MY St. Augustine

I just returned from St. Augustine, Florida to celebrate my 25th wedding anniversary. It has everything this history teacher loves….lots of history and the beach as well. The picture I’ve posted above was made as we were leaving the beach area and looks over the historic area of St. Augustine. You can just make out the buildings over the trees....

Say “St. Augustine” and you might instantly think of its designation as the oldest continuously occupied European established city and oldest port in the continental United States. However, if you told me that the city was founded by Ponce de Leon on his search for the much ballyhooed Fountain of Youth I’d have to pull out my big red marker and place an X on that lovely forehead of yours.

No, the credit of founding St. Augustine does not go to Ponce de Leon. In fact, the idea that he even landed on the North American continent at St. Augustine is still heavily debated by many history scholars. While some argue St. Augustine was the place others believe he came ashore south of St. Augustine at a place known as Ponce de Leon Inlet or even further south at Melbourne Beach in 1513. Yes, old Poncey was looking for the Fountain of Youth but even that is debated since there is no known connection between Ponce de Leon and the supposed Fountain of Youth. The dots were connected by history writers after his death and the facts are on shaky ground.

The current touristy Fountain of Youth location in St. Augustine is merely a tribute to the story…..a story….a story….no facts, my dear history lover. No facts. It is a good story though. :)
The credit for founding St. Augustine goes to Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1565. He was a Spanish admiral and pirate hunter.

You might tell me that St. Augustine was attacked by the British in 1702 and again in 1740 by the colony of Georgia’s own James Oglethorpe as he led the British in the Siege of St. Augustine during the War of Jenkin’s Ear. Yes, an ear….men will fight a war of every little thing, won’t they?

You might want to remind me St. Augustine had the first free community of ex-slaves in 1738 or that the city was in the hands of Loyalists during the American Revolution serving as the location where three signers of the Declaration of Independence cooled their heels on the British dime.

You might want me to remember the large number of Greek settlers in the area or the Minorcans whose story resembles that of the Cajuns in Louisiana.

You might want me to remember St. Augustine as the location of the fortress Castillo de San Marcos which was built by the Spanish and later renamed Fort Marion after Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion of American Revolution fame. Over time the fort housed such notables as Osceola, John Horse, and the daughter of Geronimo was born at Fort Marion.

A modern thinking person such as yourself might want me to know St. Augustine became a winter resort of the wealthy due to Henry Flagler and his railroad. You might even want me to know that St. Augustine abounds in little known and untold Black History that has only come to light in recent times such as the fact that the U.S. Signal Corp had a training facility there that trained the Tuskegee Airmen.

Yes, yes, yes….you could tell me all about St. Augustine, but this past weekend all I cared about was my companion for the last twenty-five years, my nice bed and breakfast (which I strongly recommend to all my friends and family…no children allowed though), my nice private pool, and the beach……MY beach…..not Ponce de Leon’s ….not Pedro Menendez de Aviles’….mine, mine, mine, ALL MINE. :)

Overcoming Mountains

So, I’ve been silent for a bit around here. Lots going on at my house….sending out graduation notices for my son, sending out 50th birthday invitations to family and friends (yes, I know….it’s hard to believe…ElementaryHistoryTeacher is married to a 50 year old man…amazing), and it seems every time I think I have a moment to post someone decides I need yet another thing to do.

Well, I’m here to tell you the old saying is true, and my family and friends seem to agree with it….When you need something done hand it off to a busy person.

Yes, I’m trying to overcome mountains of things to do, but you know me….I always have some historical thought going on in that busy brain of mine and this time is no different.

I’ve been thinking about my ancestors and all of the folks who arrived in the American colonies in the 1700s and decided to trek into the Appalachian Mountains.

During the early days of colonization in North America the Appalachian Mountains served as a barrier to expansion for the British colonies.

On the flip-side, however, and something I love to explore with students, is how the same mountain chain that hindered and challenged my ancestors also served as a hedge of protection for Native Americans.

Several factors contributed to this – the mountains formed a continual, unbroken chain with numerous confusing ridges, never-ending forests and undergrowth that can hide so many rewarding vistas – and of course, an alliance system the English formed with Native Americans kept a large number of colonists at bay until after the American Revolution.

Recently, my husband and I left Atlanta and traveled to Asheville, North Carolina for a couple of quiet days. Once again the beauty and majesty of the mountains washed over me, and I couldn’t help but think of those early settlers.

We traveled through the ridges and valleys quite well across well traveled and maintained roads – roads that did not exist when the colonists began the arduous task of entering and traversing the mountains.

I kept myself busy during the trip taking pictures and video and have placed some of the images here in the slideshow below for your enjoyment.

Well, back to the mountains I have before me today…..I have several to climb. :)

Childe Hassam's Flag Series....Appropriate for the Fourth

This, of course is a painting by the artist known as Childe Hassam, an American Impressionist artist best known for his series of flag paintings. I’ve used this painting before as an image here at History Is Elementary in my Fourth of July postings because it is aptly titled “Fourth of July”. (By the way…the link takes you to a list of several Fourth of July postings that appeared here in the past.)

Here are some of the other paintings in the series…a series of thirty paintings…and more information regarding this interesting artist.

Hassam became interested in expressing his patriotism for the United States during the days leading up to our involvement in World War I. Patriotic paintings were used to counter the isolationist point of view expressed by President Woodrow Wilson and others prior to 1917. In fact, at one point Hassam wanted to go to Europe and paint scenes from the battlefront, but the U.S. government would not approve the trip. At one point he was arrested for sketching naval maneuvers along a river…..

Many of the flag pictures were donated for the war effort. Hassam accepted Liberty Bonds for payment regarding one of the paintings. Hassam’s goal was for the entire series to be sold as a war memorial, however the paintings were eventually sold individually after several group exhibitions.

More of the paintings can be seen at this link.

One of Hassam's best known works in the flag series, Avenue in the Rain, remains part of the White House collection. I've posted it over at American Presidents Blog here.

Happy Fourth!......and fly those flags, please.

Moving History Along....Queenie's Coin

What makes a good plot line for a story?

First I think you need interesting characters….people you can care about….people you are willing to invest a few minutes of your time with. Second, you need an interesting backstory…something going on in the background to move the story along …throw in a little true life to the characters and to the events of the back story and gee, you’ve got a genuine blockbuster.

That’s what I look for when I teach history standards. In and of themselves the standards can be a little boring. Teaching in a “just the facts ma’m” kind of format will more often than not lead to a room full of students with glazed over eyes and off task behaviors…doodling, throwing spit balls, reading ahead in the text, repairing make-up, etc.

I look for the details of history that will enthrall others, old and young alike, the quirkiness of history, the stuff of history that make it alive and worth remembering.

The Civil War is a historical topic full of facts and my Georgia teaching standards are quite clear as to what students should know when they tackle that test each April. The Civil War is also a historical topic that is jam packed with great backstories and wonderful, real characters that can be used to motivate students to delve deeper into the content and analyze the context of the times and the motivation behind all of the parties involved.

The story of the CSS Hunley is interesting not just from a naval and technological viewpoint, but since I have to consider my audience and what will drag them kicking and screaming to the historical roundtable, the story of the Hunley is a gem for any serious teacher of history.

Last week for my wordless post I presented the front view of a gold coins that seem simple enough at first glance, but oh….what a story these gold coins have to tell. Homeschooling Granny made a correct assumption that the coins I pictured were indeed the coins given to George Dixon by his sweetheart Queenie Bennett as he left for war.

Highlighting literature is an important part of my teaching style and the book The Story of the H.L. Hunley and Queenie's Coin Edition 1. (True Story) by Fran Hawke and illustrated by Dan Nance (2004) is a wonderful story to share with history students from 9 to 90.

Throughout our great history men have gone off to serve our country and have received parting gifts from their loved ones. George Dixon was no different.

During the Civil War many soldiers received miniature paintings or photographs of their sweethearts, a handkerchief, scarf, or a tender love letter.

As he left in 1862 to join the 21st Alabama Regiment to serve under General P.G.T. Beauregard George Dixon’s sweetheart, Queenie Bennett, handed him a $20 gold coin. George instantly placed the coin in his pocket where he carried it into war. Can’t you see him sitting around a campfire at night pulling out the coin, turning it over and over in his fingers, thinking of Queenie….thinking of home?

What was given as a token of love actually served many more purposes. On April 6, 1862 at the Battle of Shiloh the coin actually stopped a bullet from injuring his leg. Dixon would have a lasting limp from the injury, but he survived because of the coin.

When he returned to Mobile he had the coin inscribed….Shiloh, April 6, 1862 My life preserver GED…and he continued to carry the coin in his pocket as a symbol of his love and devotion to Queenie as well as to commemorate his experience at Shiloh.

Dixon was unable to return to the battlefield, but continued to serve the Confederacy. He volunteered for another duty working with a new type of weapon the Confederacy was investigating….a new type of boat called a submarine. The Confederates hoped the submarines would allow them to bust the blockade that had blocked Charleston’s harbor as well as several other Confederate harbors.

At this point Fran Hawke’s book takes the interesting love story of Queenie and George and moves it to the sidelines a bit to tell the story of the Hunley. The text explains:

Learning and experimenting as they worked, the men molded iron plates into a sleek shape.

There would barely be room for eight or nine men, sitting on a wooden bench, turning the shaft that moved the propeller.

A long pole was affixed to the front of the submarine. It would hold an explosive, which would be jammed into the hull of an enemy ship.

Then, of course, as stories often do the plot returns to love. After a couple of disasterous tests George shared with Queenie that he was going to request command of the Hunley. He felt certain that the South should use submarines. He stifled any fear Queenie might have regarding his safety by reminding her he carried her gold coin.

George convinced Gen. Beauregard by telling him, “Sir, the Hunley is still in perfect working order. It only sank because the other crews made mistakes…The submarine is temperamental, but she is not a death trap.”

Under George Dixon’s command the Hunley was finally ready to attack Union ships in Charleston Harbor on February 17, 1864.

The book continues with a discussion regarding how the Hunley attacked the 200-foot-long USS Husatonic, and how the Hunley tore a hole in the side of the Union ship and sank her.

Sadly, however, the Hunley never returned to port.

The Confederacy tried to keep the loss of the Hunley secret, hoping that the Union would fear more attacks. Any hope of ending the Union blockade ended with the missing submarine and Queenie’s George.

Over the years quite a few myths surrounded the Hunley and her disappearance.

PT Barnum, a late nineteenth-century circus owner, offered a reward of $100,000 to anyone who could find the Hunley for him to display in his traveling show.

More than 100 years after the Hunley disappeared, famed author, Clive Cussler, arrived in Charleston to begin his search for the submarine. He was a Civil War expert, an underwater archaeologist, and an author. “Shipwrecks,“ he liked to say, “are never where they are supposed to be.” Cussler and his team kept looking, on an off for 15 years.

The Hunley was finally located on May 3, 1995 but it was not raised until August 8, 2000.

The book goes on to detail the painstaking efforts the folks at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, South Carolina made to excavate the Hunley’s secrets…the propeller shaft, the crew’s bench, the men’s clothes, pipes, pocketknives, canteens, a wallet, a brooch, and a corked bottle. The remains of the crew members were also gathered for a proper buriel.

But what of Queenie’s gold coin?

Maria Jacobsen, the chief archaeologist sifted through the area where Lt. George Dixon would have sat. Through the mud she saw the glint of the lucky gold piece.

The coin is displayed today at the Hunley Exhibit at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center.

Fran Hawke’s book is a perfect addition to any history classroom and can be used with any age group. The story motivates students to learn more about the submarine by drawing them into the tragic love story of Queenie and George, by strategically interchanging the back story and the historical record back and forth in such a way you are totally unaware that you are learning something.

You can see both sides of the coin here.

The website for Friends of the Hunley can be found here

A picture of Queenie and more information can be found here

Wordless: A Mystery Coin

This week’s mystery involves the coin you see above. There is quite a story surrounding this coin….one that involves a much larger and much more tragic story during a very difficult time in American history.

Can you tell me why this coin is important? Where was it found?

I’ll be writing about this coin next week with full disclosure, but for now…how about a guess?

Find other blogs posting wordless images here.

Last week’s explanation can be found here

Is Napoleon's Hat at the Village of Perros-Guirec?

Before we begin, please listen to some personal messages.

Jean has a long mustache.

There is a fire at the insurance agency.

The rabbit is going down his hole.

The door should be left open.

Are the nonsensical sentences I’ve written above part of some strange grammar exercise?

Are we going to diagram sentences?

As much as I like diagramming….no, I won’t do that to you.

Hmmm…..has Elementaryhistoryteacher finally lost it? Well, the answer to that question could morph into a huge debate, but no….for the most part I’m in complete control of my faculties…for now.

The sentences I’ve listed above are what you might have heard if you were part of the French Resistance during World War II and you were listening to the BBC. What seemed to be nonsensical sentences were actually coded phrases that contained pre-arranged orders for the hundreds of French Resistance groups across France.

Time and time again the nonsensical messages played a part in Allied victories across France. The people of France were alerted that the beginning of Operation Overlord, or the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944, would begin in 24 hours when the first stanza of Paul Verlaine's poem…Chanson d’Automne or Autumn Song…was broadcast.

Resistance groups were made up of men, woman and sometimes children who heeded General Charles de Gaulle’s words after the fall of France to German occupation: But has the last word been said? Must hope disappear? Is defeat final? No!...Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished. Tomorrow, as today, I will speak on the radio from London.

When teaching World War II events it’s very easy to discuss D-Day and then slide into a quick wrap-up of the war in France. I’ve seen teachers do that time and time again, but D-Day wasn’t the only invasion into western Europe via France, and we are doing students a disservice when we create the perception that all was well and things were merely mopped up after the hit the beaches at Normandy.

This week my wordless Wednesday mystery invovled a rock formation. My clues included Europe, west, and hat. Go take a look at the image again, and THIS TIME think about Napoleon and his bicorn hat. See the resemblance?

Homeschooling Granny came the closest in her guess that the formation was called Napoleon’s Rock. She asked if the formation was in Morocco. Well, I discovered in my research that there are many rock and geographic formations called Napoleon’s Hat all over the world. I know the image I posted is not the one in Morocco, but can I testify in court it is truly the one the coded messages refer to? No, I can’t. Here is another link to an image of the Napoleon’s Hat in Brittany....it could or might not be the one the coded message referred to.

So what does a rock formation have to do with coded BBC messages to the French Resistance?
Well…..first you need to know that the rock formation referred to as Napoleon’s Hat is located near the village of Perros-Guirec in Brittany. The area is known as the Cote de Granit Rose (the Pink Granite Coast). While pink granite can be seen all along the coast from Tregastel to Brehat, the rock formations in Perros-Guirec are exceptional and visitors have fun analyzing what the formations resemble.

Second….it would helpful to know that following D-Day the Allied operations became bogged down among the hedgerows of the French countryside.

Finally….the significance of the Napoleon’s Hat rock formation….French Resistance members in Brittany listened day after day for the message that would alert them that their position had changed and that they could finally exert all out war and revenge on the Germans occupying their villages and towns. The nonsensical question they longed to hear was Le chapeau de Napoleon, est-il encore a Perros-Guirec? Translated the question means is Napoleon’s Hat where it has always been – at the village of Perros-Guirec?

The question signaled the impending second D-Day invasion. Yes! There were two D-Day invasions. The second one took place on July 25, 1944 eight weeks after the first one and it was referred to as Operation Cobra.

Once members of the French Resistance heard the coded message regarding Napoleon’s Hat they were able to enter into the third phase of their work. The first phase consisted primarily of identifying and attacking sabotage targets – [they] cut railways, block[ed] roads, destroy[ed} telecommunication systems – which would cause delays for the Germans. The Second phase was keeping their original targets out of order while arming themselves and training for the mass uprising that would occur in the third and final stage. The third stage would not commence until the Napoleon’s Hat message was heard signaling the beginning of Operation Cobra. The difficulty was in maintaining the careful balance between too little action, which would allow the Germans to advance to Normandy, and too little action, which would force them to retaliate and wipe out the Resistance groups before the third phase began.

Though Operation Cobra began with several friendly fire incidents due to the large number of bombs dropped from Allied airplanes the operation was a success. French Resistance groups were no longer invisible, and they excelled in their methods to frustrate the Germans in any way they could.

By July 30th, and in less than a week after the second D-Day began, a breakthrough of 60 kilometers had been made along with the taking of 18,000 prisoners. The stalemate had come to an end and the war of attrition had suddenly and dramatically been replaced by a war of movement.

My inspiration for posting the Wednesday Mystery and this article came from a fantastic book by Colin Bevan titled Operation Jedburgh - D-Day and Americas First Shadow War…..I’ll be writing more about it later.

This page has links to BBC broadcasts with personal messages

You can hear actual recorded messages here.

This web article details one of the transmitters used to send some of the nonsensical messages.

13 Library of Congress Sound Recordings

Did you know the Library of Congress has a blog. You can find it here.

The National Recording Preservation Board, part of the Library of Congress, has released their 2008 list of recordings added to the LOC collection to maintain and preserve sound recordings and collections of sound recordings that are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and for other purposes.

The entire list of the 2008 Registry can be seen at this link, but I’m presenting my favorite 13 of the 25 below.

If you don’t have Real Player you might want to download it to hear the clips. My mind is already turning over how these clips could be used to teach certain aspects of 20th Century history.

1.“At Last!,” Etta James (1961) ….Etta James’ recording of “At Last” is widely acknowledged as a “crossover” masterpiece…Her sultry, blues-inflected approach to “At Last” -- set in a brilliant strings and rhythm section arrangement by Riley Hampton -- transcends genre, like all great crossover interpretations.

2.“Rank Stranger,” Stanley Brothers (1960) ….The Stanley Brothers, one of the premier bands of the formative days of bluegrass, included sacred songs as a featured part of their performances. Their recording of “Rank Stranger,” written by famed gospel songwriter Albert E. Brumley Sr. and sung with reverence and simplicity in the traditional mountain style, shows why the Stanley Brothers continue to influence performers today.

3.“2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks,” Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (1961) ….The secret to living 2000 years? “Never touch fried foods!” In their party routine first performed for friends, Mel Brooks played a 2000-year-old man, while Carl Reiner, as the straight man, interviewed him. After much convincing, the two writers for Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows,” recorded their ad-libbed dialogue for a 1961 album.

4."The Who Sings My Generation,” The Who (1966) ….On their first album, The Who, assisted by The Kinks’ producer Shel Talmy, laid down a set of tracks that would include both enduring classics and mainstays of their later concert performances. Pete Townshend penned the rebellious title track, “My Generation,” which features John Entwistle playing one of the earliest bass leads in rock.

5.“No News, or What Killed the Dog,” Nat M. Wills (1908) …This recording captured a gifted monologist at his best and became one of the most popular performances on early records. The “No News” monologue, with roots in oral tradition, was one of vaudeville’s most famous and often-copied routines

6.NBC Radio coverage of Marian Anderson's recital at the Lincoln Memorial (April 9, 1939) ….By 1939, Marian Anderson had been hailed as the greatest contralto of her generation, yet she was refused the use of Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. because she was an African-American. The ensuing controversy climaxed with her historic recital on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, 1939. There she sang to an audience of over 75,000 people, with a national radio audience of millions more. Though brief newsreel excerpts of her brilliant performance have become familiar and even iconic since that time, the contemporary impact of this live, continuous radio coverage cannot be underestimated, and it is now our most complete documentation of this key event in the struggle for civil rights.

7.“A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” Dylan Thomas (1952) …Part nostalgic childhood remembrance and part poetic incantation, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” was issued with five of Dylan Thomas’ poems on Caedmon Records’ first release. According to the label’s co-founder Barbara Holdridge, Thomas arrived in the studio with insufficient material to fill an entire LP, but he remembered writing a Christmas story for Harper’s Bazaar. Holdridge and her business partner, Marianne Roney, were able to identify the piece as “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” and obtained a copy from the magazine. It became one of Caedmon’s most successful releases and has been credited with launching the audiobook industry in the United States. “We had no idea of the power and beauty of this voice,” Holdridge said of Thomas’ reading, “We just expected a poet with a poet’s voice, but this was a full orchestral voice.”

8. “West Side Story,” original-cast recording (1957) …While there are over 40 recordings of the score to the Broadway show “West Side Story” in various languages and styles, the original-cast recording is in many ways unequaled. The orchestra was increased to 37 for the recording, but the performances of this rich score are visceral and passionate. Bernstein’s music—with its Latin, jazz, rock and classical influences—was arguably the most demanding score heard on Broadway up to that point.

9. “Rumble,” Link Wray (1958) ….Asked for a tune that kids could dance “The Stroll” to, Link Wray came up with this powerfully menacing guitar instrumental on the spot, and the crowd went wild, demanding encores. When he couldn’t recreate the distorted sound of his live version in a studio, Wray poked holes in his amp speakers, cranked up the tremolo, and was then able to capture what he wanted in three takes -- for a cost of $57.

10. “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” George Jones (1980) ….George Jones has said that he initially thought “He Stopped Loving Her Today” was too sad to be very popular, but, at one of the lowest points of his career and personal life, he made it one of country music’s defining and most enduring songs.

11. “Tom Dooley,” The Kingston Trio (1958) ….The Kingston Trio recorded their version of “Tom Dooley” on their debut album for Capitol Records in early 1958. The song was already part of their regular set list and was also in the repertoire of other folk revivalists such as the Tarriers and the Gateway Trio. In spite of Dave Guard’s distinctive and dramatic opening narration, the song attracted little attention on its own until a Salt Lake City radio station began playing it heavily, prompting Capitol Records to place an 1866 murder ballad on a 45rpm record for the teenage market. This sparked a modern-folk revival, the influence of which would be felt throughout American popular music.

12. “Night Life,” Mary Lou Williams (1930) …When a record producer asked for an impromptu solo piano performance, 20-year-old Mary Lou Williams created an original three-minute collage of stride, ragtime, blues and pop styles that summarized the art of jazz piano to that time while pointing to the future of that genre and her own career in it. At the time, she was a pianist, composer and arranger for Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy, one of the great jazz bands of the Midwest. She later said that thoughts about the nightlife of Kansas City had driven this composition.

13. “Sinews of Peace” (Iron Curtain) Speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill (March 5, 1946)…. The LOC site did not provide a link to the audio file. Here is one to a YouTube video. Lamenting the deepening shadow of the Soviet Union’s occupation of Eastern Europe and fearing Soviet-directed, fifth-column activities in the West, Winston Churchill delivered this opening salvo of the Cold War at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. The speech heralds an increasingly widespread feeling in the West that a tougher stance was needed toward Russia, a departure following the positive image that the country enjoyed as a wartime ally in World War II. Churchill famously pronounced that “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”

View some of my other Thirteen posts here.

See what other bloggers are posting about by visiting the Thursday Thirteen hub.

Wordless: Interesting Places

Here’s a puzzle for you….this rock formation had a very important role to play in history.

Can you guess which world history event is involved?

Here’s are a few hints….Europe, West, and hat.

Guess away. I’ll be writing more about this later with a full explanation.

Check out the Wordless Wednesday hub here

All Hail the Patriotic Squirrel

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks around here at Elementaryhistoryteacher Central….Recently I’ve loaded my plate up with so much stuff I’ve needed a Chinet (you know….the Cadillac of paper plates) just to tote it all around.

Sadly in my rush to get around town and cross one more thing off my to-do list I’ve been leaving dead bodies in my wake….For some crazy reason squirrels and snakes seem to jump out at me when I least expect it. So far the carnage count from last week is three squirrels and one very long snake who thought the roadway might be an interesting place to work on his or her tan.

As much as squirrels annoy me and snakes just scare me to death I don’t relish hearing the sound and feeling the thud as their little bodies thump against the tires of my car.
It devastates me to kill an animal, and it really, really ruins my day.

Though I strongly feel squirrel are just rats with good PR, I don't really want to run them down with my car. One of the bushy-tailed creatures was hit on my street….close to my home. Gee, a neighborhood squirrel….not some random squirrel I didn’t know, but one that’s probably scampered across my yard, teased my cat, or even wintered in the attic of my home. It didn’t help that Dear Daughter jumped out of the car once I wheeled in the drive and ran up the street to take pictures with her cell phone camera of the BREAKING NEWS.

Mother, Teacher, Blogwriter crushes squirrel and abandons it to die alone….Details at 11!

Oh, the shame.....

That was the first death to occur at my hand last week….by the time I had killed two additional squirrels and then ran all four wheels over a snake stretched out across the roadway I decided I must do something to appease the Animal Kingdom. Perhaps that’s the only way I can avoid killing anymore creatures.

I actually stayed in all day today just to keep the death toll at a minimum.

Then I remembered I had saved the link to a story about a Michigan squirrel. Over Memorial Day the folks at Mount Hope Cemetery near Detroit place close to 1,000 small American flags on soldier’s graves. From one day to the next cemetery workers noticed many of the flags were missing….all that was left was the wooden stick the flags had been attached to.

Hmmm…was it the work of terrorists? Anarchists? Vandalizing hoards of teens?

Nope.

Just a dang squirrel….and a patriotic one at that.

My kind of squirrel! I bet it knows the pledge as well.

The little varmit detached a flag stapled to a staff and carry it up a tree to its nest in front of the cemetery superintendent. The squirrel was using the flags to line its nest.

Here's a link in case you missed the story.

So, I hope by posting this I have now appeased the animals ,and they will just stay the heck out of my way for the rest of the summer.

Remembering D-Day...

Today is D-Day….another day that does live in infamy. Over the last three years I’ve posted various things about D-Day and/or WWII in general.

We need to NEVER forget the sacrifice Americans made during WWII as well as any war before or any war after.

Here are the links:

Gliding Into D-Day….a look at how some Americans spent their morning on D-Day including one of my uncles

13 Facts Concerning the D-Day Invasion…just as it says 13 facts with some links

Other World War II articles of mine:

Razzle Dazzle and All That Jazz….covers our entry into the war a bit and discusses the unique way camouflage was used

Balloon Bombs….Did you know Americans were killed on our own soil by Japanese weapons?

Beach Red…a post regarding Tarawa…a very important but often forgotten battle during WWII and how garbage can often serve as poor reminder of a war

Fleet Problem 13....Pearl Harbor Foreshadowed…..Pearl Harbor was foreshadowed?!? Yes, yes it was

Timberwolf Up!... A very special post I wrote to remember an uncle and his war experience as he served in the 104th…..

I’ve also placed Eisenhower's D-Day Letter over at American Presidents Blog and General George S. Patton’s very colorful speech over at Georgia on My Mind.

Have a great Saturday and thank a solider or veteran today!

Implications From Dorr's Rebellion

By simply relying on the textbook my students learn that between 1840 and 1860 the number of immigrants arriving in the United States rose sharply. However, people didn’t begin streaming in the doors as the year 1840 arrived.

They had been arriving in steady ebbs and flows for years, and during the 1830s large numbers of people arrived from Ireland.

In fact, a Library of Congress site states during the 1830s approximately 150,000 immigrants from Northern Ireland reached the United States. Between 1820 and 1860 the Irish were one third of all immigrants to the United States, and by 1840 half of all immigrants were Irish.

A rise in immigrants along with new technologies due to the Industrial Revolution led to many changes in America. Urban areas grew larger while rural areas declined.

But there were other issues as well….one that escapes most textbook writers.

The story I want to share with you today is an interesting tidbit of Rhode Island history that is rooted in their colonial and immigration history, however it provides opportunities for any American History student.

The event I’m referring to is known as the Dorr Rebellion.

In order to fully under the Dorr Rebellion we need to remember how the colony of Rhode Island came to be. After Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony regarding his religious differences a charter was granted from the King of England to form a new colony. The original charter from 1663 was like many at the time….providing the vote for men who owned property. This made sense since the majority of men who immigrated to the colonies had agriculture on their minds and the process seemed fair….at the time.

Over the next several years, however, the economy of Rhode Island along with the economies of many of the Northern states changed due to the Industrial Revolution. Waves of immigrants meant that huge chunks of the population lived in urban areas and owned no land resulting in disenfranchisement. In fact, this Rhode Island history site advises by 1840, 60 percent of free adult males were unable to vote in the state.

There had been several attempts to change the charter of Rhode Island over the years, but those attempts met no success. People argued the charter had been signed by a British monarch and therefore had no place in an independent nation. Others argued that the charter violated the Article 4, Section 4 of the United States Constitution where there is a guarantee to every state in the Union that they shall have a republican form of government. The charter also provided for no amendment process.

Finally, the people of Rhode Island became tired of the ineffectiveness of their state legislators to handle the problem and they began to act on their own. In October, 1841, the People’s Convention was formed where they actually drafted a Constitution on their own. Their new Constitution provided the vote to all white men who had been residents of the state for one year. The People’s Convention and the push for a new state constitution was led by Thomas Wilson Dorr and the people around him…his supporters are often remembered as Dorrites. Unfortunately the state legislators didn’t take kindly to the people acting on their own and formed a rival conference where their Freeman’s Constitution was drafted. The People’s Constitution was ratified in popular referendum in December 1841 and under this document Dorr was elected governor in April 1842.

The reformers were resisted by a “Law and Order” coalition of Whigs and rural Democrats, who returned incumbent Governor Samuel Ward King to office in a separate election and then used force and intimidation to prevent the People’s Constitution. When Dorr responded in kind by unsuccessfully attempting to seize the state arsenal in Providence on May 18, 1842, most of his followers deserted the cause, and Dorr fled into exile. To add insult to injury Dorr’s father and uncle sided against him and took part in defending the arsenal.

The “other” governor of Rhode Island at the time also wrote President John Tyler requesting Federal toops. President Tyler had his own concerns regarding his rise to the Oval Office and knew he had to tread lightly regarding the situation. See his reaction in my article over at American Presidents Blog here.

When he returned in late June to reconvene his so-called People’s Legislature in Chepachet, a Law and Order army of twenty-five hundred marched to Glocester and sent the People’s Governor into exile a second time.

In September, 1842 another convention was called to write a new Rhode Island Constitution. This time the document provided the vote for all men regardless of color with a poll tax of $1.00. The Dorrite document had not mentioned any race other than the white population…not because Dorr wanted to refuse the vote to blacks. He had merely caved under pressure in 1840 from the white immigrant population.

For his part in the rebellion Dorr received a very harsh sentence….he was found guilty of treason and was sentenced in 1844 to solitary confinement at hard labor for life. Many people condemned the sentence and he was finally released in 1845 and his civil rights were restored in 1851. By 1854 the court judgement convicting him was set aside.

This little known chapter in Rhode Island history can have great application in the classroom today for students to analyze.

This situation provides more observation regarding the effects of the Industrial Revolution and immigration in early America that would make an interesting discussion with the addition of today’s issues surrounding legal and illegal immigration.

We also have the issue regarding the Guarantee Clause of the Constitution (Article 4, Section 4) and how President Tyler handled the request for Federal troops given that Tyler was already under attack for assuming the presidency has he did and considering he was attempting to get re-elected in his own right.

Then there is the Supreme Court case arising out of the Dorr Rebellion – Luther vs. Borden. The Constitutional question addressed in the case involved Article 4. Martin Luther was a participant in the Dorr Rebellion. He was arrested by Borden, a state official. Borden searched Luther’s home and allegedly damaged property. Luther asked the court to find that Borden had acted with no legal authority. The Supreme Court found it was up to the Executive and Legislative branch of the government to enforce Article 4, and it was outside the legal jurisdiction of the court to rule upon. The ruling established that the “republican form of government” clause was non-justiciable, and the ruling that still holds today, however, the Fourteenth Amendment includes the Equal Protection Clause.

Other questions involve “We the People” - For example, can “We the People” rise up when circumstances dictate that our government is no longer seeing to the needs of the people?
When is it acceptable to go against the people currently in power?

An essay at this site and part two of the essay provide more information regarding the Dorr Rebellion.

Valuable Time

Well, school is just about over in my neck of the woods. Time flies when you’re having fun, huh? It does just seem like the school year started, and now we are facing a long, hot summer.

Teachers are finishing up their grades and getting ready to enter into that wonderful season of post-planning bliss….a flurry of activity as teachers hurriedly move their classrooms from one side of the building to the other, book inventories are taken, test scores are filed, permanent records are checked off, and class rolls are set for the coming year.

It’s also a time to assess things…many, many things.

Were teaching goals met?

What was a success?

What was a failure?

Where could things have done differently?

How are you going to incorporate any changes into your lessons based on local, state, or national changes that inevitably are made regarding what you do?

The summer is short. Our time is valuable. Making the most of the next eight weeks could make or break the new school year already looming before us.

The situation reminds me of an often told story from the life of Ben Franklin….a story I use with my students from time to time to remind them how valuable their time is. How easy it is to take our eyes off our goals….how easy it is to lose focus.

Here’s the story:

One morning Ben Franklin was preparing his newspaper for printing when a customer stopped by in his store and spent an hour browsing the various books for sale. Finally, he took one in his hand and asked the shop assistant the cost.
The assistant answered, “One dollar.”

The customer said, “A dollar. Can’t you sell it for less?”

“No, the price is a dollar,” replied the assistant.

The customer said he wanted to see Mr. Franklin. When Ben appeared from the back room, the customer asked how much he wanted for the book.

Franklin said, “One dollar and a quarter.”

The customer was taken aback. “Your assistant asked for only a dollar.”

Franklin said, “If you had bought it from him, I could sell it to you for a dollar. But you have taken me away from the business I was engaged in.”

The customer pressed on, “Come on, Mr. Franklin, what is the lowest price you’ll take for it?”

Franklin said, “One dollar and a half. And the longer we discuss it, the more of my time you are taking up and more I have to charge you.”

Ben sets a good example for us, doesn't he?

Oh sure, I understand. The summer has started. We all deserve some time off, but we have important business to be about even if it is done while sitting by the pool or just merely enjoying getting reacquainted with our homes.

Make a plan, set your goals, and take Mr. Franklin’s advice.

Your time is very, very valuable.

Memorial Day - Choose Your Hero

Memorial Day – a day set aside to remember those who have died while in military service. Originally known as Decoration Day following the Civil War the holiday has morphed into many things to different people. Some see it as the day was originally intended and decorate the graves of fallen men and women, and some families visit cemeteries and national monuments. Just last year at this time I was huffing and puffing my way all across Arlington National Cemetery.

Others have latched onto the fact that Memorial Day is the first official holiday of summer signaling the start of time off from school, beach visits, and don’t forget the cooler of beer sitting next to the grill. Let’s party!

As my husband was placing our flags out this morning – one on the front porch and one on the back – I couldn’t help but think about the concept of hero. The first thing that met my eyes this morning as I turned on my lap top was this article at MSN regarding heroic things…..the article stated:

Two things pass for heroics these days: adopting lots of orphans and being a spokesman and/or fundraiser for a noble cause. That’s nice and all, but compared to what Hollywood stars used to do, their modern counterparts are a bunch of wimps.

The article goes on to provide interesting information regarding the military service of Elvis Presley, Gene Roddenberry, Clark Gable, Julia Child, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, Sir Alex Guinness, Paul Newman, Charlton Heston, and Marlene Dietrich.

Interesting stuff considering the other news of the day seems to be about folks attending one rapper's funeral and yet another rapper’s final concert before reporting to jail. I can’t help but think of the tabloids and their headlines…the hundreds of websites dedicated to celebrity gossip…what do we really value in America today and have our core values changed so, so much?

Peggy Noonan has some great thoughts…she always does…in her latest column found here titled Those Who Make Us Say Oh!....all about our American heroes.

and finally....

In case you missed them here are two former posts of mine detail two of my own relatives and their military service…..Gliding Into D-Day and Timberwolf Up: My Salute to the Veterans of the 104th and a Very Special Uncle.

Evaluating Websites...A Must for the Information Age

Last week over at American Presidents Blog I published an article about an erroneous fact concerning President Franklin Pierce titled Milk and a Pierce. Since I could not find verification for the fact I had to conclude the fact was false.

The Internet was originally only accessed by the military and scientific communities beginning in the 1960s. Later, with the advent of additional technology including the desk top computer there was an opening of the Internet to the general public. Today anyone with basic computer knowledge can set up a web page and publish anything they wish. I applaud and defend free speech; however, while this literary freedom can be quite stimulating it can present problems especially for students.

The main problem is that the accepted rules of publication in society are not always utlilized with web published pages. Students are fairly certain their textbooks, encyclopedias, and other research sources found in their media centers are correct, however, they have to be taught that many web sites on the Internet can be suspect.

Alan November, Senior Partner and Founder of November Learning, believes as I do. It’s not the technology itself that is important; it’s the way we use it. [November’s] ideas about global communication, collaboration, assessment, and critical thinking have inspired schools, governments and corporations around the world to rethink and redefine their approach to education and technology.

I’ve held on to one of Mr. November’s articles for quite awhile…..it’s titled Teaching Zack to Think and it can be accessed here. The main premise behind the article is students must learn how to research, publish, and communicate working with the Internet…with the most important skill being research evaluation.

In my fourth and fifth grade classrooms I want to teach my students to view web resources with a critical eye. I want them to learn to sort information found on the web into categories such as fact and opinion. I want them to be able to look at a piece of information and determine questions and determine key words that can be used to cross check the information on the page.
For example, November mentions that students should validate an author of a webpage to find out what others might be saying about the webpage or the author by running a multi-search on his or her name or the name of the website. The same could be said for certain bits of information on the site. A quick key word search could determine more information about the item or could determine the original information was false.

After reading November’s article in 1998 I held onto it and determined that I would provide students with several learning opportunities to evaluate websites over the course of our year together. The following lesson sketch is one of those opportunities. The lesson involves a fictitious website for the city of Mankato, Minnesota. The website can be found here . In actuality the website is a false one authored by a teacher and consultant, Don Descy, to use in his lessons in order to show students how easy it is to get sucked into a false site.

This particular learning opportunity takes place in the computer lab with students paired in front of the computers. Students are given a copy of the analysis chart seen below (click on the image for a closer view). Sometimes I provide an example of the chart on the board so students can create their own on notebook paper. I provide the web address to students and once everyone has access to it we read the opening paragraph on the page which states:

Mankato, Minnesota is truly a wonderland. Tucked into the Emerald Green Valley in Southern Minnesota, it is the hidden vacation Mecca of scores of knowing Midwesterners. Mankato has everything thanks to a freak of nature: the Sclare/Far Fissure. This fissure in the earth’s crust takes water sweeping through the earth, heats it to well over 165 degrees, and sends it back up to the surface in steam pits and boil holes. The heat from these pits and holes heat the valley air to such extent that the winter temperature in many Mankato neighborhoods has never dropped below a balmy 70 degrees!!! Come enjoy our winters! Let’s “Make It Mankato”! We are real, we are warm, and we would love to see you!

I advise students that the website is going to provide them with some interesting information about a city in the United States that many Americans don’t know. Below the opening paragraph are several links that supposedly give additional information regarding Mankato. Students are directed to visit at least five links between the numbers one and twelve, review the information and pictures that are presented, discuss it with a partner, and complete their charts. Students will be directed to click a link and analyze what is there. For example, the map link looks like a professional map. It contains a compass rose, roads, and place names. Could this be a fake map? Is there anything that doesn’t seem right? Students list things that help the information look real under the yes column and reasons why the information looks or could be fake under the no column. We also discuss some questions students might have about the map and I pose the question, “Can anyone think of a way we could check to see if this map is correct?” There is always at least one student who offers a search could be made for another map of Mankato. We chart the information together for the map link, so students have an example to use when charting other information.

Once students have had a chance to analyze their five items we do a quick tally to see which items they choose to look at. Together we take a whole class look at the top five links chosen. It’s always interesting to see how the group as a whole makes their choices and the reasons behind them. Student pair share what they thought about the information. If students missed an aspect of the information that could be checked I will clarify it, and we will discuss how key words could be culled from the questions in order to do a web search.

At this point there should be a good number of students who think the website is valid and another group that thinks the website is fake. I usually direct students back to the beginning paragraph and remind them that now that they have had some experience in analyzing information on the web and arriving at questions and keywords to search further they should discuss with their partner problems and/or possible questions they can see in the opening paragraph. Successful students will list Mankato, Minnesota, Sclare/Far Fissures, and fissures as possible choices to search. Students are directed to visit Yahooligans, or another monitored safe search engine for students, and enter their key words to determine more information about the Mankato, Minnesota site. Students will reach a snag when they search sclare/far fissures since many of the entries will advise them about the false website created by Dercy. To finally end the lesson opportunity I ask students to click on some of the links from thirteen to the end of the page and collect more proof the website is false.

This lesson is an opportunity for students to begin the process of analyzing websites for their validity and usefulness. I end the activity by having students think about the thought processes they went through and analyze what they think they learned through the activity. I would ask students to commit their thoughts to paper in a reflection piece they would turn in along with the chart. Over the next few day s I would integrate other valid and non-valid websites into the curriculum for students to practice with so that students could build on their skills. Throughout the process I would monitor individual students to access strengths and weaknesses so I could adjust my instruction accordingly.

I usually introduce an activity like this early in the year and spread out the opportunities as we conduct more and more research.

As I stated in my post at American Presidents Blog….I want my students to be Internet savvy…to understand that just because something is printed in a book or on the Internet it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true. I want my students to understand they must verify sources and there are simple steps they can take to check out a website to know if it’s a proper site for them as stated here.

You can find more information here to help students remember the steps for website evaluation, and this list from Philip Bradley can get you started if you would like to use fake websites with your students.

If you know of any fake websites please feel free to leave the URL in the comments section, however, there are some websites that are in very poor taste and are so factually incorrect (the one I’m thinking of involves Dr. Martin Luther King) that I would rather not boost their Google rankings by linking to them here.

A Search for Bread and a Few Carnivals Thrown in For Good Measure

No matter what is going on in my household each particular week two items always make the top ten list for the grocery store – milk and bread. Bread has been one of my focus topics lately for research.

I’ve been on another one of my wild goose chases for the last several weeks, but unfortunately the golden loaf of bread I’ve been searching for has eluded me for now. No, I’m not searching for sourdough, wheat or rye….my golden loaf involves a little fact I ran across regarding President Franklin Pierce.

See where my search took me in my latest posting at American Presidents Blog.

Also….

some of the web’s best blog carnivals have posted in recent days…..you can find the Education Carnival from last week over at Bellringers, the Home School Carnival at The Common Room, the Carnival of Family Life at The Expanding Life and the Book Review Carnival at Literary Menagerie.

Testing Tornados

It’s testing time here in the sunny, warm south. That means it’s time for the memos to begin a-flyin’ regarding “the test” and those ever so important ….insert fake echo effect here…”TESTING PROCEDURES”.

I do not think it is any coincidence whatsoever that the testing window in Georgia opens about the same time as our tornado season begins. It can certainly add a little more confusion to the chaos that CAN be created because it’s testing time.

While the follow is a good piece of satire regarding the atmosphere surrounding “the test” it isn’t too far off the mark regarding just how serious….and I mean ser-ri-ous things have become.

Hang on….here we go:

Please do not look out the window to watch for approaching tornadoes. You must monitor the students at all times. To do otherwise would be a testing irregularity and must be reported.

Should students notice an approaching tornado and begin to cry, please make every effort to protect their testing materials from the flow of tears and sinus drainage.

Should a flying object come through your window during testing, please make every effort to ensure that it does not land on a testing booklet or an answer sheet. Please make sure to soften the landing of the flying object so that it will not disturb the students while testing.

Should shards of glass from a broken window come flying into the room, have the students use their bodies to shield their testing materials so that they will not be damaged. Have plenty of gauze on hand to ensure that no one accidentally bleeds on the answer
documents. Damaged answer sheets will not scan properly.

Should gale force winds ensue, please have everyone stuff their test booklets and answer sheets into their shirts being very careful not to bend them because bent answer documents will not scan properly.

If any student gets sucked into the vortex of the funnel cloud, please make sure they mark at least one answer before departing and of course make sure they leave their answer sheets and test booklets behind. You will have to account for those.

Should a funnel cloud pick you, the test administrator, up and take you flying over the rainbow, you will still be required to account for all of your testing materials when you land so please take extra precautions. Remember, once you have checked them out, they should
never leave our hands.

When rescue workers arrive to dig you out of the rubble, please make sure that they do not, at any time, look at or handle the testing materials. Once you have been treated for your injuries, you will still be responsible for checking your materials back in. Search dogs will not be allowed to sift through the rubble for lost tests. Unless of course they have been through standardized test training.

Please do not pray should a severe weather situation arise. Your priority is to actively monitor the test and a student might mark in the wrong section if you are praying instead of monitoring. I'm sure God will put war, world hunger, crime, and the piracy on hold until
testing is over. He knows how important this test is.

Yes, testing time is important. Yes, testing time is serious. So serious you have to laugh sometimes to keep from crying.

The sound you hear now is me……heavily sighing.

The Gift

Back during another lifetime in the 1970s you would have found me on Friday night sitting in front of our family television….the one where the knob had fallen off and we had to resort to using needle-nosed pliers to change it…patiently waiting for my favorite television show to air. There I was – gazing up at the screen – watching a parade of commercials and happily munching on taco-flavored Doritos – then I would hear the theme song I can sing to this day and even if you won’t admit it, you can as well.

Here’s the story…of a lovely lady…who was bringing up three very lovely girls…All of them had hair of gold like their mother’s…the youngest one in curls.

Here’s the story…of a man named Brady…who was busy with three boys of his own…They were four men…living all together…yes, they were all alone.

I loved the Brady Bunch. They were different. They were not a cookie-cutter version of my very average family. Not everyone was related by blood, not everyone got along all the time, but there was a lot of love and acceptance. Take two families with former tragedy and throw in a dash of Alice and presto! An Instant American family I would have loved to be a part of.

Look around your classroom or neighborhood. We have more families with steps and halves and live-ins than ever before, and if you are like me you have often side-stepped an important facet of American History….our family history.

It’s easy to ignore these days, isn’t it?

We have students who have their fair share of tragedy….parents on drugs, in jail, molestations, mental illness, a different uncle in the house every week or so, physical violence…a plethora of mixed families that make the Brady Bunch-type family impossible to achieve, so I can understand why educators might be leery of asking children to examine their families, to answer the question why their families are important, and to decide how their family fits into the American quilt even with all the baggage that sometimes accompanies family life these days.

But, how can we ask students to connect to a bunch of folks discussed in the study of history that they’ve never heard of and will never meet unless they can connect to how they fit in….how their family fits into our society no matter the baggage and no matter the circumstances?

A brand new book has dropped into my lap that I think would serve as a great reminder that families come in all shapes and forms. A family doesn’t necessary have to be a group of people all related by biology….they have to have things in common and those things bind us together in love.

The book I’m talking about is called The Gift. Its author and illustrator, Karen Craft, just happens to be my dear sister. In The Gift she tells the true story of Baby Boy who came to live with a family who wanted a little boy very much. The book covers numerous themes from family love, overcoming tragedy, and even an honest look at what makes the concept of family what it is and to be more precise what makes the concept of a mother….a mother.

As the first page of the book states, “A Mama isn’t just someone that gives birth to you. She’s someone that sits with you when you’re sick, and doesn’t mind. She’s the one who bakes you cookies late into the night, when you forgot to tell her earlier. She will clap louder than anyone at your piano recital. She reads your favorite book to you over and over. And over. She really listens to you when you need to talk and when you’re scared she makes you feel safe. She teaches you to be polite and chew with your mouth closed. She’s the last person you see when she kisses you good night, and the first person you want to see in the morning. You know in your heart that she’s your Mother, you Mom, your Mama. She’s your gift and you are hers. Sometimes biology just isn’t so important after all.”

The Gift is a great book to open the door to discuss adoption with students of all ages, to discuss blended families, to discuss losing a family member, and to discuss how non-family members….our friends and neighbors….are important parts of our families as well.

Children will love the story details regarding Da, Mama, Sister Dear, and Baby Girl. The story even has its own version of Alice in the guise of Nanni-K who in reality happens to be my dear niece.

It is a great resource for your classroom library, a media center, or a home library. Students, young and old, will love The Gift as a read aloud as they make Mother’s Day cards and presents, and the book lends itself well to small group reading activities for older students.

Karen Craft’s illustrations are brought to life even in more exact detail by artist Meghan Branscomb from Mornin’ Glory Studios. As you can see from the story illustrations I’ve scattered through this post they are exceptional and make the story even more entertaining. I’m already thinking about making a few slides of the illustrations in enlarged detail to show to students as the book is read.

It’s a great book to purchase for your child or another child you know. With Mother’s Day around the corner it is also a perfect gift for your mother, mothers you know young and old, and even those motherly-types you have in your life. I have a few of those….and I know you do too.

Visit Karen Craft's website, Just Sharing a Story , to purchase your copy of The Gift.

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

No Matter

Today is Progress report day. I hate progress report day. My students hate progress report day. We hate it for different reasons however.

To me, it is like a new beginning. Students get a wake-up call as to just how bad an average can be when you only turn in one assignment out of 10 but the chance to turn things around looms on the horizon. To my students however, it is a death knell. No matter how many times I remind them that it is a PROGRESS REPORT, they all scream about their averages and much moaning and gnashing of teeth is heard.

No matter how many times I ask them to see me for tutoring before or after school, I am still chased around the classroom by students waving progress reports like villagers waving flaming torches at Frankenstein. No matter how many times I tell them to take it home and get it signed for a homework grade, 40% will still throw it in the trash anyway and take another zero. No matter that I always call parents when I don't get the progress reports back. In everything I do as a teacher, grading papers and giving grades to 178 students is my least favorite thing.
I wish that all grades matched what my kids are capable of doing. I wish that all students would at least attempt to do even a small bit of what we're doing. I wish all students could taste a little bit of success without so easily accepting a progress report full of zeros.

Because in the end, it's actually no small matter when a fifteen year old has already given up.