Reflection:
As I did this project I learned so much about the town I grew up in. There was so much research to be done just to find out the information to my tiny little town. I was pleasantly surprised of all the history that the town has. I loved both the stories as to why the town was named what it is, I wish someone new for a fact why it was named Mount Holly. I thought it was so interesting to see how important the railroad station once was to the town. The station is now used as shops--its a hair salon and a hot dog place to be exact. I loved researching the "then" part of the project because I got encompassed in all the rich history my tiny town has to offer. It was hard to find a lot of stuff on my small town, but I did what I could with the information that I had. I decided to do a quick bit on culture of the town just to show how festive the town gets during different seasons of the year. I love my small town and all the little events that it holds. Mount Holly is a small town with big history!
The two common core objectives I chose to go along with this topic are: 3.h.2.1 Explain change over time through historical narratives and 3.H.1.3 Exemplify the ideas that were significant in the development of local communities and regions. The first one goes along with students being able to find out history about this town through historical narratives. This could be a fun activity for students to look up history of the town and come up with how it has changed. The second objective just asks to exemplify the ideas that were significant to the development of the town. The students could do research on this as well and see how the Mount Holly cotton mill and how the railroads brought in commercial growth for the town. Both of the objectives go hand in hand when looking up information on a community. I felt like they were perfect objectives for my topic.
I think doing this project can help me in the classroom by being able to bring up history of my town. If I end up teaching in the town of Mount Holly I will be able to bring this into my classroom and show my students the history of the town they live in. It will be a fun way to incorporate social studies because my students will be able to see how their town came to be. If I end up not teaching in Mount Holly I can still use it in my classroom because it is part of history in North Carolina! I could use it as an example for my students and have them do a similar project on their town or on a subject of their choice. The great thing about social studies and teaching is that their are endless possibilities when it comes to what can be done in the classroom.
The two common core objectives I chose to go along with this topic are: 3.h.2.1 Explain change over time through historical narratives and 3.H.1.3 Exemplify the ideas that were significant in the development of local communities and regions. The first one goes along with students being able to find out history about this town through historical narratives. This could be a fun activity for students to look up history of the town and come up with how it has changed. The second objective just asks to exemplify the ideas that were significant to the development of the town. The students could do research on this as well and see how the Mount Holly cotton mill and how the railroads brought in commercial growth for the town. Both of the objectives go hand in hand when looking up information on a community. I felt like they were perfect objectives for my topic.
I think doing this project can help me in the classroom by being able to bring up history of my town. If I end up teaching in the town of Mount Holly I will be able to bring this into my classroom and show my students the history of the town they live in. It will be a fun way to incorporate social studies because my students will be able to see how their town came to be. If I end up not teaching in Mount Holly I can still use it in my classroom because it is part of history in North Carolina! I could use it as an example for my students and have them do a similar project on their town or on a subject of their choice. The great thing about social studies and teaching is that their are endless possibilities when it comes to what can be done in the classroom.