Living North County (Click for Project Description)
Teacher Reflection: Taking a close look at what exists in our communities, in our own backyards was definitely the highlight of this project for me. So often, we think of history as what exists in books, but the truth is that we are constantly making history, and that history is living in our communities right here and now. This past year, I had to take my CSET for World History and World Geography for my teaching license. I bought a test prep book, and I began studying. My test prep book began in the Ancient Kush Empire and ended with Barack Obama's presidency. It dawned on me, as I stared at this book, how much is missing from the pages, and how beyond the here and now of my students' lives this material was. I do believe studying History with a capital H is important--please make no mistake. But in addition to this, I believe that students should see the value of their own local communities, of their own families and lineage, of the reasons, historically, why they find themselves here and now in this specific city. We were able to explore 6 north county communities that are home to our students (and to us, the teachers)! We visited Carlsbad, Encinitas, Escondido, Oceanside, Vista and San Marcos. One of the highlights of the field trips for me was watching our students hike through Annie's Canyon in Encinitas. The canyon is super narrow, and many students had never been hiking before, let alone through a steep, narrow trail. Every single one of the students took the challenge. Not a single student even tried to opt out. It was such an bonding moment for all of us, and afterward, several students decided to go do the hike once again. Inspired by my students, I chose to do the hike a second time as well. Another aspect of this project that inspired me as an educator and as a citizen of this North County community was the willingness of people to help. In Oceanside, the CA Surf Museum was super helpful and kind--even when we said we planned on bringing 60 high schoolers to their small space! Similarly, the folks at the Mission San Luis Rey bent their schedule around our schedule so that students could have a guide show them through the space. In San Marcos, we were able to see CSUSM, and take a walking field trip through the street that our school lives on. In Escondido, the CA Center of the Arts was so excited by our visit, they called the artist that was being featured and they brought the artist in to talk to our students! This is something I haven't always had access to as an adult interested in the arts! Vista was very helpful to us, and provided us insight into how the city works, and into the history of the adobe homes. The parents on our team helped get us to all of the locations, especially during the last day where we hiked through Encinitas and explored the beach community of Carlsbad. Being out in the world during this project was so important and inspiring to me, and it was such a gift that so many adults wanted to help. If I were to do this project over again, I would definitely make the group sizes smaller. Groups of 9 were difficult to manage throughout this project, but it seemed the only option since we only had time to do 6 different field trips to do field work in our communities. Perhaps we could have created two rooms of exhibitions, and people could observe the same city twice in two different rooms, and we could have cut down the group size to make them more manageable not just to us but in the collaboration that had to occur within the group. Overall, I'm so excited that we were able to make this project happen and grateful to all those who donated time, resources, and space to help make it come to life. I believe my students grew tremendously, and were able to see their communities in new, unique ways.
Student Reflections:
Matthew A: I live in San Marcos but I didn't know all the different facts and the history behind it. I liked seeing the different restaurants and places and stores in San Marcos that I didn't know of. Since it was a group of 9 people, I think we had great collaboration. We accomplished a lot and it shows in our box.
Mariana A: I liked getting to talk in Spanish during the exhibition. It was really fun. I got to practice my Spanish. It was fun being in Julio's class. I didn't know that San Marcos was known as a chicken park. The area we went to in Restaurant Row was interesting. In the Escondido group, we finished our box in time. I got to work with new people I hadn't worked with and I'm proud of that.
Jake S.: When we took the field trip to Oceanside, I felt like we had a lot of freedom on that trip. We got to walk around at the pier and get lunch and that was really cool. Also, the Surf Museum was really interesting, and it was cool to see Bethany Hamilton's surfboard. The building of the box was pretty fun too. There were times that it was stressful when things couldn't fit and you had to request for more, but at the end, seeing the finished project was pretty cool. I mean, we made that.
Dylan L: I think the field trips were my favorite part. We got to go and explore all of North County. Even though I'd been to all those places, I still haven't seen the actual places we went to. It was cool to see a place that I had never seen, that I didn't even know about. My favorite was the Oceanside one because I saw a lot of cool things like the CA Surf Museum. I'm proud of the overall building of our boxes and spinners. At first we were struggling with that, but when we made it happen, we were proud of ourselves.
Joseph G.: My favorite part was hiking Annie's Canyon because I don't usually get to go outside a lot and this time, it was pretty fun for me and it made me think maybe I should go outside more and appreciate what's around me more and not just look at what's on TV. I've always liked the group I was in--I liked collaborating with them. When we all push ourselves beyond our limits, we could reach what our goal is.
Matthew A: I live in San Marcos but I didn't know all the different facts and the history behind it. I liked seeing the different restaurants and places and stores in San Marcos that I didn't know of. Since it was a group of 9 people, I think we had great collaboration. We accomplished a lot and it shows in our box.
Mariana A: I liked getting to talk in Spanish during the exhibition. It was really fun. I got to practice my Spanish. It was fun being in Julio's class. I didn't know that San Marcos was known as a chicken park. The area we went to in Restaurant Row was interesting. In the Escondido group, we finished our box in time. I got to work with new people I hadn't worked with and I'm proud of that.
Jake S.: When we took the field trip to Oceanside, I felt like we had a lot of freedom on that trip. We got to walk around at the pier and get lunch and that was really cool. Also, the Surf Museum was really interesting, and it was cool to see Bethany Hamilton's surfboard. The building of the box was pretty fun too. There were times that it was stressful when things couldn't fit and you had to request for more, but at the end, seeing the finished project was pretty cool. I mean, we made that.
Dylan L: I think the field trips were my favorite part. We got to go and explore all of North County. Even though I'd been to all those places, I still haven't seen the actual places we went to. It was cool to see a place that I had never seen, that I didn't even know about. My favorite was the Oceanside one because I saw a lot of cool things like the CA Surf Museum. I'm proud of the overall building of our boxes and spinners. At first we were struggling with that, but when we made it happen, we were proud of ourselves.
Joseph G.: My favorite part was hiking Annie's Canyon because I don't usually get to go outside a lot and this time, it was pretty fun for me and it made me think maybe I should go outside more and appreciate what's around me more and not just look at what's on TV. I've always liked the group I was in--I liked collaborating with them. When we all push ourselves beyond our limits, we could reach what our goal is.
