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December 16, 2003

HARBOR SPRINGS

Award-winning teachers bring history to life

Their program gets kids out to historic sites

   Shay Elementary teachers Barbara Austin, Jan Dodge and Jeff Joneson created “A Year in Michigan,” a program that has evolved over the last 10 years.

   Like the saying “When in Rome,” the teachers for the Harbor Springs school district have found that when it comes to learning about Michigan, it’s best to get on the bus and visit historical sites throughout the state. To reinforce lessons in textbooks, they take students to the Soo Locks, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Fort Michilimackinac and the Mackinac Bridge.

   Staff from the Mackinac State Historic Parks Commission visit the school. Students visit the Flywheelers, a group in Boyne City whose members demonstrate traditional ways of spinning yarn, sawing logs, basket-making and blacksmithing. And musician Josh White Jr. of the Detroit Storyliving Project makes an annual visit to Harbor Springs to teach the youngsters about the Underground Railroad.

   The students do an integrated project where they make their own lighthouses, create a book on Michigan history and perform a concert of songs featuring their state.

   The students participate in a predatory-prey game at Nubs Nob, where they learn about animals and their environment and their role in the food chain.

   The highlight of the program in “The 24-Adventure” at Camp Daggett near Petoskey. There, students stay in cabins and learn about Michigan in the winter, animals and snowshoeing.

   Students’ horizons continue expanding in the fifth grade with a trip to the Detroit area to visit Greenfield Village, the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Detroit Zoo. They also take in a Detroit Tigers game.

   “They really take the idea of Michigan history right to heart,” said Shay Elementary principal Stephen Palmer. “The whole building falls right into this.”

   Austin, Dodge and Joneson were recently honored by the Michigan Historical Center Foundation with a 2003 Odyssey Award. Palmer nominated the team for the award, which recognizes teachers for their in-depth knowledge of Michigan history and for showing creativity and leadership in the classroom.

   “It was nice to be honored as a team because we try to work together in the various activities that we do,” Austin said.

   The teachers said they have gotten positive feedback from parents as well as former students, who tell them years later they enjoyed the program.

   “By the time the students finish fourth grade, they feel so lucky to live here because they have learned so much about the state,” Dodge said.