Students across Louisiana are "Building Our Historical Heritage" and "Exposing Our Roots" this spring as projects funded by the Louisiana Heritage Education Mini- Grants program get underway. The program has funded more than 20 projects designed to promote heritage education around the state.
Some, like Greg English, seventh grade teacher from Oak Park Middle School in Lake Charles, use their grants to combine hands-on and technology- based methods.
"The Louisiana Heritage Education Mini Grant has allowed my Louisiana Explorers History Club to travel to various historical and cultural sites and events," English said. "My students come from an inner-city, Title-1 school and would not otherwise been able to make such educational trips.
In just five months we have visited and explored both state capitols, the LSU Rural Life Museum, Old Governor's Mansion, Acadian Village, Bowie Museum, Acadian Prairie Culture Center, Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, Fort St. Jean Baptiste, Old Natchitoches' Front Street and seen the Christmas Lights. Careful planning has made all this possible - and we still have four trips to go."
The Explorers web site is located at <http://www.geocities.com/la_explorers/> (editor: page no longer online, 5/19/2005) and includes photos and descriptions of the trips the group has gone on so far.
Other projects, like the Louisiana Links newsletter, initiated by Patricia Gaspard of Forked Island E. Broussard Elementary, is a student-produced publication that documents local history.
The most recent Louisiana Links featured stories on Louisiana wetlands, food, festivals, politics, and even the state dog. The newsletter can be found at http://vrml.k12.la.us/fiebweb/lalinks.htm.
As a nation, the United States is at risk of losing its historic places, and the stories behind them. Begun in the fall of 2000, the Louisiana Heritage Education Program endeavors to convey to the state's youngest citizens the power of history and place and the stories behind our irreplaceable treasures.
To aid this goal, the minigrants projects use a variety of approaches to heritage education. Some are classroombased, and though taught in the traditional way, they still use the web and other technologies to teach students about Louisiana heritage.
Dawn Williams' fourth grade class at Estherwood Elementary will create a traveling exhibit based on research of Acadia Parish historic sites. Likewise, Terry Thibodeaux's junior high students at Gonzales Middle School will research and create an online Louisiana resource guide.
Other classes will take a more artistic approach. Alisha Rivero, primary grade teacher at St. Ville Elementary in Harvey, Louisiana, is producing a play with her students about life in New Orleans in 1815.
"The students at St. Ville have limited exposure to the arts and historical 'hands on' experiences," Rivero said. "Children that participate in this type of approach create knowledge that is life long. The learning is real! The objective is for the children to create their own dialog for the play from their learning experience.
The grant will enable the students to experience history first hand. The students will take pictures and record dialog of the characters portraying the events of history."