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2003 Florida Trip:
Prompts
Sunday, February 9,
2003
Prompt: Expectations
You will be with your peers
and teachers for a week. Describe for Mr. Rottiers
your expectations for this week in an essay. Before
you begin the essay, think about ways in which this
trip will be a learning experience for you. How will
your experiences help you in the future? Specifically,
comment on a few experiences that you have been
looking forward to and why. Now write an essay in
which you relate your expectations for this trip.
The Florida trip will be the
first time I have been away from my family for a week.
At first, I was very worried about what would happen.
Would I have everything I need? Would I be able to
keep track of the schedule? This trip will be a major
lesson in managing my own affairs. I am hoping that
everything will go smoothly and I will come home in a
good condition.
I have been looking forward to
seeing some of the places in Florida. I haven’t been
to Disney World before, and though I’m wary of
commercial empires, I’m sure it will be fun. In
addition, I’m interested in seeing the NASA space
center. I’ve wondered what it would be like in space
and how different daily life would be.
On the academic side, the writing
prompts re not a major annoyance. Writing an essay on
a topic at the moment’s notice is not something
I’m particularly good at, but I wouldn’t mind
practice. I’ve already finished my math work for the
week, so I don’t have to bring my textbook. I have
three books to read, two for school assignments and
one other. I have an assignment in English and may
wind up with others.
As far as the daily schedule, I
am expecting to go to a lot of interesting and
educational places. I expect to have fun with friends
and down time to sort myself out at the hotel. I think
the idea of a trip for the 8th grade to
Florida is a bold on. It could probably compared to
Outdoor Ed in 6th grade and the
Williamsburg trip this year. I had a part (albeit a
small one) in the planning of a trip by creating a
computer program to lay out people’s names from the
trip database onto the hotel grid.
I hope to have fun in Florida.
Replacing a normal week of school with a trip to lots
of interesting places certainly has caused excitement,
and it’s a nice break from the routine. However, I
will definitely be happy when I arrive home on Friday
and everything returns to normal. I will miss my
family!
- Matt McCutchen
Dear Mr. Rottiers,
At first, I thought that the trip would be almost all
play, and little work, but recently, I found that I
was hopelessly misled. So now, instead of expecting
afternoons of frolicking in the sun, I am left with
the not-as-tempting idea of plenty of work per day (no
offense to any educator intended). Anyway, besides the
gloomy prospect of essays, I expect to learn much
about space from NASA, and also about Disney at Disney
World. This will be the first time I've been to
Florida, and I hope it will be both enlightening and
entertaining.
With a load of scientific
information crammed into my head at NASA, I could
learn to become an astronaut or a scientist someday.
Or, I could later join Disney and work with them on
new animated films or rides. I believe that somehow,
in one form or another, I will be able to put to use
what I will learn, if only to guide my family when we
come again this summer.
I would be lying if I said that
Disney World was not the top of my list of
expectations. This would be my first time to a Disney
place, and I'm really excited. Next would be NASA,
home of the US space program. It would be supremely
interesting to see the best space center in the
country.
Besides all the sites on the
trip, I am also looking forward to getting to know my
teachers better. It would be (somewhat) interesting to
see what teachers are like in the mornings.
- Allen Zhang
Prompt: St. Augustine
GENERAL TOPIC: The class
you have just taken is a new addition to the Florida
trip. Write an essay describing the class. Include a
course description, what liked about the class, what
improvements, in any, you would make, and what new
things you learned from the class. Indicate whether
this activity should be included in next year’s
trip. Explain your rationale. SPECIFIC CLASS TOPICS: (Florida
Indian Program): Use your imagination and write
three diary entries describing the life of the Timucua
Indian. Include 3 aspects of daily life such as food,
shelter, family life, recreation activities, etc. (Fort
Program): Try to envision what life was like as a
runaway slave searching for Fort Mose and what it felt
like to finally arrive safely. Write three diary
entries about your imaginary experience. (Florida
Cracker): From the point of view of a new settler,
write a letter to relatives back home and share some
of your experiences, successes and disappointments
following your arrival in Florida.
The class I took at St. Augustine
is called the Florida Cracker class. Not as a term for
a white people, a Cracker, in truth, is a term for
Florida pioneers, because they would crack whips to
summon their herds of cows that would hide in the
scrub. As a general overview of what we did, we
generally experienced life in St. Augustine in 1821,
when the Spanish retreated to the Caribbean. Our
instructor guided us through a one-room school shed
where we wrote with ink and quill pens. From there we
ground corn, then sifted it to separate the grit from
the cornmeal. Then, we learned how to grind sugar cane
for syrup, and how to pump water. I liked all the
hands-on activities we were able to do. I personally,
became a mule. Along with three others, us mules
ground the sugar cane with a big device. I also
enjoyed writing with the ink pen, though it left a
mark on my nail. I was able to pet the comb of a
rooster named Mark Anthony after a Roman Captain (the
hen was named Cleopatra). Watching others participate
in grind corn was fun as well. The environment could
have been much bigger in my opinion. Also, the weather
could have agreed with us and not made me wet and
cold. Shopping was fun, and there were plenty of
stores, but I had to eat lunch two hours after
breakfast, and that wasn’t too pleasant. Those are
the only improvements I see necessary to implement.
I was able to grain much
knowledge from the short time spent there. For one, I
learned that crackers are not just white people, but
in fact a term for Florida pioneers. Secondly, I
learned that writing with a quill isn’t as easy as
it looks. Furthermore, a John Hancock was another term
for signature because John Hancock signed the
declaration of Independence larger than anyone else.
Finally, I learned that there was much to be done,
from removing the kernels to sifting, to make
cornmeal. This trip on day one has already proved to
be educational!
I would strongly recommend this
experience for years to come. I am positive that
classes next year will e as fun as mine was, if not
more (it could be sunny for them). Shopping was fun
and being a mule was, well, humbling to say the least.
Perhaps next year the classes might be more exciting
with less rain. Time will tell, but do include the St.
Augustine portion into the trip!
- Max Lockwood
Entry 1:
Dear Diary,
I can hardly believe it. Just two weeks ago, I was
doing unpaid forced labor for a family of English
bureaucrats. Today, I have reached Fore Mose. When I
arrived, I was welcomed fairly warmly and put
immediately to work, however, I am being paid. I know
that new earnings aren’t anything big, but they will
be enough to provide food and shelter for my family
and me. I’m sure my life will be very pleasant here.
Entry 2:
Dear Diary,
Today is candle-making day. Today we will make the
candles that we will use for the rest of the year.
What we do is take a piece of wood with three folded
strings hanging on it, repeatedly dip them in boiling
wax, and wait for them to dry. It is extremely easy
but it takes a lot of patience and time.
Entry 3:
Dear Diary,
Today the British led an attack on our fort. Some of
us went into a safe room inside of the fort, while the
rest of us went to man the cannons. Form what I heard
from other people in the safe room, this fort had
never been defeated. This seemed to make sense seeing
as the fort was still under Spanish control. After
many loud booms, word came to us that the fort was
once again victorious.
- Avi Silber
| I just took the Fort Mose class and
it was very fun, although I didn’t learn much
except for what things were used for. I
liked that the class was fun and hands-on;
however, I’d have liked to learn more about the
slaves’ lives.
The new things that I learned
were mainly about what material things were used
for. We learned that the Spaniards bathed
thrice in their life, that guard stools had two
legs to make sure that the guards wouldn’t
sleep. If they did, they fell over. We
also learned that the colonists made cornmeal by
mashing it into flour in a stone bowl with a
cylindrical tool. Also we learned that they
had the classed game of “try to get the ball on
the string into the cup”. Another
interesting thing was their drills. It
consisted of a circular piece of wood with a bit
at one end and a rod at the other. You would
wind a rectangular piece with string around the
rod to get the bit to spin and cut through wood.
Also, they made candles by dipping wicks in fallow
of animal fat.
If I were to make some
improvements to this class, there would probably
be one main improvement. This improvement
would be to learn more about the people who lived
in those places, not just the things they worked
with. Anyone can use a drill; not everyone
can fight off the British of French or discover a
peninsula. Also I would have kept the number
of things explained to two or three. After a
couple of items, you understand that life was
primitive back then.
-Mark Siegel
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The class I took today was the
Florida Cracker pioneer class. In this class, we
learned about the lifestyles of the people who settled
into Florida after the United States purchased it from
Spain. We performed hands on activities, like
writing with quill pens and making corn meal, that
simulated what life was like during that period of
time in Florida. Everything looked like it had
been from that time period.
I learned many things from this
class, but especially about Floridian history.
From this class, I learned that the Florida government
actually gave away land to entice people to come to
Florida. This was because they needed 40,000
voters (white, male, and land owners) in order for
Florida to become a state instead of a territory.
This class also immersed us in the daily life routines
of someone my age, from writing with quill pens, to
playing with Jacob’s ladder, to making cornmeal.
I learned through this class many things about
Floridian history that I wouldn’t have otherwise
known about.
I loved the way this class was
hands on. I actually got to experience a little
bit of what it was like to be a Floridian pioneer.
I think it was clever of the guide to include a
history lesson along with the activities. It was
not only fun, but informative as well. After
walking away, I feel like I have gained a greater
insight into the life of Florida pioneer, and the life
they led.
I would definitely recommend this
class for next year. It wasn’t your
conventional boring lecture by a tired tour guide.
The guide, instead of boring us, really heightened the
experience for us by getting into the character and
acting as pioneer herself. I was also surprised
to the extant to which I retained what the guide told
me. This class is entertaining, but it is not a
trade-off between fun and educational. It is
both. I really enjoyed the class and I think
that next year’s students will enjoy it too.
This class has everything, and I think that it more
than made up for getting soaked by the heavy rain.
- Jeff Guo
The Florida Cracker class that I
have just taken was both very interesting and
educational. At this class, we learned about what life
was like during the 1800's in Florida. I liked many
aspects of this class, but feel that some improvements
could be made. In the end, this class should
definitely be included in next year's Florida Trip.
During this class, we were taught about life in
Florida around the 1800's. We started in a small
schoolhouse, where we learned about typical school
life two centuries ago. Because paper was very
expensive, there was generally only one set of books
for the entire school. Schools consisted of only one
room, but about six grades were taught. For individual
studies, horn books were passed around, which are
paddles with small pieces of text on them. To write,
the children used slates and chalk, and occasionally
paper and quills. Also while in the schoolroom, the
tour guide told us about the typical life of a
Floridian. When the US government bought Florida from
Spain (for five million dollars), United States
citizens were given the land to live, farm, and make
houses on. Here, women were restricted from voting and
sometimes married just to get land. The foregoing
facts are ones that I have just learned today from my
visit to the Florida Cracker class.
Although this class was intriguing, there was still
room for it to improve. The class should provide an
indoor facility, in case the weather is bad (as it was
today). Also, there should be more tools, so that
everyone in the tour has an equal opportunity to view
the demonstrations. Despite these improvements, I
liked the interactive part of the class (writing on
the paper) and the demonstrations of cracking corn and
sugar cane. For these reasons, the Florida Cracker
class should definitely be included in next year's
Florida trip. It provides both interactive and
educational parts of Colonial History, which we have
been studying. I enjoyed the Florida Cracker class,
and I am looking forward to the next upcoming one.
- Dylan Rebois
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