YOU ARE HERE >
Main > Teacher Resources > JCC Survey Course
Jeff Kresge Project
Summary
Lost Neighborhood Project
Persell Middle School of Jamestown Public Schools
Jeff
Kresge
Persell Middle School
Jamestown, NY 14701
Grade 8 Social Studies
Local History Project – The “Lost Neighborhood” Project
Project Website -
http://www.jamestownpublicschools.org/podcasts/99jkresge/Lost_Neighborhood/Lost_Neighborhood_Home.html
The Spawning of the Lost Neighborhood Project
The Lost Neighborhood Project developed out of another initiative
that we were working on with a group of 15 advanced students. With
our district’s Records Management Director, Pam Brown, the students
were looking into how Jamestown Public Schools responded to world
events, specifically World War I and the immigration boom of the
1920s and 1930s.
While discussing local immigration, the students wanted to trace the
histories of these folks up to the present time. This led to an
informal discussion of Jamestown’s “Lost Neighborhood,” a group of
125 active local businesses and 100 families in the closely-knit
Italian sector of Jamestown that were moved in the early 1970s for
reasons of “urban renewal.” Upon hearing of this, the students
immediately decided that they wanted to know more about this area
and the people who lived there, thus leading to the Lost
Neighborhood project.
The Concept – Students as Historians
One of the things that, as the educational leader of the group, I
sought to accomplish was to have the students drive the project at
every turn. My goal was simply to act as a resource to the kids,
who would decide what the process would be, what materials and data
was required, and what the finished product would look like. It was
my sincere hope that the kids would learn what historians do by
actually becoming the historians. They would be responsible for
creation of a website, contacting people to interview, conducting
interviews to get oral histories, discussing issues with other
historians, etc. By doing this, they would hopefully experience the
successes and pitfalls of real life issues of scheduling, budgeting,
time constraints, technology issues, and a host of other problems
that may arise. At worse, they would have to work together and
understand flexibility is vital to the success of a major research
project. Hopefully, they’d also earn empathy and understanding for
what it takes to develop lessons and projects of this scale, all
while learning real life skills of cooperation and professional
behavior.
The Process – One Thing Leads to Another
Topic Selection
At the outset of the project, Pam Brown brought in documents
relating to three different eras of Jamestown history and how the
school district fit into each. The effort was designed to allow
students to see how the use of local documents can play a role in
enriching the understanding of the global view by looking at local
impacts as well. Once this process was completed, the students
decided that they desired to continue to look at local history.
However, we need to decide what topic the effort would be centered
around. We batted around various ideas, including the use of
discipline in the classrooms over time and the treatment of special
education children over the last century here in Jamestown, both
topics Mrs. Brown could provide documentation on. However, I
brought up the Lost Neighborhood concept, stating that I’d seen the
historical markers in Brooklyn Square. When I told the students
that this formed the extent of my knowledge on the topic, they
unanimously voted to pursue this mystery.
Mrs. Brown mentioned that there is a New York State Archives
competition, but the kids elected to not participate, but rather to
engage in learning for the sake of learning, rather than to be
strapped to a bunch of rules that might handicap their methods. The
students then decided to create a website to document their learning
in an effort to be real historians. They sought to allow others to
learn as they learned by placing their hypotheses online for all to
see and set about adding responses to questions we created as we
moved forward. The students also created two blogs – one to
document learning to the public, and another internal blog to give
assignments to one another, as they were all not in the same
classes. As the 15 learners in the group were also involved in
countless other activities (band, chorus, sports, musicals, church
groups, etc), this second blog proved to be a vital communication
tool as the kids could share data and ideas without having to meet
face to face.
The following are blog entries created by the students to explain
the early processes:
Our First Meeting - 12/19/07
On December 19, 2007, we had our first meeting as a whole group. We
discussed the purpose of the project and possible topics that we
could research. We examined replicas of documents from different
time periods to see which we liked best. Our group was divided into
three separate sections, and we were assigned to a certain box of
documents. The three boxes included documents on how Jamestown
Public Schools (JPS) dealt with or handled World War I, Immigration
and lastly, behavior problems and Special Education students. As a
result of studying these documents we discovered that Jamestown was
and still is, populated by a large number of Italian and Swedish
people.
Our Second Meeting -1/9/08
On January 9, 2008, we revisited topic selection. We wrote down the
possible topics on the board and took a group vote. It was unanimous
that we wanted to research the Lost Neighborhood of Jamestown. We
decided on this topic because it happened right here in Jamestown.
Also another reason we wanted to do the Lost Neighborhood was
because we still know of people who lived during that time who could
possibly give us more information, even teachers here at Persell.
Some of us thought it would be interesting to see what Jamestown was
like before we were born. What were the people like? What jobs or
careers were available? Most of all, we wanted to know wanted to
know why the Lost Neighborhood was destroyed.
This discovery brought up the topic of the Lost Neighborhood, a
ghetto (a section of a city that is thickly populated by members of
an ethnic or other minority group) that was populated by a majority
of Italian people. With more excitement of the topic our project
grew larger and larger. Questions raced through each of our heads
and we were determined to answer them. Why did this happen? Who
caused it? Was it a result of the conflicts between the Swedish and
Italians? No one in our group knew the answers...but we would soon
find out.
Photographs
To begin our research, we needed to know where exactly the area was
and what it looked like. To get this information, I emailed Mr.
Robert Johnston of the
Trolley 93 project.
He has placed online many photographs from Jamestown’s past
including several from the Lost Neighborhood. I emailed him and
explained our ideas to him. He graciously donated all of the
digital images of the Lost Neighborhood that he’d collected and gave
us permission to use them on the website that we were planning to
create. This really kick-started the process as we now had visual
images to go with the name. He also provided us with a map of the
area, allowing us to see that the location of the Lost Neighborhood
was in Brooklyn Square and just south of what is now the Riverwalk
Center.
At our next meeting, we analyzed the images, looking for landmarks
and attempting to date them. One interesting thing about this part
of the project was the discovery that Jamestown had once been
victimized by a tornado. This tornado hit the Lost Neighborhood in
1947, and Mr. Johnston had photographs of the aftermath. We had not
known the damage was from a natural disaster and originally thought
the photos were showing the government tearing down the houses.
This was the first of many mistakes in guessing, and the students
and instructors began to embrace the scientific method without fear
of being wrong. This was a very invigorating and freeing experience
for a group of students who are used to always being correct because
of the type of learning they are usually expected to do –
memorization of fact.
The students blogged the experience thusly:
Our Third Meeting - 1/24/08
On January 24, Mrs. Pam Brown visited us again. We observed pictures
that Mr.Kresge had received from Mr. Robert Johnston of the Trolley
93 Project. These pictures were of the Lost Neighborhood. Using
these pictures, we determined that the approximate location of the
neighborhood was near the current Brooklyn Square. We then observed
an older Sanborn map of Jamestown to clarify this. It was
interesting to see what Jamestown looked like so long ago. Looking
at the Sanborn map we noticed some streets that are now
non-existent, or different than they were at that time.
You can view the individual photographs sent by Mr. Johnston, as
well as the Sanborn map, at our photos page. Click “View Slideshow”
to see them all.
Website Creation
It was now time for us to create a website on which to document our
learning. I familiarized the students with the very-easy-to-use
Apple web creation software, iWeb. After giving the kids a
15-minute tutorial, I turned them loose to design and create. They
selected a layout and a look that they thought would complement our
work and set about creating pages for different uses - a welcome
page, a photos page, a blog, and a links and thank you page where we
could acknowledge anyone who helped with the project. The website
information is stored on my laptop and is hosted by the servers at
Jamestown Public Schools. As our information service department is
second to none, they have provided assistance every step of the
way. We then published the site and the web address is
http://www.jamestownpublicschools.org/podcasts/99jkresge/Lost_Neighborhood/Lost_Neighborhood_Home.html.
The students described these steps on the blog:
Our Fourth Meeting - 3/3/08
When we met again, we started creating a website of the Lost
Neighborhood. We took all the information we had received from Mrs.
Pam Brown and turned it into something for everyone to see. Our Lost
Neighborhood Home page gives you a little background information on
the Lost Neighborhood. The Photos page shows pictures of the Lost
Neighborhood, there are pictures of houses, churches and counter
stores. The blog page talks about what we have been doing during the
archive and what has been happening each time we meet. The Links and
Thanks page thanks the people that have helped us create this
website and the links are websites that have helped us gather
information on the Lost Neighborhood. We hope that this website will
give kids an insight to the past of Jamestown and the Lost
Neighborhood.
In the Library - 3/10/08
In the library, while the rest of the students work on a separate
research project, we have been working on our website about the Lost
Neighborhood. We gathered photographs of the Lost Neighborhood, and
we have made blog entries to keep people up to date on where we
stand with this project. We must take turns working on the site, so
in-between we are working on an abbreviated version of the research
project. We are making great progress and hope to have our website
completed soon.
After doing some rudimentary research on the web and combining these
ideas with the data gleaned from Mr. Johnston and what we thought we
new, we arrived at guess as to what happened to the Lost
Neighborhood. The students bravely posted this hypothesis on the
blog for all to see.
Our Pre-Research Hypothesis - 3/11/08
After reading about the Lost Neighborhood on the marker in Brooklyn
Square we hypothesized that the demolition of 150 buildings, the
displacement of 125 active businesses and the forced movement of 100
families out of their homes was both unnecessary and a travesty for
the people who worked and lived in that area. The urban renewal
project may have meant to improve Jamestown, but they could have
made Jamestown better in other ways without moving dozens of
American-Italian families and businesses out of the area. The urban
renewal project helped franchises to spread to Jamestown, boosting
their business. On the other hand, it hurt small, family owned and
run businesses and the families living there.
As the project has grown, so has our website. We added a
Documents
page to include of the documents people have been sending us. We
also are poised to create a second photos page because we have
almost reached the 100-photograph maximum that the software will
permit. All of the articles we find from newspapers related to the
Lost Neighborhood are located at the
Articles
page.
Fenton History Center
We had some ideas about what the Lost Neighborhood was and where it
was located, but we had barely scratched the surface of what was out
there. In an effort to pursue more data, we decided to head to the
Fenton History Center. Mrs. Brown stated to the group that they had
done a display on the Lost Neighborhood and arranged for the Fenton
to lay it out for the students to view.
One problem we ran into was how to transport the kids. We could
walk, but the weather in Jamestown in March is less than
predictable. We decided to submit a request to TAH for special
project money in order to pay for transportation to the museum. We
are grateful that we received monies to be able to go.
Once at the Fenton, we found a few surprises. The first was that
they were busy and would not be available to ask questions. We were
on our own again. This was fun in that we were free to make more
guesses based on the research and documents we found. However, we
ended up coming up with far more questions than answers. As it
would turn out later, this was a good thing. At the time, it was a
bit frustrating to me.
Another surprise was that our principal, Mr. Cammarata, showed up to
see what we were working on. This was great because it not only
validated the importance of our blossoming project, but because Mr.
Cammarata was able to relate a few stories of cultural conflicts
between the Swedes and Italians in the Jamestown community in years
past. Not having grown up here, I’d heard of this, but had no idea
that the schism was as strong as he was relating to us. The kids
were amazed and added the idea that the Lost Neighborhood removal
was politically motivated because all of the politicians of the day
were Swedes and the Italians were the ones who were moved.
A final surprise was that our local paper, The Jamestown
Post-Journal, sent a reporter to chronicle our trip. Mr. S. Alex
Gerould proved to be invaluable because it was his article that
publicized our project and elicited the community input we had been
wanting all along. After the
Post-Journal article
was read by the citizens in our community, we received much feedback
and many emails from people wanting to know more about what we were
doing. Perhaps more importantly, we received photos, stories, and
requests to speak with our group by many people who experienced the
Urban Renewal Project first hand. It is because of the article in
the Post-Journal that our small project was transformed into the
huge endeavor it has become in a very short period of time.
Trip to the Fenton - 3/13/08
We are taking a field trip to the Fenton Museum, the local history
center, to learn and ask questions about Jamestown’s Lost
Neighborhood. We have several questions to ask including the urban
renewal project and short and long term effects of the destruction
of the many homes and businesses of the Italian-American
Neighborhood. We also want to know what exactly the lost
neighborhood was.
Discoveries at the Fenton - 3/13/08
Today our group traveled to the Fenton History Center. We researched
through their collection of documents, photos and maps. We found
helpful information in an article by Norman Carlson that detailed
the early history of Brooklyn Square. We learned that the demolition
of the project started with The Gifford Building in May of 1969.
There were also various photos showing buildings before, during and
after construction. While at the Fenton, we developed new theories
of what happened to the Neighborhood that we wish to explore soon.
One thing that we noticed was how beautiful many of the building
were that were torn down. Mrs. Brown of the Jamestown Public Schools
Records Department told us that the prevailing thought from the late
1960’s until the country’s Bicentennial year in 1976 was that
anything “old” was of no value. For this reason, older buildings
were torn down, replaced by buildings with architecture we all
considered to be much uglier. This pattern stopped as the past
became important during the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of
Independence.
Another thing that we took interest in was the clash between the
Swedes and the Italians of Jamestown at the tie of the Lost
Neighborhood. We are not sure why these two ethnic groups did not
get along, but it is obvious from our research that there were major
conflicts. Our principal and avid golfer, Mr. Phil Cammarata, spoke
about how Italians in Jamestown were not permitted to join Moonbrook
Country Club, a local golf club. He also spoke of an Italian person
who was the first Italian to join and was then shunned by the
Italian community for doing so. We wonder if this clash played any
role in the tearing down of the Lost Neighborhood, as it was largely
an Italian population that lived there.
We also discovered that the Lost Neighborhood seemed to be an area
in economic decline. We discussed whether the Italians of the area
would have had the political and economic power to save their
neighborhood, allowing it to become an easy target for “urban
renewal.”
We are very grateful to the Fenton History Center for sharing their
collections with us!
Post-Journal Article, March 18, 2008
Persell
Students Look Into Jamestown’s Past
By S. Alexander
Gerould
From the
Jamestown Post-Journal, Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Did you know
the area around Brooklyn Square in Jamestown used to be completely
different than it is now?
For students
from Persell Middle School, they’re aiming to find out what
happened.
As part of a
class project, eighth-graders from the school have been learning
about what the city looked like in the past, including examining old
photographs and maps and talking to individuals who were around
Brooklyn Square during the urban renewal project of the late 1960s.
The students are working with Pamela Brown, Jamestown Public Schools
record management coordinator.
‘‘I showed them
some of the primary source documents in our archives,’’ Ms. Brown
said. ‘‘Right now they’re doing research, so we’ve been looking for
different documents.’’
Started in
December, students chose a topic which interested them. Many chose
the so-called ‘‘Lost Neighborhood.’’
‘‘The other
questions we had was what’s this deal with the lost neighborhood,’’
said Jeff Kresge, a social studies teacher who is helping with the
project. ‘‘I don’t have the answers to this one. They’re really
discovering. They’re really being historians.’’
To answer that
question, a group of students met at the Fenton History Center
recently to further conduct research.
‘‘They’re
piecing together the neighborhood,’’ Ms. Brown said as the group
looked over black and white photographs of the area and tried to
place them where they once stood.
‘‘It’ll be
interesting to find out what actually happened,’’ said eighth-grader
Holly Johnson.
The
students have also created a Web site,
www.jamestownpublicschools.org/podcasts/99jkresge/Lost_Neighborhood/Lost_Neighborhood_Home.html,
chronicling their efforts and research. On the Web site, visitors
can see photographs and read student blogs and unanswered questions
about the area.
‘‘We see this
project as a community service,’’ Kresge said, ‘‘both to teach those
who may be unaware of this piece of Jamestown history and for those
who lived through it to have an outlet to share their experiences
with younger generations. We’d love to speak to members of the
community who have data.’’
The students
hope they are successful in answering the question of what happened
to the ‘‘Lost Neighborhood.’’
‘‘It’s for
people who love social studies,’’ said Taylor Estrada,
eighth-grader. ‘‘We’re historians.’’
Oral History Interviews
Raffa and Proctor
To further our understanding, the students decided that it was time
that we hear first hand what the Urban Renewal Project was like and
the effect it had on residents of the Lost Neighborhood. After
talking it over as a group, we decided to schedule discussions with
two people at the same time so that they could weave their stories
together and bounce ideas off of one another. Pam Brown scheduled
Jefferson Middle School principal Carm Proctor, who was ten years of
age at the time of the move, and president of the Lost Neighborhood
Tony Raffa, whom we’d been told by many members of the community to
contact.
We set up a one-hour period of time in the library during the study
hall time for the kids. As it turned out, we needed to stretch our
time into a second hour. This meant that the students would have to
miss their unified arts classes (music, art, home and careers,
etc.) We sent a notice to the teachers, and fortunately Principal
Cammarata was again with us to allow us to do this. It is important
to note that our staff has been fantastic with allowing us the
flexibility to meet when we need to, even if it means missing a
class here and there.
The interviews went very well. In order to again document our
learning and for the community to benefit from our findings, we
asked permission to record Mr. Raffa and Mrs. Proctor so that we
could place the interviews online. This step ensures that people
wanting to study the Lost Neighborhood in the future will be able to
hear exactly what was said and how it was said. In other words, the
students did not want others to rely upon their interpretation of
the interviews as a secondary source, but to have the primary source
data available to all. It was obvious at this point that the
students had learned that events can be viewed differently depending
upon a person’s perspective and the kids knew that they wanted to be
as objective as possible.
The Raffa/Proctor interviews were broken down into small video clips
and placed online for all to see. They can be viewed at
http://www.jamestownpublicschools.org/podcasts/99jkresge/Lost_Neighborhood/Guest_Speakers/Guest_Speakers.html.
Former Mayor Stan Lundine
The students were anxious to hear the other side of the story – that
is, they wanted to hear the rationale from a government official who
would be able to explain the process of deciding why the decision
was made to move this particular neighborhood at this particular
time. The students decided that a person who would be able to
answer this question would be the mayor at the time, Mr. Stan
Lundine. Grace Johnson invited him to speak to the kids, and Mr.
Lundine graciously accepted. He spoke the day before spring break,
Friday, April 11.
Mr. Lundine was able to explain that much of the Neighborhood was
falling into disrepair and that the monies to improve the
infrastructure and the traffic pattern of the area without removal
would have been excessive. He also remarked that, in order to get
the citizens to go along with Urban Renewal, he met with the leaders
of St. James Church. When the city promised to construct the parish
a new facility, the Church would support the move. This was a
brilliant and politically astute move as the Church was at the very
core of many of the people’s lives who lived in the Lost
Neighborhood. The video clips of Mr. Lundine’s visit are also
broken down by topic and can be viewed at
http://www.jamestownpublicschools.org/podcasts/99jkresge/Lost_Neighborhood/Guest_Speakers/Guest_Speakers.html.
The blog the students did on Mr. Lundine’s visit reads as follows:
Stan Lundine Interview - 4/11/08
Today we had the honor of interviewing Mr. Stan Lundine, previous
Mayor of Jamestown and Lt. Governor of New York State. He shared
more of the political side of the Urban Renewal Project. He also
told us that the project was started after an offer from a local
factory, Watson Manufacturing promised to build a factory similar in
size to Cummins engines and provide hundreds of jobs throughout the
city. This offer fell through when the project was completed because
the company was financially struggling. We were all shocked when we
heard St. James Church was actually in support of the urban renewal
project that was destroying the neighborhood that almost all of its
members lived in. This was because if the project proceeded the
church would receive a new structure. The whole interview can be
viewed on the Guest Speakers Page. We were thrilled that Mr. Stan
Lundine could add his view of the project to our research.
Community
Comments
Because it was the goal of the project at the
outset to have the students act as historians and learn the process
of research, including all of the successes and dead ends, we
considered it vital to keep our research transparent. We sought to
publicize our ideas, theories and hypotheses, and place these
online. This would allow members of the community to act as our
guides, informing us if we were on the right track or not. We also
decided that this feedback would be placed on the web site to show
people that their input was appreciated and to encourage more. As
the people sent us data, we asked them if they would permit us to
place it online. Every single person agreed to this. These
comments were then placed on the website at
http://www.jamestownpublicschools.org/podcasts/99jkresge/Lost_Neighborhood/Community_Comments/Community_Comments.html.
Email Mailing List
In an effort to keep people informed of our progress, the project
has created an email list of those who have either emailed us items,
spoken to our group, or otherwise showed an interest in our
activities. As a result, we can send out periodic updates,
announcements and pleas for assistance. This has helped us to
maintain support from the community. Each and every time we’ve sent
things out, our website gets sent to more and more people, bringing
more people into the fold.
The Lost Neighborhood Hits the Road – Speaking Engagements
Development of Family Histories at Prendergast Library
On April 24, 2008, Mrs. Tina Mallare initiated a presentation for
people interested in doing family genealogies. It was focused on
members of the Lost Neighborhood, but the community as a whole was
invited. The Lost Neighborhood Project students were invited to
speak. Unfortunately, we were on spring break at that time. Even
still, four students and Jeff Kresge where there to give an overview
of the project and to ask the 40 people in attendance to please
consider contacting Pam Brown with any documents, stories or photos
that would assist us in any way. We also distributed business cards
with our contact information and web address on them. We impressed
on those in attendance that without local historical records,
nothing we had done would have been possible. We also spoke of our
desire to serve as a digital warehouse for images and documents
related to Derby and Victoria streets.
MARAC
On Saturday, May 3, 2008, Jeff Kresge and
Grace Johnson presented the activities of the Lost Neighborhood
Project as part of a session entitled “How Are You Going to Keep
Them in the Classroom When They’ve been to the Archives?: Using
Primary Source Documents in Schools” to the
Mid-Atlantic Regional Archive Conference (MARAC)
at Chautauqua Institution. Also presenting in our session was Mrs.
Pam Brown, Mr. Rick Walters, and Chautauqua County Historian,
Michelle Henry. This was a conference attended by archivists from
New York to Virginia. We displayed the intentions of the project,
the website, and what we’ve learned, both about the neighborhood and
about the project itself. During this presentation, we took
questions from a great many people, including representatives from
several colleges, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and
the New York State Archives in Albany, New York. There were about 40
people in attendance and the project seemed to be very well
received. We handed out business cards to all those in attendance
and later added interested people to our email list.
NYALGRO
On Monday, June 9, a similar presentation was
delivered by Jeff Kresge at the
New York Association of Local Government Records Officers (NYALGRO)
in Corning, New York. The audience consisted of about 10 local
government officials. Again, business cards were handed out.
Jamestown School Board Meeting
On Tuesday, June 10, 2008, the 15 students of the Lost Neighborhood
presented the project to the Jamestown School Board. There were
about 70 in attendance in addition to the school board and a
multitude of administration.
This speaking engagement was different in that the students handled
the bulk of the roughly 16-minute presentation. They covered the
history of the project, what is available at the web site, asked for
even more members of the community to take an active role in the
continuing expansion of the site, discussed plans for the future,
and wrapped up with a section entitled “What We’ve Learned,” where
three students spoke of acquiring not only an understanding of the
Lost Neighborhood, but also a solid knowledge of team work, research
skills, and an appreciation for different points of view.
The presentation was very well received as the audience gave the
kids a standing ovation and several complementary emails were
delivered. In attendance that evening were many people who
assisted the group with their endeavors, including Mr. Tony Raffa,
Mr. Jim Auria, Mr. Roger Galbraith, and Mrs. Tina Mallare. The
clips by the student group of this presentation are on our website.
Where We Are
Headed
Published Writers
The next goal on the horizon for the members of the Lost
Neighborhood Project is to try their hand at writing. They have
been asked to contribute an essay to an upcoming book on the area.
This tome will contain a dozen essays and will be edited and
published by retired Temple University English literature professor
Jane Cusimano Lindquist, a former resident of the neighborhood. The
goal of the book is to examine life in the neighborhood and how the
area enriched the lives of the residents.
Graphic Novel
Another idea being pursued by members of the group is to create a
graphic novel. One of the members is a gifted artist and we thought
that by creating a literary piece of this type, it might hook more
young people into peering into the past of our community. We have
set summer vacation as a target date to begin work on this concept.
Transition Period
The original 15 students will, at the conclusion of the school year,
be headed to Jamestown High School to tackle their freshman year.
Left behind will be two teachers, Grace Johnson and Jeff Kresge, who
will also be teaching on different teams next year. However, the
students involved decided that they would like to continue working
on the project as it continues to grow. They also have stated that
they would like to see another group of students become involved
with the project. As a result, not only has the Lost Neighborhood
come alive in the eyes of the current group, but it also shall
remain an issue close to the hearts of those at Persell for years to
come.
Reflection on the Project as a Whole
Without a doubt, this has been the single most rewarding thing that
I have done in the classroom in my thirteen years of teaching. I
went into education with a great sense of idealism and the thought
that each day I would be able to conquer what I felt was wrong with
in the field – a laser focus on test scores, a lack of interest in
the individual learner, and boring, meaningless assignments that
only provided filler in a teacher’s plan book. As I began my
career, I slowly moved away from that philosophy because to fight
that system requires an exhausting amount of creativity and effort
on the part of the educator. It is much easier to be a traditional,
stand in front of the class person and pour forth data from your
font of knowledge. Mind you, this was in no way a conscious
decision, but rather a gradual eroding of ideals. Had you asked me
in September if I believed I had accomplished these lofty goals, I
fear that I may have responded in the positive. However, as this
project was born and began to gain momentum, it soon became obvious
that my daily routine in class falls far short of what education
could and should be.
This project has asked the 15 students to volunteer outside of class
and put innumerable hours of effort and cooperation into it. They
were asked to analyze documents, conduct interviews, understand
bias, communicate with one another, question authority, speak in
large, public forums, learn to use technology to best reach our
audience, generate hypotheses, be humble in the face of error, give
up study hall time and vacation days, and ultimately to guide
themselves on a path of higher understanding. They did this not for
a grade or to satisfy a parent or teacher, but strictly for the joy
of learning.
For everything, we’ve put into the project, I firmly believe that
the result is greater than the sum of its parts. We’ve engaged
several different generations on a dialogue about our town,
understood first hand what it means to be a historian, and truly
learned to value opinions different from our own. In doing so,
we’ve only begun to tell a multifaceted tale that requires people to
ask difficult questions. What is important to a city – the economy
of an area, or the people who live in it? When planning for a city,
should we look to the future or focus upon the past? While these
questions can have a multitude of answers, there is only one result
to this project – that because of the efforts of these 15 students,
this project was an unequivocal success.
Student Responses to the Lost Neighborhood Project
These can also be viewed on our blog:
http://blog.jamestown.wnyric.org/groups/99jkresgeblog/wiki/77255/The_Lost_Neighborhood_Blog.html
Johnna - When we first started the Lost Neighborhood project, I had
no idea what to expect. All I knew of the Lost Neighborhood was the
marker in Brooklyn Square showing where the Neighborhood had been. I
didn't really expect to get much out of it except for maybe some
extra work; but I really did end up with a lot more than just that.
Olivia -
The Lost Neighborhood Project has really moved me and the people
around me. I used to be incapable of really understanding how much
things, such as this, mean to people who really care. We have talked
to many people and brought them to tears because of what we've done.
What means so much to them, now means so much to me, and I would
have never guessed that I would be a part of something like this. I
have learned to look at other people’s opinions instead of just
going along with one. When you don’t know the story as a whole you
can never really assume anymore. You have to know the facts and you
have to hear them from more than one person until you believe them.
I really have enjoyed being a part of this and I hope that the
seventh graders coming up enjoy it and learn as much as I have.
Thank you so much Mr. Kresge and Mrs. Johnson for helping us bring
back the past.
Lindsey - Throughout the process of our whole Lost Neighborhood
project, I have learned many valuable lessons about what the
neighborhood’s significance was and how much it meant to the
citizens who lived there. Also, we have learned many essential
lessons that we will be able to use in our lives. What the lost
neighborhood used to be was a tight community of people who
interacted with each other each day. When they were told that they
had to leave their homes, it was a devastating time for everyone who
occupied that area. We as historians wanted to preserve their past
memories through this project as best we could. As a group we had to
listen to everyone’s opinions so that we could collect the best
information to make this project accurate. I would like to thank Mr.
Kresge and Mrs. Johnson for aiding us in this project along with
Mrs. Pam Brown and all of the former lost neighbor hood residents
who came to speak us. The Neighborhood will be able to live on and
be remember by wide span of people in and around this area.
Jennie - While working and researching with the other kids and
teachers of the Lost Neighborhood group, I have been taught a lot. I
have learned so much from this experience and I am honored to be
part of this group. When I first started this project I didn't know
how much that the neighborhood meant to all the people that used to
live there. We also heard many points of views of this time in
Jamestown and learned that some people were completely devastated
about this happening, and some thought that it was for the best. We
have learned what it is like to be real historians and really
preserve the past. We didn't sit in a classroom and listen to a
teacher tell us about it. We researched, interviewed people and went
on field trips to learn more about it our selves. For once, our
teachers didn't know any more than what we did. We learned that so
much has changed since the time of the lost neighborhood. Parents
would send their seven year old kids or younger, to buy groceries.
Families would leave their doors unlocked when the left their homes
too. When interviewing all the people that we did, we could tell how
much that the Lost Neighborhood meant to them and how happy they
were to be able to pass it on to us. I would like to thank Mr.
Kresge, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Pam Brown, all of the residents of the
Lost Neighborhood, and everyone who expressed an interest in this
project and encouraged us to continue and present it in various
places. Because we are passing this project on to the new seventh
graders, we hope that they discover how lucky they are to be able to
do something like this. It is because of the young people of today
that hopefully now, the Lost Neighborhood will live forever.
Holly -
Throughout this process I have learned many things that I wouldn't
have even heard of if it had not been for the Lost Neighborhood
Project. The project has taught me many technical skills such as,
how to manage a website, blog, my time and how to work and
communicate with my peers. I have learned so much more in addition
to the technical side, I have been a part in preserving the history
of my town. The lost neighborhood has taught me how to interact with
people that the neighborhood means the world to. To these people the
neighborhood was the shinning moment in there lives and I have grown
to appreciate that to a level that I didn't even know existed.
Through the duration of our time working with the lost neighborhood
and its residents I found out the Neighborhood was a place like none
other with the type of relationships that existed there. Knowing
that this is something that my generation will probably never
experience learning about its existence proved to be quite the
valuable lesson and this project is something that I will never
forget because it has taught me so much. Of course this project
wouldn't exist had it not been for Mr. Kresge, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs.
Pam Brown and the former lost neighborhood residents that have given
there time to help make our project a success and for that I thank
them all.
Johnna - When we first started the Lost Neighborhood project, I
really wasn't sure what to expect. The only thing I knew about about
the Lost Neighborhood was the marker I had seen in Brooklyn Square
showing where the neighborhood had previously been. Honestly, when I
first heard about the project I really didn't expect to get much out
of it expect for maybe a little extra work, but it turned out that I
got a lot more rewarding experience than I could have ever imagined.
Throughout all of the interviews, I began to realize how much the
Lost Neighborhood meant to all of the Italian American families
living there at the time. I also realized how much time has changed
in the years past. Sometimes, you will live your entire life a house
away from someone and will never say a word to them. I can't imagine
how many people will go a good amount of their life and never know
who their neighbors were. I am happy to say that even though time
has passed the lost Neighborhood will not ever be forgotten but
preserved forever. Thank You so much to Mr.Kresge and Mrs.Johnson
for all of the help they gave us the year. You both really helped us
a lot and we could not have achieved any of this without you!! :)
Lucas - During the Lost Neighborhood project I learned many things
such as how to listen to many different points of view at a time.
The project has also taught me how to make and manage your own
website. This was a harder concept because there were many people in
many different classes. All people needed to write what their class
did during the period, which was time consuming for everyone.
Meeting all of the people that lived in the Lost Neighborhood was
touching. Seeing all of the want for the neighborhood to be back and
the anger that was welled up inside them was really touching. I am
very glad to be a part of this project. Learning about the
neighborhood was one of the greatest things that has happened in my
life.
Justin - The Lost Neighborhood project has meant a lot to me. For
starters, I learned a lot about the neighborhood in general. Before
this project I hadn't even heard of the lost neighborhood. No I know
of the hardships people went through moving from there and how
loving each member of the neighborhood felt for each other. This
project didn't only teach me about a place but about how to act
towards others. The community they lived in was so caring they
didn't even have to lock the doors. If we could act that way, maybe
there would be less violence ion the world. Also, I learned about
how to make a site and how to make interesting pieces out of
information I have. All and all, this project has taught me about
how to preserve the past, but also how to act in the future.
Alex - For the past 5-6 months of participating in the Lost
Neighborhood Project I have learned many skills that may not benefit
me at this moment but I know I will use them in the future. I have
learned new communication, interviewing and speaking skills ever
since this project. I have communicated with the 14 other members of
the group and other people. We have had several interviews and
chances to speak out in front of people. Also I never really
understood why to value the old but I really do now. I somewhat
understand what the citizens of the Lost Neighborhood went through
during Urban Renewal. Those people lost their homes, stores,
businesses and neighbors just because someone wanted the new. This
project has really changed my perspective on preserving old and the
phrase "Out with the old, in with the new." Also this was a great
opportunity and I am really glad this was a replacement to my
research project. Now I really can say, I am a historian.
Marisa - We have been working on the Lost Neighborhood Project for
the past 6 months now, and as a group we have gained many skills.
Some of the skills that we have acquired consist of communication
with others outside of the classroom, how to listen to every side of
a question and not to be bias and take one persons side. In addition
we have talked to many people that have experienced first hand the
government taking away their homes and how they used to live. Over
the past interviews and photos we've seen this has become a lot more
than just a project its become an experience that I am proud to say
I'm a part of. From the families to the stores in Brooklyn Square I
feel like I'm a part of all of it and to me it was never lost. In
fact the Lost Neighborhood b was just miss placed for a little while
and needed a few students back to life to tell the stores of those
who lived there. In the end I am honored to have been able to have
this opportunity and give generations of students a reference to the
way Jamestown once was so many years ago.
Michelle - Over the past 6 months we have been working on the Lost
Neighborhood Project. We, as students have learned many things such
as what the Lost Neighborhood is, but also how to work as a team. We
have also learned to listen to both sides of stories and not to
judge something the minute we see or hear it. We have interviewed
many citizens that were from the Lost Neighborhood and the more we
learned, the more I felt that I was a part of the neighborhood -
that I had actually been there and lived it. It was an emotional
project, but at the same time it was exciting. Having the privilege
to get to do something like this is like no other. It was a truly
amazing experience that I will never forget.
|