![]() ![]() Through their successes, they are each able to build confidence in their own ability to be part of the community around them.” As Leo Higgins, the Life Skills Teacher for the class explains, “Taking these trips allows our students to put practical applications to what they are learning all year long. Though students in the Life Skills Enrichment Program work hard throughout the year building important day-to-day skills, these trips offer an opportunity for spontaneous skill building that cannot be recreated in a classroom. And for students in this program, who all have some learning-related delays, visceral learning is doubly powerful. She believes that having the opportunity to walk in the literal footstep of the sailors, captains and ship-owners of old builds meaningful visceral connections for modern-day students of history. ![]() They were also learning about what Maryanne Zujewski of the National Park Service calls the “Power of Place”. As they lay in swaying hammocks below decks on the Friendship, looked through the time-transporting telescopes on Derby Wharf and smelled coffee and cinnamon imported from the Far East in the Custom House, they were learning about the history of Salem in a way that was much more powerful than anything that they could be taught in the classroom. This was never more true than during a field trip to the National Park Service Maritime Site in Salem, as students in Collins Middle School’s Life Skills Enrichment Program found out on August 2nd. If academics are opportunities for the mind, so are field trips opportunities for the senses. “This is all a part of integrated learning, and we have all we need right here in our city – what an awesome opportunity!” ![]() Jen Aldrich, the teacher who came to SEF with her vision of this event, says she came up with the idea of the program in part because, “I have often been concerned about the lack of dance education in our country I feel this is an expressive art form that too often gets ignored though it can have some very positive impacts on our students.” Pairing dance and music seemed a perfect combination and using an 19th century model allowed students to gain a better appreciation for their city’s important role in history. Given fabric and patterns during early rehearsals, they were tasked with recreating 19th century garments full length gowns for the girls, ruffled shirts, vests, jackets and knee breeches for the boys. Though on this day, their primary job was simply to watch and enjoy their children’s accomplishments, they had been kept busy sewing costumes to make the event even more authentic. Between sets, participants cooled off with ice cream and stood in groups, laughing and chatting with far less formality than they might have in 1850. ![]() Students in grades 4&5 learned six different dances along with many period songs and on this day, held “dance cards” which reminded them of their partners for each of the sets. Salem Public School music teachers Jen Aldrich and Ben Chertok, working with local folk musicians Jim and Maggi Dalton had been preparing students for this moment for six weeks in their after school hours. It was a scene out of time, but what made it so extraordinary is that it took place just one week ago. Rapt parents, grandparents and sometimes restless younger siblings looked on from nearby tables with pride. Young dancers, decked out in period gowns with hoop skirts and linen shirts with vests, curtsied and bowed to each other before beginning an intricate version of the Virginia Reel. The upper rooms of historic Hamilton Hall were filled with late afternoon light. ![]()
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