Making the Most of Our Time

Time is a history teacher’s constant enemy. We attempt to teach a sequence of events through time in an ever diminishing amount of time. We attempt to coax students to understand various time periods when most can’t make sense of their present. While I watch the clock to see how much time I have left to teach my young charges they are watching the clock for a different take on “time remaining.”

To combat my nemesis I look for opportunities to fit in as many standards as I can whether they be American History or Language Arts. Occaisionally a thousand points of light known as the Georgia Curriculum Standards blur into one strong beam of knowledge.

This week students have been reading a story in Language Arts called A Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting. The story concerns a group of orphans from New York City that travel across the Midwest in order to give farming and small town families a chance at adoption.

The story is a real tear-jerker as some folks inspect the orphans as if they were new tractors or horses to purchase while it is obvious other folks truly want to adopt a daughter or a son. Students picked up on the slavery imagery real quick as some of the adult characters made comments regarding the size of the larger boys and would reach out to feel their muscles through their coat sleeves. My students were introduced to the word humiliation, and once we begin talking about the Portuguese, African kings, and the beginnings of African slavery in a few weeks students will have an experience, a feeling I can have them pull out of their emotional data bank.

Of course, many of the children that were adopted in this way had wonderful families and grew up very happy. The main character in our story is placed with a couple that my students decided were going to be nice to her. While doing some research for myself I found a website for a gentleman who travelled on the orphan trains himself in the early 1900s. Though our story is set in 1878 I plan on emailing this gentleman to ask if he would be willing to receive some questions from my students regarding the trains. You can view his site here. By completing an activity such as this students would be crafting their own questions regarding a piece of literature, composing and sending an email, and evaluating a response with a real-life participant in history.

One of our main reading strategies with this piece of literature was to practice sequence and to review setting. Now how could we describe setting without getting into the reasons why the orphans were on the train in the first place? Yes, an opportunity for history to shine!

I spoke about the time period the orphan trains travelled across the country. I discussed the large numbers of immigrants that flocked to the United States during this time period and had students come up with possible reasons why they might be willing to leave their homes to go to another land. Students then discovered the huge problems that the large influx of people caused in places like New York City…..possible reasons why a parent would desert or give up their child hoping they were giving them an opportunity for a better life. We were also able to address the differences in time period. I asked students, “Would we be able to allow orphan trains to travel across the United States today?” Many students were able to see the difference. Today, we have more regulations, more scrutiny, more stop-gaps for safety.

Thank goodness we do live in a different time. Unfortunately, we still have children who are neglected and uncared for. Time has changed the circumstances, but not the effect.

Here is another site concerning the orphan trains.

UPDATE----I found a great connection between the orphan trains, a governor, and a U.S. President. Want to know more? Visit my post at the American President's Blog here.

Keeping a Notebook: Elementaryhistoryteacher Style

This morning in my second period history class it felt like we were finally getting down to the business of class. We tackled Chapter One, Lesson Two by reading text and taking notes on the important parts. This lesson dealt with natural resources (renewable, nonrenewable, and flow) as well as other resources such as human and capital resources. The lesson gives students an opportunity to develop a flow chart involving the production of peanut butter by lifting ideas from the text as well as brainstorming a list of resources and classifying them into the various categories. The lesson ends with a discussion regarding scarcity and opportunity costs.

This is the time of the year when I teach the features of the textbook and attempt to persuade students to look for the definition of various vocabulary words in context. Why go to the back of the book when you don’t have to? The flipping back and forth can really confuse some students who struggle in their reading. We discover that the text gives us hints about the definition of a word such as the word “is” following a vocabulary word. Students are learning that “is” is a hint that a definition may follow. They get real excited trying to beat each other out in finding the definitions first. This year our brand new text provides the vocabulary words highlighted in yellow and a main idea is written at the beginning of each major section. We are including the main ideas in our notes.

Notes? Yes, Elementaryhistoryteacher requires her students to take notes. Once upon a time when I was an aspiring student teacher I sat at the knee of a master. She modeled for me a wonderful method for students to use in keeping a notebook. This method worked for her, and it has served me well for several years. Many of my former students who are now in highschooler who come back to visit tell me they have relied on my method for various classess if the teacher doesn’t have any notebook requirements.

It would appear that my current group of students are making a smooth induction into the Elementaryhistoryteacher’s ever growing notebook-notetaking procedure club. It is a fairly simple procedure especially for my fourth graders considering they have arrived at my door with their third grade mentalities still intact.

This method begins and ends with a two pocket, three prong folder. It can’t be any other type. We put out a supply list early in May and again in August but I still have a few who two weeks into the school year don’t have the proper folder. I usually purchase a hundred or so folders with my classroom money to have on hand. This year they went fast. As of today they are all gone. Rather than wait on certain students to finally purchase what I require I simply tell them to pick a color and for Heaven’s sake let’s get on with it!

Once everyone has folder we label it on the outside cover in this way------“Social Studies” and the student’s name. Students are then asked to take one sheet of notebook paper and lay it on their desk. I ask them to lay their left hand down on the desk by it. I tell them they will always be writing on the correct side of the paper if they check to make sure the holes are on the same side as their left arm. It’s amazing how many kids don’t even think about the side of the paper they are using. This simple reminder seems to help. I ask students to place at the top of their paper “Social Studies Notebook” in the center. The next line states, “Table of Contents” while the third line is for the name of the particular unit. In our case it is “America’s Land”.

Students then receive a lesson in how to open a three prong folder and how to place paper in it. The majority really have no clue. I visit each table group and model for students with one folder. I tell students their table of contents should always be the first thing they see when they open their folder.

I then pass out their study guides. These are very simple documents that I present more for parents than for students to use. At the top is information involving the name of the unit, the text pages that will be used, the standards the unit covers, information regarding absences from class, the unit test date, as well as unit vocabulary and lesson questions. My school system follows the Max Thompson/Learning Focused method of creating lesson plans so each unit has an enduring understanding/essential question and each lesson has a key question that students should be familiar with and should be able to answer in order to demonstrate mastery.

I ask students to lay their study guides on their desk face up and place a small number 1 in the upper right hand corner similar to a page number. I then ask students to return to their table of contents and next to the red line place a number one and list by it “Study Guide”. We then open up the prongs, place the Study Guide inside, and close the prongs up. Someone always quips, “Gee, it’s like a little book.” They are exactly right. Students are making a mini-book or portfolio, as if were, regarding the particular unit of study.

As we progress through the unit we add notes and activities as we go always adding a new page number and making an addition to the table of contents. Students who have been absent learn to compare their table of contents to the one I keep in the classroom to see what was done while they were gone.

This morning as we began a new lesson I had students open their books and have one new fresh sheet of paper on their desks along with their pencil. I wrote on my classroom table of contents “3. Notes: Our Nation’s Resources” and requested that students add to their own table of contents. At the top of their fresh sheet of paper students were asked to place a page number 3 in the upper-right hand corner and title the paper “Notes: Our Nation’s Resources”. We then were ready to begin reading and transferring important information to paper.

Once the notes are complete I remind students to choose two colored pencils and color code their notes by underlining the main ideas in one color and underlining the vocabulary words in another. In this way important information jumps of the page and parent helpers can locating information more easily.

Asssignments such as crossword puzzles or other activities are entered on the table of contents by title such as “Crossword-Landforms” or “Flowchart-How Peanut Butter is Made”.

The front pocket of the folder holds graded tests, etc. Students are asked to keep tests to use to study with for nine week comprehensive benchmark exams as well as to use in preparation for the state test at the end of the year. The back pocket holds twenty to thirty pieces of fresh paper.

Notebooks are graded at the end of each unit. Students trade folders and check off the table of contents compared to the items in the prongs. They made note of any problems with the folder by noting them on the table of contents. I have found that students who are having difficulty benefit from grading other notebooks. We generally end up with 10-12 items per unit in notebooks so items end up counting around 10 points each. It makes it very easy for students to assess a grade. Once graded, students remove the papers from the prongs, staple the mini-book together with the table of contents on top and store the papers in their back pocket. Students are asked to keep graded notebooks during each nine week period. They can take them home to store or to do whatever they want to with them as long as I don’t know. I explain to kids that I have a real problem with them throwing away all of their hard work so if they do wish to throw their notebooks away they should do it at home.

So what’s the big deal? Why does Elementaryhistoryteacher make her young charges go through a note-taking, note-keeping process such as this? Yes, certain students resist me, but they come along in the end. Yes, certain students are mentally/physically unable to handle these tasks. We adjust where needed according to IEPs. In a future post I will take a look at the research that backs up the use of note-taking and summarizing in the classroom.

Twenty-One on 21

A few months ago I shared a family memory in a story titled A Sticky Easter Memory. At the end of the story I promised another tale involving my Aunt Rachel, myself, and a Kentucky Fried Chicken leg.

This isn’t it.

This story does involve Kentucky Fried Chicken, however. KFC is a mainstay of any Southern family diet along with Coca-Cola or as we refer to it, Coke. You can’t go to a family reunion, church social, tailgate party, picnic, or any other type of gathering without seeing that familiar red and white bucket. Other fried chicken chains may come and go, but “the colonel” remains “finger lickin’ good”.

I’m really not that fond of it, however, I know if I don’t partake of it from time to time I might have to surrender my official Southern Genteel Lady card. Like it or not though, I am fully convinced you can’t go into labor, at least with the first birth, unless you’ve eaten it.

Twenty-one years ago today our beautiful baby boy was born. He was eight pounds, ten ounces and twenty-one inches long, born around 10:30 p.m. wide-eyed with wonder at the world he had entered. Once the nurse put “the boy” as his father and I refer to him, in the tiny glass bed we called his name and the little thing actually turned his head to look at us. We melted and have been doing so ever since.

The night before Dear Son was born Hubby Dear was stuck on the base at Damneck, Virginia. He had to work late. His buddy who hailed from Tennessee decided to come by and check on me since I had spent a miserable July and August waiting on Dear Son to arrive. No Christmas from your childhood can compare to the agonizing wait to hold and see your child. The hot, humid days dragged on. I got so tired of hearing from family back home wanting to know when? When? When?

Well, our friend showed up with, what else? He had a large bucket of extra-crispy Kentucky Fried Chicken and several sides. I ate it, and I swear at four-thirty the next morning I awoke with a start with the knowledge that I was either having an accident in the bed or my water had broken.

Dear Son is no longer that sweet, sweet cherub seen in the picture. He was busy reading his book and we didn’t have the heart to tell him it was upside down. Today he is every bit a young adult male. He towers over me as I hug him with my face buried into his chest. The chubby cheeks have given way to chisled good looks and whiskers. He can no longer crawl into my lap, but occaisionally he gets on his knees to hug me and things seem right again for a few minutes.

All the little boys that lived our neighborhood are all grown now, but a few years ago these three streets where we live were raucous with their activity. At first all the moms would make phone calls to make sure it was ok if the boys played at a particular house. Later as they got older they were given more leaway and pretty much came and went from various houses as they pleased. Bikes, skateboards, and big wheels littered various yards as they moved through the neighborhood like a herd of locusts. For a time our driveway was busy as they were into playing basketball. Thud, thud, thud went the ball as each young man would sink it.

Soon after we moved into our house I allowed Dear Son outside and kept a constant watch on him through the window. I heard a car go by and a horn honk. I ran to the window. There was Dear Son peeing up a storm. A perfect, very high arch of liquid rocketed out of his body while his other hand was waving to the neighbor couple up the street as they drove by. There is nothing to compare with having a son!

There was the great wave of sickness one summer as one young man dared the rest to take a drink from our creek. Have you ever heard the expression going at both ends? Another time Dear Son spent an uncomfortable three days on his belly after his skateboard scooted out from underneath him as he was racing down the hill. The skateboard stopped but Dear Son didn’t and a fair patch of hide was taken from his po-po. What? You don’t refer to the rear end as a po-po?

Another time Dear Son came tearing in the house and ran up the steps to his room. I hollered up the steps, “Why are you home? Is anything wrong?”

Dear Son said, “No, just wanted to come home.” No sooner was that out of his mouth than I began to hear the wail of the siren. It was getting closer. I looked out just in time to see a fire truck, a fire chief’s car, and a sheriff’s deputy turn down the next street at breakneck speed.

I hollered up the steps again, “Do you know anything about that fire truck that just went down the street?”

“I didn’t do it,” Dear Son began, “I did what you always tell me to do.”
His face appeared at the top of the steps.

I crossed my arms and said, “What’s that?”

“Well, some of the guys wanted to go to the end of the street where they are building those new houses, and……well……..I didn’t start it. They did, and I left like you always tell me to do.”

Well, as it turned out Dear Son was telling the truth. The others admitted to it, and their parents had to talk to the police.

At dinner time the relay of messages began up and down the street as various Mom’s came out on the back porches to call their wee ones. We’d help each other out and shoo various children on with shouts of “Hey, I’ve got yours. Do you know where mine is?”

Dear Son, of course, made every step his Daddy did and always wanted to do everything his Daddy did. Of course this meant Daddy’s hammer being left outside during a rainstorm, Daddy’s bass boat having muddy footprints all over it where someone climbed all over it and Daddy’s tackle box in disarray. Later on Daddy’s truck would be driven a bit too fast and it was always returned lacking a large amount of gas. Trips for fishing, camping and golfing were all termed “No Girls Allowed”, and Daughter Dear and I were fine with that.

Today, the streets are quiet. All the little boys are in college, are working, or serving their county in Iraq or about to be.

During middle and highschool Dear Son began singing at school and at church. He is our child, but what a wonderful gift from God his voice is. He sang at mother's service and it was so hard for him to do, but he did so well. In the eighth grade we gave him a guitar and promised lessons. He eventually gave up on our promises and taught himself. You wouldn’t know he hasn’t had lessons.

His Senior year he had two MRI’s within a month. The first involved a touch football incident and the second involved a stupid choice of standing up in the back of this friend’s pick-up while the friend gunned the truck across the school parking lot. Later that summer we experienced an emergency appendectomy. Thank goodness for teacher insurance.

We had quite a scare the second month of college. His room-mate overcorrected on a mountain curve and flipped several times. Dear Son was the only one hurt…….his back was badly bruised and he still has problems three years later.

There is no way you can raise a child without Divine Intervention. The hand of God has kept our child safe, has given him decent friends, enabled him to share his beliefs through his music, and enabled him to touch so many lives in so many different age groups. Hubby Dear and I are anxious to see God’s plan unfold in his life and are honored to be able to take part.

Well, our Dear Son. We wish you a very happy birthday. We are extremely proud of you, and we can’t wait to share twenty-one time two more years with you!

Coincidence? I Think Not!

During the four years my mother spent in a nursing home my sister and I were not her only visitors. There was a core of lovely ladies who regularly came to spend a few minutes or they sent her cards and letters. They are all so very special to my sister and I…. now that Mom is gone.

One very nice lady in particular was from my Mom’s hometown and they had gone to school together. Later on in life they both found themselves living in the suburbs of Atlanta, but rarely communicated. Later, after my parents divorce they both discovered they lived in the same small town south of Atlanta. They spoke often on the phone and visited some.

After she went into the nursing home Mom’s friend, Nina, would pop in early on Saturday or Sunday mornings and attempt to cajole Mom into eating something. Sometimes I would come in and catch Nina standing by Mom’s bed holding her hand, or attempting to cheer her up in some way. In fact, she was Mother’s first visitor in the nursing home and was one of the last friends to see Mother alive. She was a dear, dear friend to be so loyal and to come by as often as she did. Like me, she often left Mom’s room in tears remembering the vibrant lady my mother once was.

Nina was unable to make it to the funeral home after Mom passed. Many of Mom’s highschool friends deluged my sister and I with Nina’s apologies. Her house had just sold and the closing simply couldn’t be rearranged. She was afraid the other party would back out. My sister and I understood. A few days after the funeral she called to apologize directly to me and I told her she had already done above and beyond what she was supposed to. She had helped Mother while she was alive and that meant so much to Sister Dear and I.

Nina and I continued to talk for a bit. She was concerned about finding a new house. She and her husband had little time before the new owner took possession, and they weren’t looking forward to the move. We spoke of the funeral and how all three of Mother’s grandchildren had taken part in the service. I spoke of my in-laws telling Nina they were in Tennessee when Mother left us and for many different reasons they couldn’t get home for the service. As I told Nina how wonderful my in-laws are she suddenly made a connection between my last name and the name I was calling my father-in-law by. She said, “Is your father-in-law ……?” I told her yes, and she explained that she had worked with my husband’s father for several years before she retired.

We both decided it was indeed a small world, but is it?

The past is chock-full of different types of coincidences.

During the production of The Wizard of Oz the costume department purchased many of the articles of clothing used in the movie from second-hand stores. At some point it was discovered that the jacket purchased for Professor Marvel had indeed belonged to L. Frank Baum, the author of the book the movie is based on.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died within hours of each other on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The 1519 arrival in Mexico of Hernan Cortes precisely matched a prediction by the Mayan Calendar that a pale-faced god named Quetzalcoatl would return and claim Tenochtitlan.

Two different Umbertos were shot dead in Italy on July 29, 1900. The first Umberto was Umberto I, the King of Italy. The second was a restaurant owner in the city of Monza. That is coincidence enough, however, both men favored each other in looks and both had wives with the same first name. The King’s coronation and the opening of the restaurant occurred on the same day. And……I certainly don’t want to leave out the fact that King Umberto had dinner in the other Umberto’s restaurant the night before the King was assassinated. The real kicker? The restaurant owning Umberto was also shot dead on the same day.

Harriet Tubman, the mother of the fight against slavery died in 1913. That same year the lady who would become a symbol of the struggle for civil rights was born. Her name? Rosa Parks.

Sometimes in history we find unexplained repetition regarding numbers. Benjamin Franklin was born on the 17th, including Franklin his parents had 17 children, Franklin ran away on the 17th, and he died on the 17th.

Even nature has coincidences. As we gaze upward at night we always see the same image of the moon. Actually, the moon rotates and revolves around the Earth. Amazingly it does both at the same speed. The same side of the moon is always in synch with the Earth. A random occurrence? Hmmmm…..

Search the web and you can find all sorts of coincidences. Some revolve around the year 1066 and the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944. There are coincidences involving 9/11 as well as the over-referred to coincidences between the assassination of JFK and Abraham Lincoln. There are even several coincidences involving NASA.

There are many theories to explain strange relationships and occurrences throughout history. Some theories take on wild explanations involving conspiracies. Littlewood’s Law explains coincidence by stating that if the sample size is large enough anything can happen and on the average one can expect a miracle at least once a month. If that’s true then Littlewood owes me a few.

One particular theory is Synchronicity propsed primarily by Carl Jung. Wikipedia states this theory involves “temporally coincident occurrences of acasual events.” Huh? What that means is the human mind finds meaning and significance where there is none. These coincidences occur because of a strong need in the individual to make connections.

Many people have read Jung’s book titled Synchronicity. On the cover of their 1983 album, Synchronicity, The Police refer to Jung’s book. I still have the album which shows Sting reading a copy of Jung’s book and different images of actual text from the book appear on the front as well as the back cover.

Another theorist, Arthur Koestler, “attempts to link Quantum Mechanics with neutrinos and their interactions with time” per Wikipedia. Again, my reaction is…..Huh? Apparently a character in the movie V For Vendetta is seen reading Koestler’s book, The Roots of Coincidence. Another book by Koestler, The Ghost in the Machine, uses a phrase by British philosopher Gilbert Ryles as the title. Koestler felt “as the human brain has grown, it has built upon earlier more primitive brain structures and that these are ghosts….” So coincidences are actually imprints from an earlier time or memory? I guess that would explain why another album by The Police is named Ghost in the Machine, huh?

Albert Einstein, a very learned man well versed in Physics is quoted as saying, “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.” I agree with my friend Albert. As a Christian I cannot believe something happens simply because of randomness. I also have a hard time believing that all coincidences occur simply because I create meaning for them, or that they occur because man has a collective conscience, an imprint from earlier times a la Koestler? Nope, I don’t buy it.

When the movie Magnolia was finally was released to pay-per-view I watched portions of it. I didn’t really like it. The characters had too many problems, and I found it very depressing. However, one line in the movie touched me. One of the characters stated, “We may be through with history, but the past ain’t through with us.”

Periodically in your life there are people or people those people know that reappear every so often in your life to impact it in some way. Sometimes you realize it. Sometimes you have no idea. These random acts are not random at all. A higher power is at work in my view.

It would make sense of course that from this point on my sister and I might hear from Mom’s friend Nina through a Christmas card or occaisional note. However, a higher power had a different plan.

Today, nearly a month after my conversation with Nina Sister Dear called. She said, “I have to tell you something because only you would think this is strange.”

“Okay, hit me with your best shot,” I said.

Sister Dear proceeded to tell me about a house in a town outside of Atlanta that her husband kept driving by. The house had a ‘for sale by owner’ sign in the yard. This is not the town where my sister lives. In fact, it is several miles away from their home, but my brother-in-law is there periodically because he has family there. He finally stopped at this house and gave the elderly owners his business card and told them when they were ready for a real estate agent he was their man. He checked back with them a couple of times and finally they gave him the listing.

This morning my full time brother-in-law, part-time real estate agent showed this particular house to another “retired” couple. They loved the house and decided to buy it. It seems they had already sold their house and were getting anxious to find a home they liked. Brother-in-law not only will act as the seller’s agent but will also be the buyer’s agent as well. A double whammy as it were!

Guess who the buyers are? You guessed it…Mother’s dear friend, Nina and her husband. During their discussion Brother-in-law’s last name made a connection in Nina’s brain and she asked if he was married to my sister. He confirmed it and everyone was simply shocked.

Well, there was only one thing I could say to Sister Dear. “It was Mother, Sister Dear,” I said. “She had a hand in this. She must have put a bug in the Big Guy’s ear.”

Sister Dear said, “You know, I thought the same thing.”

As I hung up the phone I softy said to the air around me, “Thank you, Mother. I love you!"

Carnival Time Doubled

What's better than one carnival? Why two, of course!

Mode For Caleb is hosting the History Carnival here while the Education Wonks is presenting the Carnival of Education here.

Enjoy!

Strange Georgia...

Ok, here’s a challenge for you…….What does Thomas Paine, the center of the universe for the Cherokee Nation, and the Rosicrucians have in common?

C’mon, take a wild guess, I’ll wait……..

It’s ok, I’m still here…….take your time.

Yes, I know it’s intriguing…….what could it be?

If your answer was the Georgia Guidestones you would be correct.

Georgia Guidestones? Yep,Georgia Guidestones! Some folks refer to them as the American Stonehenge including Yoko Ono. She loves them and thinks everyone should see them.

The Georgia Guidestones are located just outside the small town of Elberton, Georgia, the granite capital of Georgia. What better place for a mysterious man to appear suddenly one day and arrange to have a monument erected based on, according to him, the principals Thomas Paine expressed in The Age of Reason.

Elberton, Georgia is also very close to Al-yeh-li-A lo-He which is the center of the universe according to Cherokee legend. In fact, major Cherokee trails radiated from the Elberton area and major ceremonies were performed there annually.

Sounds fairly interesting until you actually read the ten guiding principals etched on the stones. Then it becomes strange. The first one calls for a world population of no more than 500,000, 000. That means that the majority of the Earth’s population would need to perish in order to reach a harmonious balance. Many call these principals the ten commandments of the New World Order or that they are the guiding principals of the Anti-Christ. Another tie-in with the Cherokee Nation’s center of the universe is a legend that states the “new age” will begin from Al-ye-li-A lo-He.

Others state the whole thing is a stunt by the city fathers of Elberton to boost tourism.

Review the evolution of the guide stones here.

Here are some other links for the stones here, here, and here.

Google the words “Georgia Guide Stones” and there are many, many links to sites that are interesting in a strange sort of way as you click each one. Careful though......don't get sucked in!

Gee, only in Georgia……

Does It Matter Who Is Really First?

The August 14, 2006 print edition of U.S. World and News Report is a treasure trove of various mysteries of historical firsts from who did it first to who invented it first. The first sentence of the article states:

We may never know the answers to some of history's most baffling questions, such as why Stonehenge was built or what happened to Amelia Earhart. But when it comes to other groundbreaking achievements, we may just never agree on who deserves the credit.

The introduction to the article is found here and provides links to such interesting tidbits as:

The Mystery of 4,000 Miles discusses past and present day exploration of the Nile River

After Lots of Small Steps It Adds Up concerns the invention of the computer and how it took the trials and errors of many different people to come with an item that has revolutionized most of the world.

Washington? Get In Line is yet another examination of our presidency and who was really first. I myself have posted on this very topic here with So Who Was Our First President Anyway?

The Most Influential Song You Have Never Heard asks the question who was the first rock and roller anyway?

How could I not include Musings for the Millions which examines who could possibly have been the first blogger. It certainly wasn’t me!

And finally, how I could I not provide you a link to this title, Does Being First Matter? which examines the imporatance, if any, of being first.

So, as my title states does it really matter who is first? It may not matter to the rest of us, but I think it does matter to the person themselves especially if they have worked extremely hard to do something.

And just because I can mention it……I was the FIRST to link to these articles unless Technorati is being incredibly slow with updating their links…..not that it matters though. :)

The Tale of the Tapes

Enter my father’s house and take a left into the great room, walk by the large screen television and hang a left into the foyer. Keep turning to the left and walk up the steps. Notice the graduation portraits of my sister and I. Take a left at the top of the stairs and you’ll find yourself in my bedroom. Go to the closet door and enter. Go all the way in….it’s a walk-in. Look to the right and you’ll notice a small doorway into another smaller storage area. Inside you’ll find boxes of old school papers, Seventeen magazines, my old green RCA record player that was my sister’s until she got married, copies of The Vorpal Blade, my highschool newspaper, my green trunk that I took with me to college, and you’ll notice on top of one stack of artifacts a dusty cassette player and a faded blue shoebox. Carefully lift the shoebox in one hand and the cassette player in the other, and take them ever so carefully into the bedroom and lay them on the bed. What you have just extricated from the relics of my younger days is directly related to August 8, 1974, the day that Richard M. Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign from office.

What could my relics possibly have to do with President Nixon’s resignation speech?

To find out head on over to American Presidents here for the rest of the tale…..

Carnival Time

Calfornia Livewire: Teaching in the Golden State has done a wonderful job putting together various posts in a readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmetic theme.

The pictures along with the post are snaps of an authentic gold rush era school house.

I’m looking forward to lingering there for some time linking to a very well rounded series of posts. Follow the link and catch up with the goin’ ons in the edusphere!

Natural vs. Man-Made

Natural vs. man-made is a hard concept for nine year olds to grasp when they live in a techno-world where real is fake and fake is real. I attempted to introduce this topic to them today.

Students were given a pristine sheet of white paper. Luckily I remembered to remind them not to make any marks including their names on the paper until they received instructions. If I hadn’t given that instruction I would have had several Picasso’s in the room before I had handed out all the paper. I asked students to fold the paper in half from top to bottom and make a crease in it. As I instructed them I modeled what I wanted them to do.

Once their paper was creased students were asked to open their paper up. I asked them to pretend that they were with someone who did not know anything about the United States. The someone didn’t know where the United States is or what it would be like to live here. I then asked students to sketch an outline drawing of a map of the United States to begin their discussion. The catch was they couldn’t look at anything. They had to draw their map from memory. Looks of terror came across some of their faces. One young man began to open his book. I stopped him. I tried to ease some minds by telling them that there are no rights or wrongs for this activity, but they did need to try.

Most everyone got the basic shape. All but a couple included the shape of Florida. In each group I taught today a few included inset maps of Hawaii and Alaska which I hadn’t even thought of. Two or three included some major cities. I called time and drew an outline map of my own from memory. After eight weeks of summer I was a little rusty, but the basic shape was there.

I then asked students to redraw their map in the bottom half of their paper now that they had a model to go by on the board. They were more determined and self-assured this time.

The next question I posed was about things students could add to their maps to make the certain someone they were with fully understand the United States. I asked students to volunteer items we could use for a classroom list on the board. Here are some of their responses:

state boundary lines
cities
mountains
rivers
Statue of Liberty
Empire State Building
Daytona Speedway
plateaus
Mount Rushmore
the Constitution
Atlanta
Mississippi River
Grand Canyon
Atlanta Zoo
Stone Mountain
Declaration of Independence
Washington D.C.
New York City
Alabama
map scale
map key
title for map
oceans
compass rose
Underground Atlanta
Disneyland
state capitals
state birds/products/etc.
Golden Gate Bridge
Mall of America

I kept taking responses until almost everyone had suggested something. A few suggested London or the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I declined to add those since they are not in the United States.

I ‘m fairly pleased with the list my new students came up with to represent what the United States is all about. Of course I love the references to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Prior knowledge always helps later when we study the formation of our government. The suggestion about Daytona Speedway, well, I am in the deep South, you know. That’s to be expected along with the Atlanta landmarks like Underground and Stone Mountain.

It’s clear that my third grade colleagues did their job as these students understood any bona fide map should have a title, compass rose, and map scale. I can refer to the suggestion for state boundary lines and state capitals later on next week when I discuss the difference between political maps and physical maps.

After we exhausted our suggestions I told students that I could look at the list and divide it up into two categories. I reminded them that all of the list entries were great features of the United States. I linked the word feature to the word characteristics so they would understand they can be used in place of each other. Finally, I told students that we were going to spend a few days talking about natural features of the United States. I instructed them to watch me as I deleted everything on the list that is man-made. Only the items in green made the cut…..everything else I deleted by drawing a line through it.

There were several gasps when I deleted state boundary lines so I stopped marking items out to elaborate a bit. I reminded them when they crossed the Alabama state line they don't see an actual line across the Earth. They agreed. I reminded them that political boundaries are ideas of man and are not natural to the Earth.

Many were surprised that Stone Mountain was left in the category of natural features. Find out more about Stone Mountain here. I reminded them that the parking lots, buildings with exhibits and stores, the train that circles the mountain of granite and the carving on the face are all man-made, but the mountain itself is natural to the Earth.

Making the list together and then observing me cross most of the list off is a very powerful image to students. It helps them have a visual for the difference between natural and man-made. I found out what my new students think America is. I also garnered some important information regarding their prior geographic knowledge. It was fun too!

A New Year Has Begun

Yesterday was the first day of school for parents, teachers, and students in my school district. It seemed from the many discussions at our Open House Thursday night that students have become bored, parents were tired of trying to entertain their children, and most teachers would be happy with just another week to feel fully prepared.

The school year is here, however, whether we want it or not.

I can't believe I haven't posted in almost a week. Since Monday I have been in meetings, and have frantically attempted to clean and arrange my classroom for the best learning environment I can. My team has worked well together attempting to shuffle resources around so they are in the proper room.

A colleage of mine, our music teacher, told me Thursday he felt like a gerbil on one of those exercise wheels. Spinning, spinning, spinning, and not really getting anywhere. I have to agree with him. By the time I had gotten home after Open House Thursday night I had been at school for a total of thirteen hours( just that one day). I couldn't even put together a coherent sentence I was so tired.

This is a view of my room from the hallway door as I began to put my room back together.



This is the same view minutes before parents and students arrived for Open House.



This view is also from the hallway door, but it looks towards the back of my classroom where I have a very extensive classroom library for students. I have over 500 books that I have brought from home as my children tired of them or that I have bought myself.



Here is the same view after I worked my tail off. I placed all three of my computers along the wall to make more space to move above the room.



This view is looking towards the hallway door and is taken from behind my desk. All of my individual units are packed within the plastic tubs you see. The binder that holds my lesson plans, extra copies that didin't get used the last time I taught the unit, accompanying teacher resource books, tradebooks, etc. all fit nicely in the tubs. Each tub is labeled with the unit name such as "Civil War/Reconstruction", "Native American Regions", or "American Revolution". Some units are so large I use two or three tubs to hold everything.



Here is the after picture.



The teachers on my hall were all making these cute little hallway displays to welcome new students and place student names outside their doors. Elementaryhistoryteacher is not into cute little cutesies. I admire them, but just don't seem to do them myself.

The last year I taught fifth grade my teaching partner from across the hall had the language arts students write letters to teachers who had impacted their elementary years. Several chose me and this colleage took the letters and the student's self-portraits and laminated them onto construction paper. The group of students presented these to me the last few days of school. I treasure them and make it a tradition to haul them out from the protective case stacked on top of my classroom closet and display them for Open House. Occaisionly one of the students show up with a younger brother or sister and they are surprised to see their work on the wall. I place a caption with them that states "Elementaryhistoryteacher is kid-tested and board approved!". It fills up the wall along with my new homeroom list.



The mother of this particular student who wrote me a letter teaches in the lower grades at my school. I told her she needed to come to my end of the campus to see her child's work. She said she would and advised that her young man has just gotten his learner's permit. Wow! I'm old.



Yesterday morning another colleage of mine who works with our special education students brought her son in before taking him to the middle school to start his eighth grade year. I gave him a good squeeze and realized he could now see the top of my head with gray hairs scattered here and there. I didn't have my glasses on and had to stand on tip-toe to see the shadow that stretched along his upper lip. My new view confirmed it for me. It was no shadow, but the faint beginnings of a mustache.

It was the perfect beginning for a new year. Brand new students making the transformation from third graders to fourth graders, and a reminder that time marches on for former students after they have left me.

A Time to Reflect, Set New Goals, and Combat Time

I sat in a faculty meeting from eight this morning until three-thirty this afternoon with a break for lunch. It was great to see everyone and catch up. Upon the adjournment of our meeting the school year clock began ticking. Precious time has already been wasted lolly-gagging around.

Tick, tick, tick! The parents will be milling about my room at four-thirty on Wednesday. How much homework do you give? Where can I find my son’s bus assignment? Are these the fourth grade textbooks? Where will my daughter sit? She needs to be in the front.

Tick, tick, tick! Busses will begin arriving at seven-twenty on Friday morning. Yes, FRIDAY! There is a simple mission for Friday. Get them off the bus, get them to the classroom, get them fed, get them back on the bus, and finally….get them home safely.

The beginning of the school year means many new things. Students have new teachers, new classrooms, and new clothes. Teachers experience an ever changing curriculum, new students, and new colleagues and sometimes new administrators as well.

A new school year is a chance for a new beginning, to change direction if necessary, and to set new goals.

Ever the history teacher I understand that I can’t know where I’m going if I don’t know where I have been, so I’m going to take the beginning of this school year as an opportunity to look back at some of my previous posts.

My personal top ten…so far….here at History is Elementary are listed below in no particular ranking order. Click on over and read at will....:)

1. Content Delivery: The Thirteen Colonies-a real conversation between myself and my students where I use a “questioning” technique to link an important vocabulary word from one unit to another.

2. George, We Hardly Knew Ye-my thoughts concerning de”myth”isizing history using George Washington as a focus.

3. Different Strokes for Different Folks-Differentiation, anyone?

4. Samuel Adams Isn't Just a Beer-My attempt to help students connect today’s world to an important citizen of the 18th century.

5. A Sticky Easter Memory-a personal memory involving a hot April day, a mixture of gum, chocolate, and Easter eggs, and a funeral. Yes, your eyes aren't failing you.....a funeral.

6. The Star Spangled Banner-Why It Should Be Our Anthem-My opinion and I’m sticking to it.

7. Saying Goodbye to Students-Three hundred and eight goodbyes so far...and going strong!

8. It's Important to Know Your Frontier-Just as it says….

10. Sex in the Classroom-NOT just as it says….

Michael, over at American Presidents invited me to post about presidents on his site last March. I’ve not managed to post there as much as I would like but here are my top five American Presidents posts listed below in no particular ranking order.

Can an Obscure President Become a Lesson in Character? I asked a family member to give me the name of the most obscure president he could think of. He came up with Chester A. Authur. I discovered ole' Chester was pretty interesting.

A Tale of Four Favorite Sons-I enjoyed writing this post. The Election of 1824 is a prime example to show students how the sectionalism began to to divide the nation.

Millard Fillmore Was a Know-Nothing-Vocabulary words can mean different things when used in different contexts

Exploring Campaign Slogans-My 11th grade American History teacher taught me about every U.S. election and the administrations of each President. He always included the campaign slogans, and I found them very entertaining.

So Who Was Our First President?-Some purists argue that George Washington was our 15th president!

So, one of the things that effective teachers and students do as they reflect on what they have accomplished is they set new goals to strive for, and I’m no different.

I hope to continue crafting posts that are entertaining, informative, and worth the time to read. I hope I begin to reach more of those elementary and middle school teachers who don’t blog but would enjoy reading posts about my adventures in the classroom. I hope to actually begin submitting various sections of my writing to other writing venues including magazines and professional journals.

I hope for now……but “time” will remain my enemy. Maybe over the next few months “time” and I can follow in the steps of history and make a compromise.

History is full of those, you know.

Unanswered Questions Fuel the Love of Learning

I still strive to know as many answers as I can, however, I believe it is acceptable for teachers to be stumped sometimes, and more importantly, I think its permissable to allow students to know you’re stumped.

That’s hard for some students, some parents, and even educators themselves to deal with given that teachers should be the one with the answers. We all want highly qualified educators in our classrooms, but we also want educators who have a love of learning.

Many of my students, as young as they are, comment from time to time concerning the breadth of my knowledge regarding American History and my ability to tie in what they are studying in Language Arts to their Social Studies.

Students say, “Gee, elementaryhistoryteacher, how do you know all this stuff? How do you remember all of those dates? ”

Of course, my little dears have no inkling as to the amount of planning and research that go into a unit. They are clueless concerning the fact that I review a unit for several weeks before teaching it, and I constantly add and take away components of a unit depending on the needs of my learners.

One thing my little dears do have knowledge of is their teacher absolutely loves what she teaches. They understand that I have a rabid love of learning for any type of history and that I love a good question to research.

We would quickly loose our love of learning if we knew all the facts or had all the answers. The hunt for answers is my biggest attraction for what I do, and I want to translate that for my students. I want them to know how to search for answers themselves and string together facts to arrive at an answer.

Yesterday I came across a little factoid that caused me to travel down Internet sidestreets attempting to discover the answer to a question that involved a gold ring, strands of hair, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and the presidential inauguration of 1905.

Intrigued? I was. To see what I found out you will need to click on over to my newest post at the American Presidents Blog. You will need to scroll down past the mosaic of Roosevelt and Lincoln to read the second half of my post.

Welcome To My Mess

It’s that time of year…..put away the suntan lotion, the dog-earred novel, and all of the trip memorabilia. Accept the fact that blogging may have to decrease to two or three posts per week instead of the daily Summer post. Move all of the Summer things to-do to the upcoming Fall Break to-do list. Hang up the flip-flops and try to find more presentable teaching shoes. Try not to have any regrets about wasted time and all of the things you wanted to do over the break but didn’t get to.

It’s time to focus on the classroom to make it presentable for Open House and the first day of school. As you can see I have many, many things to do. Over the last two days I’ve opened every tub (I should have stock in Rubbermaid), and weeded out and thrown away things I haven’t touched in at least two years. I’ve dusted, cleaned out my fridge (there was a container of yogurt in there with a date of 2005), and reorganized my classroom library.

This picture (below) is taken standing in my classroom door looking towards the back of my room. I need to reorganize my word wall. I usually use words for writing on the wall and post social studies/history vocabulary on a chart. Since I am going to teach language arts to both classes of social studies I'm playing with the idea of posting all the words together since students will be writing reflections at least every other day to sort out and make connections with the content. What do you think?



This picture (below) is also taken standing in the doorway looking straight ahead. I love the fact that I have two whiteboards. They really come in handy for things I'm required to post all of the time as well as for things I need to write during a lesson. This is the side of the room where everything, yes everything was when I came to school last week. I've spread it all out so I can have space to work and I use the desktops to sort things.



This is the view (below) from the back of the room at my desk looking towards the doorway. Students will be sitting in groups of four. A set of textbooks is already waiting in each desk for students. I hold the book facing me and place a tiny number on the top close to the spine along with the first two letters of my last name. I begin with 1 and move on to 2, 3, 4, etc. I do this on each type of textbook-----math, science, grammar, reading, and social studies. One desk has all of the 1's, another the 2's, etc. This helps students keep up with their books so much better because they know all of their books should be the same number. I have forms with the school system number already written in along with the matching number of mine so on the first day of school all I have to say is "What number to do you have?" and enter the student's name. I keep a master copy of these forms with the school system number on it so I don't have to reinvent the wheel unless we have new books. A great veteran teacher friend of mine showed me this trick when I moved down to fourth grade. It also makes taking up books at the end of the year a snap.



Finally a shot of my desk. I laid everything flat and put small things in a basket back in May because I knew they would move everything to clean the carpets.



I'm worried I won't get things done before Open House. We have to be at school Monday, July 31st for an all day meeting....no time to work in the rooms. I'll have all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning to work. However, Wednesday afternoon parents will be milling about my room. It's almost like having them searching through your underwear drawer. I know it a necessary evil, but I'm sure many judgements are made on that first visit. Yikes! I hate to spend my last two free days...tomorrow and Friday at school, but I may need to.

The Human Kind Revisited

Thank you to everyone who posted after my first acknowledgment found here. I really appreciate it.

NYC Educator at NYC Educator apologized for being late with his sentiments. Dear, we may be from opposite ends of the east coast, but showing concern for someone is what matters….not the timing. Thanks. Ditto to Janet at the The Art of Getting By. I agree, life is what happens when you are making other plans.

Chance over at The Sapient Sutler left me some very appropriate lyrics from Bob Dylan. Thanks!

Dennis over at From the Trenches of Public Ed. gave me a link and expressed concern. He also confided he is facing his own parent’s journey with Alzheimers. My step-grandmother had it, and currently I have an uncle who is living with it. I’m sorry…..

Ms. Cornelius over at A Shrewdness of Apes must be an absolute God-send at her school if she exhibits one-eighth the amount of caring she shows any of us when we have an emotional upheaval. She has been more than supportive by posting about my situation and even calling me a Steel Magnolia. I don’t know about that, but I appreciate it.

Kontan from Kontan's Place, is someone I can always count on for support when I need it most. Thanks!

Bellezza from Never Cease to Learn, a new visitor, felt compelled to comment regarding my comments concerning Mom’s Bible. Welcome, Beleeza! I can’t wait to visit you, and thanks for your comments.

And finally… and apology of sorts. I want to say thank you to the person who nominated my post “July 4, 1776, An Imagi-Holiday” to the History Carnival sometime during the week of July 17th. I also want to apologize to the many, many folks who dropped by to read the post and instead were subjected to an arrogant attempt by a reader to put me in my place. My response to the person, someone who had never commented here before, explains the situation far better than I can here. You can see the post and comments here. I was unaware that the post was in the carnival and the tone of the comments just really set me off considering what I had gone through that day. In defense of the person who commented it is very possible that he linked to me through the carnival and would not have been aware of my situation. At any rate……I welcome comments, even comments that call me a terrible teacher and call me pathetic, but I do reserve the right to respond or not. :)

A Few Quiet Mornings Left

It’s a quiet morning here except for the sound of the washing machine and the steady stream of “fair and balanced news” coming from the Middle East emitting from my bedroom television.

Both kidlets plus one friend are still asleep, and hubby left for his business an hour ago. I have a few, very few, precious mornings like this left before I am required to report to my campus for preplanning.

Students report to school next Friday, August 4th, for their first day of school. Yikes! This means my preplanning begins next Monday. Double yikes!

My classroom is a wreck. Every cabinet, bookshelf, desk, table, chartstand, and chair will have to return to its appropriate spot as everything was shoved to one side back in June for carpet cleaning. This was a good thing since two of my precious ones took to throwing up on my carpet last year. I have avoided the spots ever since.

My school was the recipient of an e-rate grant this summer so our televisions have been upgraded, a telephone system has been installed, a new bell system, and we now have cameras in our hallways and out side our building. Fantastic! However, my television was moved from one corner to the opposite one. I’m hoping the wiring is still there to use the tv as a computer monitor when I need to do a power point or show some other kind of image.

I guess I need to corral my school’s computer guru and pinpoint him regarding some of my personal issues. I want to make sure that I can still show clips of videos from United Streaming so that the picture is the right size and the sound comes through. I want to use a classroom blog with my writing students so they can use the comment feature to peer analyze and critique. Our filters are so strong any type of web journal simply won’t come through without the guru approving the URL.

Our Leadership meeting was yesterday. It was nice to get back with everyone and I had much love and support from my colleagues due to my recent loss.

I still have scads of thank-yous to write. Mother would kill me if she knew I still had not gotten to this. She was always very prompt as a fine Southern lady should be. I still have a few to do from my world of blog, and I will.

Now that it is time to become a teacher again I will start my ever expanding “TO DO LIST” and all of those people who need to be thanked will be entered upon the list along with things like “finish regions power point”, “copy units for Connie”, “complete team agenda for meeting”, etc.

One of the best feelings in the world is to cross an item off your “TO DO LIST” and make it a “TA-DAH!”…..something finished….something accomplished…..something earned.

I want to get back to normal, but normal has changed. I’m still in the “TO DO” stage with all that has occurred, and that’s ok.

It’s going to take some time to get normal to feel right again and turn all of this around from a “TO DO” to a “TA-DAH”, but I will do it….in time.

Bibles...Recorded History

Bibles are wonderful things, of course. They guide some of us in our religious lives. They provide a history for the Hebrew people, the beginnings of the Christian church, as well as document other groups of people thriving in ancient times. The Bible is one of the world’s best works of literature. Bibles also become very personal to the owner as they usually contain information regarding the history of the owner, or series of owners, in some cases. By examining someone’s Bible you can determine past addresses, important dates within a family, and particular passages that guided the owner. Tucked between the pages you can discover items that the owner held dear and precious.

Most people cannot bring themselves to throw or give a Bible away. They are valuable objects, and the fact that some distant relative took the time to record family births, deaths, and marriages within the front and back pages make the book even more dear. I have several that belonged to my grandfather and now two more have been added to my collection.

In short…Bibles give us a compass for our future while cementing our feet in our past. There is no way to forget your family’s past if you have a family Bible.

During the course of the weekend my sister and I hurriedly ransacked our Rubbermaid containers labeled ‘mother’ that we had packed up, divided among us, and stored at our respective homes almost four years ago as mother left her apartment for the nursing home. We refused to get rid of anything in case she asked for it. I just couldn’t stand the thought of her sweet face looking up from her bed and asking, “Hon, where’s that pansy writing paper you gave me three years ago for Mother’s Day? I want to write a letter.” Or, even worse, “Sweetie, I’m tired of looking at that crystal candy dish. I want the one Sara and Fauscett gave me….you know, the one that used to sit on the coffee table at Red Oak.” I simply didn’t want to have to say she no longer owned something so between my sister and I everything was stored.

Mother’s casket was closed for the majority of the visitation period at her request. Therefore, sister and I wanted to have as many pictures of mother as possible set out around the two rooms we were given. We wanted to put out pictures of her with us, with my dad (even though they were divorced), with her family, as a child, and with her friends. Between the two of us we did really well. There were pictures everywhere and many of mother’s highschool friends had a great time trying to figure out who was who in some of them. After many years of sickness it was great therapy for all of us to be surrounded by images of the Geri we all all remember whether we remembered her as sister, wife, mother, aunt, cousin, or friend.

One of the things I came across as I hurriedly grabbed pictures was Mother’s Bible. She had used two for several years. After her father’s death in 1984 she had begun using The Living Bible that my sister and I had given our grandfather as a gift in 1977. His writing is all over the inside covers, passages are underlined, and an occaisional slip of paper with his handwriting can be found between the pages. Mother’s Bible is, of course, a King James version, published by The World Publishing Company. I couldn’t locate a date of publishing. The address she wrote in the front was the first house my mother and father bought together in Atlanta close to my Aunt Boofie ( I wrote about her here). Mother’s neat handwriting abounds in this Bible. The dates and details of my sister’s baptism and wedding, my baptism and wedding, the date Mother moved her letter of membership to another church, certain passages that meant something to her: what to read during times of death, passages concerning types of dress for men and women, a reminder of where the “seasons” passage can be found (Ecclesiastes 3:1); and passages every Baptist is concerned about at one time or another regarding tithing. Romans, her favorite chapter is underlined heavily. The pages are yellow, the cover is brittle, the picture in the front is a rendering of the prodigal son’s return to his father’s arms. I remember sitting next to her in church on Sunday mornings thumbing through her Bible and always stopping at the picture and gazing at it since I couldn’t yet read. I always thought the white bearded man was God welcoming people to Heaven.

The real treasure mine of Mother’s Bible was the “stuff” she had placed within the pages. Various bookmarks folks had given her with their names inscribed on the back with a laundry marker on the back so she wouldn’t forget who gave it to her. Several cards from my sister and I for birthdays and Mother’s Day. A scrap of paper that my cousin Nathan wrote on when he was a much younger child. He was writing a letter to my mom alongside his grandmother. When his grandmother put her letter in the evelope she included Nathan’s letter to Geri, too. I couldn’t help smile as I looked at it. Mother had written on it exactly who had scribbled on the paper, why, and when. Nathan is now a very handsome young man and I’m going to make a copy of the paper to keep and send his mother the original for her to place between the pages of her Bible. A memory passed along…..a story for a future father to tell when he goes through his mother’s Bible…..life does have a way of carrying on, doesn’t it?

Notes from friends, old church bulletins, copies of letters she wrote to her old church and pictures. There is a five by seven picture of my sister and her husband on their wedding day. There is another picture showing the first house my mom and dad built together. It’s down the road from where my dad lives now. It’s a huge home. We never lived there……..I wonder why mom kept a picture in her Bible of that house. Maybe she liked to remember the good times we had there while it was under construction before she and my father divorced.

Several obituaries were found within the pages as well----my grandfather, my grandmother, my mother’s half-brother, many other family members as well. I carefully replaced them. I believe they should stay where she had them. Afterall, these things are treasures and someone else in the future will enjoy their find.

I looked up some information about Bibles. You can see several images of English and American Bibles here and here.

Sometimes we don’t need a history textbook or some heavy tome to discover where we’ve been. Sometimes, all we need to do is grab our family Bible.

Your past is waiting for you within its pages.

The Human Kind

I’m tired, sad, joyful, and hopeful all at the same time with a whole lot of weird thrown in. That really sounds like I’m a child of the seventies, but I am, and I can’t help it. I don’t know any other way to explain my thoughts and feelings over the last few days. However, groovy and neat-o certainly don’t fit the bill.

Thank you to each one of you who left a comment concerning my mother’s death. I appreciate the effort on your part. There is no way for me to express what your concern means to me, so in my meager efforts to express my feelings I will do the only the thing I can in the blogging world…..I’ll give you a link back.

Many thanks to Dan over at A History Teacher, the Rain over at I Thought a Think, Ms-Teacher at Ms. Teacher, and Lady S at Lady Strathconn's Journal for their kind words.

Spangles and Anonymous need a big thank-you as well, but I don’t have a place to link for you.

Ms. Cornelius at Shrewdness of Apes, Mike at Education in Texas, and 40 over at Fordee Blog have been through this before and I appreciate the support. We have been appointed membership in a club we don’t want to belong to. Maybe you, dear reader, are also a member of that club.

Polski3, I appreciate your optimism. We tend to think alike on many things. Thanks!

Mr. Lawrence over at Get Lost Mr. Chips had kind words and so did Q's Personal Legend. Q, I agree with you about Mom’s picture. So far it is the best one we have of her in her prime.

Californiateacherguy over at California Teacher Guy sent kind words as well as linked to me from his group blog LiveWire: Teaching in the Golden State to let others know. CTG, are you sure you’re not from the South? What hospitality!

Dekerivers at Caffeinated Politics sent some lovely, appropriate lyrics. Thanks!

Butterfly Angel at Butterfly Angel was so right with her kind words….”God will be our strength and we fly like the eagle…”

and last but not least…..Sumir at Sumir-History your email meant so much to me. My mother would be most impressed that through this “blogging hobby” of mine, as she referred to it, someone an entire world away would hear of her death and think of her and me. Thank you Sumir for showing what a small world we really live on.

We are one “kind” when you consider all things….humankind.

Thank you, my friends, for reconfirming that for me. :)

This Isn't the Post I Had Planned......

I had planned to post all of the links and images everyone sent me for my previous post. I really appreciate the way each of you played along with me as I had a little fun with the 100th school day theme. I needed a little fun last week as it has been a difficult few days.

My beloved mother went to Heaven at 1:45 in the morning on Saturday, July 15, 2006. She had been very ill for many years, and had lived in a nursing home for four years. The past month has been difficult for her as she entered her last days. She no longer hurts, she no longer fights for her next breath, and she no longer has to suffer the indignities her illness had brought her.

My sister and I have been going through pictures getting ready for Mother’s memorial service. After witnesses her slow decline and the ravages her illness had taken on her body I was simply aghast when this image came in an email from my sister. My mother was absolutely gorgeous. We are hoping one of our relatives can tell us where and when it was made. I had never seen this picture before which is surprising because I always ransacked the house looking through picture boxes.

This is THE way I want to remember her----young and beautiful.

I am going to take a few days off from my blog to take care of my family and myself.

I’ll be back soon. :(

100

Welcome to my 100th post!

After 100 posts I'm a bit delirious so forgive me as we depart from the norm here at History Is Elementary.

Some teachers across this great land of ours plan wonderful, elaborate celebrations for students to take part in on the 100th day of school. I have planned some opportunties for you to participate in on this most momentous occaision since you probably never experienced a 100th day recognition from the student's point of view.

Okay readers, sit up straight and sing along with me (to the tune of “Ta-ra-ra boom de ay”)

It’s the 100th word play
So shout hip-hip hooray!
We’ll count and eat and play,
It’s the 100th word play.
See all we’ve collected.
100’s on display.
Join in the fun and say,
Hooray for the 100th word play!

Great job! I knew you could do it. Now, we are going to have a little history lesson. You didn’t think you were going to get by without one, did you?

Wikipedia advises that by the year 100 the Roman army had reached 30,000 soldiers. Lions had become extinct in Europe by that time, and the Jewish historian, Josephus, passed away. The year 100 saw the first use of the wheelbarrow in China, and the Hopewell culture began to make itself known in what would one day become Ohio. In India, you might have found the beginnings of the compilation of the Kama Sutra while a traveler in the Christian world would have seen the early dogma and formulas regarding Christian morality.

Alternative resources are always real important in the classroom so here are a few to entertain you:

100 things to do before you die can be found here

100 things we didn’t know last year from the BBC can be found here

100 things to do with books (great for language arts teachers) can be found here

It's refreshment time. Our song promised something to eat and here it is. Wait until you are called before coming up to fix your plate, and remember.....Mrs. Elementaryhistoryteacher does not allow you to leave your seat while we are eating. Please raise your hand if you need something.



Now, our song mentions things that we have collected so here is the interactive portion of this 100th post. Make this the best 100th post ever by choosing to complete one of the assignments. I’ve given you three choices in order to differentiate between your various learning styles. Choose at least one assignment and follow the directions so that we can all celebrate this momentous 100. ( I am actually hoping the response rate is better here than the rate of homework completion in my actual classroom) :).

Choice 1: A few years ago there was a launch from Cape Kennedy that included a grouping of 100 things that represented life here on earth. The purpose of doing this was to create a hypothetical situation where contact with other life might occurr. The objects would be helpful in explaining what life is like here. What types of things do you think should have been on the manifest? Consider this a meme if you wish and post on your own blog linking back to mine, or give me a list of 20 or so as a comment.

Choice 2: Find or create a grouping of 100 things or other representation of the number 100. Post your links here or email your images to me at historyiselementary@yahoo.com and I will post them as I receive them. If you know how to post an image within a comment feel free to do so.

Choice 3: Create a post or comment that includes something about 100 miles, 100 dollars, 100 years, and 100 pounds. You can write about each in a separate paragraph or combine all four things together, but all four categories need to be in the same post.

Now, go have fun! I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

A Very Important Day

Happy birthday to my most wonderful friend in life, my husband.

Words are not enough to appropriately compliment this man in order to explain what he means to me. I’m grateful he continues to put up with me because I am very difficult to live with….he has learned to cope very well with the drama that our life can be sometimes.

In an episode of Friends, the cast is discussing soul mates or that one perfect person that is meant for you. Phoebe begins to tell her friends about lobsters. It seems that lobsters find their perfect mate and stay with them for life. Well, quite simply, Mr. Elementaryhistoryteacher is my lobster, claws and all.

My lobster shares many things with me including a love of history, and he likes to remember two significant historical events that took place on his important day.

Today is the anniversary of the Hamilton-Burr duel which resulted in Hamiltons’ physical death and Burr’s political death. The election of 1800 was significant in the deteriorating relationship between Hamilton and Burr. Due to the large amount of political commericals on my television these days…..Georgia is having their primary soon….I was inspired to write about the presidential election of 1800 over at American Presidents Blog. You can read my post here.

Today is also the birthday of John Quincy Adams. I’ve posted about him before as well, here.

This Is the Song, Elmo's Song

Research proves visual learning has many benefits. It can improve attention, it appeals to students with different learning styles, and visuals help to get the point across quickly and effectively. Rapid advancements in technology are providing educators with more and more methods to incorporate digital images into their instruction.

Recently every team in my school used several of their planning periods to meet with a math professor from a local college to go over various math teaching strategies. All teachers were required to be at the meeting even those of us who haven’t taught math in a very long time. Needless to say a few of us weren’t very “into” the topic of conversation until the presenter flipped the switch on her ELMO. I’ve never seen so many lumps turn into wide-eyed motivated sponges soaking in every word that was said including my lumpy self.

By using the ELMO you can project the text on a normal piece of paper onto a screen or monitor. You can also add text as you need to. What will they think of next? It’s an overhead without the cart and bulky apparatus.

Follow this link to the Eschool News site here which has information regarding an ELMO. This resource is now permanently on my wish list of things I would love to have in my classroom.

There are also links here for resources like Cmap Software that rivals Inspiration, especially in cost, as well as information regarding the use of videos and United Streaming which is a video service I use all the time.

United Streaming allows me to upload a video from the Internet and show it on my classroom television, on my computer monitors, or even slide it into a power point presentation. The best thing I like about United Streaming is the large number of topics found and the fact that I can isolate a section of a video and show my students specific things that fit what we are currently discussing.

So, go forth and sing the Elmo song and become more adept at using techno-visuals in your classroom.

This is the song,
La la la la,
Elmo’s song…….

Arrrrh! Need a Hook?

Cinderella, over at World of Royalty reports here that Blackbeard’s flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, has been found off the coast of North Carolina. There is a link to a clip from the BBC.

Arrrrh! Just in time for the release of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest which opens today. See the movie trailer here.

As I checked out some of the available resources, I began to think that this information on Blackbeard and the efforts to research the ship might be a great vehicle to introduce the preservation side of history as well as the difference between primary and secondary documents. Pirate tales might be the thing to hook em’ the first week of school.

Hmmmm…..I may just need to work on a power point for that.

You can find lots of Blackbeard resources here , here, here, and finally here. So, go find out everything you can about Blackbeard, or you might just have to suffer the consequence.

What would that be? Why walking the plank, my friend!

Utilize Those Resources

Any social studies teacher understands the importance of teaching about resources. I discuss resources----human, capital, and physical/natural----everyday in my room. The quest for resources and how we use them are at the heart of any historical event we study.

One of the reasons why Japan attacked the United States in 1941 boiled down to their need for oil. They felt our presence in the Pacific hindered them from getting what they needed. When the Spanish began their conquest of Mexico and South America they understood the need for a large labor force to man their gold and silver mines so they used the labor resource that was available, the indigenous population. Criminals and terrorists the world over have become very savvy in their need to legitimize their financial transactions and use our own laws to maintain bona fide companies that are mere fronts for nefarious activities. I guess you could say our quest for resources is what generates historical events.

One of the things I am often amazed at as an educator is the amount of resources that go untapped and unused in our own buildings. Children with enormous potential choose to do enough simply to get by and fail to use the talents that we all strive for but was theirs at birth. Teachers resist new programs and strategies simply because they are removed from their comfort zone. The software, the books, the seminar manuals all sit unused in the classroom until they are eventually placed on some dusty shelf in a closet or book room. The saying is true---out of sight, out of mind. Administrators often overlook tremendous human potential they have in their buildings as they recommend the same few people for committees and conferences or to develop solutions to real problems. There is a myriad list of reasons why this is done but it is never good for the performance of the school.

An Atlanta area high school went from last to third place in the state’s standardized writing test district scores all because a principal asked someone in the building for help, and that person analyzed the resources available to her. She discovered a writing program that had simply sat unused. By simply going out of the box and utilizing a forgotten resource her school ended up with motivated students and teachers, a beaming administrator, and scores to be proud of.

My happy dance of summer is almost up as I have to return to school for pre-planning on July 24th. As I begin to attempt to ramp up my mindset to “teacher” mode again, I am making a call for all educators to check out your resources. Take stock of your classroom and that dark hole of a book room down the hall. What is lying around that could be utilized to challenge you and your students for the coming year?

Are you already in possession of the one thing that could turn your program around and you don’t even realize it?

You can access Eschool News here for the article about Therrell High in Atlanta.

Reading, Reading, and More Reading

I’m here….I’m just busy reading all of the fine submissions from the 34th History Carnival found here and the 74th Carnival of Education hosted by NYC Educator here.

Go feed your mind!

July 4, 1776, An Imagi-Holiday

As the Fourth of July approached I began to think again about myth versus fiction and how we, as educators, perpetuate the myths. Don’t get me wrong….I don’t think we intentionally do this. One reason the dividing line between myth and fiction becomes muddled is new primary sources are constantly being found which counter what we previously taught. Another reason is the structure and content of classroom resources over the last two hundred years didn’t always set things straight.

The other night as we were preparing for bed I shared some ideas I had about my writing with Hubby. As we were talking I told him that I don’t think most Americans really know what they celebrate on July 4th. He off-handedly said, “What do you mean?” This launched me into a mini-history lesson which thrilled Hubby to no end….at least he’s used to it. When I was done with my recitation of trivia and facts Hubby said, “So, is July 4th just an imagi-holiday?” I liked his term so much I got up, turned the light back on, and wrote the word down so I wouldn’t forget it.

Hubby and I discussed how many of our American holidays are actually imagi-holidays or celebrations centered on what we perceive to be fact, but are really an amalgamation of myth and/or convenience. President’s Day comes to mind. Originally we celebrated Lincoln’s Birthday as well as Washington’s Birthday separately during February. Today we have combined the two dates into one as President’s Day so that we can arrange to have it on a Monday thereby giving us a three day weekend and extra time to visit all those sales at the mall. Valentine’s Day is an imagi-holiday since there are several origin stories concerning it that are trotted out every year. Halloween also has many origin stories which have resulted in folks picking and choosing which reason why they celebrate the holiday or reasons why they don’t participate. Biblical scholars agree that December 25 is an arbitrary date set for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ which results in a mixture of fact and lore with huge amounts of faith thrown in. Due to all the non-religious aspects of the holiday it could be classified as an imagi-holiday as well.

Do we really know what we are celebrating during our independence imagi-holiday?

The records of the Continental Congress for July 4, 1776, indicate that the Committee of Five including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingstone presented a report to the delegates. Their report was the written document we now refer to as the Declaration of Independence. The delegates approved of the document and referred it to the printer. That’s it. That’s what happened on July 4th. We celebrate that the document was approved and sent to the printer.

The myth that has risen up over decade after decade is that the document was presented, approved, and signed by every member of the Continental Congress on July 4th. Details have been added over the years concerning the fact that by signing the document the delegates were committing treason against the king and if caught could have died a horrible tortured death. That is fact. The myth is that all of the delegates signed the document on July 4th. The document was simply sent to the printer and signed later.

John Adams and many of the delegates felt that July 2nd would be the holiday that Americans would celebrate forever more. Why? July 2nd is the day that delegates approved the resolution for independence uttered in session by Richard Henry Lee who said:

That these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connections between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

Here’s the crux of the whole matter. Richard Henry Lee’s resolution was entered in the minutes of the Continental Congress on June 7, 1776. This resolution prompted the Congress to form the Committee of Five on June 11th and have them write the Declaration of Independence which was presented on July 4th. Poor Mr. Lee! Does the average American think of him when they are setting of fireworks, eating their hot dog, or making their homemade ice cream?

In a letter to his wife, Abigal, John Adams tells her that July 2nd would be remembered as the most memorable “epoch” in the history of America.So, where did things get murky? How did Mr. Lee move to the shadows while Thomas Jefferson got all the credit with average citizens for writing the Declaration of Independence? Sounds like a very interesting journey for students to take, doesn’t it?

Is elementaryhistoryteacher calling for a change in the date for our independence celebrations? No, I’m not. What I am calling for is greater effort on the part of those who teach social studies to know their content concerning myth versus fact and share that information with students. Throw out some teasers to students, provide them with the materials, and let them discover how we decided the 4th instead of the 2nd would be our “Epoch” or Independence Day.

I think Americans can reconcile our historical facts with our historical myths and appreciate both. I believe these two forms of history are necessary for groups of people who form a nation, but if educators simply teach the front story and don’t teach the back story then we are doing a disservice to our students and to our nation.

The staff at History News Network has put together a great set of essays that provide a wealth of information about Independence Day----there are thirteen essays, one for each original colony. I wonder if that was planned. You can see their efforts here.