Tuesday, November 11, 2008

"The Truth About the First Thanksgiving"

After reading "The Truth About the First Thanksgiving" article, I was completely shocked. I did not know that this celebration only dates back to 1863. That date is not even close to 1620. "The Pilgrims had nothing to do with it; not until the 1890s did they get included in the tradition." I was also shocked about the plague and the grave robbing. I did not learn any of this in my classrooms.

Was there anything in the article that struck you? Do you think you will use this article in your future classrooms?

1 comment:

Littel said...

I was just as shocked as you were about the truth of Thanksgiving. The part that shocked me the most was about the grave robbings. From what I remember learning about Thanksgiving, it was all about how nice everyone was and how we should be thankful. We never really learned why the pilgrims came over here and what they did once they arrived. I remember in Kindergarten we put on a play about the first Thanksgiving and we had to dress up as pilgrims. It's strange to think that this is not how Thanksgiving was at all but yet we teach out students that's what happened.

I could see myself using this article to show students there is another side to the story. However, I don't think I would phrase it as the "truth" of Thanksgiving but more so, "what you didn't know." I don't want to tell my students something is true but rather present both sides and they can make their own call on what they believe.