HighBeam.com Spotlights History Is Elementary!

Many months ago I set up a Facebook page for this blog where folks could like the page and could have yet another way to keep up with updates.    

Last week I was surprised to see someone had placed something on my wall that really made me smile.  HighBeam.com had stopped by my Facebook home to advise the following:

To thank you for all your hard work and dedication we would like to acknowledge you by including History Is Elementary in our Top 10 Favorite Blogs for educational research.

Now, isn’t that nice?!?  Notice my little badge is over in the sidebar.

HighBeam's blog shared a link to this blog along with the other nine.  Here they are:

Homeroom: The Official Blog of the U.S. Department of Education

Honors College Admission Blog: The Honors College Admission Blog for Western Kentucky University with valuable commentary and tips

The College Solution: The Blog of Lynn O’Shaughnessy, a nationally recognized college expert, higher-ed journalist, consultant and teacher

The Quick and the Ed: Published by Education Sector, this blog offers in-depth analysis on the latest in education policy and research

NYC Private Schools: An online community that encompasses all aspects of NYC private, independent, and religious schools

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Written by Vicki Davis, a full time teacher and blogger, who strives to share her insights on how to reach this generation of learners with teachers and parents

Tween Teacher: Heather Wolpert-Gawron discusses the latest news in education, curriculum design, educational policy and how to enjoy teaching

Generation YES Blog: Thoughts on empowering the current generation of learners with current technology

The Wired Campus: The Chronicle of Higher Education featuring the latest news on tech and education

In case HighBeam is new to you….it’s a paid search engine including the archives from newspapers such as The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and Associated Press.   They also have numerous trade magazines such as Advertising Age and Auto Week and journals like The Journal of Education Research and The Journal of Social Psychology.   All total a subscription to HighBeam provides access to over 6,500 publications.

Many thanks HighBeam for the nod!

I would like to start posting something a little more regularly on the Facebook page to interact with you.  While I don’t want to clog up your newsfeed I would like to interact with you a bit more.     

You are important to me…..I appreciate each and every one of you so much!  

So far I’ve gotten in the habit of linking to new postings as I publish them….eventually I hope to get in the habit of updating the page with pictures, a thought, etc. each day.   Don’t give up on me!

History Hodgepodge...A Little This and That

Did you know…..32 years today CNN made its debut with a lead story regarding the attempted assassination of civil rights leader Vernon Jordan.

New to my blogroll here at History Is Elementary is the blog Text Message, the blog of the textural archives services division of the National Archives. The most recent posting deals with the education program during World War II getting people to save their kitchen fat known as the Fat Salvage Campaign.

I wish my hometown of Atlanta would have its own free mobile app like Cleveland. The app, known as Cleveland Historical is free and developed by the Center for Public History and Digital Humanities at Cleveland State University. The app lets you explore the people, places, and monuments that shaped the city’s history per their website's “about” page.

Here’s another did you know…..a cold snap in Greenland in the 12th century may help explain why Viking settlers vanished from the islands, scientist said earlier this week in a Reuters report.

Five hundred eyes were on the President-elect as he lifted the top of the dish and gazed at the boast of Georgia……Find out what the boast of Georgia was in my most recent postings at American Presidents and Georgia on My Mind

and finally……This link will take you to my column Every Now and Then at Douglasville Patch where my very real and non-cartoon self writes every week about local history where I live. This week I write about the poor farm.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see links to past columns.

You didn’t really think I was a cartoon, did you?

Memorial Day and My 800th Post....

I find it appropriate that this post is my 800th posting for History Is Elementary.

Memorial Day is one of my favorite holidays, so it makes sense I’m writing about it again for post number 800. I knew the milestone post was coming up. I had thought about what I would write. I had even asked friends on Facebook what I should write about, and they came up with several interesting ideas. Then I realized Memorial Day was rapidly approaching…..and I couldn’t go without saying something.

What does Memorial Day mean to you? Cookouts, picnics, trips to the beach, perhaps a sale at the mall, time off from work, a cold beer or two, the Indianapolis 500, a slab of ribs on the grill……

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a problem with any of those things, but I wouldn’t be the ElementaryHistoryTeacher that I am if I didn’t point out what the original intent behind Memorial Day is.

Yes! These sweet young ladies, two of which I have the pleasure of knowing, have the right idea. Hannah and Claire are the daughters of a couple who are great friends of mine.  Paula and Scott felt it was important to teach their daughters the true meaning and intent of Memorial Day. Their family along with several other people decorated the graves at Marietta National Cemetery where there will be a ceremony today at noon.


I applaud them heartily!

Yes, Memorial Day is the official day to recognize men and women who have died while serving our country in the military.

Originally, Memorial Day morphed from a day that became popular soon after the end of the Civil War that was known as Decoration Day. Not only was it a day of remembrance, but it also served as a day for reconciliation as the North and South tried to heal.

The war dead was remembered by decorating their graves with flowers. On the very first Decoration Day, General James Garfield, future President of the United States, made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery where 5,000 people had gathered to decorate more than 20,000 Union and Confederate graves.

As there are with most things there are a few cities and/or groups who vie for the credit regarding who began the custom of decorating the graves of soldiers…..in the end it only matters that it’s done, right?

Over the years Decoration Day began to include soldiers from other wars and officially the day become Memorial Day when President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the last Monday in May as an official holiday in 1966.

Here are a few more pictures depicting Decoration Day events.

And of course looking back on other Memorial Day postings here at History Is Elementary…..This post is from 2009 and discusses heroes and this post is from 2008 when I was fortunate enough to spend Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery.


Whatever you do today......take a few minutes to remember those brave men and women who answered the call gave their lives in the cause of freedom.

This and That

Ah…..a lazy Sunday doing bloggy things like checking out new sites and reading a post here and there.

Check out these new additions to the blogroll:

Education Insights – all about online education

The Selvedge Yard – a very good friend of mine turned me on to this site and I’m glad they did….JP’s ABOUT page states, “The Selvedge Yard is about all the things that interest me– a menswear product, presentation & branding guy with a passion for people, places things & ideas of enduring heritage, quality, authenticity & character. But I’m not all old school all the time– I appreciate innovation & technology in all things.” the most recent posting discusses when country was C-O-U-N-T-R-Y and a few wonderful images from Henry Horenstein is exhibited.

Constituting America – this site’s mission is to reach, educate and inform America’s youth and her citizens about the importance of the U.S. Constitution and the foundation it sets forth regarding our freedom and rights. Check out the postings for the The Federalist #56 and #60 that were written by James D. Best, author of Tempest at Dawn, and where I made a comment on each and my own post regarding The Federalist here One of the founders of Constituting America is Janine Turner….yes, Hollywood’s Janine Turner.

The American Association for State and Local History – Yep, they are blogging now as well at their site. Go visit, join and receive their publication.

While clicking through reading postings by some of my friends on the blogroll I found this post sharing 50 great tips for using Facebook as a professional tool rather than something to be feared. Say what you want to about Facebook….there are some good tips here…..

and finally from the American Historical Association blog they are discussing the recent 18th-century boat unearthed at the World Trade Center site. The post states that it is believed the ship’s hull was used as fill to extend Manhattan into the Hudson River. The AHA also links to an additional article concerning the excavation of a 19th-century river wall at the same site and how current plans require developers to tunnel through it.

Say it ain’t so!!!!

The linked article states, “For the next few days — but not much longer — a 40-foot-long section will be visible of the massive bulkhead that marked Lower Manhattan’s edge until the creation of Battery Park City. What can be seen are several courses of granite blocks, each about two feet high, two feet deep and four feet long. They are arranged in a kind of monumental Flemish bond, with the blocks’ long and short sides laid in an alternating pattern.”

….and on a heavy note I’m overrun with spammy comments all over this site. I guess I’m going to have to resort to comment moderation at some point. I’ve spent a good 30 minutes removing some comments, and I haven’t even scratched the surface.

Sigh………………

Happy Sunday!

A Brand New ME!!!!!!

Well, it's sorta a brand new me.......the image used here is new. Hot off the drawing board from Dear Sister to me. I'm thrilled with it because a family member drew it, and together she and I own the rights to it.....you might just see it on the cover somewhere of that book I'm still working on, and some upcoming curriculum I'm going to offer up for sale as well.

How do you like the new EHT? Just one of the little changes going on here History Is Elementary.

So, is anybody still out there reading my meager offerings? Are you just getting that occasional email from Feedblitz or some other source and just deleting it?

Let me know.....I'd love to hear from you :).

.....and be patient with me. I'm trying to make the changes around here as painless as possible. There is still some tweaking to do on the right sidebar........and I hope to have a fan page up and running on Facebook this very week.

What the Heck....?

Yep, we are under major construction here at History Is Elementary. It was time I converted to the new Blogger that came down the pike many months ago. I never did and it has kept me from enjoying various things that would make my life a whole lot easier.

So, dear reader.....for the next few days you may find it a little difficult to move around here at ye olde blog, but never fear....I think you will like the changes.

I know I will.

Thanks for continuing to visit, thanks for the emails and comments, and most of all.....thanks for the links. :)

I Need a Mulligan!

It is golf season around my house these days. I’m finding golf tees in the washing machine, golf clubs dumped by the front door and assorted golf gloves thrown into my back seat.

No….Tiger Woods hasn’t been hiding out at my house, and Mr. ElementaryHistoryTeacher has been far too busy at work to be on the golf course himself.

Me?

Heavens, no! I’m not the golfer of the family.

The golfer at my house these days is Dear Daughter. This is her second season as a member of her high school’s golf team, and if our weather would warm up and dry out she might actually have a good season.

I’d hate for her to have to ask for a mulligan for the entire season.

A mulligan?

Oh, that’s a golf term – it means to do something over – a second chance to perform a certain move or action. A mulligan is not normally part of official play, but it is an acceptable practice among friends.

You and I……we’re friends, aren’t we?

I hope so because I need my dear readers to grant me a mulligan of sorts.

You see for the last several week’s I’ve tried to keep the blogging thing going while attempting to finish a book. The working title for the book is 1620 Days: My Walk Through an American Classroom. The book includes history, classroom situations, and education reform issues. Many of the situations discussed have not previously been published here at History Is Elementary. My intention is for it be an open and honest look at my classroom over a period of nine years.

The process of bouncing back from two major hospital stays within six months, writing the book, and keeping the blogs alive with fresh material has been a wee bit challenging. I’ve finally had to accept that I can’t keep doing both.

Who knew? I’m not superwoman.

In order to get the book finished I’m going to declare this season of spring as the season of the mulligan here at History Is Elementary as well as my other two blogs….Georgia on My Mind and Got Bible?.

For the next few weeks I will be re-posting some of my past efforts at all three of my blogs for your reading pleasure. I hope that you enjoy rereading old favorites or find new material you missed the first time around.

I just hope my season of mulligan posts don’t turn out to be finnegans – another golf term where the do-over shot is worse than the first attempt.

I’m off to write, and write, and write, but I’ll check in often, and I’ll keep you advised on the book’s progress.....and if you are a book publisher or literary agent you are more than welcome to contact me regarding my book. :)

Thanks for your support!

I'd Like to Thank the Academy.....

Many thanks to the folks at Free.Edu for including History Is Elementary in their list of 100 Best Education Blogs.

It’s a fantastic list divided by educational topics. Also included in the category for history is Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History and Cardinal Woolsey’s Today in History.

Lots of other educational topics are included as well including education reform and technology.

Enjoy hunting for blogs you might not have found yet……

One Hundred Great American Moments in History

History is jam packed with moments…..moments great and small.
For someone like me they are all equally intriguing….all equally important though some actually get a little more play in the classroom than others.

If I had to ask you about your top ten list for events in American History more than likely we would all have varying lists with a little overlap.

I’m sure that most of you would include events from the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock, the Boston Massacre, or even Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

My events would be a little more obscure (for some)….Shay’s Rebellion, the inception of The Manhattan Project, the Election of 1800, the March on Washington Movement (1941-1947), or the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

I could go on and on and on with my list……

The folks over at Online School recently alerted me regarding their post titled One Hundred Great Moments in American History You Can Catch on YouTube. Their list includes moments involving war, presidential inaugurations, assassinations, music, sports, world ties, and so much more.

I’ve looked through their list and there are many gems there. Some that rose to the top for me include:

World War II: The Lost Color Archives: One of the most devastating wars in the history of mankind, this five part series contains many lost images of the war presented in color. There are images of many turning points in the war and even images of Hitler himself.

The Declaration of Independence: The birthing document of the United States was signed on July 4, 1776. Mel Gibson, Michael Douglas, Whoopi Goldberg, and others recite it word for word.
Gettysburg Address: Abraham Lincoln gave this speech at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863, at the height of the Civil War. Actor Jeff Daniels reads it over a slideshow of historical images

Reagan’s 1964 Republican National Convention: "I think it’s time to ask ourselves if we still know the freedoms that were intened to us by our Founding Fathers."

First Moon Landing: The Russians beat the Americans to space, but Neil Armstrong played a pivotal role in history when he set foot on the moon in 1969. This short video is actual footage of the moon landing, including the historic line.

Go on…..go take a look and find something to occupy your time in a fashion that will inspire you and remind you that we do live in a great nation with a great and long history.

An Unexpected Nod

I’ve been so out of touch lately, and I’ve missed a few nods from fellow bloggers. One such nod came from Teacher of One over at Boys + Academy. She’s been so very gracious to award me the Premio Dardo award.

"This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.”

Teacher of One was also nice enough to post the history behind the Premio Dardo award she obtained from K Squared Ramblings. Interesting stuff…..

Now I’m supposed to pass the nod along to 15 other blogs. It wasn’t hard for me to decide, so in no particular order:

Shrewdness of Apes

Scheiss Weekly

Learn Me Good

Polski 3's View From Here

Walking the Berkshires

Civil War Memory

Boston, 1775

Millard Fillmore's Bathtub

*Paw Paw Bill

*Will Think 4 Wine

*Principal's Office

*Old Tybee Ranger

From the Trenches of Public Ed.

Jon Rowe

The blogs with the asterisk beside them are Georgia blogs. They are located on my very, very long blogroll of Georgia bloggers located at Georgia on My Mind.

April Fool's Continued....

Well….I don’t think anyone noticed, but if you stopped by yesterday my cartoon image of myself and my other identifiers on this blog were missing. Instead you would have seen the image and name of another blogger…..100 Farmers.

We participated in a little April Fool’s prank that was led by Mister Teacher over at Learn Me Good. You can see his “day two” post here where he identifies all of the participants. Mister Teacher states, “A group of us got together and decided that we would switch blogs for the day and see if anyone noticed. Looking around at some of the blogs involved, it doesn’t look like many people did notice.” He continues, “At any rate, noticed or not, ballyhooed or critically disdained, we had fun.”

Yes, indeed….we did.

Long story short my particular post regarding a college history activity I do with students was posted over at Scholastic Scribe , and the post from 100 Farmers regarding progress reports was posted here at History Is Elementary.

The whole thing was motivating for me, and I sincerely thank Mister Teacher for arranging the swap.

Here are the other participants:

100 Farmers

Bluebird's Classroom

Chucheria

History is Elementary

IMC Guy

It's Not All Flowers and Sausages

I Want to Teach Forever

Learn Me Good

Ms Teacher

Scheiss Weekly

The Scholastic Scribe

So You Want to Teach?

Tales of a School Bus Driver

History Today

If you are a regular reader/subscriber to History Is Elementary then you are aware that I have had several fits and starts to my posting schedule since the latter part of August due to health concerns and two major surgeries.

Thanks for hanging in the there with me. It has been a real challenge to keep to a regular blogging schedule. I’m behind in several posting topics, and the only way I know to get rid of the many entries on my “to-do” list is to just begin wrestling them to the ground one by one.

Some time ago I became aware of History Today magazine and their blog found here. Information at the site explains…History Today delves into the deeper, historical issues that lie behind the headlines. We have been published in London since 1951.

Paul Lay, the magazine’s editor has his own blog here and the main website for the magazine can be found here along with archived articles and much, much more.

I’ve already added the sites to my blog roll. Go check them out!

Links for You

I get emails all the time regarding new projects and great sites to enhance my classroom. I thought I’d share a few with you:

Cotton Campus – is designed for elementary and middle school students, their educators and parents. The site has resources to help introduce the history of cotton. The site features slideshows, games, classroom activities and a video on cotton’s sustainability, as well as downloadable and printable lesson plans for teachers. Some of the activities involve writing and research, way to develop math skills through constructing and solving equations from cotton word problems, and science experiences involving comparisons between cotton, other natural and man-made fibers. There’s also a quiz or two.

21st Century Abe – has as its main purpose to celebrate Lincoln’s 200th birthday and to take a look at his life, work and words through modern eyes. This site was created by the Rosenbach Museum & Library and highlights the museum’s collection of rare Lincoln manuscripts with a digital documement viewer, artists’ interpretations, commentary from a renowned Lincoln scholar & contests for the best user submissions.

Have you checked out the PBS show called History Detectives? I was recently informed that PBS Engage is featuring History Detectives, Tukufu Zuberi, as part of the ongoing PBS Engage series called “Five Good Questions”. The series features a PBS celebrity or insider and asks vistors to to send in questions to be answered the following week. The blog series has been very successful. Tufuku Zuberi will be the feature this week coinciding with a special episode of History Detectives next Monday….February 23, 2009…dedicated to African-Americans’ impact on history and society. You can post comments and questions here.

Democracy Web – This is a new website from Freedom House and the Albert Shanker Institute. The site not only describes the U.S. experience with democracy, but also compares it to that of every country in the world, including those where citizens lack a vote and a voice. There are two sections to the site….an interactive, global Map of Freedom and an online study guide designed to assist secondary schools and college-level educators as they prepare lesson plans.

Fresh Brain – is a great place for teens to explore technology. The site states….We give teens who are great at programming, graphics, or video a place to show off their work and develop new skills in the process…..Students can learn to make a YouTube video, program a video game, or develop a Facebook application.

And finally…..last but certainly not least

Academic Earth – this site brings together video lectures and full courses from leading educational institutions and adds in a user-friendly learning environment. There are more than 1,500 lectures (including history) and there are plans to add more in the future as well as some collaborative features and content in the next few months.

Happy clicking!

Sunday Snippets

The Education Carnival is up for your reading pleasure over at Matthew Needleman’s site….Creating Lifelong Learners while the History Carnival made its appearance over at American Presidents. I’m a bit late with these links….Take pity on a recooping woman. :)

Last week my good blog friend Polski3 alerted me that this site may be loading s-l-o-w-l-y when you try to access it. I’ve noticed the site being a bit slow for me as well.

I’m sorry. It’s not my intention.

I visited WebSiteOptimization.com and allowed their system to analyze my site. I found my images and exterior scripts might be slowing things down, so I’m planning on spending this week trying some changes. I’d love to convert to the layout style for Blogger….this template is written for Classic Blogger. I’ll see what works and what doesn’t. If you stop by and things look a little strange...well, now you will know why.

Finally, the particular lesson referenced below is one I wish I had thought of first……

Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal, and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom. When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks. Looking around, confused, they asked, “Ms. Cothren, where’re our desks?”

She replied, “You can’t have a desk until you tell me what you have done to earn the right to sit at a desk.”

They thought, “Well, maybe it’s our grades.”

“No,” she said.

Maybe it’s our behavior.

She told them, “No, it’s not even your behavior.”

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom. By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms. Cothren’s classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all of the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the deskless classroom. Martha Cothren said, “Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in the classroom. Now I’m going to tell you.”

Want to know the reason…..head here to learn more about a gutsy move by a gutsy teacher to help her students understand what the right to an education is all about.

100,000 Visits! It's Happy Dance Time...

I reached a very important milestone here at History Is Elementary a little while ago….at 9:31 p.m. a reader from Beverly, Massachusetts visited this site first logging onto this post titled What’s In a Name? The subject involves the naming of America and how Amerigo Vespucci’s name is the textbook answer, yet there are other theories. Me being the me that I am I provide a possibility for you to ponder.

Then my new best friend from Beverly decided to click on the left-sidebar and peruse my answer to the question Is History Important?

Thank you to everyone who reaches me through email subscriptions, google searches, and all the other possible ways to read my meager offerings here.

100,000! Wow! That’s quite a large number.

The end of the school year always warrants a happy dance, but reaching a personal blog goal…..I think it’s worthy too.

Happy Dance! Happy Dance! Happy Dance! Happy Dance! Happy Dance!

From the Top!

Mister Teacher over at Learn Me Good was kind enough to post this week’s Education Carnival for us. Head on over and enjoy all of the various postings from some of the best Edubloggers found online today.

Speaking of the top Edubloggers….Over at Dangerously Irrelevant, Scott McLead provides the top 50 P-12 education blogs. Head over to Scott’s post to see how the list was compiled….and check some of these great blogs.

There’s one blog on the list you might recognize…..this one!

1. apophenia
2. Weblogg-ed
3. Joanne Jacobs
4. Stephen’s Web
5. Panda’s Thumb
6. 2¢ Worth
7. Cool Cat Teacher Blog
8. Moving at the Speed of Creativity
9. Ewan MacIntosh’s edu.blogs.com
10. Students 2.0
11. Dangerously Irrelevant
12. The Fischbowl
13. Larry Ferlazzo’s Website of the Day
14. Beyond School
15. EdTechTalk
16. The Thinking Stick
17. Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub
18. CogDogBlog
19. Angela Maiers
20. Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech
21. Techlearning blog
22. elearnspace
23. dy/dan
24. Around the Corner
25. Practical Theory
26. Open Thinking & Digital Pedagogy
27. Steve Hargadon
28. Half an Hour
29. k12 Online Conference
30. Mobile Technology in TAFE
31. blog of proximal development
32. HeyJude
33. Blue Skunk
34. The Education Wonks
35. Drape’s Takes
36. always learning
37. The Learning Circuits Blog
38. Remote Access
39. PBS Teachers . Learning.now
40. Eduwonkette
41. So You Want To Teach?
42. Eduwonk
43. Teach42
44. History Is Elementary
45. LeaderTalk
46. Infinite Thinking Machine
47. Creating Lifelong Learners
48. AssortedStuff
49. Connectivism Blog
50. think:lab
51. O’DonnellWeb
52. iterating toward openness
53. Teaching Generation Z
54. Generation YES Blog

The Best of Blogs or the Post Where I Ask You to Go Vote for Me

This is a sticky post that will remain here at the top for a few days. Scroll down for my newest postings if you've already seen this.

Imagine my surprise and glee when I noticed that The Best of Blogs (vote using the link below in green) had named History Is Elementary as one of their nominated best blogs in the category of Education and Homeschooling.

I don’t say it much, but I do appreciate each and every visit, each and every email subscription, each and every link through Bloglines, etc., each and every comment, and of course……each and every lurker.Check out the other nine nominees as well. I’m honored to be in their company and consider all of them to be great blog buddies. :)

Apparently you can vote via a PollMonkey widget at a separate post that was created after the link I give above. You are allowed to vote once per day between now and May 26th from what I could gather at the site. Once you use the PollMonkey widget it deactivates it for your computer and shows you a tally of votes until 24 hours passes. Then you can vote again. Here’s the link:

Click here to vote for History Is Elementary for best education blog.

Professional Development at Its Best

Not too long ago I posted my response to a meme that was basically a self survey regarding priviledge. The post received a few comments and some bloggers linked to it with their own postings including Byrningbunny and Rebecca over at Freaky Frugalite.

In the post I mentioned Dr. Ruby K. Payne…..I said---

One of the best resources (books and tapes) that I have ever used to help me get my head around the implications of poverty and its effects on education is Dr. Ruby K. Payne’s A Framework for Understanding Poverty . Not only is she a very entertaining speaker the exercises in her book and workbook gave me a totally different mindset regarding some of my students.

A few days later I was alerted by by a friend that Dr. Payne and her associates have a blog, and I was mentioned over there. The blog is called Aha! Process, Inc. It is a great resource for Payne’s materials and even videos. Patti Albright, a contributing author at the site happened to see my post regarding priviledge and posted her own article titled Privilege and the Paper World over at Aha! She states:

The game intrigued me because of my training with and subsequent passion for Ruby Payne’s work. Dr. Payne’s research reveals, among many other ideas that most schools in America operate from middle class norms. Students, starting in kindergarten, are immersed in the middle class “paper world” – they are inundated with field trip notes, report cards, test results, textbooks, library books, PTA notices, fundraiser catalogs, etc. Many of our students from generational poverty do not come from homes where books, magazines, and bank statements, abound. The paper world to which middle class America has become so accustomed does not exist for many children from poverty, and just this one aspect of not coming from a “privileged” background can be a huge stumbling block to success in today’s educational system.

I just love this whole blogging “thing” and the implications it has for education. I am constantly amazed at how things are passed along, linked to, refined and adopted. A blog post often begins through a conversation with self that quickly becomes a conversation with a few, and then side bar conversations begin at other sites.

Someone once asked me why I would want to spend my free time writing, reading, commenting, and linking…….I told them that it’s really very simple. Blogging in education is the ultimate in vertical teaming or a small group conducting collaborative research. You find a group of blogs that basically fit your niche and hang on with all your might because the conversation is constant, and the most important outcome is professional growth of the highest caliber.

Is It Friday Yet?

The newest edition of the Education Carnival can be found over at The Elementary Educator. As I’ve been known to say over and over and over….walk, walk, walk, DON’T run!

I noticed today that I had been challenged to participate in a meme over at Eoin Purcell's Blog called Book Meme Tagging. Here are the rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book
2. Open to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the next three sentences
5. Tag five people and acknowledge who tagged you.

So here goes…..the closest book I have next to me is in a brown envelope that was just delivered today. I have an advance copy of Washington....The Making of the American Capitol by Fergus M. Bordewich. I am looking forward to reading the book and reviewing it here at History Is Elementary in a few days.

Turning to page 123 the sixth, seventh and eighth sentences relate:

It was also at this time that Thornton learned of the design competition for the United States Capitol. He threw himself into the project, which brought him welcome distraction from the continuing mockery of his fellow island whites. The pungent smell of sugar being rendered into molasses and rum filled the humid air as, day and night, he worked at his sketches, oblivious to the thrum of rain on the giant bulletwood trees, and the thud of waves on the shore of nearby Sea Cow Bay.

The link I've provided for Thornton (above) takes you to two postings I've written concerning William Thornton.

I can’t wait to get into this book!

I’m tagging……Mrs. Mecomber, Polski3, Mister Teacher, MDawg, and Mrs. Bluebird

A Triple Shot: WW, America: A Great Nation, and Passion Quilt Meme

Image title: Sea to Shining Sea

Hmmm…I’m sure you are wondering why I’ve posted a blank outline map of the United States in relation to my theme. Well, think about it for a moment and then maybe something will come to you. How DOES this image show America is great nation? Let me know what you think in the comments.

I do need to admit that I have another reason for posting this image. I was tagged sometime back by my good blog friend Dr. Pezz over at The Doc Is In for the Passion Quilt Meme. The main requirement is to post an image that captures what you are most passionate for kids to learn about. That’s a little hard for me to do since my curriculum is mile wide and foot thick. Look at my sidebar. I’m passionate about it all. The American story is chock full of history goodness for students to analyze and build a firm foundation of citizenship with. Therefore, I posted a blank image that represents all there is about my subject matter from sea to shining sea! You can go in any direction you want and only be limited by the nation’s border.

The rules for the Passion Quilt Meme are:
*Post a picture or make/take/create your own that captures what YOU are most passionate for kids to learn about.
*Give your picture a short title.
*Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt.”
*Link back to this blog entry.
*Include links to 5 (or more) folks in your professional learning network.

I’m tagging: M-Dawg, Ed Darrell, Mrs. Bluebird, Polski3, and Mister Teacher .....Go visit them if you are not familiar with their work. They have great education blogs!

Find more wordless images here!