Interact Simulation curriculum

[David Mauldin]

 Has anyone ever heard/done Interact?  They are social study units that really engaged students in the learning process. This is done by competition.  Students team together to "Travel to the gold fields" or "Sail to the missions"  Currently I am doing "Pilgrims"  It goes into the lives of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation.  I am learning a lot about these people. Apparently they were very idealistic and took their chances. (They didn't take much forthought in traveling across the Atlantic in September. They thought they would have time to plant crops in New England and harvest them before winter.They didn't even move off the Mayflower until the end of December. Half of them died in the first 4 months.)  Anyone know very much about them?  I am beginning to think they were pretty stupid. Anyway the curriculum rocks!

[matthew r. sciaini]

Has anyone ever heard/done Interact?  They are social study units that really engaged students in the learning process. This is done by competition.  Students team together to "Travel to the gold fields" or "Sail to the missions"  Currently I am doing "Pilgrims"  It goes into the lives of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation.  I am learning a lot about these people. Apparently they were very idealistic and took their chances. (They didn't take much forthought in traveling across the Atlantic in September. They thought they would have time to plant crops in New England and harvest them before winter.They didn't even move off the Mayflower until the end of December. Half of them died in the first 4 months.)  Anyone know very much about them?  I am beginning to think they were pretty stupid. Anyway the curriculum rocks!

Dave:

I remember hearing about the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth ROCK, but never have heard of the place referred to as a "plantation".  Most of what is now Massachusetts is pretty poor farmland. 

Also, why are you heaping scorn on people who had enough guts to leave their native land and travel to a place unknown to them?    Does the curriculum "rock" in your opinion because it seems to show a bunch of white people as dullards? 

Matt

[Oscar]

To whom it may concern     

The Brownists, the folks who we know as the Pilgrims, had a difficult time getting permission to leave England.  The government kept switching its policy back and forth. The folks who owned the Mayflower couldn't just sneak out, they had to return to England and do business there.

Earlier, they had moved to Holland...but they left for the same reasons that modern people home school their kids.  They wanted to protect their children from what they saw as corrupting influences in Dutch society.  Plus, their kids were becoming more Dutch than English.

 Their departure was delayed by several factors including the funding.  They signed a contract with an investment company to get the money for the trip.

They paid it all back by shipping fish, furs, and lumber back to England over the next several years.

Also, they were trying to get to Virginia, which has a much milder climate than Massachussetts.  Their charter said Virginia.  But their GPS system wasn't as accurate as ours are. 

The place was known as the Plymouth Plantation.  I think theyt spelled it "Plimoth".

Thomas Maddux

[al Hartman]

The place was known as the Plymouth Plantation.  I think theyt spelled it "Plimoth".

Right you are.  The Plimoth Plantation, in its original location, functions today as a living history museum-- one of the best, with highly knowledgeable costumed reenactors conversing with visitors in the English of the era.  Cathy & I were there a couple of years ago-- fascinating!

See:  http://www.plimoth.org/

al

[M2]

Has anyone ever heard/done Interact?  They are social study units that really engaged students in the learning process. This is done by competition.  Students team together to "Travel to the gold fields" or "Sail to the missions"  Currently I am doing "Pilgrims"  It goes into the lives of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation.  I am learning a lot about these people. Apparently they were very idealistic and took their chances. (They didn't take much forthought in traveling across the Atlantic in September. They thought they would have time to plant crops in New England and harvest them before winter.They didn't even move off the Mayflower until the end of December. Half of them died in the first 4 months.)  Anyone know very much about them?  I am beginning to think they were pretty stupid. Anyway the curriculum rocks!

We have seen the Rock and visited the Mayflower II and Plimoth Plantation.  It was quite an experience.
Tragic that so many did not survive the voyage.  That was the nature of travel/life in those days.  We enjoy the benefits today of what those "brave" souls suffered to establish.
Thanksgiving is still widely celebrated with family in the States, moreso than in Canada.

The Plimoth Plantation, in its original location, functions today as a living history museum-- one of the best, with highly knowledgeable costumed reenactors conversing with visitors in the English of the era.  Cathy & I were there a couple of years ago-- fascinating!

See:  http://www.plimoth.org/

al

Al, there is a pioneer village about 1 hour south of Ottawa called Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg ON.  It is not as authentic as Plimoth, but, if you have the time, you might find it interesting to visit on your way in to or out of Ottawa.  It might be open for the season, or maybe it only opens after the May long weekend.

Marcia

[David Mauldin]

   I love colonial history I envy you people who are closer to the Eastern parts of our country. (I am planning to visit these places! I long to visit Williamsburg.)  I also love studying about the Pilgrims (Seperatist) It reminds me very much about "Life Together" Marcia, my impression of the passenger quarters must have been very cramped. A hundred people lived in this place for three months? (Being cooped up like this would have driven me crazy) Yes it was a plantation. We are building a replica model. Has anyone seen the PBS "reality T.V." series? I can't remember the title.  Yet I won't let my admiration for these people  cloud the obvious. Why couldn't they just wait till next spring as did many of there sect? It seems to me that they just took foolish chances. Was it their 'Faith" "Just trust the Lord Saints"? Hope this doesn't offend anyone.  Has anyone ever used Interact??

[Eulaha L. Long]

The Pilgrims also slaughtered the Indians (Native Americans).

[vernecarty]

The Pilgrims also slaughtered the Indians (Native Americans).

Sad but true. I think when you look at all the events of that period, you can see divine interference.
They would not have survived without help from the Indians. Tisquantum and Samoset are responsible for saving the lives of these folk.
Verne

[Oscar]

The Pilgrims also slaughtered the Indians (Native Americans).

Actually the Pilgrims were very careful to maintain peace with the indians.  They signed a peace treaty with massasoit, the local chief.  They settled on land abandoned by Squanto's tribe.  It was abandoned because the entire tribe had died off from smallpox caught from English fishermen who had had a seasonal fish-drying/trading post nearby for a few years.  Disease was the principle killer of the indigenous population of both North and South America.

Squanto was living in Spain and England during that period, so he escaped that particular epidemic.


The Pilgrims honored the treaty for many years, although there was an incident when an armed party of Pilgrims went to an indian village and demanded that an indian who had killed a Pilgrim be turned over to be hanged.
He was.

The peace ended after the death of Massasoit, after his son took over as cheif.  The Pequot war began when the indians staged a coordinated surprise attack on several white settlements simultaneously.  Most of the towns they attacked were Puritan settlements of the Massachussetts Bay colony, but Plimoth was attacked as well.

Yes, they did slaughter a bunch of indians in the war that followed.  But the cost of the Pequot War was the death of 1/12 of the white settlers of New England.   So...seems to me the Indians did some slaughtering of their own.

"Just the facts, Maam" (Joe Friday).

Thomas Maddux

[David Mauldin]

Why the curriculum rocks!  Imagine for a moment siting down in a class of 35 people and all of you have been given a medical journal.  Teacher: "Today we are going to study about medicine" "O.K."  "Chapter 1"  "Medicine is a very important aspect of our society...."    This is what it is like for thousands of students in Califorinia schools everyday!   The texts are dry lifeless volumes of facts.  Yet an interact unit engages students in the learning process. In the pilgrims unit, students compete in teams to try and get accross the Atlatic before winter!  They do this by writing papers!  Papers are graded by spelling, grammar etc...  You would be surprised how much this makes a difference in their work!  Almost all the papers have no errors!  A MIRACLE!!!!!!!

[Eulaha L. Long]

Here is an excellent article regarding the slaughter of Indians

***************************************************************************************

Speech by Moonanum James, Co-Leader of United American Indians of New England

at the 29th National Day of Mourning, November 26, 1998



Good afternoon Sisters and Brothers:

On October 19th of this year, a little over 30 days ago, United American Indians of New England and the Town of Plymouth signed a most historically significant document. Under the terms of this settlement agreement, the frame-up charges against 25 of us from last year were dropped. Plymouth has provided funds for a Native educational project and also for two historical plaques in town, one here on Cole's Hill and one in Post Office Square, that will have factual information about National Day of Mourning and about the true history of the pilgrim invasion. Finally, Plymouth has recognized our right to have National Day of Mourning here every year and to march in Plymouth without a permit.

This settlement with Plymouth marks the first time since 1620 that the pilgrims have been forced to stop taking and start giving something back to the Native people.

This victory was made possible because of the support of people from not only this area but from across the country and around the world. Countless thousands of people signed petitions, sent faxes, made telephone calls, and wrote letters supporting our struggle for justice. Also key was the support and sacrifice of the Plymouth 25 themselves, the 25 people, from the four directions, who were arrested last year for the supposed "crime" of supporting our struggle. Many of the Plymouth 25 are here today, and we want to acknowledge them and recognize them as heroes in the people's struggle.

I will not now recount the events that took place on National Day of Mourning 1997. Those who witnessed what happened to us at the hands of the combined forces of the state will long remember what happened. For Native people it was just one more incident in a long history of our mistreatment at the hands of the European invaders. We have not forgotten, we well remember, the long, bloody trail of European conquest that led from early settlements like Plymouth to places like Great Swamp, Sand Creek, and Wounded Knee.

National Day of Mourning began in this manner: Nearly 30 years ago a Wampanoag man, Wamsutta Frank James, was invited to address a gathering of so-called dignitaries celebrating the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrims. When he attempted to tell the truth, he was told his words were not acceptable. The planners of the gathering, fearing the truth, told him he could speak only if he were willing to speak false words in praise of the white man. He refused. National Day of Mourning came into being as a result of his refusal to speak untrue words.

Many times over the past year we have been asked what is the true history of thanksgiving. This comes as no surprise. The truth has been buried for over 375 years. The first Thanksgiving did not occur in 1621 when the pilgrim survivors of the first winter sat down to dinner with their Indian friends. The first official day of thanksgiving and feasting in Massachusetts was proclaimed by Gov. Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637. He did this to give thanks for the safe return of men from the colony who had gone to what is now Mystic, Connecticut to participate in the massacre of over 700 Pequot men, women and children.

What happened in October of 1621 may have been a harvest home, but the Indians who attended were not even invited by the Pilgrims, who considered our people to be devils. No turkey, cranberry sauce, or pumpkin pie was served. Just days before this alleged thanksgiving communion, a company of pilgrims led by Myles Standish actively sought the head of a local chief. The pilgrims deliberately caused a rivalry between two friendly Indians, pitting one against the other in the classic European method of divide and conquer. An 11 foot high wall was erected around the entire Plymouth settlement for the purpose of keeping the Indians out.

Native people do not give thanks just one day a year. Every day, we thank the Creator for this beautiful earth and for our survival. But we will not give thanks for the European invasion of our country. We will not celebrate the theft of our lands and the genocide of our people. We will not sing and dance to please the tourists who come here seeking a Disneyland version of history. Attention all tourists: If you are expecting us to put on a show, you would be better advised to go down to Plymouth Rock and watch the tide wash over it.

That first Day of Mourning back in 1970 was a powerful demonstration of Native unity. Today is a powerful demonstration of not only Native unity, but of the unity of all people from the Four Directions who want the truth to be told and want to see an end to the oppressive system brought to these shores by the Pilgrim invaders.

There are those who feel threatened by the movement that we are building when we come together at National Day of Mourning. There are those who would have us be good Indians and act like a conquered people and beg for the scraps from the Thanksgiving table.

But these attacks are merely spit in the winds of change.

Some ask us: Will you ever stop protesting? Some day we will stop protesting: We will stop protesting when the merchants of Plymouth are no longer making millions of dollars off the blood of our slaughtered ancestors. We will stop protesting when we can act as sovereign nations on our own land without the interference of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and what Sitting Bull called the "favorite ration chiefs." When corporations stop polluting our mother, the earth. When racism has been eradicated. When the oppression of Two-Spirited people is a thing of the past. We will stop protesting when homeless people have homes and no child goes to bed hungry. When police brutality no longer exists in communities of color. We will stop protesting when Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu Jamal and the Puerto Rican independentistas and all the political prisoners are free.

Until then, the struggle will continue.

Today, we will correct some history and do so in a country that continues to glorify butchers such as Christopher Columbus, glorifies slave-owning presidents such as Washington and Jefferson and even carves their faces into the sacred Black Hills of the Lakota.

But we have a lot more to talk about than the pilgrims or what happened in the 1600s. We will also be speaking today, as we have every year since 1970, about conditions in Indian country today, about the racism which we face on a daily basis. We are here, as we have been for 28 years, to unite people and to speak the truth. On our program will be only Native speakers. This is one day when we speak for ourselves, without non-Native people, so-called "experts," intervening to interpret and speak for us. We are more than capable of speaking for ourselves.

Today, for a few hours, we are gathered here in liberated territory. Our very presence frees this land from the lies of the history books, the profiteers, and the mythmakers. We will remember and honor all of our ancestors in struggle who went before us. We will speak truth to power. We will remember in particular all of our sisters and brothers, including Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu Jamal, who are caged in the iron houses.

We are not vanishing. We are not conquered. We are as strong as ever.

[vernecarty]

Interesting article Eulaha. I will say this much and I mean no disrespect to Tom. I have learned to be extremely careful about what is often presented as "history". I generally try to avoid these kinds of topics because I ususally end up offending somebody by debunking what are often fondly-held beliefs. You can imagine how people in Illinois react when I raise questons about Lincoln's moral purity regarding his supposed freeing of African slaves for instance. What some folk fail to realise is that that often those writing the commonly accepted record of "history" did not always do so objectively and without ulterior motives. If you know anyting about Black American history for example (read the French accounts of what happened in Haiti with L'Overture for example and you will get quite a laugh) you know how much editing went on on the part of some of our white brethren. Another good example is the history of the American Cowboy.
How many history books told you as a kid about the Tuskegee airimen and the colorful matter of "buffalo soldiers" I wonder? 
You also did not read about the "Tuskegee Experiment" now didja?
The notion that the Indians bore sole responsibility for the conflict that erupted, and that the Eiuropeans bore no culpability for the part they played in what transpired is one such fabrication.
Verne

[M2]

   I love colonial history I envy you people who are closer to the Eastern parts of our country. (I am planning to visit these places! I long to visit Williamsburg.)  I also love studying about the Pilgrims (Seperatist) It reminds me very much about "Life Together" Marcia, my impression of the passenger quarters must have been very cramped. A hundred people lived in this place for three months? (Being cooped up like this would have driven me crazy) Yes it was a plantation. We are building a replica model. Has anyone seen the PBS "reality T.V." series? I can't remember the title.  Yet I won't let my admiration for these people  cloud the obvious. Why couldn't they just wait till next spring as did many of there sect? It seems to me that they just took foolish chances. Was it their 'Faith" "Just trust the Lord Saints"? Hope this doesn't offend anyone.  Has anyone ever used Interact??

Hi David,

With hindsight, it does look like it was foolish to attempt to make it across the Atlantic in time to plant and harvest a crop.  Yes, the sleeping quarters were quite cramped; not as cramped as a submarine, but quite cramped nonetheless.

re. history in general, we've visited Gettysburg after having seen the movie at home first, and we've also seen the site of Custer's last stand where the Indians scalped him.  Interesting that though the sites a open rolling hills, they have significance only because of the historical events.

Blessings,
Marcia