Igniting Your Personal and Professional Growth

Describe one or two, specific learning experiences from your fellowship. In words, show us this experience and explain why it was powerful.

My final stop on the last leg of my trip was to the plantation that once belonged to my family, the Middleton Place outside Charleston. I had grown up visiting this national landmark hearing from my father and grandmother about the greatness of the place. Since I last visited, the site had evolved in its interpretation and placed a new emphasis on the enslaved laborers. I took the “Beyond the Fields” tour and then spent a lot of time walking back along its route rethinking my own family story.

What did you learn about yourself? What did you learn professionally?

This was a trip experience that challenged me to “unlearn” some things I had previously been taught in order to truly educate myself about the Civil War. I spent a lot of attention trying to uncover stories of those often omitted by the monument landscape, such as the civilians or those enslaved who would later pick up arms. This included not just monuments, but also signage and interpretation. This has caused me to look reflectively on my own practices to to dissect the narrative that I hold.

What were some unplanned or unexpected experiences or outcomes of your fellowship? Or, how did the fellowship you crafted differ from the actual learning experience?

One large question that immediately entered my mind at the beginning of the trip was: whose experiences are omitted by our monument landscape? We have such large monuments highlighting generals and military feats, but there was so much more to the Civil Ware and so many more people engaged in this conflict. This led me to not only search for monuments to overlooked aspects, but also reflect on what message does this omission create.

Impacting Your Classroom, School and Community

Outline specific plans you have to implement your fellowship and reach your student goals.

Despite impact of anti-CRT restrictions, I am going to continue to build opportunities for students to reflect on the monuments I documented. Yet, I may avoid for the time being the deliberation on what to do in regard to Confederate monuments. Having taken over 1900 photos throughout the trip, I believe I have a lot of examples of different styles and purposes to foster discussion and reflection on the broader concept of historical memory using a new student analysis tool and discussion.

What is one way you can leverage your fellowship to create one authentic learning experience for students? (e.g. hands-on learning, projects, community engagement)

While I have identified places in my lessons on the Civil War to include monuments for discussion and analysis, I have also created a project where students design their own monument after exploring the monument landscape. Through this, students will reflect on the monuments studied, but also consider what a “national monument to the Civil War” would show or values reflected. The anti-CRT environment has led me to reconsider how to incorporate monuments, but I believe I've found a way to do so.

How, specifically, will your fellowship extend beyond your classroom? (e.g. families, school-at-large, afterschool groups, surrounding community, colleagues, etc.)

I have begun to design a professional development session geared towards high school teachers who lead their students in the study of the Civil War. This workshop would highlight the concept of historical memory, with a focus on the usage of monuments in the classroom to help students understand this concept. I have already worked on developing a tool for student analysis to introduce as well as resources and lesson ideas to incorporate.