Studying Community in Canton, Georgia:
Linking Students to Local Resources
by Peggy Corbett

As an experienced public school educator, I know that community-based inquiry is not the typical avenue for teaching the research process to high school students. But participating in KCAC encouraged me to try this new approach in the high school English classes I was teaching when our collaborative project began. Shakespeare, poetry, and criticism were the domains where I was comfortable. However, once I made the decision to take on a different strategy, I realized that preparation would be more important than ever. The comfort of answers in the library would not be available to me or to my students, so I began to consider what our resources would be. Fundamental to all learning is not knowing the answers, but knowing where to find them. This endeavor would illustrate that principle. The resources I developed and discovered along the way would be beneficial to anyone who setting out to examine his surroundings and uncover the stories of life, work, and culture in a community. But the processes I used to build this network with and for my students would be particularly helpful for anyone starting to study a community with rural roots.

Historical Society
I have learned that a crucial initial component for a successful community inquiry experience is a community resource network. Whether teachers are life-long members of the community or relative newcomers, as I was, they cannot be expected to know everything about the area. From an initial contact, however the teacher will begin to develop a web of valuable resources. The most obvious starting point is the local historical society. This group is most helpful primarily because it is comprised of volunteers who love history and have identified dissemination of historical information and education of the public as their principal mission. They are eager to involve students in this mission. Additionally, they are typically long-time residents who are actively involved in stewardship in their communities and have a wide range of knowledge of events and of community members with additional knowledge.
This resource should be contacted prior to beginning the project and the contact person should be briefed on the overall plan. The teacher should also communicate precisely what her expectations and needs of this person might be. In my experience, my first contact was the President of the local historical society, who I first corresponded with by letter, followed by a phone call. This led to a visit to my classroom, during which Mr. Roberts addressed my class about the general history of our county. Prior to his visit, my students had read numerous newspaper articles about current events in the county. Mr. Roberts provided students with historical facts that they were completely unaware of. For instance, while they knew that Cherokee County was named for the Cherokee Indian tribe that once inhabited most of North Georgia, they were unaware that the county had been a central place in that history. Names of communities that they had never wondered about made sense when explained by our guest.

Ball Ground--where many of them had gone to elementary school-got its name from the Indians who played a popular stickball game with other tribes. Buffington, site of another elementary school, was originally Fort Buffington and was the site of one of the notorious stockades where the Cherokee were held prior to the march on the Trail of Tears. Students were also surprised to know that Canton, the county seat, had been named for Canton, China in anticipation of a thriving silk industry. The fact that Canton later became a leading manufacturer of the country's most prized cotton goods was also news to them. They began to consider that maybe Cherokee County was not so boring and provincial after all. Combined with this new historical information, they generated many questions for our guest and began to get an idea of the direction they would like their inquiry to take.

Field Trips
It was astonishing to me that many of my students had not visited their county seat. They are suburban kids whose needs are met near their homes in the abundant strip shopping centers at every corner. With Mr. Roberts as our tour guide, we visited historic buildings, saw a brief video, toured a newly restored theater, and lunched at a local landmark. In the restored marble courthouse they were allowed to thumb through tax, death, marriage, and arrest records from the early part of the century. Mr. Roberts delighted them with stories of prison escapes and stories of how the Sheriff and his wife ran the jail with a single deputy. A visit to the nearby Rock Barn revealed a national reputation in the 1800s for quality racehorses.

The Rock Barn was constructed after a tragic fire destroyed many valuable horses produced by Crescent Farms. The Rock Barn insured that such a tragedy would never happen again. Mr. Roberts also shared with students the location of original Cherokee fish traps that are still submerged in local Etowah River. By this point, every student had seen or heard something that sparked an interest, and they were now ready to begin. This is where the resource web begins to develop.

While a field trip may not be possible or appropriate in every situation, alternatives might include producing a Power Point virtual tour or a discovery quest on the Internet. Many historical societies have quality web sites with helpful links that might provide similar revelations.
Students were required to provide me with their research interest. When possible, I gave students a name to contact or provided a direction for inquiry. In some cases, I directed them to start at the local library, where there is a research room devoted entirely to city, county, and state resources. In other cases, I knew someone locally who had knowledge about the student's area of interest. In other instances, however, I directed the student to contact Mr. Roberts via email with a request for information. On numerous occasions he provided the student with a name and phone number, and in a few situations, he offered to meet with the student himself.

Conclusion
The reactions of my students have been varied but for the most part have been profound. Amanda J. acknowledged the academic benefits saying the inquiry "allowed [the class] opportunities to develop their talents in narrative writing, true interviewing, map making, research methods, and journalism" but she also appreciated the "opportunity to learn about the history of our community." She also felt that each student "gained something unique through the projects that no other school project has ever offered."

Colin K., a student who has moved around a great deal in his life, said that "before [he] met the people of Hickory Log Church [he] had very little grounds on which to define community and was touched by the intimacy and fellowship that Hickory Log showed him." Colin attributes the "resilience of the Hickory Log community" to their "celebration of their ancestors and their belief that their stories still continue."

Brittnie P. claims that the project "has given back to [her] more than any project ever has and has taught teamwork, dedication, and the value of serving community." A final outcome of all of this is that these teenagers have a much clearer sense of who they are and their role in their community.

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