Now they are 22. A group of friends with whom I studied for a few years who had nothing but disdain for Thoreau because he wasn't transparent about the degree to which he was self-sufficient while living at Walden. Margaret Fuller's frustration with Emerson, muddied by her character in Ahab's Wife...

Despite appearances, "We live as we dream--alone." 

It's rich, and it is utterly enjoyable. But it didn't happen overnight. It took me years of trying to actually read more than a few passages of Walden. There was a novel, a graduate class on transatlantic literature during the period that I never finished, years of teaching history and English...how can I step into my student's shoes and engage them when they are at the very beginning of that journey? Would it be the same things that stuck with me today that would stick with them--the big idea neatly packed, the telling anecdote? I think maybe, even if they are resonating in a chamber that is more empty than lined with readings, images, and personal experiences. I think I should probably find out with tickets-to-leave and open-ended questions for homework and on assessments, and I look forward, always, to finding out. Realizing how much what I bring affects what I take away helps me hold the individuality of my students in my awareness. And although the bell schedule and the routines of the year can be tedious and constraining, and sometimes I don't feel that optimistic that it is even possible to meet students where they are--the learning and the learning about learning, hand-in-hand, make this work rich.