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Several area teachers spent time this summer in the role of the student, learning about historical events, artistic movements and information technology.
Other teachers explored volunteerism by helping people in need.
PAUL BECKWITH
Angola Middle School science teacher
Tracing family history along Gen. John Hunt Morgan’s trail
ANGOLA — An Angola Middle School science teacher found his memoirs of a historical journey he took this summer published on the Smithsonian’s Web site.
Paul Beckwith took his 81-year-old father on Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan’s trail through Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio earlier this summer. In less than a month in 1863, Morgan led the longest cavalry raid of the Civil War, burning buildings, pillaging farms and stealing anything he could get his hands on.
Beckwith had an interest in Morgan because his great-grandmother, Mary Criss, was 7 years old when Morgan’s men raided her hometown of Monroeville, Ohio. Beckwith even has a picture of Criss revisiting her homestead in 1934 and her account of the raid as written by her son.
So, Beckwith started his journey where Morgan started his nearly 150 years ago — in McMinnville, Tenn. In four days, Beckwith traversed the same hills and windy roads as Morgan. Beckwith stayed in small, inexpensive hotels and filled his car with gas every chance he got.
“Morgan did it at a crazy pace,” Beckwith said. “I figured we could, too.”
One of the most memorable stops on his trip was a confederate hospital in Tebb’s Bend, Ky.
“There were still bloodstains on the floor,” Beckwith said, as he showed photographs of the aged building. A caretaker on the property explained that forensic analysts came in to evaluate the stains — and they were blood.
Beckwith and his father then headed to Bardstown, Ky., where they spent their first night in a room that rented for $37 per night. Beckwith wrote in a column published in The Herald Republican earlier this month that he ate at the Old Talbott Tavern.
“When a restaurant has hosted Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, William Henry Harrison, Gen. George Rodgers Clark, King Louis Phillipe of France, and Jesse James, they have the right to have Old in their name,” he wrote.
By the next day, Beckwith made it to Indiana, which he said contained the best-marked parts of Morgan’s trail.
Beckwith visited the Hoosier state’s first state capital, Corydon, for the first time and walked in Morgan’s footsteps on battlefields in the city.
Another stop on the trail was a small general store in Canton, Ind., between Salem and Scottsburg on S.R. 56. A wooden plank bench sat in the store, Beckwith said. The bench was made from planks from the old Salem Road, which Morgan’s raiders traversed.
“People along the way either knew exactly what we were doing, or were lost,” Beckwith said.
By the end of the second day, the pair made it to Lawrenceburg, where they slept under the glow of the lights from Seagram’s Distillery.
Beckwith describes his trip as going back in time. Many of the places Morgan’s men traveled have been built up with time; however, Beckwith said he occasionally encountered a “Morganism,” something happening today that reminded him of an event from the Civil War era.
For example, he saw people camping on the banks of a river where Morgan’s men once camped. Beckwith saw fields of tomatoes and melons and couldn’t help but envision Morgan’s men taking all the food they wanted.
AMANDA BLACKMAN
Forest Park Elementary School art teacher
Incorporating genealogy and history with art
KENDALLVILLE — Amanda Blackman is combing her artistic talents with her love of genealogy and history this summer, creating artist trading cards.
Blackman hopes her art students at Forest Park Elementary School in Fort Wayne will make tiny art this fall, too.
She creates cards, 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches in size, using cardboard, paper, feathers, tissue paper and anything else that’s at her fingertips. Blackman adds a vintage twist when she uses old postcards and photocopies of family photographs as her media.
After she makes the miniature artworks, she trades them with other artists. Blackman explained it not only makes art accessible, it allows artists to experiment on something much smaller than a canvas.
“It takes some imagination,” Blackman said as she adjusted a photo of her relatives on an old postcard.
She adds quotes and also attempts to combine the interests of her relatives with the other images on the cards.
“The biggest aesthetic is vintage and nostalgic,” Blackman said. She added that most people don’t have easy access to photographs of 19th century relatives, but artist trading cards can be carried in pockets, wallets or purses.
Last year, Blackman said, she added some colorful artist trading cards to her Christmas cards, and many people were pleased to get unique pieces of historical art.
SUSAN HAGUE
Albion Elementary School kindergarten teacher
Quilting slaves to freedom
FORT WAYNE — Susan Hague of Fort Wayne spent her summer traveling parts of the Underground Railroad and piecing fabrics to recreate quilts, which she believes once pointed slaves in the direction of freedom during the Civil War.
Hague, who has taught kindergarten at Albion Elementary School for 30 years, won an Eli Lilly Endowment Teachers Creativity grant to research the role of quilts in the Underground Railroad.
She read several books about Civil War-era quilt patterns, which some scholars say were secret codes slaves used to tell other slaves about escaping. Such quilts were hung in plain sight, and each sent a different message.
While on the path of the Underground Railroad in July, Hague spotted a possible coded quilt in a guest bedroom at abolitionist Frederick Douglas’ home in Washington, D.C. Hague explained the house and its contents are exactly as they appeared while Douglas was alive, including the bedspread.
The quilt, Hague said, bore a monkey-wrench pattern, which told slaves to pack tools and get ready for a long journey.
After visiting Douglas’ home, Hague and her husband, Kent, followed the Underground Railroad to Philadelphia, where storytellers shared tales of abolitionists, slaves and the path to freedom. Hague said the city had semi-circular benches set up so that storytellers could share “Once Upon a Nation” stories.
While there, the Hagues also visited the Liberty Bell, which was named by an abolitionist, Independence Hall, where the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, and a Quaker church. She also learned that Henry “Box” Brown literally mailed himself to freedom in Philadelphia to a place where the U.S. Mint is now located.
After visiting sites in the City of Brotherly Love, the Hagues headed north to Albany, N.Y., where they saw a house used in the Underground Railroad. Susan Hague said the house was in a bad neighborhood, so she jumped out of the car to take a picture, jumped back in and then continued on the path to freedom.
Then, the pair traveled to Lake Placid, where abolitionist John Brown owned a farm. Then, they ventured to Vermont, which local historians told Hague was a destination — not a stop — on the Underground Railroad. Experts also told Hague that Vermont ignored the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, which stated that all escaped slaves were to be returned to their masters.
After visiting Vermont, the pair moved onto another escaped slave destination: Canada.
When Hague returned to her Fort Wayne home, she began working on what she calls “Show Me the Way” quilts. She plans to use them as classroom teaching aids this fall. She also plans to make coded quilts with her class. Instead of depicting wagon wheels and monkey wrenches, she wants the children to make signals for music class, art and recess so that they have their own secret code.
Susan Hague’s recommended reads:
• “Hidden in Plain View,” by Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard, PhD.;
• “The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom” by Bettye Stroud; and
• “Underground Railroad Sampler,” by Eleanor Burns and Sue Bouchard.
SUSAN WHITTINGTON & Company
Northeast Indiana women connected by education
From politics to serving those in need
In 2008, DeKalb Central children services coordinator Susan Whittington — even though she describes herself as “not very political” — decided to start campaigning for Barack Obama.
“I never really have ever done anything, except voted,” Whittington said, describing her actions in politics.
Obama’s ideas, goals and community-minded politics convinced Whittington to make phone calls and knock on doors for votes.
After some time, she found six other women — three teachers, one librarian, a school volunteer and another retired children services coordinator — to join in supporting Obama. Between each other, the women — Tedra Hemingway, Connie Fullerton, Sue Randa, Sharon Zonker, Sue VerHage and Colette Marks — refer to themselves as “Women for Obama.”
During election season, the group met every week, working on Obama’s campaign in northeast Indiana.
After the election, the group still wanted to do something, so they decided to start helping those in need, carrying on Obama’s message that volunteerism is important.
Perhaps, too, Whittington was prompted to start volunteering after working one-on-one with children and observing that so many children were without basic needs. Whittington spoke of working with the Division of Family and Children and helping families get the help they so desperately need. She added that many teachers are in contact with families who are hungry, cold or wondering how they’re going to pay the bills.
“All of us are linked to education in some way,” Whittington said. “Educators are typically very generous.”
This summer, the group has helped lots of people, and most of their actions are under the cloak of anonymity.
They helped an ill woman clean and organize her apartment. They’ve taken fresh produce to local food banks. They’ve taken meals to people.
Whittington described their projects as having grassroots. She didn’t want to talk too much about the details of their projects, because the group members don’t want to reveal their identities to those they helped.
“Our whole idea — the message we want to convey — is that ordinary people can do extraordinary things,” Whittington said. “People don’t have to be part of an organization to be helping other people.”
SUSAN ZUBER
DeKalb High School biology teacher
Surprising Possibilities Imagined and Realized
Through Information Technology (SPIRIT)
WATERLOO — Susan Zuber can’t imagine not doing anything educationally stimulating during her summer vacation. Last year, she went to Princeton University, and this summer, she spent two weeks at Purdue University learning how she could incorporate new technology in her biology classroom at DeKalb High School.
Zuber, along with fellow teachers Barb and Tony O’Neal, applied to Surprising Possibilities Imagined and Realized Through Information Technology (SPIRIT) and earned a stipend to attend the event.
“Our technology is advancing so quickly. We’re lucky to have a supportive administration to embrace these programs for new technologies,” Zuber said.
She admittedly felt a little out of her league when learning about a software program, Alice, during the conference at Purdue.
“I like being in the student role and feeling out of place,” Zuber said. “I try to envision what they’re feeling.
“Alice is a program that allows you to understand problem-solving as you develop an animation program,” Zuber explained.
She said the software makes computer programming accessible in the classroom. She envisions her students using the program to animate the activities that take place within the human cell, rather than watching a Power Point presentation or giving an oral report on the cell’s functions.
“Students love working with technology and computers, and they’re very comfortable with it,” Zuber said. She added that her students will probably have a better grasp of the program than she does, as they’re very adept with their computer skills.
The conference also introduced teachers to information technology careers of the future.
“They’ve noticed there is a huge downward swing in women entering the information technology field,” Zuber said. “They’re hoping to get more women involved by showing them the branches of information technology.”
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