Alison Sylvester

2025 Yale and Slavery Teachers Institute Cohort Member

I currently teach seventh grade Social Studies at Riverside Middle School in Springfield, Vermont. Riverside is the only middle school in Springfield and serves approximately 250 students in grades 6, 7 and 8. The school, built-in 1956, is located along the Black River. Springfield itself has both the Black River and the Connecticut River flowing through it and has a strong machine tool history. My revision project focuses on Vermont’s part in the Underground Railroad. I would like to revise my current lessons to be more in depth and engaging for students because they have always shown great interest in the Underground Railroad. I would also like to incorporate more primary sources in the lessons, especially from our region. All of the primary sources I currently use are articles and podcasts that are from other areas of the state. Most of my students have not been to the areas described and are too far for us to reasonably visit. By making the primary sources more local, students will be more engaged and this will create a deeper meaning and connection to the topic. Another aspect I would like to revise is to include more oral history.