At the Wisconsin Historical Society this morning, Karen shared “Thinking Like a Historian,” a tremendously useful graphic organizer I intend to usurp. She did mention that there was discussion of adding a “So What?” box to the page, but couldn’t come to a decision so they left it out. I don’t believe they omitted it, it’s in a different spot and linked to all of they other boxes. They asked, “Why Does It Matter?” on all four sections of the frame.
Thinking Like a Historian
Why history matters gets us into serious questions about who we are as teachers, who we are as a country and a people, and where we might head in the future. The question allows our students to get to the top levels of thinking about answers to these questions, as well as providing justification to administrators that we are challenging our students on the upper levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. As we have shown in our responses to Jane Addams personal life, “so what?” becomes dominant in the discussion. Does it matter if we know? Does it matter if we don’t know?
The speakers in the afternoon were captivating. I think I understand even more about the Progressive Era than I learned yesterday at Hull House. And yes, Stan Schultz can still work a room.
In the antiquities room, the interview with Angeline Tonso intrigued me. I had time to read almost the entire manuscript and I was struck by references I had heard when speaking with two aging retired miners an the little town of Aguilar in 1977-1978. I was a young fool and did not record those conversations at the time, though some stories remain with me.
A gentleman who was a young boy at the time remembered hiding a rifle under the bridge over the Apishapa River and shooting out the National Guard’s searchlights each night. Mrs. Tonso spoke of the holes people dug in one corner of their tent as a rootcellar, storing vegetables for the family. When shooting started, people would dive into the holes. I remember the tears in his eyes as one old miner told me he jumped into the hole on top of his wife and child, only to find that they had already been hit by bullets.
Striking Miners called it the "Death Car"
Mrs. Tonso related meeting Mother Jones, and after asking for a drink of water while she was speaking, a storeowner gave her a mug of beer that was usually served to the scab workers. Mother Jones threw the beer in the storekeeper’s face and told everyone she would not drink “scab beer.” It was a wonderful document and I wished I could have finished it. So what? It mattered to Mrs. Tonso speaking in 1983, while the interviewer recorded her breaking up and getting animated. It surely mattered to the men I met in Aguilar. These were the first stories they told me. It matters to our country as another chink in the armor of the American caste system, leading to others, such as women’s suffrage, the New Deal, and the Civil Rights movement.
The University of Wisconsin did Jonathan proud. I hope he didn’t have to badger Matt and Scott too much to add it to the itinerary.
The Aguilar discussions and your wish that you had recorded them in some way brings to mind talks (actually, just listening!) I had With my great uncle Looie in Pueblo. He worked as a “powder monkey” on the Hoover Dam, setting charges, and had stories about the precarious existence the men had who drove set the nitro charges. He also became friends with Jack Dempsey when he was still in southern Colorado, and once held onto his betting money until the “Manassa Mauler” signaled him from his corner of the ring that this would be the round that he would knock his opponent out! Uncle Looie was a very fit man even into his eighties and, when somebody did something that seemed wrong to him, would always say, “Now, ain’t that nervy?”.
I really wish I had written it all down…
By: cfest on June 13, 2009
at 6:41 am
Wow Paul, what a great connection to the Colorado camps. I too was stunned to read some of the manuscripts that mentioned the city of Trinidad, my home town. To think, I was reading names that were familiar to me in Madison, Wisconsin! Small world we live in, also a note to how great the history department was a the college.
By: Howard Mestas on June 17, 2009
at 9:58 pm
I find the question “so what?” extremely important in our lives as teachers. We have such a responsibility to our students. It is not about what the facts are surrounding the Progressive Era but what are we going to do with the information now that we have it. As a reading teacher it is important that students improve their reading but more important is what are they going to read and how will their reading influence their lives and affect their decisions. After reading Haymarket I think everyone should run out and join the union of their profession. If you cannot bring yourself to join then at least support CEA/NEA. People died to promote unions. What are we doing?
By: Darlene Derbigny on July 11, 2009
at 8:19 pm