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Todd
Langworthy
08
Project
Summary
Forestville Central School
Cushing Memorial Civil War Camp
Visit a Civil War reenactment camp and learn new ways to teach the
Civil War to your students !
Sponsored by the Teaching
American History Group in Chautauqua County
All
attendees will receive a special conference tote, as well as
a narrated tour of the camp with Camp Director Todd Langworthy. The
conference is free to the first 40 registrants. Teachers of
all grades are welcome, as material for all ages will be discussed.
Please dress for being outside, as the camp is located in the field
located just inside the rear entrance to the high School off of
Lakeview Avenue. An optional Happy Hour will also be
hosted at the Fredonia Beaver Club from 6:00-8:00
PM for all conference attendees featuring free light
refreshments and a cash bar. Registration is required by May 9th,
2008. Reservation accepted on a first come, first served basis so
get your reservation in as soon as possible. All attendees will also
receive a certificate of completion that may be used for
professional development credit depending on your school district.
Cushing Memorial
Civil War Camp
Teachers Conference
June 6, 2008 from
4:00 – 6:00 PM
Hosted by Fredonia
High School
By Todd Langworthy,
Camp Commander
The 3rd
annual Cushing Memorial Civil War Camp featured six different
stations that were visited by students, as well as a trip to the
local Barker Museum. Over 600 students went through the camp during
the day, which is an increase over the prior 2 years. The stations
were manned by myself, Cushing’s Battery Reenactment group, local
reenactor Joe Bolivard and the Collins Confederate Signal Corps from
Angola. Titles of each station were: Life of a Soldier, Artillery,
Women of the Civil War Period, Civil War Medicine, The Confederacy
and Fredonia’s Alonzo Cushing.. Visits to each station lasted 30
minutes.
For the
Teacher’s Conference, I personally guided eleven teachers through
the camp and visited each station that students visited during the
day. The reenactors took a much different approach speaking to the
teachers, by getting out of character and talking about their
particular station. Each reenactor spoke about how their topic might
be taught to students, while sharing particular facts about the
topic at hand. Teachers were also given time to ask questions at
each station, which really became the best part of the experience.
The teachers that attended really enjoyed this opportunity for
question-answer, based on the feedback I received after the
conference.
For next
year, the biggest improvement we can make will be to get the
information out to area teachers sooner in an effort to bring more
in. The late start we had this year probably cost us a number of
attendees, but this was to be expected for a first year project.
The teachers were all very happy with what they received for
attending the conference, so all of their word of mouth advertising
will certainly help us in the future.
Overall,
the conference was a success in its first year based on the
responses I received from those that attended. All we can do for the
future is get the information out sooner and continue to listen to
those that attend for ways to make the conference more beneficial to
educators. This strategy has helped the camp during the day for
students become very successful, so the same approach is sure to
help the conference grow as well in 2009 and beyond.
Cushing Memorial
Civil War Camp
June 6, 2008
Hosted by Fredonia
High School
By Todd Langworthy,
Camp Commander
The 3rd
annual Cushing Memorial Civil War Camp featured six different
stations that were visited by students, as well as a trip to the
local Barker Museum. Over 600 students went through the camp this
year, which is an increase over the prior 2 years. The stations were
manned by myself, Cushing’s Battery Reenactment group, local
reenactor Joe Bolivard and the Collins Confederate Signal Corps from
Angola. Titles of each station were: Life of a Soldier, Artillery,
Women of the Civil War Period, Civil War Medicine, The Confederacy
and Fredonia’s Alonzo Cushing.. Visits to each station lasted 30
minutes.
The success
of the camp is due largely to the hands-on nature of the experience,
which gives students a chance to see the soldiers in their typical
uniforms and equipment. Students seem to enjoy the opportunity to be
outside and just talk to the reenactors about the war in order to
learn about topics that may be of interest to them. The success of
the camp is also due to the quality of the stations. The people who
work the camp every year are truly top-notch, which gives the camp a
professionalism that teachers appreciate when bringing their
students.
One area of
improvement for next year would be to change the focus of the age
group brought to the camp. For three years we have targeted 11th
grade U.S. History students, while allowing Middle School students
if room permitted. Due to the increased number of requests I have
received from Middle Schools, I believe we could attract far more
students if we changed are target age to 7th and 8th
grade. We will continue to allow 11th grade students to
attend, but we will now allow Middle School teachers to register
regularly rather than being put on a list to await confirmation. The
enthusiasm of the younger students matches the camp very well, so I
feel this will be a positive move that will allow us to grow
exponentially while maintaining the quality we have become known
for.
Another
area we may change is the visit to the Barker Museum in Fredonia. A
few schools stated the Barker visit is nice, but the parking and
drop-off problems in Fredonia are difficult to negotiate. Teachers
felt that students might learn more in the allotted time if they
stayed at the camp and visited two or three more stations. For 2009,
we will look at adding stations at the camp to keep students there,
rather than include the Barker visit. This would make scheduling for
myself a whole lot easier as well.
In
conclusion, our camp has proven to be a great experience for
everyone involved. We continue to listen to those that attend every
year for new ideas to make things better. By listening to the
feedback we have received, we have continued to grow each year. My
goal for 2009 will be to put over one thousand students through the
camp. I see no reason why this can’t be achieved based on the
improvements we plan to make for next year.
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