Madison, WI
June 12, 2009
Beth at the Wisconsin Historical Museum passed around different books used by teachers in the state of Wisconsin. It sounded as if everyone, regardless of their district, teaches the same material at each grade level throughout the state. One very useful guide was their “What Questions Do We Ask of the Past?” card. It requires students to think like historians. They need to answer such questions as “What were the causes of past events?”, “How does the past help make sense of the present?”, “How did past decisions or actions affect future choices?” and “How did people in the past view their world?” It began to sound a bit like DBQs. Their museum was very student friendly. There were hands-on activities for the students, as well as items that had to be analyzed. We definitely could learn much from Wisconsin and their standardized curriculum; they seemed so organized compared to Colorado.
Jonathan Pollack spoke about immigration trends and how they changed as the number of immigrants increased in the 1880s; the Chinese exclusion Act in 1882, the Japanese Exclusion Act in 1906. A man’s whole family was naturalized when he became a citizen; but that too changed in 1922. After 1922 each family member had to apply separately.
Harry Miller with the Wisconsin Historical Society gave us the society’s web site; it is full of information and images. I had the chance to view and take pictures of Henry Lloyd’s transcripts. The transcripts show how Lloyd felt about the Standard Oil Company. I also took pictures from their Great Depression collection, which is huge by the way; Harry said they have about 30,000 images online.
Stan Schultz, Dr. Reese’s former professor, spoke about the Progressive Era. He talked about the changes reformers wanted to make: women’s reproductive rights, immigration, and world affairs. The Progressive Era occurred between 1880 and 1930, yet we have the same “hot buttons” today. He explained how society blamed the poor for their own status before 1880, but after 1880 society was trying to provide services for the poor in an attempt to save society.
Chris,
I thought the books were a bit different from DBQ. The museum stuff was centered around the graphic organizer they developed which I thought could be useful.
Chris,
I agree with you that Wisconsin seems to be light years ahead of Colorado on writing curriculum. It would be nice if Colorado stepped up and organized. I liked the “Thinking Like A Historian” idea. It is simple, yet covers a great deal. I liked the museum setup, as well. I think the Odd Wisconsin idea would pull kids in because it was just bizarre at times. Kids like that. I liked Dr. Schultz. His presentation was informative, but it was his enthusiasm that impressed me the most. You could tell he loves to teach history. I hope I present that attitude to my students. I think if we are excited our students pick up on that.
David
This website will be a great asset in the future while looking at primary sources. It is interesting to see how a library in Wisconsin had original documents from Colorado and the Ludlow Massacre. This shows that the answer for something that we are looking for might be there all along.
Lindsey