Paddling to the Past Workshop
This two-part experience made history come alive by connecting classroom content to the local landscape.
Paddling to the Past was a real-world learning experience designed for HSPS US History students in Fall 2021.
Students learned about the 1835 Odawa delegation’s paddle to Washington DC through primary sources and historical context provided by Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBB). Students then had two field experiences which deepened their understanding of Odawa and U.S. History.
Overview of Workshop
On September 29, 2021 students paddled a small part of the Odawa route to DC, allowing them insight into the risks taken by the delegates in 1835 when they paddled from city beach to negotiate a treaty that they hoped would allow them to stay in their homelands. On November 9, students gathered at the shoreline of Lake Michigan (on Harbor Point) where they were asked to reflect on the meaning of home–their own and that of the Odawas almost two hundred years prior. This learning opportunity gave students a tangible link to the regional and national impacts of a historical event that took place in their own backyard.
The project was a collaboration between Harbor Springs Public Schools, Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians, and TOPOnexus–Center for Learn Local. The City of Harbor Springs Marine Patrol and Bear River Canoe Livery provided logistical support as well as a small Support Crew of community members.
“These learning experiences reach our most vulnerable populations - our at risk, our unmotivated, our most challenging students. This is a way to engage them! We are providing knowledge in a different way that they can grasp. It's more effective than the drill and kill.”
– HSPS U.S. History teacher
Impact & Deep Reach
Short term
Students connected to the local landscape, specifically City Beach, the harbor, and the Lake Michigan shoreline
Students grasped causes and effects of the 1835 departure of Odawa delegates from their local beach
Community awareness was raised by press coverage in the Harbor Light newspaper
Long-term
Increased students’ potential to view history through multiple perspectives and cultural lenses
Increased students’ potential to be stewards of home
Increased students’ potential to consider that current actions can have long term consequences
Created opportunity for community discourse on implications of past, present and future of the Harbor Springs area
74 Learners
“Understanding how we got to the point we are at today is essential for helping us to decide what we do in the present and the future. This experience combined in-class learning with practical, hands-on implementation and reflection…
This closely related place-based learning experience really hit home with our students, because this is their community and where they call home. Using different methods to educate is crucial to the success of students, and this experience really helped reach students who struggle learning through traditional methods. History really did come alive, and our students definitely benefited from this all-encompassing educational endeavor.
–Joshua McDonald, HSPS U.S. History teacher
“How much kids appreciated the solo time, the quiet, the opportunity to stare at the water and think. Kids were open about the value of the experience and voiced it to one another and us.”
— Whoa from TOPO staff
Wonder & Whoa!
The physicality of the experience was notable: practicing canoe skills, launching from the beach, paddling around the harbor, spending time on the beach at Harbor Point. This suite of experiences represented firsts for many kids (first time in a canoe, first time on the harbor, first time on Harbor Point).
What is Wonder & Whoa?
Without wonder, we cannot gain new perspectives or innovate. With wonder, we become lifelong learners. We are full of wonder. Whoa is something that stops you in your tracks and inspires, surprises, or shocks you. Together, wonder and whoa have the transformative power to create meaningful personalized learning.
