Marching Toward the Sesquicentennial II

One of the projects keeping me busy lately has been developing and piloting Civil War curricular materials at the Peaks Island Elementary School. I have been doing this as a consultant for the Fifth Maine Regiment Museum as it prepares to assume a leading role in Maine’s Sesquicentennial Commemoration of the Civil War, beginning in 2011.

Over the past two years, the Fifth Maine has been gearing up for the sesquicentennial, beginning with the digitization of numerous items from our collection and the piloting of our "Writing with Light" lesson plans connecting the history of photography with the Civil War.

Then, last year we piloted a Civil War History summer camp, a successful program that we will run again this year.

We continued throughout the school year, working with third, fourth, and fifth graders on piloting additional curricular materials. Just last week, students culminated their studies with an impressive, student-composed theatrical and poetic performance depicting the Civil War era.

Now my efforts turn to revising the curricular materials that we piloted and posting them on the Fifth Maine’s website, in time for our professional development workshop on May 22nd, entitled “Teaching and Interpreting the Civil War: Are You Ready for the Sesquicentennial?” This workshop will pull together an exciting collection of presenters from the Pejepscot Historical Society, Maine Historical Society, King Middle School, Portland branch of the NAACP, and the Fifth Maine Regiment Museum. Collectively, we will explore our perspectives on how the Civil War is a Maine story.

Like our Bridging Museums and Schools workshop last year, we hope to gather a diverse group of participants from elementary and middle schools to museum and historical society volunteers and staff members. We will cover a range of topics, including: Maine's Underground Railroad, Civil War collections in Maine, teaching strategies using primary sources, and perspectives on relevance of Civil War history for Maine residents today. We plan to take a version of this workshop "on the road" over the coming year to reach historical societies or schools who are unable to attend at this time.

I hope you’ll consider joining us or help us pass the word. Further details and registration materials are available from the Fifth Maine Regiment Museum.