Westlake High history teacher embarks on journey to ‘the place where it happened’

Westlake High School history teacher Cathy Cluck thought that if she was going to be teaching U.S. history remotely, why not put a real connection to her virtual lessons by visiting historical sites up close.

Unlike the previous 26 years she has spent as an educator in the classroom, Cluck began this year from a distance — a 1,500-mile distance to visit the many sites that are part of American history.

The Eanes school district welcomed back students Aug. 19, offering only remote learning for students through Sept. 4. Cluck’s mission this year was to figure out how to create engaging lessons for her AP U.S. and European history classes while also establishing relationships with students in a remote setting.

She said she’d been thinking about it all summer long and, about a month ago, just two weeks before the school year would begin, she decided a road trip — a new level of remote learning — was the answer. Not unlike the song “The Room Where It Happens” in the critically-acclaimed “Hamilton: An American Musical,” Cluck said she wanted to be in the place where American history happened.

“It was a few weeks ago and I was just kind of thinking about what is something that I was not able to do that I can do now,” she said. “I teach U.S. history and so I thought I should visit the historic sites in person.”

At first, she thought that it might not be possible to do the trip with rental RVs all booked up and considering all the equipment it would take to get it done. But with the help and encouragement of her colleagues at Westlake High, she said she packed up her car and headed east, using her personal savings to fund the venture.

“I think I've got more technical equipment than clothes,” Cluck said. “I just wanted to be sure that I would still have access anywhere I was.”

She said it was the first thing she has been excited about since March, especially when she, like many, was getting anxious about remote learning.

“Every year in July I look forward to going back to school,” Cluck said. “The pandemic was rough and not gettin g to hug my seniors and have closure with kids, that was hard. I've never done anything like this before but it is probably the coolest, weird and most out of the box thing I’ve ever done in my teaching career.”

From Austin to the East Coast, Cluck made 11 stops in the two-week trip, visiting famous historical sites such as the Gettysburg battlefield; the Weehawken, N.J., dueling grounds of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr; the Lincoln Memorial in Washington; and Jamestown, Va., the first successful English settlement in North America.

Finding an open space to set up, Cluck said she brought a makeshift desk made of PVC pipe and plywood, a cellphone and charger, a hotspot, a tripod, a bottle of water and a folding chair. And because the country is still in the midst of a pandemic, she also had a box full of sanitizing wipes, gloves and face masks with her.

Sometimes, she said, she had to stream her class from her car or a coffee shop because of weather or technical issues. She also streamed from a park along the James River in Jamestown and the Lincoln Memorial, which Cluck said was a dream come true.

Not only did she stream from these historical sites live — the in-person experience helped bring about new perspectives to the things she teaches from a textbook, she said.

“I know a lot about history, and I am still surprised by history being real,” she said. “When I was in Jamestown I was getting eaten up by mosquitoes and I thought ‘oh my gosh, malaria is what killed the early colonists.’ And I know I read stuff in books but there was just so much more I was not expecting to learn, and I got to go through that with them.”

The students, Cluck said, have responded well to it, and are enjoying the trip virtually. She compared her daily Zoom classes to a “Where’s Waldo” kind of moment, with only her knowing where she will be streaming from that day. That alone, she said, has kept students — about 140 students daily — interested, engaged and logging in.

“At the very least if it makes them want to log in; to me that is worth it,” Cluck said. “It's hard to get excited about remote learning. We all want to be in the building, it's just not possible and we want to be able to do it safely.”

The Eanes district will open its doors to up to 25% of students on Sept. 8, and Cluck said she will be joining them. She wrapped up her final day on the road Sept. 4.

Now that she is back in the classroom, she said her focus is on getting to know her students better — whether they are remote or on campus — and, of course, teaching history.

“This is hard, being in a pandemic,” Cluck said. “I struggled last spring. There were plenty of days we'd log in and we wouldn’t be doing well and we would just talk. I want to get to that point with these kids this year. I need them to understand that even adults don't know how to do this and there will be mistakes and it's all OK. I want them to learn history but also how to cope with hard things in life. We are all in this together and were going to get through it.”