Here’s
a pop quiz for everyone in the neighborhood: What’s the history behind
the street names on the Isthmus?
If you
don’t know, ask any 8th grader in Stephanie Phillips’ social
studies class at Georgia O’Keeffe Middle School and they’ll tell
you the streets are named after the signers of the U.S. Constitution.
Press
them further and they may even tell you about these founding fathers or at
least about the one they studied as part of a recent project that combined U.S.
history with today’s technology.
Using the internet, each student researched one
Constitution signer and, at the same time, evaluated the web sites they
used. (Check out colonialhall.com
or whitehouse.gov, for example).
They presented their findings to the class, illustrating various aspects
of the signers’ lives with mobile artwork. Some ambitious students included photos of the relevant
street sign on their mobile.
Ms.
Phillips came up with the idea last year and the kids had so much fun with it,
she decided to do it again this year.
Did they stumble on any surprises?
“It
was no surprise they were all white men, and many were wealthy. But the students were amazed by the
size of some of their families.
One had ten children,” she said.
A big
winner on the web site circuit was www.colonialhall.com which listed the
signers by state, along with biographical information.
By the
way, neighborhood streets named after signers include Langdon, Gilman, King,
Gorham, Sherman, Johnson, Hamilton, Franklin, Mifflin, Morris, Clymer,
Ingersoll, Bedford, Dickinson, Bassett, Broom, McHenry, Carroll, Jenifer,
Blair, Blount, Spaight, Williamson, Rutledge, Pinckney, Butler, Few, Baldwin,
Livingston, Brearly, Paterson and Dayton.
My only
question is why doesn’t Madison have streets named after signers Thomas FitzSimons
and George Read? Any history buffs
out there who have a clue?
-Mary
Ellen Spoerke