Mabelle B. Avery Middle School teachers and the Amistad voyage

Mabelle B. Avery Middle School Team Amistad's teaching journey began in March  2007 with a visit to the Amistad at Mystic Seaport.  We were privileged to spend time with crew member Newman Lawrence who would travel the first leg of the voyage, and we were allowed aboard the Amistad as she was being fitted for her transAtlantic sail.  Lisa Marcinkowski of Mystic Seaport arranged our visit and told us about the amistadamerica.org website that would become such a valuable resource for us and for our students throughout the yearlong voyage.  When the Amistad left New Haven for Nova Scotia in June, we followed her out of the harbor aboard the schooner Quinnipiac.  Thus began our connection with this voyage to "Confront the past, transform the future." 
We are a group of six Mabelle B. Avery Middle School educators who spent the year following the Amistad voyage, teaching our students the story of the Amistad captives, and making connections with history, modern day slavery, and technology. 

Our team included:
Marc Dzicek, 6th & 7th grade social studies
John Gieras, 6th grade social studies
Al Holmes, 6-8th grade technology
Betsy Kenneson, 6-8th grade library media specialist
Ellen Quagliaroli, 7th & 8th grade social studies
Carol Wilson, 8th grade social studies.
 
Our work with students included following the Amistad through the amistadamerica.org website.  Students followed the adventures of the crew and the Sankofa students on the legs of the journey by reading their blog postings.  This put a very human face on this voyage.  Following the current position of the ship using the googleearth link on the amistadamerica.org website presented an exciting and relevant new way to teach geography to our students.  The website made possible a real time connection between the classroom and the Amistad.  Online reading revolutionized how we teach, allowing daily contact with history in the making.
 
Our lessons with students included the use of primary source documents available through the website's links; learning navigational skills with GPS devices purchased through a local grant; African drumming and the making of African masks through our arts programs; discussions of the existence of modern day slavery; navigating websites of local online newspapers from the Amistad's ports of call; directing students to vetted, reliable website information through Trackstar, an online teaching tool; and viewing online The United Nations conference designating March 25th as an annual Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. 
 
In March we presented a summary of our activities at the NERC regional Social Studies conference in New Haven. On June 19, Juneteenth, we celebrated a homecoming and reunion with the Amistad in Mystic Seaport.  We were fortunate to meet face-to-face with Amistad and Mystic Seaport personnel to share how our experience with what has been an extraordinary year of  "teachable moments."