Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: April 10, 2012
Would you like to see student projects kicked up a notch and move students more towards inquiry based learning? Looking for ideas to share with other educators. The Library of Congress Teachers Page Build and Deliver professional development section has two activities for inquiry training session. Understanding the inquiry process Participants will work in groups [...]
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: March 2, 2012
A while ago I joined students on a field trip to the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota. We enjoyed a presentation featuring live eagles and learned about conversation and the eagle as our national symbol. Old Abe, the Wisconsin War Eagle is the subject of a special display. The field trip was ideal for [...]
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: December 19, 2011
This class changed my teaching forever. It was powerful! Congratulations to science teacher Stacey Balbach who will be speaking about Primary Sources Science at the National Science Teachers Convention in March 2012. Way to go! When she was a student in Teaching With Primary Sources, a Wisconsin science teacher discovered primary sources are not just [...]
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: November 13, 2011
Yesterday’s trip to the Reads Landing Brewing Company turned out to be a history lesson. We’ve driven through the Mississippi River town of Reads Landing countless times, but hadn’t ever turned off Highway 61. First stop: the Wabasha County Historical Society. The museum’s brochure describes the building, built in 1870, is the oldest schoolhouse in [...]
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: November 8, 2011
One more travel adventures post with a local history theme! Our visit to Hibbing was a pleasant surprise. We discovered a lovely city and enjoyed visiting variety of interesting sites. The Hull Rust Mahoning Mine, is the largest open pit operational mine in the world and nicknamed “The Grand Canyon of the North.” We climbed aboard equipment [...]
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: October 21, 2011
What’s the connection between the phrase ignorance is bliss, Alexander Graham Bell’s induction device, the insanity plea, an apparatus used to treat polio patients, and the assassination of President James Garfield? What son of a famous American was present at both Garfield’s assassination attempt and President McKinley’s? It’s all in Candice Millard’s incredibly fascinating and [...]
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: October 14, 2011
I can’t find the trolls under the Winona Wagon Bridge, but they were abundant on our road trip to Mt. Horeb in Southeast Wisconsin. Mt. Horeb was settled by Norwegian immigrants in the 1820′s and proudly celebrates its Norwegian Heritage with trolls along its Trollway main street, museums, gift shops, and Little Norway, a historic [...]
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: October 2, 2011
My husband and I had a one-day trip to Mason City and Clear Lake, Iowa. We should have made it a two-day trip and stayed at the newly renovated Park Inn Hotel, the only Frank Lloyd Wright Wright designed hotel remaining in the world. 76 Trombones welcomed us to Music Man Square where we learned [...]
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: September 26, 2011
” Mary Alice can do the e-newsletter; she has the tech skills; She got us all using Google Docs. “ It’s fun to be recognized for my tech skills and glad to put them to use in many ways. But. . . .it’s all relative! Someone always knows and can do more than us; someone [...]
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: September 24, 2011
Doors Open Milwaukee, an event planned to get people into over 100 historic buildings, museums, corporate offices, hotels, breweries, homes and more is happening this weekend. The exciting event is an opportunity for folks to see places we don’t always take the time to visit and learn about their community. The organizers describe Doors Open [...]
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: September 12, 2011
A university student’s eyes lit up when I said I taught a course for teachers on using primary sources in the classroom! I learned about them in high school; I’m glad I did; my university professors expect us to know how to find them and use them for research. I wish we had used them [...]
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: August 29, 2011
Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! Musicians from Wisconsin’s First Brigade Band brought 150 year-old Civil War brass instruments, a drum, stories, and songs to the Winona County History Center and made the Civil War come alive at an August program. We heard the sounds and stories of brass instruments representing over 200 in a collection at a [...]
