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Contents vii
Technology and Teaching : Capitalizing on Conducting Guided Discovery Lessons 324
Technology in Direct Instruction 269 Review and Introduction 324
The Role of Assessment in Direct The Open-Ended Phase 325
Instruction 271
The Convergent Phase 325
The Motivational Benefits of Effective
Closure 326
Feedback 272
Application 326
Using Guided Discovery with Different-Aged
Chapter 9 Learners 326

Lecture Discussions: Interactive Exploring Diversity: Using Guided Discovery

with Cultural Minorities 328
Instruction to Promote Assessing Learning in Guided Discovery
Learning 279 Lessons 329
Organized Bodies of Knowledge: Integrated Using Assessment to Increase
Content 283 Learning 329
The Limitations of Lectures 283
Lecture Discussions: Alternatives to Standard Chapter 11
Lectures 285
Problem-Based Instruction 336
The Effectiveness of Lecture
Discussions 285 Problem-Based Learning: An Overview 338
Planning for Lecture Discussions 286 Problem-Based Learning: Why Does It
Work? 340
Technology and Teaching: Using Technology to
Structure and Organize Content 290 Project-Based Learning 341
Implementing Lecture Discussion Essential Components 341
Lessons 292 Implementing Project-Based Instruction in the
Exploring Diversity: Differences in Background Classroom 343
Knowledge 293 Assessment and Project-Based
Assessing Learning in Lecture Learning 345
Discussions 299 Research on Project-Based Learning 346
Problem Solving 347
Well-Defined and Ill-Defined Problems 349
Chapter 10 A Problem-Solving Model 350
Guided Discovery 306 Helping Learners Become Better Problem
Understanding Guided Discovery 312 Solvers 352

Guided Discovery and Constructivism 313 Inquiry Strategies 355

Guided Discovery and Student Technology and Teaching: Using Technology as
Motivation 315 a Tool to Teach Problem Solving 356

Misconceptions About Guided Identifying a Question 359

Discovery 315 Forming Hypotheses 360
Planning for Guided Discovery Lessons 317 Gathering Data 360
Identifying Topics 317 Assessing Hypotheses 361
Specifying Learning Objectives 317 Generalizing 363
Selecting Examples and Non-examples 318 Analyzing the Inquiry Process 363
Types of Examples 318 Critical Thinking 363
Technology and Teaching: Using Databases in Knowledge of Content 365
Guided Discovery Lessons 321 Basic Processes 365
Planning for Social Interaction 323 Metacognition: Awareness and Control of
Planning for Assessment 323 Cognitive Processes 366
viii Contents

Attitudes and Dispositions 366 Chapter 13

Teaching Critical Thinking in the
Classroom 366
Assessing Learning 407
Exploring Diversity: Problem-Based Instruction Classroom Assessment 409
with Developmentally Different Formal and Informal Assessment 410
Learners 367 Functions of an Assessment System 410
Characteristics of Effective
Assessment 410
Chapter 12
Teachers’ Assessment Patterns 412
Differentiating Instruction 378 Using Assessment to Promote
Understanding Differentiated Learning 413
Instruction 379 Preparing Students 416
Principles of Differentiation 381
Administering Tests 417
What Do Teachers Differentiate? 382
Examining Results 418
Planning for Differentiated Instruction 383 Research on Classroom Testing: Implications
Pre-Assessment: The Beginning Point for All for Teachers 419
Differentiation 383
Exploring Diversity: Effective
Flexible Time Requirements 384 Assessment with Learners from Diverse
Adapting Instructional Materials 386 Backgrounds 420
Offering Different Learning Activities 387 Alternative Assessment 421
Varying Learning Objectives 389 Performance Assessment 422
Technology and Teaching: Technology as a Tool Portfolio Assessment 425
for Differentiating Instruction 389 Designing an Assessment System 426
Instructional Strategies to Differentiate Standards, Accountability, and
Instruction 391 Assessment 427
Grouping 392 Grades and Grading 429
Strategy Instruction 393 Communication 431
Peer Tutoring and Cooperative Technology and Teaching: Using Technology in
Learning 395 Assessment 439
The Challenge of Assessment in Diverse
Classrooms 398 References 449
Strategies for Differentiating Author Index 461
Assessment 398
Subject Index 465
Grading 399
Preface

Teachers make an enormous difference in classrooms, and this book is designed to help you
become a better teacher. The knowledge base for teaching continues to expand, confirming
the powerful influence that teachers have on students and the importance of knowledge for
effective teaching (Alexander, 2006). Research also continues to highlight the central role
teachers play in determining the quality of learning in classrooms (Darling-Hammond &
Bransford, 2005). Teachers do make a difference in how much students learn, and this dif-
ference depends on how they teach (Bransford, Darling-Hammond, & LePage, 2005).
Teachers’ powerful influence on learning is even more convincingly documented in the
research literature today than it was in 1989, when the first edition of this text was
published. Translating this research into teaching strategies that teachers can use to increase
learning in their classrooms continues to be the central goal of this text.

New to This Edition

■ New Chapter: Chapter 12, Differentiating Instruction
■ New Feature: Exploring Diversity, found in every chapter including the following
topics ition:
■ The Diversity of Our Learners (Chapter 1)
■ Urban Schools and At-risk Students (Chapter 2)
■ Personalizing Content to Increase Motivation in Students from Diverse
Backgrounds (Chapter 4)
■ Direct Instruction with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students (Chapter 8)
■ Differences in Background Knowledge (Chapter 9)
■ Using Guided Discovery with Cultural Minorities (Chapter 10)
■ Problem-Based Instruction with Developmentally Different Learners (Chapter 11)
■ Effective Assessment with Learners from Diverse Backgrounds (Chapter 13)

■ New Feature: Technology and Teaching, found in every chapter, including the follow-
ing topics:
■ Using Technology to Increase Student Learning (Chapter 1)
■ Using Technology to Communicate with Parents (Chapter 3)
■ Using Technology to Plan (Chapter 4)
■ Using Technology to Create Lesson Focus (Chapter 5)
■ Using Technology to Increase Student Involvement (Chapter 6)

ix
x Preface

■ Capitalizing on Technology in Direct Instruction (Chapter 8)

■ Using Technology to Structure and Organize Content (Chapter 9)
■ Using Databases in Guided Discovery Lessons (Chapter 10)
This book connects two areas in education. One is the research on how teaching influ-
ences learning, which includes a wide range of studies conducted since the early 1970s.
Originally grounded in the research on effective teaching, this literature has expanded
to include topics such as teacher and student thinking, constructivist views of learning,
teaching for understanding, and the importance of social interaction in learning.
Teaching methodology is the second area addressed in this book. To be usable research
findings need to be translated into teaching strategies that teachers can readily apply in
their classrooms. This edition combines the best of these two areas. We apply the research
on teaching to strategies that are theoretically sound, yet practical and usable.

Goals of This Text

We have two goals in combining these areas:
■ To influence how teachers think about teaching
■ To expand and improve their instructional strategies
The way teachers think and what they know are two major factors that influence how
they actually teach. And, the way teachers think depends on what they know; in other
words teacher thinking and teacher knowledge are interdependent. To meet our goals, this
book helps teachers acquire the professional knowledge that influences both their thinking
and the way they actually teach in their classrooms.
Without the research to provide a conceptual foundation methods become
mechanical applications of rules implemented without understanding. Without practical
suggestions for teaching practice the research literature remains abstract and irrelevant.
In this sixth edition we again try to avoid both pitfalls by emphasizing the theoretical and
conceptual underpinnings of the research and the implications of this research for
classroom practice.

Text Themes
Today’s schools are changing and these changes present both opportunities and challenges.
To address these changes we have organized the sixth edition around three powerful and
pervasive forces in education. These forces are translated into three themes that are inte-
grated and applied throughout the text:
■ Standards and accountability
■ The diversity of our learners
■ The use of technology to increase student learning
Standards and accountability are reshaping the ways teachers teach and students learn.
Every state has created standards to guide student learning, and there is a movement to cre-
ate national standards in areas such as reading and math. To respond to this movement, we
have made standards and accountability a major theme for this text. We introduce the
Preface xi
theme in Chapter 1 and relate the process of teacher planning to it in Chapter 4. In addi-
tion, we discuss how standards influence assessment as well as the implementation of spe-
cific teaching strategies in later chapters. The diversity of our learners, the second theme for
this text, reflects the growing diversity of our classrooms. This diversity has important
implications for the way we teach. In addition to an entire chapter on diversity (Chapter 2)
and a new chapter on differentiating instruction (Chapter 12), we also address the topic of
diversity in a feature, Exploring Diversity, found in every chapter.
Chapter 1: The Diversity of our Learners
Chapter 2: Urban Schools and At-risk Students
Chapter 3: Challenges to Home-School Communication
Chapter 4: Personalizing Content to Increase Motivation in Students from Diverse
Backgrounds
Chapter 5: Teacher Attitudes and Learner Diversity
Chapter 6: Involving Students from Diverse Backgrounds
Chapter 7: Using Cooperative Learning to Capitalize on Diversity
Chapter 8: Direct Instruction with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students
Chapter 9: Differences in Background Knowledge
Chapter 10: Using Guided Discovery with Cultural Minorities
Chapter 11: Problem-Based Instruction with Developmentally Different Learners
Chapter 12: Entire chapter focuses on differentiating instruction
Chapter 13: Effective Assessment with Learners from Diverse Backgrounds
Technology is the third theme of this edition. Technology is changing the way we live,
as well as the way we learn and teach. Various forms of technology, including white boards,
document cameras, computers, and the Internet are all changing our classrooms.
Tomorrow’s teachers need to know how to integrate technology into their teaching. We
address applications of technology in the feature, Technology and Teaching, found in
every chapter.
Chapter 1: Using Technology to Increase Student Learning
Chapter 2: Employing Technology to Support Learners with Disabilities
Chapter 3: Using Technology to Communicate with Parents
Chapter 4: Using Technology to Plan
Chapter 5: Using Technology to Create Lesson Focus
Chapter 6: Using Technology to Increase Student Involvement
Chapter 7: Using Computer-Mediated Communication to Facilitate Cooperative
Learning
Chapter 8: Capitalizing on Technology in Direct Instruction
Chapter 9: Using Technology to Structure and Organize Content
Chapter 10: Using Databases in Guided Discovery Lessons
Chapter 11: Using Technology as a Tool to Teach Problem Solving
Chapter 12: Technology as a Tool for Differentiating Instruction
Chapter 13: Using Technology in Assessment
We also added new sections on Standards in Today’s Schools, Professional Organizations’
Standards, and National Standards to help teachers understand how this reform will affect
xii Preface

their teaching. These changes reflect the evolving realities of modern classrooms, as well as
the new responsibilities today’s teachers are being asked to undertake. In addition we have
added feedback for our Preparing for Your Licensure Exam feature to help students master
each chapter’s content. We hope these changes in the sixth edition prepare you for the
challenges of teaching in the twenty-first century.

Supplements

Instructor Manual/Test Bank

We’ve designed this manual to help you use Learning and Teaching, 6th edition, as
effectively as possible. Many of the ideas contained in this manual come from years of using
this text in our own classes as well as our continued work in the public schools. Others are
the result of feedback and discussions we’ve had with teachers, students and our colleagues.
We hope you find the suggestions useful.
The manual is organized by chapters. Each chapter contains chapter overview, objec-
tives, chapter outlines, presentation outlines, multiple choice and short answer test items
and an answer key. The presentation outline is organized in terms of the major topics in
each chapter. Under these topics you will find teaching suggestions including ways to use
large- and small-group activities, as well as ways to integrate the discussion questions and
portfolio activities into your instruction. Following the presentation outline you’ll find
Feedback for Preparing for Your Licensure Exam: Questions for Analysis prior to the test items
and answer key.

The power of classroom practice:

Teacher educators who are developing pedagogies for the analysis of teaching and
learning contend that analyzing teaching artifacts has three advantages: it enables
new teachers time for reflection while still using the real materials of practice; it
provides new teachers with experience thinking about and approaching the
complexity of the classroom; and in some cases, it can help new teachers and teacher
educators develop a shared understanding and common language about teaching.
(Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005)

As Linda Darling-Hammond and her colleagues point out, grounding teacher education
in real classrooms—among real teachers and students and among actual examples of
students’ and teachers’ work—is an important, and perhaps even an essential, part of
training teachers for the complexities of teaching in today’s classrooms. For this reason we
have created a valuable, timesaving website—MyEducationLab—that provides you with
the context of real classrooms and artifacts that research on teacher education tells us are
so important. The authentic in-class video footage, interactive skill-building exercises,
and other resources available on MyEducationLab offer you a unique valuable teacher
education tool.
MyEducationLab is easy to use and integrate into both your assignments and your
courses. Wherever you see the MyEducationLab logo in the margins or elsewhere in the
Preface xiii
text, follow the simple instructions to access the videos, strategies, cases, and artifacts asso-
ciated with these assignments, activities, and learning units. MyEducationLab is organized
topically to enhance the coverage of the core concepts discussed in the chapters of your
book. For each topic in the course you will find most or all of the following resources:

Connection to National Standards Now it is easier than ever to see how your course-
work is connected to national standards. In each topic of MyEducationLab you will find
intended learning outcomes connected to the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and
Support Consortium (INTASC) standards. All of the Assignments and Activities and all of
the Building Teaching Skills and Dispositions in MyEducationLab are mapped to the
appropriate national standards and learning outcomes as well.

Assignments and Activities Designed to save instructors preparation time, these

assignable exercises show concepts in action (through video, cases, or student and
teacher artifacts) and then offer thought-provoking questions that probe your under-
standing of theses concepts or strategies. (Feedback for these assignments is available to
the instructor.)

Building Teaching Skills and Dispositions These learning units help you practice
and strengthen skills that are essential to quality teaching. First you are presented with the
core skill or concept and then given an opportunity to practice your understanding of it
multiple times by watching video footage (or interacting with other media) and then
critically analyzing the strategy or skill presented.

Video Examples Intended to enhance coverage in your book with visual examples of
real educators and students, these video clips (a number of which are referenced explicitly
in this text) include segments from classroom lessons as well as interviews with teachers,
administrators, students, and parents.

General Resources on Your MyEducationLab Course The Resources section on

your MyEducationLab course is designed to help you pass your licensure exam; put
together an effective portfolio and lesson plan; prepare for and navigate the first year of
your teaching career; and understand key educational standards, policies, and laws. This
section includes the following:
■ Licensure Exams. Access guidelines for passing the Praxis exam. The Practice Test
Exam includes practice questions, Case Histories, and Video Case Studies.
■ Portfolio Builder and Lesson Plan Builder. Create, update, and share portfolios and
lesson plans.
■ Preparing a Portfolio. Access guidelines for creating a high-quality teaching
portfolio that will allow you to practice effective lesson planning.
■ Licensure and Standards. Link to state licensure standards and national s
tandards.
■ Beginning Your Career. Educate yourself—access tips, advice, and valuable
information on
■ Resume Writing and Interviewing. Expert advice on how to write impressive
resumes and prepare for job interviews.
xiv Preface

■ Your First Year of Teaching. Practical tips to set up your classroom, manage stu-
dent behavior, and learn to more easily organize for instruction and assessment.
■ Law and Public Policies. Specific directives and requirements you need to under-
stand under the No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Improvement Act of 2004.
Visit www.myeducationlab.com for a demonstration of this exciting new online teaching
resource and to download a MyEdLab guide correlating MEL course assets to this text.

Acknowledgments
In preparing this edition of Learning and Teaching, we want to sincerely thank the people
who have supported its development. We want to particularly thank our editor, Kelly
Villella Canton, for her guidance, support, and cooperation as we attempted to implement
a number of new ideas for this edition. She epitomizes what authors look for in an editor.
We also want to thank Annalea Manalili and Paula Carroll for their help in bringing the
project to fruition, as well as our reviewers: Norbet O. Aneke, City University of New York;
Christine K. Lemley, Northern Arizona University; Janet Schiavone, George Washington
University; and Alice M. Waddell, Mary Baldwin College.
Finally, we again want to thank the many teachers in whose classrooms we’ve worked
and visited, and on whose instruction the case studies in the book are based. They helped
make this text more real and true to the realities of classroom life.
P.E.
D.K.
 1
Learning to Teach

1
 Chapter Outline Learning Objectives

When you’ve completed your study of this chapter, you

should be able to

Defining good teaching 1. Define effective teaching and explain how it influences
learning.

The search for effective teaching 2. Describe the search for a definition of good teaching.
■ Teacher characteristics and the search for the right method
■ Teacher effectiveness research: Teacher do make a
difference?
■ Understanding effective teaching: A focus on student
learning

Contemporary views of teaching and learning 3. Describe different views of learning and explain how
■ From behaviorist to cognitive perspectives they influence teaching.

■ Constructivism: Students as creators of understanding

Text themes 4. Describe different ways that teachers can help

■ Standards and accountability students with exceptionalities succeed in their
classrooms.
■ Exploring Diversity: The diversity of our learners
■ Technology and Teaching: Using technology to increase
learning

Learning to teach 5. Explain how the text themes–standards and account-

■ The importance of knowledge in teaching ability, diversity, and technology–influence classroom
teaching and learning.
■ Teacher decision making
■ Educational reform
■ Learning to teach in an era of reform
■ Standards-based professional development
■ Developing a professional portfolio

Using this book to learn to teach 6. Describe how to use this book to learn to teach.

This book focuses on effective teaching and the different ways teachers help students learn.
Next to the students themselves, teachers are the most important influence on student suc-
cess (Marzano, 2007). This chapter begins by examining effective teaching, and what you
can do to help your students learn. In this chapter we also describe the different compo-
nents of learning to teach, including the different forms of professional knowledge that
contribute to teacher expertise. In addition, we describe how decision making integrates
this knowledge into purposeful teacher actions.
Finally, in this chapter we introduce three themes that run through this text: standards
and accountability, diversity, and technology. Standards and accountability are reshaping

2
Learning to Teach 3
classrooms and influencing teacher decision making in myriad ways, ranging from planning
to instruction to assessment. We describe how standards influence each of these dimensions
of teaching in later chapters.
Exploring diversity, the second text theme and a feature in every chapter, examines how
different forms of diversity influence classroom teaching. Technology and Teaching, a third
text theme and an additional feature found in chapters, describes how teachers can use
technology to increase student learning.
To begin our discussion, let’s look in on a group of teachers talking about their stu-
dents. As you read the vignette, think about your own definition of effective teaching and
how you plan to help your students learn.

Three middle school teachers are eating lunch together on their 40-minute break
between classes. After weather and local politics, the conversation turns to teach-
ing, or, more specifically, to students.
“How are your seventh graders this year?” Paul Escobar asks. “I can’t seem to
get them motivated.”
Stan Williams replies with a frown. “I’ve got three basic math classes, and I’ve
spent the first two months reviewing stuff they’re supposed to know already. They don’t
seem to want to think,” he concludes, turning to the others with an exasperated look.
“Mine aren’t so bad,” Leona Foster replies. “In fact, the other day we had a great
discussion on individual rights. We were discussing the Bill of Rights, and I got them
to think about their rights and responsibilities in our school. Some of them actually got
excited about it. And it was even one of my slower classes. I was impressed with
some of their comments.”
“But how am I going to get them to think if they don’t even know how to multi-
ply or divide?” Stan answers in frustration.
“I know what you’re talking about, Stan,” Paul interjects. “I’m supposed to teach
them to write, but they don’t even know basic grammar. How am I supposed to
teach them subject-verb agreement when they don’t know what a noun or verb is?”
“Exactly!” Stan answers. “We’ve got to teach them basics before we can teach
them all the other stuff, like problem solving and thinking skills.”
“Hmmm. . . . It might be more complicated than that,” Paul replies. “I had a real
eye-opener the other day. . . . Let me tell you about it. I’ve been going to workshops on
using writing teams to teach composition. I tried it out, putting high- and low-ability stu-
dents on the same team. They were supposed to write a critical review of a short story
we had read, using television movie critics as a model. We talked a little about basic
concepts like plot and action and watched a short clip of two movie critics arguing
about a movie. Then I turned them loose. I couldn’t believe it—some of the kids who
never participate actually got excited.”
“That’s all fine and good for English classes, but I’m a math teacher. What am I
supposed to do, have them critique math problems? Oh, I give this math problem
two thumbs up! Besides, these are supposed to be middle school students. I
shouldn’t have to sugarcoat the content. They should come ready to learn. My job is
to teach; theirs is to learn. It’s as simple as that.”

D efining Good Teaching

“It’s as simple as that,”. . .or is it? Teaching has always been a challenging profession, but changes
both within and outside classrooms have made it even more challenging. Teachers are being
asked to teach thinking and problem-solving skills at the same time that students come from
4 Chapter 1

increasingly diverse backgrounds. Both students and teachers are being held accountable by
standards and high-stakes testing. Your personal definition of good or effective teaching is
becoming not only more crucial but also more complex.
But, what is effective teaching? How does effective teaching relate to learning? What
responsibilities do teachers have to motivate their students? What are the implications of
student diversity on the teaching/learning process? And, how can you use new technolo-
gies to promote learning?
These are important questions for teachers because they center on the question
“What is good teaching?” These concerns are particularly important to developing
teachers because your answers to these questions will influence the kind of teacher you
become. As you ponder these questions, thinking about yourself and the classrooms
you’ve experienced, each of you will construct a personal definition of effective teach-
ing. This individual response is as it should be: each teacher is as unique as each student.
But beyond this individual uniqueness, some strands exist that pull these questions
together.
Let’s consider these commonalities a bit further. Does your definition of effective
teaching apply to all levels? For example, are there similarities in the ways effective
kindergarten and high school teachers instruct? What about students? Would your
definition of good teaching apply equally well to low- and high-ability learners? And,
how about subject matter? Does an effective history teacher teach the same way as an
effective English or art teacher? Finally, how does time influence your definition? Do
effective teachers teach the same way at the beginning of the school year as at its close,
at the beginning of a unit as at the end, or even at the beginning of a lesson and at its
completion?
Each of you will wrestle with these questions, either implicitly or explicitly, as you
begin and continue your teaching career. The purpose of this book is to help you resolve
these questions based on the best information available to the profession.
The field of teaching is at a particularly exciting time in its history. Education has
always been one of the most rewarding professions, but at the same time, it continues to
be one of the most challenging. An effective teacher combines the best of human relations,
intuition, sound judgment, knowledge of subject matter, and knowledge of how people
learn—all in one simultaneous act. This task is extremely complex, and one of the factors
making it particularly difficult has been the lack of a clear and documented body of
knowledge on which to base professional decisions.
The situation has changed. Education now has a significant and rapidly expanding
body of research that can guide your teaching practice. That’s what this text is all about; it
is a book about teaching practice that is based on research. As you study the chapters, you
will be exposed to this detailed body of research, and you will learn how this research can
be applied in your classroom to increase student learning.
We developed this text around a series of themes that will be introduced in this
chapter. As your study continues, you will see how research helps teachers as they make
their professional decisions. This research, as with all research, is not perfect, but having
it as a foundation is a giant step forward (Richardson, 2001). This research marks a major
advance in education and is already finding its way into tests used to certify teachers
(Educational Testing Service, 2008), and into both preservice and inservice programs for
teachers. Your study of this text will provide you with the best information available to
the profession at this time.
Learning to Teach 5

T he Search for Effective Teaching

Historically, teaching has been a profession in search of a body of knowledge that could
inform classroom practice. In the past, educators often looked to teacher characteristics to
guide them, as we’ll see in the next section.

Teacher Characteristics and the Search for the Right Method

As researchers began to seek connections between teaching and learning, they initially
focused on teacher characteristics, such as neatness, sense of humor, or cognitive flexibility
(Rosenshine, 1979). Initial research asked whether teachers having these desirable traits
resulted in increased learning. For example, do students taught by a teacher with a good
sense of humor learn more and/or have better attitudes than those taught by a more serious
teacher? Unfortunately the question was oversimplified; magnificent teachers of many
different personalities can be found.
In hindsight, the research on teacher characteristics was not completely misguided.
Two teacher characteristics—teacher experience and understanding of subject matter—
have proved to be powerful variables influencing how teachers understand events in the
classroom and explain content (Berliner, 1994; Shulman, 1987). Veteran teachers are able
to use their experience to interpret the complex events that occur in classrooms and to
make the many split-second professional decisions that are needed every day. Similarly,
subject-matter expertise allows effective teachers to frame and explain ideas in ways that
make sense to students. We will return to both of these ideas later in the chapter.
The next wave of research focused on global methods, attempting to link certain teach-
ing strategies, such as inquiry instruction or discovery learning, with student outcomes,
such as scores on standardized achievement tests (Dunkin & Biddle, 1974; Medley, 1979).
This research was characterized by a belief that a particular type of teaching, such as dis-
cussion, was better than an alternative, such as lecture. To investigate this question, teachers
were trained in a particular technique and then asked to teach their students by this
method. The performance of their students was compared to the performance of students
taught by an alternate method.
Like research on teacher characteristics, this line of research was also flawed.
Researchers concluded that no one way of teaching was better than others and, instead,
teachers required professional decision making to adjust their teaching methods to situa-
tional variables that included the students themselves as well as the content being taught.

Teacher Effectiveness Research: Teachers Do Make a

Difference

As a consequence of the results or, more accurately, the nonresults of earlier efforts,
research on teaching finally focused on teachers’ actions in classrooms, attempting to
find links between what teachers actually do in classrooms and student learning. These
studies marked a new way of thinking about research in education. Unlike previous
work, this research focused on the teacher and the kinds of interactions teachers had with
students (Good & Brophy, 2008). Researchers identified teachers whose students scored
6 Chapter 1

higher than would be expected on standardized tests and other teachers whose students
scored lower. They then went into classrooms, videotaped literally thousands of hours of
instruction, and tried to determine what differences existed in the instruction of the
teachers in the two samples. Because these efforts focused on differences between less and
more effective teachers, it became known as the teacher effectiveness research (Good &
Brophy, 2008). A number of significant differences were found, which we’ll describe in
later chapters.

Understanding Effective Teaching: A Focus on Student

Learning
The effective teaching literature made an invaluable contribution to education because it
both confirmed the critical role teachers like you play in student learning and provided
teachers with a knowledge base to help them make their instructional decisions.
Despite impressive results, critics also identified a major shortcoming in the teacher
effectiveness research—it identified strategies that effective teachers use in their classrooms but
didn’t explain why they worked. In essence, critics were reminding us that students and student
learning should be our primary focus in teaching. These criticisms resulted in fundamental
changes in our views of effective teaching methods, with a major shift from focusing solely on
the teacher to also considering how students learn and how teachers could help.

C ontemporary Views of Teaching and

Learning
At the same time that perspectives on teaching were changing, similar changes were occur-
ring in the way researchers viewed learners and learning (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking,
2000). Behaviorist views of learning, which emphasized external influences in the form of
rewards and punishment, gradually gave way to more cognitive perspectives. These cogni-
tive perspectives emphasized students’ use of strategies to organize, store, and retrieve
information (Bruning et al., 2004). More recently, research has emphasized the critical role
that learners play in constructing new knowledge (Eggen & Kauchak, 2010). We analyze
these changes in the sections that follow.

From Behaviorist to Cognitive Perspectives

For the first half of the twentieth century, behaviorist views of learning predominated in
education. Behaviorism emphasized the importance of observable, external events on
learning and the role of reinforcers in influencing student learning. The goal of behaviorism
was to determine how external instructional manipulations effected changes in student
behavior. The teacher’s role was to control the environment through stimuli in the form
of cues and reinforcement for appropriate student behavior. Students were viewed as
empty receptacles, responding passively to stimuli from the teacher and the classroom
environment.
Over time educators found this perspective on learning to be oversimplified and
perhaps misdirected. Although learners do indeed react to stimuli from the environment,
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
The next year, having received a new printing press
themselves, the American Board missionaries in Hawaii (then
called the Sandwich Islands) offered an older press to the
Oregon missionaries. This, the first printing press in the Pacific
Northwest, arrived at Lapwai in May 1839. With it came Edwin
Hall who was to assist in starting the operation.

Eight days after setting up the press, the missionaries had

proudly produced 400 copies of the first book printed in old
Oregon. The authors, using an adaption of the alphabet
employed in Hawaii, were Henry and Eliza Spalding and
Cornelius Rogers. The significance of this achievement is not
lessened by the fact that this book had only eight pages.

Between 1839 and 1845 a total of nine books were printed.

The most elaborate of these was the Gospel according to St.
Matthew turned out in Nez Percé by Spalding. All but one of
the books were printed in the Nez Percé language; that one
was a 16-page primer in Spokan translated by Elkanah Walker,
the copies being stitched, pressed, and bound by his wife,
Mary. All these imprints are now quite rare, and of one only a
single copy is known to exist. This is the Nez Percé Laws,
drawn up by Indian Agent Elijah White in 1842.

Reducing the Nez Percé language to writing was not an easy

task. Asa Smith, the best linguist in the group, wrote:

“[The] number of words in the language is immense & their

variations are almost beyond description. Every word is limited
& definite in its meaning & the great difficulty is to find terms
sufficiently general. Again the power of compounding words is
beyond description.” But even as he struggled with this
problem, Smith was convinced of the necessity of books: “We
must have books in the native language, schools, & the
Scriptures translated, or we are but beating the air....”
By 1846 the missionaries had become pessimistic about their
progress in publishing. The amount of effort required for just a
few pages was tremendous. Their best linguists—Smith and
Cornelius Rogers—were no longer with the mission. The
Indians were not as receptive to the printed word as the
missionaries had hoped. In that year the press was moved
from Lapwai to The Dalles, and this first publishing venture
came to a close. After the Whitman massacre, the press was
used in the Williamette Valley by some men who were among
the first newspaper publishers in the Pacific Northwest.

The immensity of this undertaking can be grasped only if one

remembers the primitiveness of the land in 1839 when the
missionaries distributed the first pages ever printed in the
Oregon Country.
46
Page from Nez Percé Laws printed by Henry Spalding on
the mission press.
WHITMAN COLLEGE
 TAMALWIT

NAKSIP.

Ka kuna patuna papahwitatasha titokanm, Lapaham pa kalatita

panitoktatasha; kaua wapshishuikash autaaiu laptit wah pahat
Wawia tsalawi ituna papahwisha kakashl ka hiwash takspul hu
ma kunmanimn. Wah tsalawin papahwisha himakeshna ka
kunim pawausa takspulns kaua Pakaptit wawia autsaiu.

47
LAPITIP.
 Ka ipnim panpaitataisha ishina shikam inata, kaua kunia
pusatatasha, miph panahnatatasha; hu ita mina inata
hinptatasha, wawianash, hu itu uiikala ka hiwash hanitash
patuain: ka kuna ioh pai hikutatasha, kaua kunapki
hitamatkuitatasha ka kush wamshitp hiwash tamatkuit; kaua
autsaiu laptit Wawia wapshishuikash, hu ma mitaptit, pilaptit,
mas pakaptit, ka kale miohat hitimiunu.

MITATIP.

Ka ipnim passoaitataisha ishina tamanikash kaua kuna

tamanikina popsiaunu; hu mu ipalkalikina pawiskilktatasha
kaua kunapki kokalh haasu, tamanikina popsiaunu; kunapki
kaua hiwasatitatasha tamanikitp, ipalkalikina taks panitatasha,
kaua hanaka wapshishuikash autsaiu laptit wah pahat Wawia.
Kush uiikalaham hiutsaiu ka kalaham kush hiuiakiu.

48

continued from page 41

William Gray, who had moved back to Waiilatpu from Lapwai, built a
third house in 1840-41. Situated 400 feet east of the mission house,
it was a neat, rectangular adobe building. Gray and his wife lived in it
only a short time. In 1842 he decided that his future lay elsewhere
than in the mission field. The Grays moved to western Oregon where
they began an active life as settlers.

Although a blacksmith shop and a gristmill had been erected at

Lapwai to serve all the stations, it became evident to Whitman that
the central location of Waiilatpu required similar facilities there. In
1841 the blacksmith equipment was moved from Lapwai, and a small,
adobe shop, 16 by 30 feet, was built half-way between the mission
house and Gray’s residence. Its adobe bricks were taken from the
first house, which was torn down at this time. A corral was also built
near this shop.

A small, improvised gristmill was built on the south side of the

mission grounds in 1839. A second, more efficient mill soon replaced
it. With this mill, Whitman was able to produce enough flour to
supply the other stations and to sell to the emigrants of 1842. In
addition, some of the Cayuse began to bring their grain to the mill.
After Whitman had departed for the United States in the autumn of
1842, fire destroyed the mill. Not until 1844 did Whitman find the
opportunity to build his third mill. Much larger than the others, the
new gristmill had grinding stones 40 inches in diameter. Later, a
threshing machine and a turning lathe were built on the mill platform.
For waterpower to operate the mill, a ditch was dug from the Walla
Walla River to a millpond formed by two long earthen dikes.

Although some pine timber had been handsawed in the Blue

Mountains and dragged to the mission by horses, Whitman felt a dire
need for a waterpowered sawmill. Among other things, he wanted to
replace his leaky, earthen roofs with boards. He picked a spot on a
stream in the foothills about 20 miles from the station and, by 1846,
had the mill ready for operation. In 1847 a small cabin was built at
the sawmill to house two emigrant families whom Whitman hired that
autumn for a season of sawing. Physically, Waiilatpu was fast
becoming the most substantial and comfortable of all the 49
stations. From time to time, the other missionaries were just a
shade envious of the Whitmans.

As the missionaries carried their work into the 1840’s, they continued
their efforts among the Indians. Whitman had his greatest success in
teaching them the rudiments of agriculture. In 1843 he wrote that
about 50 Indians had started farms, each cultivating from a quarter
of an acre to three or four. The Cayuse also became interested in
acquiring cattle, and by 1845 nearly all possessed the beginnings of a
herd.
Much slower progress was made in education and religious
instruction. To the Whitmans’ disappointment, the Cayuse became
less and less interested in learning the principles of Christianity. The
demands made of them were too great for their simple and
seminomadic way of life. Then, too, the Whitmans found they had
less and less time to devote to Indian affairs. In addition to the
multitude of details involved in the everyday job of acquiring food
and shelter, the arrival of the annual emigrant trains from the United
States demanded much time and energy from the Whitmans.
Waiilatpu became not only an Indian mission but also an important
station on the Oregon Trail.

At Lapwai, Spalding was having greater success among the Nez Percé
and was able to convert several important Indian leaders. In 1839 he
obtained a printing press from the American Board mission in Hawaii
and printed parts of the Bible in the Nez Percé language. Both he and
Asa Smith had difficulty in devising a workable alphabet. But on the
second attempt, they contrived one that captured the sounds of the
Nez Percé tongue. At Tshimakain and Kamiah the work of teaching
and converting Indians proved a laborious and slow task. Although
they recognized the difficulties facing them, the missionaries clung
tenaciously to the idea of preparing the Indians for the day when
white settlers would pour into the fertile lands of the Far West.

Meanwhile, the signs of white migration were becoming more

plentiful at Waiilatpu, situated as it was on the main route of travel
from the East. One of the ways in which this movement was 50
making itself apparent was in the increasing number of white
children who were to be seen at Whitman’s station.
The Mission Children

On her 29th birthday, March 14, 1837, Narcissa Whitman gave birth
to her only child, a baby girl who was named Alice Clarissa after her
two grandmothers. Alice was the first child born of United States
citizens in the Pacific Northwest. Her arrival was a great joy not only
to her parents but to the Cayuse as well. The Indians had been
aware of the baby’s coming, and after her birth all the chiefs and
elders of the tribe visited the house to see the temi or “Cayuse girl,”
as they promptly named her because she was born on their lands.

That autumn the Whitmans took 8-month-old Alice Clarissa on a visit

to the Spaldings at Lapwai. It was time for Eliza Spalding’s first
confinement, and Dr. Whitman had come to officiate. On November
15, the baby arrived. The Spaldings named their daughter Eliza, after
her mother. Back home again, little Alice Clarissa provided her
parents with untold happiness. But that happiness was to be
tragically short lived. On a fine Sunday afternoon, June 23, 1839,
Alice Clarissa Whitman met death by drowning. Unattended for a few
minutes, she had wandered down to the steep bank of the nearby
Walla Walla River and had fallen in. Though her body was found but
a short time later, all attempts to revive her failed. Her heartbroken
parents tried to console themselves with the thought that her demise
was the will of God. Yet their loneliness was immense. Before long,
however, the Whitmans once again had children in their home to care
for and to raise.

The first of these was Helen Mar, the half-breed daughter of the
famous mountain man, Joe Meek. Helen Mar’s Nez Percé mother had
deserted Meek, and when he journeyed to Waiilatpu in 1840, he
persuaded Mrs. Whitman to accept the care of the child. The next
year, another little part-Indian girl was added to the Whitman 51
household when another famous mountain man, Jim Bridger, sent his
6-year-old Mary Ann to the Whitmans.

In 1842 two Indian women brought a “miserable-looking child, a boy

between three and four years old,” to Narcissa and asked her to take
him in. This boy was also half-Indian; his Spanish father had once
been an employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Narcissa tried to
decline the responsibility, but her pity was too great. Taking the child,
she named him after an old friend back home, David Malin. Then,
when Marcus returned to Oregon in 1843 from his trip East, he
brought with him his 13-year-old nephew, Perrin Whitman. Thus the
Whitmans acquired their fourth youngster.

The next seven children to be added to the household were all of one
family. In 1844 Henry and Naomi Sager left Missouri with six children.
On the trail to Oregon, Mrs. Sager gave birth to her seventh child.
But tragedy rode with the Sagers. Henry died when the family
reached the Green River; a month later, Mrs. Sager died near what is
now Twin Falls, Idaho. The children, benumbed by the loss of both
parents, were brought on by the wagon train. The women of the train
took turns caring for the baby, while Dr. Dagan, a German immigrant,
drove the Sager cart with the other six children toward the Whitmans’
mission.

For many days, the emigrants’ wagons had been passing through
Waiilatpu. Just before the seven orphans came, Narcissa had written
home: “Here we are, one family alone, a way mark, as it were, or
center post, about which multitudes will or must gather this winter.”
On the morning the children arrived Mrs. Whitman was called to the
yard to greet them. There she witnessed a poignant scene.

Before the cart stood the four barefoot girls in their tattered dresses.
Afraid of the unknown, they huddled speechlessly, first looking at
Mrs. Whitman then at one another, not knowing what to expect.
John, the older boy, still sat in the cart. Exhausted but relieved, he
bent his head to his knees and sobbed aloud. His brother, 52
Francis, leaned on a wheel and also began to cry. Dr. Dagan,
who had been both father and mother to the orphans, stood to one
side and, filled with emotion, watched Narcissa murmur a
compassionate welcome. She then took the children into the mission
house.

An Indian woman made this doll for young Elizabeth Sager.

At that time Narcissa’s health was not good, and she and Marcus
debated that evening whether or not to take all seven orphans into
their family. But the plight of the children resolved all doubts. The
Whitmans now found themselves directly responsible for a family of
11 children.

In addition to this family, the children of the emigrant families

stopped at the mission each autumn and often stayed for the winter.
Also present were the children whom the Whitmans took into their
school as boarders—such as the young lady whom Dr. Whitman had
brought into the world, Eliza Spalding—and the two Manson 53
boys, the half-breed sons of a Hudson’s Bay employee at Fort
Walla Walla. Thus, following the death of Alice Clarissa, there was
always a large number of youthful voices at Waiilatpu, as indeed
there was, to a lesser degree, at the other missions.
Missions in Oregon

During the 11 years they operated in Oregon, the American Board

stations continually sent home requests for lay assistants to help
convert the Indian tribes. Despite these pleas, no additional
reinforcements were sent to Oregon after 1838. On the contrary, the
mission stations were reduced from four to three. Discouraged,
lonely, and increasingly concerned over his wife’s health, Asa Smith
left Kamiah in 1841 and sailed for the Hawaiian Islands. From then
until 1847 only Waiilatpu, Lapwai, and Tshimakain remained in
operation.

In western Oregon the Methodist missions, established with the

arrival of Jason Lee in 1834, were suffering difficulties of their own.
Faced with a rapidly diminishing number of Indians, the Methodists
began to concentrate in the early 1840’s on establishing churches
among the new white settlements that were rapidly filling the
Willamette Valley. In 1847 the Methodists offered to sell their
remaining Indian mission, Waskopum at The Dalles, to the American
Board. Whitman, worried that Catholic missionaries would take over
the area if the American Board did not, agreed to purchase it.
Lacking a missionary to send there, he hired Alanson Hinman and his
wife, from the Willamette Valley, to take charge of secular affairs and
sent his nephew, Perrin, to live with them.

As early as 1834 French Canadian employees and ex-employees of

the Hudson’s Bay Company in Oregon had petitioned the Catholic
bishop at Red River in western Canada for priests. At first the
Hudson’s Bay Company refused to help priests come to Oregon, but
in 1838 it agreed to transport Catholic missionaries across the
Rockies provided that no missions were established south of the
Columbia River.
The Bishop of Quebec accepted responsibility for sending 54
Catholic missionaries to the Pacific Northwest. As soon as the
Hudson’s Bay Company agreed to help with transportation, the
bishop sent the Reverend Francis N. Blanchet to be vicar-general of
the new area. Joined at Red River by Father Modeste Demers,
Blanchet arrived at Fort Vancouver late in 1838.

Because of the company’s restriction, Blanchet was careful not to

establish mission stations south of the Columbia. Before long,
however, the restriction was removed, and a Catholic mission was
established at French Prairie in the Willamette Valley.

PRINCIPAL MISSIONS AND STATIONS

Lower Columbia River and Its Tributaries
1834-1847

LEGEND:
(A)—American Board
(C)—Catholic
(M)—Methodist
Fort Langley
Victoria (C)
Whidby Island (C) 1840
Fort Nisqually (C) 1839 (M) 1840,
 Clatsop Plains (M) 1840, (C) 1840
Cascades (C) 1841
Fort Vancouver (C) 1838
Willamette Falls (M) 1840, (C) 1841
Old Mission (M) 1834
Chemeketa (M) 1841
Willamette R.
The Dalles (A) 1811
Clackamas (C) 1841
St. Paul’s (C) 1839
St. Louis (C) 1844
Fort Colville (C) 1838
St. Paul’s (C) 1845
St. Francis Regis (C) 1845
Tshimakain (A) 1839
Fort Okanagan (C) 1838
St. Ignatius (C) 1845
St. Michael’s (C) 1844
Sacred Heart (C)
1842
1843
1846
Immaculate Heart of Mary (C) 1845
The Assumption (C) 1845
St. Francis Borgia (C)
St. Rose Lima (C) 1847
Fort Walla Walla (C) 1838
Waiilatpu (A) 1836
St. Ann’s (C) 1847
Lapwai (A) 1836
St. Mary’s (C) 1841
Kamiah (A) 1839

During 1839 both Blanchet and Demers made extensive tours 55

throughout Puget Sound and on the upper Columbia. While at
Fort Colville, near the American Board station at Tshimakain, Demers
learned that an American priest, Father Peter DeSmet, was in the
Flathead country to the east. Father DeSmet had been sent out to
Oregon by the Bishop of St. Louis in answer to a call similar to that
which had stimulated the Protestant missions. In 1841 DeSmet
founded St. Mary’s mission in the Bitter Root Valley in present-day
Montana and, in the next year, the Sacred Heart mission among the
Coeur d’Alene Indians, in what is now Idaho.

By 1842 the Canadian and American Catholic missions in Oregon

were united under the authority of Blanchet. Soon reinforcements
were received from Canada, the United States, and Europe. In 1844
Francis Blanchet was designated as bishop and 2 years later was
promoted to archbishop when Oregon was elevated to an
ecclesiastical province. The brother of the archbishop, A. M. A.
Blanchet, was made bishop of Walla Walla. He arrived at Fort Walla
Walla in September 1847, accompanied by Vicar-General J. B. A.
Brouillet, six priests, and two lay brothers.

The 1830’s and 1840’s were years of strong antagonisms between

the Protestant and Catholic churches in the United States. The 56
missionaries in Oregon shared in this feeling. When Marcus
Whitman met Bishop A. M. A. Blanchet at Fort Walla Walla, he was
greatly disturbed by the presence of the Catholic missionaries.
Peter John DeSmet, apostle to the Indians.
 DeSmet founded Sacred Heart mission among the Coeur
d’Alene Indians in 1842. From Thwaites, Early Western
Travels.

Bishop Blanchet proceeded to establish St. Ann’s mission among the

Cayuse on the Umatilla River and St. Rose of Lima near the mouth of
the Yakima River. The Catholic missionaries unwittingly had chosen a
most unpropitious time for establishing these missions. Their
beginning was to coincide with the disaster at “the place of the rye
grass.”

With the outbreak of violence at Waiilatpu in November 1847, strong

anti-Catholic feeling flared up in Oregon that was to color many
minds for years to come. The troubles at Waiilatpu, however, were
not the result of religious rivalry, and the Catholic missionaries could
in no way be rightfully blamed. The tragedy at the Whitman station
would have occurred had there been no Catholics in eastern Oregon.

Besides the real and imagined troubles of rival churches during this
decade, the American Board missionaries were experiencing
difficulties within their own ranks. Out of this dissension came one of
the most remarkable cross-country journeys in American history.

57
The Ride East

In September 1842 an alarming letter from the American Board

arrived at Waiilatpu. It ordered the closing of Waiilatpu and Lapwai
and directed Whitman to move to Tshimakain. Spalding, Gray, and
Smith were told to return home.

These drastic orders were the result of letters written by Smith, Gray,
Rogers, and others, telling the Board of the many dissensions among
the missionaries. Reports were sent to Boston about Spalding’s
bitterness toward the Whitmans, about the feud between Spalding
and Gray, and about Smith’s constant faultfinding. They told, too, of
the inability of the missionaries to agree on policies toward the
Indians and toward the independent Protestant missionaries who
strayed into the Northwest. The letters recounted in painful detail the
petty squabbles that had risen from time to time among all the
missionaries.

But before the orders reached Oregon, many of these problems had
already been solved. The missionaries, realizing the harm coming
from dissension, had agreed to patch up their differences and had
had some success in doing so. The Smiths had long since left the
mission, and the Grays were about to go. Meeting at Waiilatpu to
discuss the orders, the missionaries first decided not to put the
directive into effect until the Board should hear of the improvements
that had been made. This would take time, for it was not unusual to
wait a year or more for an answer to a letter. Deeply concerned over
the matter, Whitman made the sudden decision that he should go at
once to Boston to talk to the Board’s Prudential Committee.
Reluctantly, the other missionaries agreed.

On October 3 Whitman set out on his remarkable ride across the

continent in the height of winter. Accompanied by a newly arrived
emigrant, Asa Lovejoy, and an Indian guide, Whitman reached Fort
Hall on the upper Snake River after 15 days of travel. Persuaded to
detour to the south because of rumors of Indian wars east of the
Rockies, the tiny party crossed the Uintah Mountains to Fort Uintah,
in Utah. The hazardous trip was made through deep snow and in
bitter cold.

58

WHITMAN’S RIDE AND THE OREGON TRAIL

Whitman’s Ride, 1842

 Oregon Trail, 1843
Later cut-offs, Oregon Trail
International Boundaries
St. Louis
Liberty
Independence
{Whitman}
Bent’s Fort
Taos
Santa Fe
Fort Uncompahgre
Fort Uintah
{Oregon Trail}
Fort Laramie
South Pass
Fort Bridger
{Oregon Trail Cutoff}
Fort Bridger
Fort Hall
Fort Boisie
Waiilatpu
Fort Walla Walla
Fort Vancouver

Following the Uintah, Colorado, and Gunnison Rivers, Whitman 60

reached Fort Uncompahgre, Colo. From there, he set out for
Taos in northern New Mexico, but had to return when his guide
became lost. Severe winter storms continued to harass Whitman and
Lovejoy, but by mid-December they reached Taos. On the trail to
Bent’s Old Fort on the Arkansas River, they learned that a group of
mountain men were leaving the fort for St. Louis. Whitman pushed
on ahead to catch this party before it left.

Later when Lovejoy reached the fort, he discovered that Whitman

had not yet arrived. Sending word to the mountain men to wait,
Lovejoy turned back and found Whitman, who in his haste had
become lost. Exhausted, Lovejoy stayed at Bent’s Old Fort until
summer, when he joined Whitman at Fort Laramie for the return trip
to Oregon. On February 15 Whitman reached Westport, Mo. By March
9 he was in St. Louis, and about March 23 he arrived in Washington,
D.C.

Even after he reached Boston, Whitman left no written record of his

overland journey. Although Lovejoy did write about it in later years,
his account includes only the western part of the trip. For the last half
of the journey, we must rely on the accounts of those who saw
Whitman as he traveled toward the American Board headquarters at
Boston. On reaching civilization at St. Louis, it is probable that he
gave up the saddle gladly and traveled to Washington by steamer
and stagecoach.

In Washington, Whitman visited Secretary of the Treasury J. C.

Spencer, an old friend. It is possible, too, that he was introduced to
President John Tyler. This stopover in Washington caused many
people years later to claim that Dr. Whitman had ridden East to
persuade the government to save Oregon from the British, an
argument not widely accepted today. Most historians agree that
Whitman’s ride was to save the missions and that the trip through
Washington was secondary.

The great weakness in the “save Oregon” theory was that it failed to
distinguish between the reasons for the trip and the results 61
that came of it. This theory also tended to link the causes of
the journey with the results of all Whitman’s later efforts in Oregon,
including assistance to the American emigrants and the development
of Waiilatpu as an important way station on the Oregon Trail.

When Marcus Whitman arrived at New York City about March 25, he
was interviewed by Horace Greeley, the famed editor of the Tribune.
At New York the doctor boarded the Narragansett and sailed to
Boston, where he arrived March 30. Despite the rough seas of the
Atlantic coast, this part of the extraordinary trip must have seemed
calm to Whitman after the hundreds of miles on horseback through
the winter snows of the Rocky Mountains and the western prairie—a
journey of hardships rarely paralleled in American history.
In the office of the American Board Whitman was greeted with
coldness, but the Board agreed to listen to his reports and arguments
in favor of the Oregon field. In all respects, Whitman’s visit was a
successful one. The Board rescinded the unfavorable orders and
agreed to send reinforcements to Oregon if suitable persons could be
found.

His task accomplished and a hasty visit paid to his home, Whitman
began his return trip to Oregon in April 1843. At Independence, Mo.,
he joined that year’s migration of almost 1,000 people who were
preparing to follow the Oregon Trail.
A Caravan on the Oregon Trail

The wagon train of 1843 was the largest yet to assemble for the trip
to Oregon. Its way had been paved by the triumphs and failures of
the fur traders, adventurers, missionaries, and settlers who had gone
before. Back in 1832, Capt. Benjamin Bonneville had taken 20
wagons beyond the Continental Divide. However, he did not attempt
to take them to the Columbia River, which he visited in 1834 and
again in 1835. In 1836 Whitman and Spalding set a new milestone by
taking a light wagon, by then converted to a two-wheeled cart, 62
as far west as Fort Boise.

The first wagons reached the Columbia in 1840. They were brought
from Fort Hall, where earlier travelers had abandoned them, by a
group of mountain men who were on their way to settle in the
Willamette Valley. The trail was so rough that the men finally stripped
the wagons down to their bare frames to get through the sagebrush.
The next year an emigrant train of more than 100 people, led by Dr.
Elijah White, reached the Columbia, but their wagons were taken only
as far west as Fort Hall. It was the caravan of 1843 that brought all
these efforts to fulfillment by taking its wagons intact to the
Columbia. One of the reasons for this success was Dr. Whitman.

In May 1843 the emigrants held a general meeting at Independence

to plan the organization of the wagons. For better control, it was
eventually decided to divide the train into two parts: an advance
group unencumbered by livestock, and a slower group that would
take the cattle. Beyond Fort Hall, where the danger from Indian
attack was much less, the train was to split into smaller units, each to
proceed at its own speed. The emigrants also appointed a committee
to talk to Dr. Whitman to obtain advice on the journey. From his own
experiences, Whitman was in a position to offer many sound
suggestions.

While the caravan crossed the prairie during June and July, Marcus
Whitman remained behind with the cow column. But when the lead
wagons reached the mountains in the first week of August, he moved
up to the advance party. From then on Whitman was active in helping
to guide the train westward. He assisted in finding the easiest fords
and in crossing the rivers. He pushed on ahead to locate and mark
the best routes. Whenever necessary, he treated the sick and the
lame. Above all, he constantly urged the emigrants, some of whom
were experiencing great discouragement, to keep on pushing
westward so that they would reach Oregon before winter set in. At
Fort Hall, the Hudson’s Bay Company trader, Richard Grant, in good
faith advised the emigrants to leave their wagons there. But 63
Whitman insisted that the wagons could be taken to the
Columbia. Catching his enthusiasm, the emigrants formally hired the
doctor to lead them the rest of the way. From Fort Hall to the Grande
Ronde Valley, he went ahead of the train marking the route for the
wagons to follow.

Just before the difficult crossing of the Blue Mountains, Whitman

received word by messenger to hurry to Lapwai where both Henry
and Eliza Spalding were seriously ill. To help the emigrants in crossing
the mountains, he persuaded them to accept as a guide an
outstanding Cayuse leader named Stickus. This chief faithfully and
carefully guided the wagons across the timber-covered range and on
to the mission station.

After a fast ride to Lapwai, Whitman treated the Spaldings, then

hurried on to Waiilatpu. He arrived home on September 28, just 5
days short of a year since he had started on his trip. Stopping only
long enough to notice that the first of the emigrant wagons had
already arrived, the doctor mounted his horse once more in answer
to another summons and rode to the Tshimakain mission to deliver
Myra Eells of a son.
By the time Whitman again returned to Waiilatpu, most of the
emigrants had already stopped at the mission and had gone on to the
Columbia. From the mission’s storerooms, the travelers had
refurnished their supplies with wheat, corn, potatoes, beef, and pork
raised at Waiilatpu.

This migration of 1843 confirmed Marcus Whitman’s thoughts that his

mission was to be an important way station on the Oregon Trail.
From then on, by the time emigrants reached the Walla Walla Valley
each autumn many were sick, exhausted, or suffering from hunger.
Marcus and Narcissa welcomed these people, whether they stopped
overnight or stayed for the winter. The sick and injured were treated;
produce from the fields was sold or given to the needy; worn-out
horses and cattle were replaced with fresh ones from the mission’s
herd. A few, not yet aware of the high cost in the Far West of food,
tools, and other things needed by the emigrants, criticized Whitman
for being mercenary, but most visitors praised him for his aid. 64
He turned no one away. Whitman felt it was his special
responsibility to care for the destitute and the sick.

The Oregon Trail was repeatedly changed with the discovery of

shortcuts during these years. In 1845 the majority of the emigrants
by-passed the mission when a trail was opened down the Umatilla
River past present-day Pendleton, Oreg. But each autumn many of
the wagons still turned toward Waiilatpu for shelter. The famous as
well as the unknown came to the mission: T. J. Farnham, emigrant
leader; Capt. John Charles Frémont, army explorer; Paul Kane, artist;
and John Sutter, of later California fame. These and hundreds more
found comfort and aid at Waiilatpu.

Because Whitman was back at his station and relations among the
missionaries were greatly improved, the next few years seemed to be
good ones for the Oregon mission. But, despite the outward signs of
success, troubles were breeding that would lead to tragedy.
The Gathering Storm

One of the results of the increasing number of emigrants on the

Oregon Trail was the Cayuse’s conviction that their way of life was in
danger. Although the emigrants, up to now, had continued on to the
rich Willamette Valley, the Indians feared the day when the settlers
would stop on Cayuse land. The Cayuse were quick to identify the
Whitmans with the tide of settlers. Tom Hill, a Delaware Indian living
among the nearby Nez Percé, contributed to this conviction. He told
the Cayuse that before long the emigrants would be taking their
lands. This, after all, was what had happened to his own people. He
also said that the Whitmans were becoming rich from the sale of
their produce to the travelers, and he argued that this wealth should
be used in helping the Indians.

The Cayuse’s concerns were intensified by the increasing interest Dr.

Whitman was showing in the emigrants. The doctor himself foresaw
that the Indians’ mode of living would not be able to withstand 65
the encroachments of the aggressive settlers for very long. It
seemed obvious to him that the future of Oregon belonged to the
whites. As Whitman turned his attention more and more to the
problems of emigration, which he was forced to do by the very
presence of the travelers, there was naturally a decrease in the time
and effort he could devote to the Indians. Furthermore, the results of
more than 10 years labor among the Cayuse offered little
encouragement, and he feared that the future would be little better.
The Cayuse were quick to sense this change. When they did, they
lost their faith in the purpose of the mission and in the missionaries
themselves.

These growing resentments and suspicions were heightened in the

autumn of 1847 when a measles epidemic spread from that year’s
wagon train to Cayuse villages. This was a new disease for the
Cayuse, and their bodies had little resistance to it. The effect of the
disease in the lodges was disastrous. Within 2 months about half the
Cayuse tribe died from measles or from the accompanying dysentery,
though the Whitmans tried desperately to relieve the suffering. Panic
stricken, the Cayuse lost completely their faith in Whitman’s medicine
and turned to their traditional treatments. A sweat bath, followed by
a plunge into the cold river, practically assured their immediate death.

With the wagons of 1847, a half-breed named Joe Lewis had arrived
at Waiilatpu. Whitman soon learned that Lewis was a troublemaker,
but had no success in getting rid of him. When the epidemic struck,
Lewis told the Cayuse that Whitman was spreading poison in the air
to kill off the tribe. He said that when all the Indians were dead,
Whitman was going to take their lands for himself. The more
desperate of the Indians believed Lewis and decided to rid
themselves of the doctor who now seemed a man of evil design. In
this belief, they were encouraged by Nicholas Finley, another half-
breed living near the mission. His lodge, a few hundred feet from the
mission house, became a headquarters for the malcontents.

In the minds of these Cayuse there was no question of their 66

right to dispose of Dr. Whitman. One of the practices of the
tribe for generations was that if a patient of a medicine man, or
tewat, should die, the sick person’s relative could seek revenge by
killing the tewat. Since measles was a white man’s disease and since
Whitman, a white doctor, surely knew the cure, they believed that he
was deliberately withholding that cure from them. Their people were
dying, and revenge should be extracted from tewat Whitman.

The Whitmans had long been aware of the dangers that faced them
because of the Indians’ attitude toward medicine. But, with their high
sense of obligation and responsibility, they had threaded their way
through the maze of superstitions, sometimes at great risks, but
always with success—until 1847.