Reflection
As children, we heard the Erie Canal song and were vaguely familiar with some of the technical aspects of the canal. However, as adults living in the southeast region of the country, we had not thought much about the Erie Canal until one of us was reading Peter Spier’s children’s book illustrating the classic song. At the back of the book Spier gives some historical context to the song. We looked at this together when considering topics to research and found the details of how the canal worked and life on the canal to be intriguing. After individually researching the topic, we were excited to realize that the Eric Canal had a profound impact on life in colonial America, and we wanted to know more.
We learned that it was extremely difficult for people to travel for personal or trade reasons because of the conditions of roads and water routes and that the Erie Canal opened up a whole new section of the country to settlers. In building the canal, new technologies were innovated and hydraulic engineering was born. Economically, people’s lives were changed dramatically because of access to a much larger variety of goods available at more affordable prices since the transportation was easier and faster. We were amazed to learn that the canal had served as a major factor in the exchange of information and ideas that lead to the success of the Women’s Rights movement, the spreading of certain religious ideas, and the effectiveness of the Underground Railroad. What we had once considered to be an ordinary waterway because of our unfamiliarity with it, turned out to be a fascinating and complex historical achievement that impacted Americans in ways still traceable today.
Each of us researched a general area of impact of the Erie Canal on colonial America. Christi examined transportation options before the canal and after its creation and how those transportation changes affected other areas of life at that time. Kate examined the implications to commerce and how the canal was financed and then helped to create a robust economy in the region. Lisa examined the complex social implications of the canal and how it was an invaluable factor in the progression of movements and ideas.
As teachers in the field, we will use this experience to help our students access history without becoming overwhelmed by the depth of options for research. We can create websites for them and encourage them to create their own websites that bring together various interpretations of historical events through writing, quotes, stories, pictures, games, music, video, and links to other multisensory learning options. We can also translate dense historical information into content that is on our students’ reading level. We can differentiate the learning experience by identifying and offering various research options that meet students’ reading readiness needs.
Also, this experience helped us to realize that history can come alive and be quite exciting when we put the time and effort into exploring it. Our passion for learning and connecting the dots of the past will hopefully translate to our students and inspire them to be inquirers. This project was a rich and engaging experience for us: we hope our students enjoy reading and interacting with the website as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Possible NCSCOS standards:
Essential Standard: 5.G.1: Understand how human activity has and continues to shape the United States.
Clarifying Objective: 5.G.1.2: Explain the positive and negative effects of human activity on the physical environment of the United States, past and present.
Essential Standard: 5.C.1: Understand how increased diversity resulted from migration, settlement patterns and economic development in the United States.
Clarifying Objective: 5.C.3.1: Explain how the movement of goods, ideas and various cultural groups influenced the development of regions in the United States.
As children, we heard the Erie Canal song and were vaguely familiar with some of the technical aspects of the canal. However, as adults living in the southeast region of the country, we had not thought much about the Erie Canal until one of us was reading Peter Spier’s children’s book illustrating the classic song. At the back of the book Spier gives some historical context to the song. We looked at this together when considering topics to research and found the details of how the canal worked and life on the canal to be intriguing. After individually researching the topic, we were excited to realize that the Eric Canal had a profound impact on life in colonial America, and we wanted to know more.
We learned that it was extremely difficult for people to travel for personal or trade reasons because of the conditions of roads and water routes and that the Erie Canal opened up a whole new section of the country to settlers. In building the canal, new technologies were innovated and hydraulic engineering was born. Economically, people’s lives were changed dramatically because of access to a much larger variety of goods available at more affordable prices since the transportation was easier and faster. We were amazed to learn that the canal had served as a major factor in the exchange of information and ideas that lead to the success of the Women’s Rights movement, the spreading of certain religious ideas, and the effectiveness of the Underground Railroad. What we had once considered to be an ordinary waterway because of our unfamiliarity with it, turned out to be a fascinating and complex historical achievement that impacted Americans in ways still traceable today.
Each of us researched a general area of impact of the Erie Canal on colonial America. Christi examined transportation options before the canal and after its creation and how those transportation changes affected other areas of life at that time. Kate examined the implications to commerce and how the canal was financed and then helped to create a robust economy in the region. Lisa examined the complex social implications of the canal and how it was an invaluable factor in the progression of movements and ideas.
As teachers in the field, we will use this experience to help our students access history without becoming overwhelmed by the depth of options for research. We can create websites for them and encourage them to create their own websites that bring together various interpretations of historical events through writing, quotes, stories, pictures, games, music, video, and links to other multisensory learning options. We can also translate dense historical information into content that is on our students’ reading level. We can differentiate the learning experience by identifying and offering various research options that meet students’ reading readiness needs.
Also, this experience helped us to realize that history can come alive and be quite exciting when we put the time and effort into exploring it. Our passion for learning and connecting the dots of the past will hopefully translate to our students and inspire them to be inquirers. This project was a rich and engaging experience for us: we hope our students enjoy reading and interacting with the website as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Possible NCSCOS standards:
Essential Standard: 5.G.1: Understand how human activity has and continues to shape the United States.
Clarifying Objective: 5.G.1.2: Explain the positive and negative effects of human activity on the physical environment of the United States, past and present.
Essential Standard: 5.C.1: Understand how increased diversity resulted from migration, settlement patterns and economic development in the United States.
Clarifying Objective: 5.C.3.1: Explain how the movement of goods, ideas and various cultural groups influenced the development of regions in the United States.
