Genealogy Makes History Come Alive!

Student project

Here is my second interview for NERGC. Catherine "Casey" Zahn is the author of two teachers' guides on genealogy, available from Heritage Books (search her last name). She enjoys sharing her passion for genealogy with her students as a way to make history come alive. She was the program chair for the FGS conference in Philadelphia and speaks frequently at state and regional conferences. This will be her first time speaking at NERGC, a conference she loves.

• Can you tell me a little bit about your teaching background? 

I have been teaching for over 30 years -mainly in elementary school. My school district was a farming community in the early 80s and is now part of the NYC/Philly suburbs. My class is a diverse one represented by many different cultures. I became a teacher because I thought it would be fun to teach...and it has been! I also have been using genealogy with great success for the past 25 years and give lectures/classes at the adult level as well as high school.

• For those who are not familiar with the Common Core State Standards, what parts are most aligned with the work of genealogical researchers and family historians?  

Believe it or not, many of the aspects of the CCSS are very familiar to genealogists and historians. The state where I teach recently adopted the  newest Social Studies standards that align well with skills a genealogist uses. From learning about a child's neighborhood in the elementary school to discovering how the cultures in the community impact the people who live there parallel nicely with genealogy. Children are asked to study how their communities changed over time, create maps and diagrams, to compare their lives to those of their neighbors in the past and to use digital information to make discoveries. There are even standards on immigration and the immigration process.

• What is the benefit of using research about one's family to teach or reinforce these skills for students?

There is a huge benefit of using genealogy research -your own or a child's- to make Social Studies come to life for the children. If you are teaching about colonial times and happen to have an ancestor who played a role in establishing the community, what better way to portray his/her life in the community at the time it was established? My students love it when I tell them stories about my seafaring ancestor and when I portray him as the captain of the ship they are sailing on when they  are sailing to the English colonies in colonial times. The best part is that any ancestor can cross time and pop in a conversation on any subject.

 

Making social studies relevant to a child's place/home/time can also have a huge impact. For example, every year I give a presentation about the township where I teach. The class loves it when they discover Ben Franklin walked through their town when he ran away from Boston. This year was fabulous because one of my children lives on the road where he passed by. Talk about a teachable moment!

 

• What has been your biggest challenge? 

The biggest challenge is my most frustrating one...how do we teachers keep not only our own students but colleagues and the public, in general, interested in history? I find it appalling that late night hosts get a laugh at the ignorance of people who can't tell their reporters who was the first president of the US or if Hawaii is a state. (By the way I love to floor my children when I tell them that George  Washington was NOT the first president-He was the first under the US Constitution!) Politicians mess up matters by demanding that teachers need to prepare students for the future and to work in a global economy. But when will they realize it takes social studies to move our children forward to these goals? How can we expect children to work globally if they can't understand their own history, past, and culture?

 

• What assignments do your students find most interesting to complete or what assignments do you find most interesting to teach? 

I find that something as simple as a timeline can be very useful for children to understand the concept of time. Children as young as kindergarten age can begin this process by sorting pictures as now and then. Another activity I use with success is my Veteran's project. I invite the children to interview a relative or neighbor who served our country. If they don't know of anyone, they are encouraged to research a president or famous military hero/heroine. It is very moving to read about their stories and invites new avenues and opportunities for a teacher to grab hold of and use.

 

• How hard is it to work on your own genealogy interests with all your other activities? 

It is not hard at all! Can we say summer vacation and school breaks? I feel that being a teacher and loving genealogy can be a win/win situation. If I am having a tough day at school, a few minutes on the computer in an online database can do wonders for the spirit. But you have to be careful to limit your time or you can find yourself staring down 8 year-olds after an all night genealogy jaunt!

 

• Has working in the field of genealogy helped you be a better teacher?

Yes and being a teacher has made me a better genealogist. Tools of both professions are intertwined and can compliment each other. 

 

• What is your favorite thing about attending and/or speaking at genealogy conferences? 

I love attending genealogy conferences -especially NERGC- because I am always looking for new places, records, and ideas to broaden my genealogical knowledge. If I can learn about an obscure collection that is held only at the Connecticut State Library or Rhode Island Historical Society, I am going to plan my trip home for a visit with my family to include a visit at the repository. I have had much success when I do this for genealogy reasons. Being a teacher and having an opportunity to "give back" to other educators is a great way to share my knowledge and to learn new ideas that I can bring back to my students.

Check out her blog and website:

http://caseygenealogyblog.blogspot.com/

http://www.cathyalice.com/

My stories about doing genealogy projects with students

Family History Project 2014

Genealogy & High School Students

It's All Relative

Everyone Has A Story & Why NERGC Is A "Must Attend" Event

Photo courtesy of https://djoshuataylor.com

I had the opportunity to conduct an email interview with D. Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS. This interview is part of a series of interviews conducted by New England geneabloggers promoting the New England Regional Genealogy Conference. You may have seen Josh on the NBC & TLC series, Who Do You Think You Are? or the PBS series, Genealogy Roadshow. He is also the president of the Federation of Genealogical Studies and works for the Preserve the Pensions - War of 1812 Project. At NERGC, he is offering a variety of presentations including using social media, the westward migration from New England, making sense of compiled genealogies, and encouraging future family historians. Here are my questions and his answers. 

Because I work with many students about to go off to college, I hear them discussing career choices. I don't think most even know that a career in genealogy is an option. What attracted you to the field of genealogy as a career choice? 

For me, it was the chance to combine a passion with a career. There is always something new to learn in family history (which is one reason that I love attending conferences like NERGC). I also always loved history and love the chance that I have to see history through the lens of real people on a daily basis. 

Your biography says that you have degrees in library science and history. What skills did you gain from your education that help you the most in your day-to-day work? 
The ability to analyze records and interpret sources through the historical viewpoint is something I find myself doing on a day-to-day basis. From the library perspective, the ability to catalog (and understand the cataloging process) helps me to tackle online library catalogs and finding aids in ways I didn't realize was possible. 

What part of your work do you enjoy the most? 
Everyone has a story - and you never really know what you are going to find. In the morning, I might find myself working with records from Rhode Island and by the afternoon am knee-deep in church records from Italy, you just never know!

What part of your work do you find the most challenging or difficult? 
Well..that everyone has a story! There isn't any one single way to "do genealogy" and we all hit roadblocks as research progresses. It can be discouraging to have the empty spaces on the family tree and even more frustrating when they remain empty after a great deal of research. 

One of your sessions is about attracting the next generation of genealogists using technology. As a history teacher and genealogist, I am very interested in this topic. Could you share one important reason for a young person to start researching their genealogy or family history? 

One reason? We don't talk about it enough - and that is the chance to discover more about yourself and your place within the world. We are part of a much longer history than most realize. Understanding where you came from is a great way to help determine where you want to go. 

I'm curious whether you find time for your own personal genealogy or do you find that you are like the cobbler's shoeless child and never get to work on something specifically for you? 

It gets harder and harder, but I try and make it a goal to still work on my own projects. When we are filming and working on Genealogy Roadshow that time quickly slips away (but I have found there is always a way to spend an hour or two hunting down a cemetery). 

Is there anything else you would like to share about yourself or about the New England Regional Genealogy Conference? 
I have loved going to NERGC for a few years now. The unique combination of societies from around the New England area makes it a "must-attend" event for anyone who has New England roots. 

Genealogy & High School Students

Once again we are at the end of the school year and some of my students have chosen to research their ancestry as their final project. Each year, I get better at structuring the project for student success. The AP US exam was later this year than in the past and students did not have as much time to work on their projects but still achieved exciting results. Some highlights from this year include:

• A girl who got so caught up in her findings that she exclaimed, "This is so much fun! I spent two hours last night because I got so caught up in researching." She found many documents including her great-grandmother's immigration record. Her great-grandmother arrived on the Mauritania from Germany. The student thought it was really cool that she found a picture of the ship. Then I told her it was a sister ship to the Lusitania - that we learned about when studying the events leading to the First World War. It was fun to see her connect her family to the history we studied during the year. Students are required to find a minimum of 10 records to document their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. 
• A girl who knew her family heritage was Italian but had no idea who the immigrant ancestor was or when he arrived in the United States. I was able to help her locate her great-grandfather's immigration record and we also found she had a great-grandmother from Quebec - something she did not know. She found numerous records to show how her family moved around from Vermont to Massachusetts to Maine. I have encouraged, and most have included, maps to show places their family has lived over time. 
• A boy who got a large packet of information from his grandmother. I love that this project opens the conversations between the generations. Many have never discussed the family with their grandparents. The project also includes a mandatory interview with a grandparent or if that is not possible, with someone who can share what they know about the life of a grandparent. 

Photos of people or of family heirlooms, gravestones, family homes are also highly encouraged. Most students haven't thought of including pictures of things in telling their family's story. They begin to realize that the things can help tell the story of the lives of their ancestors. 

Over the past few years, I've found success in encouraging students to go where the research takes them. Many times school-based family history projects are all about filling in the tree and finding pictures of the people in the tree. I allow my students to focus on one line or multiple lines. Many ask how many generations they need to find. I tell them I would rather have them do it carefully with good research and documentation even if they only get a few generations done. The flexibility to follow the evidence has made it a more fulfilling experience for them. They don't get stressed out about finding "enough" ancestors and focus on finding the stories and learning about the lives of the ancestors they can document.