Joseph A. Montagna
Before beginning the unit, it is necessary for the teacher to assess the level of mastery of each student concerning certain basic facts about New Haven, i.e. location, surrounding cities and towns, major waterways, etc. It is necessary for each student to attain these skills to make the course of study of this unit a meaningful experience.
On an outline map of Connecticut should be able to locate the following:
New Haven
Quinnipiac River
Neighboring Towns and Cities
Hartford
Connecticut River
Bridgeport
Long Island Sound
The teacher should prepare individual or class lessons for those students who are below level.
The following schedule is only a guide. The teacher may choose to take two days to complete a lesson which calls for one day.
Day one
Involve the students in a discussion concerning the operation of a city. Draw from them any thoughts they may have on this subject. The New Haven Redevelopment Agency has a handbook entitled, “A Handbook On City Government and Services.” Use this handbook as a guide to explain the governmental structure in New Haven.
Vocabulary
mayor
alderman
finance
ward
election
voter
legislation
government
Day Two:
Vocabulary development
Day Three:
Obtain a large map of the City of New Haven from the Redevelopment Agency. (They have one which is approximately 2’ x 3’, which is durable enough to last throughout the course of the unit.) Discuss the students concepts of the differences between: city, state, neighborhood, community. Locate the various communities that exist in New Haven.
Vocabulary
city
state
neighborhood
community
Day Four
Continue with previous discussion of the meanings of the terms that were assigned for homework. Play a game involving the location of particular neighborhoods, streets, landmarks. Locate your school. Future project: locate the homes of individual students.
Day Five
Present the material related to the condition of New Haven before the renewal era. (see narrative,
Mayor’s Game
.) Locate the major concerns at the beginning of this time frame; Oak Street, Church Street Project, Wooster Square, Dixwell.
Day Six
Continue with presentation of material concerning New Haven’s pre-redevelopment era. Play the tape of interview with former Mayor Lee. Discuss the thoughts that develop concerning the interview.
Vocabulary
slum
business
residential
renewal
urban
inner-city
ghetto
renovate
Days Seven and Eight:
Show slides of the downtown district before renewal. Encourage students to take notes on what they view. Discuss the things that they observed in the slides. View the slides again. Obtain the slides which depict construction of new facilities in the downtown district. Discuss the need for renewing this area. Touch on the economics involved in financing these projects (public and private).
Vocabulary
federal government
Department of Housing and Urban Development
urban blight
urban flight
taxes
Day Eight
Review vocabulary. Discuss Mayor Lee, Edward Logue, the “whiz kids”, Citizens Action Committee. (see narrative and Talbot’s book.) Present this material to give a flavor of the attitude of the times to renew this country’s cities.
Day Nine
Construct a chart which lists the things that a city has to offer. Keep this available to add new items on it during the course of study. Items may range from telephone poles to mass transit. List everything that is offered.
Day Ten
Start the discussion off with the topic: “The City Is The People”. Bring into the discussion the interaction of thousands of people and the activities in which they are involved. List these activities. Creative Writing Assignment: “The City Has Soul.”
Days Eleven
Twenty five: Spend two days on each of the seven neighborhoods in New Haven. Discussion should concern location of each, racial composition, housing conditions, economic conditions, etc. The New Haven Redevelopment Agency has material concerning all of the above. Show slides of before and after of each neighborhood. One could spend considerably more time on each neighborhood. In fact, entire units have been written on several of them. These units may be obtained at the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.
Days Twenty-six and Twenty-seven
Topic for discussion:
“People Problems.” Discuss the problems of those who live in the city. List them. Bring into the discussion the interest of the federal government in the problems of the city and its poor. Discuss John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, the War on Poverty. Discuss the programs that grew from the efforts of the above.
Day Twenty-eight
Obtain a copy of “Opening Opportunities” (see narrative). Present the philosophy involved concerning education, leisure time activities, employment training, juvenile delinquency, the elderly, etc. Discuss the programs that grew out of “Opening Opportunities.”
Day Twenty-nine
If at all possible, obtain a bus for a trip around the city as a culminating activity.
Day Thirty
Discuss the future of our city. This will undoubtedly be a discussion that will raise more questions than answers.