Saturday, April 17, 2010
John Adams Part I
What's struck me the most about this biography so far is how much I didn't know about American History that I thought I knew. It's funny...you remember reading about the events (i.e. The Boston Massacre) in text books, but until I read about it in detail, I realized I knew virtually nothing. For example, I didn't know Adams was charged to represent the shooters in court. How ironic. I can imagine the disappointment of some of his colleagues, but when I read his quote about everyone having the right to a fair trial, I realized he was setting the tone for foundations of democracy we enjoy today.
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I agree, not until you read about the details do you really get a sense of what really happened during the Boston Massacre. The National Parks websites have great interactive lessons for teachers - I have used several of them in my 5th grade classroom to give the students more than just an overview of events. There is one associated with the Freedom Trail that you can use in your classroom on the Boston Massacre. When we reenacted the Boston Massacre trial in my classroom, the students were a little overwhelmed at first, but they soon got really into it. After hearing all of the testimonies, the "jury" really deliberated about the verdict - they came really close to the real verdict and had some real insight into what happened. After the activity, I shared one of my favorite quotes from John Adams - "facts are stubborn things and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictums of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
ReplyDeleteAfter I read John Adams last year, I borrowed the HBO series from the library. I absolutely love the courtroom scenes from the B.M. trial (although later edits from the book bothered me!) I'm enjoying reading the book the second time even more than the first. David McCullough is my hero! I am going to see him speak in SLC next Thursday night.
Ditto. I guess I could say the same thing to every entry. While I had a decent overview of American history, there is a ton of detail that I really didn't know. I'm thankful for the opportunity to spend some time with John Adams. I find myself wondering which way I would have gone with some of the issues presented.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I thought that I knew a lot about the history, especially since we teach it in 5th grade. However, with reading this book, there are so many things that I realized I left out.
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