A brief course in the teaching process

by George D. Strayer

PLAN FOR A SERIES OF TOPICS IN HISTORY—SIXTH GRADE

A plan covering the work for several weeks given in the form of a topical outline with suggestions as to methods of treatment. This general plan would need to be supplemented by definite additional preparation from day to day. This plan was prepared by Miss Lida Lee Tall, supervisor of grammar grades, Baltimore County, Maryland.

Aim: To teach the colonization of Maryland and show its development as a part of England’s colonial empire in the New World.

Topical Outline (for the Teacher)

• I. Conditions in Europe at the time of the settlement of Maryland.
• II. Conditions in the New World.
• III. Life of George Calvert.
• a. In England.
• b. In the New World.
• IV. The settlement of Maryland.
• V. The development of Maryland.

Textbooks

Any good history of England, as Walker’s, Gardiner’s, or Andrews’.
Warren. Stories from English History.
Harding. Stories of the English.
Mowry. First Steps in the History of England.
Browne. Maryland: the History of a Palatinate.
Cheyney. European Background of American History.
Cheyney. A Short History of England.
Hall. Lords Baltimore and the Maryland Palatinate.
Gambrill. Leading Events of Maryland History (class text).
Coman and Kendall. History of England.

TOPIC I: CONDITIONS IN EUROPE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Subject Matter

1. Monarch. King James.

2. Incidents of the reign that will help interpret the life of the times:

	{Religious
Controversies	{Political
	{Commercial.
	{vain
	{arrogant
	{weak
3. Character of	{amiable
the King	{loved peace at
	{ all costs
	{ambitious
	{approved
	{ learning
	{Sir Walter
	{ Raleigh
	{Sir Robert
	{ Cecil
4. Men of	{George Calvert
England	{Cromwell
	{Guy Fawkes
	{Robert Carr
	{Francis Bacon

5. Reason for England’s interest in other countries:

a. Trade.

b. Spain’s success in colonization in the New World.

c. Spain’s usurpation of Holland.

d. Increase in woolen manufacture in England.

6. Topics of the day at the English court:

a. Spanish king and his power.

b. Spanish resources.

c. New World.

d. Religion.

e. England’s { Stock companies.

trading { Proprietary

companies { privileges.

Method of Procedure

a. As you read see if you can tell from incidents in the story the kind of man King James must have been. You must argue for what you think about him.

b. England was interested particularly in Spain, Holland, France, and the New World. As you read find out why this was so.

TOPIC II: CONDITIONS IN THE NEW WORLD

Subject Matter

1. Spanish America.

2. French America.

3. English and Dutch America.

Method of Procedure

TOPIC III: LIFE OF GEORGE CALVERT

Subject Matter

1. George Calvert in England at this time.

a. Early life:

Born in Yorkshire (locate).

Educated at Oxford (picture of school).

Traveled on the Continent (map showing university towns).

b. Later life:

Important position in England.

Interests in the New World: Trade: religion.

2. George Calvert. In the New World:

a. Newfoundland.

Management.

	{ Climate
Difficulties	{ Soil
encountered	{ The
	{ French

Disappointment and departure.

b. In Virginia

Reception unwelcome because of religion, character troubles, business relations.

Result.

3. His return to England.

New charter from Charles I.

Death of George Calvert.

Method of Procedure

1. Assigned reading for class: Gambrill, pp. 3-6.

2. (a) Draw a map of the New World showing Newfoundland and other settlements of that time.

Why was Newfoundland bought?

(b) Why in Virginia and not Plymouth?

3. Textbook assignment.

TOPIC IV: THE SETTLEMENT OF MARYLAND

Subject Matter

1. Cecilius Calvert—To carry out his father’s plan of making a settlement in the New World.

a. Conditions of the new charter. (Gambrill, pp. 6-8.)

(a) Rights and duties of the proprietor.

(b) Rights and duties of the colonists.

Kind of man necessary to rule the colony wisely.

b. Preparation for the trip:

	{Hostility of
	{the old London
	{Co.
Difficulties	{Objections to
	{the charter
	{by Claiborne.
Getting	{The Ark.
ready at	{The Dove,
Gravesend	{Nov., 1633.
	{Men bound to
	{service (probably
	{Protestants),
	{300.
Men for the	{Freemen (probably
expedition	{Catholics), 20;
	{priests, 2.
	{Members of the
	{Calvert family.

Stop at the Isle of Wight.

Off for the voyage.

Method of Procedure

1. Assigned reading: Gambrill, pp. 6-8.

2. The voyage.

a. The stop at the Barbadoes.
(It is necessary that the class understand something of England’s colonial territory at the time: England colonized Barbadoes in 1625, after it had been depopulated by the Spanish. The island had, therefore, been under English control for eight years. It was possible that the Ark and the Dove carried mail for the Barbadoes. The colonists stopped for three weeks, in that time repairing the vessels, securing negro slaves, and buying supplies, among which was seed corn for the Maryland settlement.)

b. The stop at Point Comfort.—Letters from Cecilius Calvert and the king were to be delivered with great respect, by the hands of a messenger who was conformable to the Church of England, to Sir John Harvie, the governor of the Virginias.

3. The landing on Blackiston’s Island, March 25, 1634. Why not a suitable place for a permanent settlement?

4. The visit to the Pascataway Indians. The sale of the Yaocomaco Village. The advantages of such an arrangement with native Indians.

5. The settlement on St. George’s Creek, afterward known as St. Mary’s Creek. The settlement was named Augusta Carolina.

2. The voyage can be treated as a recall of the knowledge gained from the celebration of a holiday like Maryland Day in a previous grade, or an outline map may be drawn and pupils may trace the route if they can.

a. Why was a stop at the Barbadoes planned?

b. Why was a stop at Point Comfort planned?

3, 4, 5, 6. From the landing on Blackiston Island to the end of this topic the method followed should be: developing questions, with the use of a textbook which should be read either before the lesson or after the development in order to verify conclusions made; but this must be left to the judgment of the teacher and her own individual plan for dealing with the subject. Assigned reading: Gambrill, pp. 17-19.

6. The favorable conditions of the settlement.

a. Spring of the year.

b. Houses of the Indians (log) could be occupied temporarily by the settlers while deciding upon sites for building.

c. Aid of friendly Indians:

1. Routes through the country.

2. Protection.

3. Education—corn planting, harvesting, clipping tobacco, hunting game, fishing, climate.

4. Land was already cleared and cultivated.

d. Condition of plantation grants:

A man with five persons—2000 acres.

A man with less than five—100 acres for self; 100 acres for wife; 100 acres for each child under sixteen years; 100 acres for each servant; 100 acres for each laborer.

e. Physical features of country for tobacco industry:

Tide water.

Estuaries—wharves for each plantation.

7. Life in the colony:

a. Plantation—
extent,
sheds for drying tobacco,
slave quarters,
barns, rolling roads,
chapel,
house.

b. Food—
wild turkey,
venison,
oysters, hominy,
corn pone.

c. Amusements—
hunting,
dancing,
singing by slaves.

d. Travel—
boats,
horse.

e. Affairs of interest—Virginia news.

Claiborne’s trading post in the Chesapeake.

Relations with the Indians.

English politics (Charles I, Cromwell, and Parliament.)

Military arrangements in the settlement.

Currency for trading.

Need for an assembly to settle matters in a legal way.

f. First Assembly—1635.

Matters taken up—Boundaries,

Military protection,

Claiborne trouble,

Framing laws to be sent to Cecilius Calvert, the proprietor in England.

g. Sending back these laws; also letters, and products, as well as the two Indian arrows required by the king.

An interesting account of the arrival and departure of the trading ships can be given. They came from November to January, and the captains were entertained at the different plantations. They brought new settlers, indentured servants, more slaves, letters from England, news of the world.

h. Trouble in the colony.

Claiborne on Kent Island.

Virginia’s hostility.

Troubles with the Indians— Susquehannoughs and Pocomokes.

Civil War in England.

7. For the life in the colonies, reading periods may be occupied with readings from any good book that gives a graphic account of the times, such as Alice Morse Earle’s Home Life in the Colonies. If the sand table is used, the children should consult these books. Another way to vary the procedure, if there are books enough, is to assign readings and let the pupils bring to the class accounts of the details of the life in the colonies that seemed most interesting to them individually.

In the Affairs of Interest it will be necessary for the teacher to tell about the conditions in England. Mowry, Guerber, or Warren may have all the information necessary for this purpose, but Cheyney’s European Background of American History should be studied by the teacher. The European background can be very simply drawn.

The Kent Island affair may be read before being discussed, but there is good problem work there, and the better plan would be to read the text last. Text: Gambrill, pp. 21-25, 99-111.

References:

Tudor Jenks, When America was New.
Chap. IV, “Maryland and the Dutch.”
Chap. V, “New World Living.”
Chap. IX, “What the Colonists Knew and Thought.”

Wm. H. Browne, Maryland, The History of a Palatinate.

Alice Morse Earle, Home Life in Colonial Days.

The chapters on Virginia plantation life will serve to show the life in Maryland colony also. The material is as follows: Light, Kitchen, Fireside, Serving Meals, Food of Forest and Sea, Indian Corn, Meat and Drink, Flax Culture, Wool Culture and Spinning, Girls’ Occupation, Dress of the Colonists, Jack-knife Industries, Travel, Transportation and Taverns, Colonial Neighborliness, Sunday, Oldtime Flower Gardens.

h. Textbook assignment: Gambrill, pp. 27-30, 34-47.

TOPIC V: DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY AND REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT

Subject Matter

1. Assemblies—

First Assembly in 1635.

Second Assembly in 1638. Why three years later than first?

What was its organization? Freemen, governor, and Council. Importance.

Third Assembly in 1659.

Representatives from the hundreds making a House of Burgesses, governor, and Council.

2. The Claiborne affair and its settlement.

3. The effect of the Civil War in England upon the colonies:

a. Colonies in general:

1. Increase or decrease in population according to the sentiments of the colonists regarding the questions in England.

2. Strife in colonies. Councils called on to decide for or against king or Parliament.

3. Effect on commerce.

b. Upon Maryland in particular:

1. Increase in Catholic population.

2. Caused strife and dissension.

3. Return of Leonard Calvert to England for advice; Giles Brent left governor pro tem.

4. Invasion of Ingle.

5. Ingle and Claiborne.

6. Leonard Calvert’s return from England.

7. Leonard Calvert’s refuge in Virginia.

8. Return of Calvert and restoration of the colony under his government.

9. Death of Leonard Calvert, June 9, 1647.

Thomas Greene made governor pro tem. by Leonard Calvert on his deathbed.

Method of Procedure

1. Discuss the organization of the several assemblies.

Explain hundreds.

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Textbook Assignments: To be given by teacher.

4. The appointing of a new governor by the proprietor and the reorganization of the government: Factor in this—Civil War; the Protestants in power in England.

1. William Stone appointed governor.

Effect—he chose Protestants for his Council, from those brought into Maryland from Virginia.

They made a settlement on Severn River.

5. Trouble with the Puritans resulting in the battle of the Severn.

6. Reconcilement with Virginia.

7. Change in organization of government—
Upper House.
Lower House.

Due to growth of colony; freemen; indentured slaves who became freemen.

8. Removal of the capital to Annapolis.

8. For “Life in Annapolis” see Churchill’s Richard Carvel: Chapter on “Christmas at Carvel Hall.” This should be read to the class.

Note.—Here the development of the Maryland colony may be closed because of the political difficulties which are entirely beyond the experience of the sixth-year child. The French and Indian Wars might be studied; also the opening up of western Maryland by the coming of the Germans; but the main point has been accomplished. The children have worked their way through the study by living in the conditions of the colony and solving Leonard Calvert’s problems for him. To work such a plan out in detail, to give just enough to whet the appetite of the child and then make him think for himself, to have him live as a colonist of the times, interested particularly in the details of government that concern the colonists as a united body until finally a “two house” legislature is demanded because of the growth in population, area occupied, and interests represented, is a task for the skill of the teacher, and is worth while.

Lida Lee Tall,
Baltimore County Schools.