Colonial America: Placing Logs Carefully

Read my title again. Yes, logs were important as many colonial homes were built with logs, but in the classroom when discussing colonial America logs can take on a whole new meaning.

Personal communication with students can provide useful information to assess student thinking and learning. Learning log journals are just one type of personal communication, but are a type that has provided benefits for me and more importantly for my students. These types of journals provide students with an opportunity to write across the curriculum and are ongoing efforts to build metacognition. In fact, according to Anita Woolfolk’s book Educational Psychology (2001) the more students elaborate new ideas, the more they make them their own, the deeper their understanding and the better their memory for the knowledge.

Journaling matches various achievement targets because as each question is posed to students they must reflect upon what they have learned. R.J. Stiggins relates in Student-Involved Assessment for Learning (2005) the goal of learning logs is to have students reflect on, analyze, describe, and evaluate their learning experiences, successes, and challenges, writing about the conclusions they draw.

Learning log questions to pose to students can be integrated into existing units in seamless fashion. For example, five questions that could be and have been implemented in my classroom are:

1. Using the top half of your paper draw a KWL chart. As we begin our new unit on the British colonies what are some things you already know about them? Place these things under the “know” column. What are some things you are hoping to discover? List at least four questions you hope to have answered by the end of the unit under the “want to know” column.

This particular question helps me gauge what students already know. KWL charts also provide opportunities for students to set some of their own learning goals by providing them with an opportunity to list questions they may have. Finally, KWL charts provide a reflection experience for the student. After a unit is completed students examine the first two columns and analyze their responses. Did they really know what they thought they did? Were misconceptions cleared up? Were all of their questions answered? Did these questions lead to more questions? By utilizing KWL in the learning log process students are given a framework for reflection in the context of a graphic organizer.

2. Use a three-columned chart on your paper labeled New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern to list information concerning the climate and physical features of each colonial region. Underneath your chart reflect on this information and explain which regions would be best for farming and which regions would be best for other industries such as fishing.

While this particular question involves basic content knowledge I can gain better knowledge regarding how students internalized information during a lesson on the colony types through their written responses. Does the student understand the characteristics of fishing and farming regions? This type of question provides an opportunity for students to put the content in their own words, and provides extra emphasis on a particular aspect of the curriculum—climate and physical features determine how a group of people use a region economically.

3. Yesterday you were asked to complete a writing assignment where you became someone who lived somewhere in the colonies during the early 1700s. You were able to choose your role—farmer, merchant, artisan, woman, indentured servant, slave, or Native American. Reflect on the assignment. Did you find it particularly helpful to your learning? Why or why not?

This type of reflection would provide insight into what a student is thinking about a particular assignment. Because of the nature of the assignment students would explain what was easy or difficult for them to do.

4. Following our mid-unit quiz regarding the colonies do you feel sucessful so far with the content? Which items of key knowledge have you found useful? Which items have been difficult for you to understand?

The actual quiz would provide data regarding students’ performance with a pen and paper test. The learning log question would provide additional data that should assist in determining why the quiz grades were high or low. If students were not successful with the quiz their reflection would provide useful information into weak areas I might have in my instruction, provide me the reasons to make lesson changes, and would provide me with important information regarding potential bias I had not already detected or planned for. On the other hand, student reflections would also provide me with data regarding students who did well on the quiz. A high number of perfect or near perfect scores can help me make the determination that the material I have presented is not challenging enough.

5. Reflect back on your KWL assignment for question one. Were your ideas correct you listed under the “know” column? Were all of your questions under the “want to know” column answered? What do you know now that you didn’t know before? Once you have your journal entry complete go back to your KWL chart and fill in the different things you have learned.

These questions provide students as well as me an opportunity to reflect back to where students were and how far they have come. A determination can also be made concerning lack of knowledge and lack of certain skills.

Potential sources of bias must be eliminated from this particular assessment for the results to be meaningful for myself and for students per Stiggins. By having a clear achievement target questions can be focused and varied enough to cover the domain and eliminate a sampling bias. Learning log journals can help eliminate my own bias if I provide enough time for students to think through their responses as well as write them.

Giving prompts that include additional clarification statements or questions will help students who need extra language support interpret the questions properly. Providing feedback and additional comments to student responses as well as allowing students to respond to my comments will help to elimnate interpretation errors. While using a writing type assessment can indicate problems involving a student’s low writing ability it does provide students with an opportunity to communicate freely and have the undivided attention of the instructor. Any feelings of peer pressure or feelings of shyness are eliminated. Environmental biases, such as classroom distractions, can be held to minimum if tried and true classroom management strategies are enforced. Students who have a high stress level and tension due to their perception they are a poor writer can be encouraged through one-on-one meetings where specific problems can be addressed and strategies can be offered.

Learning log journals meet many different requirements for today’s classroom and appeal to me as a teacher. I feel with careful planning, strategic teaching strategies that provide clear information for students as to what they are to do, and constant feedback with students learning log journals can be a very successful tool to communicate with students.

13 Things Regarding Margaret Fuller

1. Margaret Fuller was a member of a prominent group of New England writers and philosophers who developed transcendentalism.

2. Transcendentalism states people should transcend or overcome the limits of their mind and let their soul reach out to embrace the beauty of universe.

3. Ms. Fuller, along with Ralph Waldo Emerson, founded The Dial which published poetry and essays regargarding the transcendentalist movement.

4. She organized meetings for women in Boston to promote education and intellectual development.

5. Her book, Women in the Nineteenth Century, argued women should have equal political rights.

6. In 1844, Horace Greeley hired her as a literary critic with the New York Tribune.

7. In 1846, Mr. Greeley sent her to Europe to cover reform efforts across the continent.

8. While in Italy, Margaret Fuller met and married Giovanni Angelo Ossoli—he was a revolutionary fighting to unite Italy into one country.

9. Fuller sent home eyewitness accounts of the Italian Revolution of 1848 making her the first American woman foreign war correspondent.

10. In 1850, Ms. Fuller along with her husband and child returned to the United States. The Italian Revolution had fallen apart.

11. The Fuller-Ossolis sailed aboard the Elizabeth, an American merchant freighter carrying cargo that included marble from Carrara and a statue of John C. Calhoun sculpted by Hiram Powers.

12. While at sea for five weeks the ship’s captain, Seth Hasty, died of smallpox. Margaret’s child, Angelino, also contracted the disease but recovered.

13. As the ship approached Fire Island, New York it hit a sandbar (perhaps due to the inexperienced first mate being in control) it hit a sandbar. Many passengers urged Margaret Fuller and her husband to jump overboard to save themselves, but they didn’t. Ossoli was thrown overboard by a wave and following that witnesses stated (the ship was only 50 yards from the shore) Fuller could not be seen.

Margaret Fuller, her husband, and her child all drowned.

The image with this post is the only daguerreotype of Ms. Fuller known to exist.

Click my keyword “Thursday Thirteen” to view more of my 13 lists. Other bloggers participate as well. You can find them here

Jamestown Had a Sister?!?!?

When I teach the English colonies I tend to follow the same format teachers do all across the United States. Before discussing the original 13 colonies we hit on major firsts for all the heavy-hitting players—Spain’s first settlements, the first settlements for France, and then we begin discussing Roanoke and Jamestown.

What I don’t normally share with students is information regarding Jamestown’s little sister….Popham.

In 1607, thirteen years prior to the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth, Englishmen on behalf of the Virginia Company formed a colony on the shores of New England at the mouth of the Kennebec River. At that time, the mouth of the Kennebec River, near Phippsburg, was not in the state of Maine as it is today but in territory the English identified as Northern Virginia. The colony was short-lived….a little over a year passed before it was abandoned in the fall of 1608.

So why don’t we remember the Popham Colony today?

When studets learn that the Pilgrims founded the FIRST New England colony in 1620, are we merely foisting a lie onto our students?

Hardly.

The reason why the Popham Colony faded in our historical memory has to do with the success, or in this case the lack of success of the colony.

Several important lessons regarding the process of colonization can be learned from the Popham experience, however. The colony did not fail because of massive starvation, sickness, or even Native American troubles though there were those problems to some degree. The Popham Colony failed mainly due to family changes within the ranks of the colony’s leadership.

On May 31, 1607, 100 to 120 colonists left Plymouth in two ships. Their mission was to trade items—precious metals, spices, and furs—and to show that they could build English ships from the natural resources in the area. The expedition leader, George Popham sailed on the ship Gift of God. Good old George received the honor of being the leader of the colony because his uncle was a Virginia Company financial backer, Sir John Popham, who just happened to be Lord Chief Justice of England. George Popham’s second in command, Gilbert Raleigh, was the half nephew of Sir Walter Raleigh. The remaining colonists were mainly soldiers, artisans, farmers, and traders.

Much of what we know about the Popham Colony today resides in a primary document—a diary authored by Robert Davis—the captain of the second ship, the Mary and John, to make the voyage.

Immediately upon landing the colonists built a settlement they named Fort Saint George. We know how the fort was designed because one of the colonists, John Hunt, drew a map. It showed a star-shaped fort with ditches and ramparts. The grounds included a storehouse and chapel plus fifteen additional structures. The fort also had nine guns. The map has a notable history in and of itself as it ended up in the Spanish archives where it was located in 1888. Espionage was hot and heavy during the race to see who could colonize North America first. The map had been passed to King Philip III of Spain in 1608 by the Spanish ambassador, Pedro de Zuniga.

By now you are probably wondering what caused the Popham Colony to fail…..Well, it’s true—the Maine winters were a little too much for them. Any support system the colonists had developed with Native Americans eventually deteriorated which led to the realization that any profitable trade the colonists and financial backers hoped for never materialized.

Half of the colonists returned to England in December, 1607.

George Popham died in 1608 leaving Raleigh Gilbert in command. Apparently Gilbert didn’t have what it took to lead a fledgling colony plus he soon learned he had inherited his family’s estate, so he returned to England. The remaining colonists would not stay without Gilbert and made plans to leave with him.

…and what about the dream to construct ships from the Maine forests? In this the Popham Colony was somewhat successful. Led by their shipwright, Digby, they constructed a 30-ton pinnace they christened Virginia---the first English ship built in Maine and probably in all of North America.

Some of the colonists returned to England along with Raleigh Gilbert on the Mary and John while others sailed aboard the pinnace, Virginia.

So, the Pilgrims weren’t the first New Englanders….they were merely the first New Englanders who stayed.

.....and anyway...Popham Beach doesn’t have the same ring to it as Plymouth Rock, does it?

This website explains how people today are attempting to recreate the Virginia.

The exact site of the Popham Colony was lost until its rediscovery in 1994. Much of this historical location is now part of Maine's Popham Beach State Park.

Here are some interesting links regarding Popham Colony: This site discusses the archeology at the Popham site, the Archaeology Channel shares some information, and there is an informative article here.

13 Quotations Regarding History

Here are 13 quotations regarding history, but remember…..one lifted line doesn’t necessarily identify the person’s entire philosophy regarding the love of or the importance of history.

1. Don’t forget your history nor your destiny.
Attributed to Bob Marley

2. History makes people wise.
Attributed to Sir Francis Bacon

3. History is written by the victors.
Attributed to Winston Churchill

4. The history of the world is full of men who rose to leadership, by sheer force of self-confidence, bravery, and tenacity.
Attributed to Mahatma Ganhi

5. Ideas shape the course of history.
Attributed to John Maynard Keyes

6. I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
Attributed to Thomas Jefferson

7. There is a history in all men’s lives.
Attributed to William Shakespeare

8. History is fables agreed upon.
Atributed to Voltaire

9. A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.
Attributed to Robert Heinlein

10. If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience?
Attributed to George Bernard Shaw

11. The causes of events are ever more interesting than the events themselves.
Attributed to Marcus Tulius Cicero

12. History is but a confused heap of facts.
Attributed to Miguel de Cervantes

13. History is more or less bunk
Attibuted to Henry Ford.

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Eating Up the Bread of Our Children

Most dictionaries define pork as a government project or appropriation that yields jobs or benefits to a specific locale and patronage opportunities to its political representative.

A great article over at Harper's Magazine advises “pork-barreling as a legislative epithet is a pre—Civil War coinage that referred to the custom of handing out salt pork to slaves, who would crowd around the barrels that held it, and indeed, members of Congress have raided the federal treasury for home-district boondoggles ever since the earliest days of the republic.” John Ferejohn’s book, Pork Barrel Politics: Rivers and Harbors Legislation, 1947-1968 confirms this explanation.

To qualify specifically as pork legislation must meet seven criteria per the Citizens Against Government Waste and the Congressional Porkbusters Coalition. They are:

*the legislation must be requested by only one chamber of Congress;
*cannot be specifically authorized;
*cannot be competitively awarded;
*has not been requested by the President
*greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding;
*serves only a local or special interest.

The earliest form of pork barrel spending would be the Bonus Bill of 1817. It was introduced by John C. Calhoun and it involved highway construction linking the East and South with the western frontier. Part of the controversy was the source of the funds….an earnings bonus from the Second Bank of the United States. The proposed bill was eventually vetoed by President James Madison.

Calhoun actually justified his pork-barrel spending as many Congressmen do today. He used the Constitution to bolster his argument citing Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7 which Calhoun argued actually gives Congress the power to spend by stating, “No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but by consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”

Years later President Grover Cleveland would also use the Constitution to support his nickname as the “king of the veto” because he rejected hundreds of congressional spending bills during his two terms. He continually stated he could find no support in the Constitution for the appropriations.

Over at the site for Citizens Against Government Waste they have a well-documented discussion regarding the history of pork-barrel spending. I’ve included some of it here:

Washington insiders have espoused this “power of the purse” to validate Congress’s mushrooming appetite for pork. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) have argued eliminating earmarks would equate to an unconstitutional delegation of spending discretion to the executive branch. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that earmarking has been going on “since we were a country.” A spokeswoman for lobbying from Cassidy and Associates said, “Earmarking has been going on since the time of George Washington.”

The First Congress rejected a bill to loan money to a glass manufacturer after several members challenged the constitutionality of the proposal. In a debate during the Second Congress over a bill to pay a bounty to New England cod fishermen, Rep. Hugh Williamson of South Carolina argued that it was unconstitutional to gratify one part of the Union by oppressing the other…destroy this barrier,-and it is not a few fishermen that will enter, but all manner of persons; people of every trade and occupation may enter in at the breach, until they have eaten up the bread of our children.

Thomas Jefferson made a similar prediction in a letter to James Madison dated March 6, 1796, challenging Madison’s proposition for improvements to roads used in a system of national mail delivery. Jefferson wrote:

Have you considered all the consequences of your proposition respecting post roads? I view it as a source of boundless patronage to the executive, jobbing to members of Congress and their friends, and a bottomless abyss of public money. You will begin by only appropriating the surplus of the post office revenues; but the other revenues will soon be called into their aid, and it will be a scene of eternal scramble among the members, who can get the most money wasted in their State; and they will always get most who are meanest.”

Madison, the Father of the Constitution, actually vetoed the public works bill stating the clause “to provide for the common defense and general welfare” did not grant Congress additional powers not enumerated in Article 1, Section 8.

It would be hard to imagine a more convoluted, inaccurate, and self-serving interpretation of the Constitution and U.S. history. The Founding Fathers deemed that Congress could only spend money in pursuant to those powers specifically enumerated in the Constitution. The 10th Amendment leaves all other responsibilities to the states.

…and like many things dealing with the U.S. Constitution the debate regarding what constitutes appropriate appropriations will continue.

The Bailout Bill: 13 Examples of Pork

A three-page bill becomes 450…..ten dollar words, more compound sentences, extra commas, a list of definitions…..What caused the bill to grow, and grow, and grow?????

Specifically....pork.

With enough thrust pigs have no problem flying.

I’ve been hanging on to that statement for awhile now….just looking for the right place for it, I guess.

Well, with the thrust of of a few million here and a few million there the bailout bill has become the largest pig I’ve ever seen, and it has been thrust upon the backs of John and Jane Q. Taxpayer.

Here are 13 examples of pork Congress has thrust down our throats:

1. Let’s start with section 305 of the bill titled “Modifications of Energy Efficient Appliance Credit.” This is the part of the bailout where manufacturers of energy-efficient appliances will qualify up to $250 in federal tax credits for each machine they produce over the next three years. You and I will be paying over $322 million for this serving of pork over the next 10 years.

2. Are you a rum drinker? Thanks to the bailout bill Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands will receive an extension on tax rebates they already receive on rum duties (taxes).

3. Hollywood has nothing to fear….the bill includes two separate tax breaks for film companies that produce movies in the United States…..$500 million in tax breaks.

4. U.S. Representative Don Young (R-Alaska) voted against the bailout at first. I wonder...what could have changed his mind? Could it be the fact that the bill now signed into law contains six pages of earmarks to benefit Alaskan fishermen who were victims of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster for a whopping total of $239 million?

5. Check around the exterior of your workplace tomorrow. Look for all of those bike racks that surely must be there. Our esteemed legislators approved a $10 million credit to help employers defray the cost of storing the bicycles of their employees who commute to work.

6. NASCAR fans have nothing to dread. The bailout bill creates a seven-year cost recovery period for construction of a motorsports racetrack. The IRS wanted to increase the depreciation period from seven to fifteen years cutting the trackowner’s depreciation in half. You and I will pay $100 million to help out the trackowners.

7. Texas, Nevada, Florida, Washington, and Wyoming apparently are very concerned about citizens in their states who do not pay state income taxes. Now they will be able to deduct the amount of sales tax they pay over a year from their federal income tax for two additional years.

Let me get this straight….the citizens aren’t paying state income tax AND they get to deduct sales tax they have paid on their Federal return?

8. This one makes me feel all warm and fuzzy…..$148 million for the extension and modification of duty suspension on wool products, wool research fund and wool duty refunds. Ok, change warm and fuzzy to itchy.

9. American Samoa will benefit from provisions costing you and I $33 million that are meant to help economic development.

10. Around pages 262 and 263 of the bill you can locate the following language….”certain wooden arrows designed for use by children”. Basically the bill exempts arrows from an excise tax of 39 cents. Huh? Are large amounts of American children using arrows?!?!

11. $3.5 billion (yes, billion with a “B”) has been set aside to force health insurance companies to cover mental illness.

12. Section 324 of the bailout bill extends an existing program through December, 2009 regarding the contribution of books to public schools and the tax credit that goes along with it.

13. Finally, Section 201 involves cellulosic biofuel and the tax deduction that goes along with owning a facility that produces it.

Would you like a little sauce with your pork?

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Wordless: A Wienie Wednesday

I’ve been taking a tour around the fantastic site Coney Island History. This week’s image comes from the site and focuses on Nathan Handwerker’s famous hotdog stand.

Nathan’s started out hawking the five cent hog dog, but people weren’t so sure about paying such a cheap price for a hot dog and were willing to visit other Coney Island food establishments and pay higher prices.

At one point Mr. Handwerker resorted to hiring derelicts to sit at his counter and eat free hot dogs thinking the crowd would draw more people. It didn’t. Finally, he dressed ten of the homeless men as doctors and advertised, “If doctors eat our hot dogs, you know they’re good!” The general public finally started visiting his stand.

By 1955, Nathan Handwerker had sold his one hundred millionth hot dog.

Check out a great article regarding Coney Island’s food vendors here.

Today is Wordless Wednesday. You can find other bloggers participating by clicking here.

An Apple a Day....

For some time I’ve been a member over at The Apple, a place where teachers meet and learn. Forum discussions, lesson plans, videos, job leads……you’ll find it all over at The Apple.

You’ll also find education articles over there including some written by folks you might recognize including me. I’ve been a featured writer over at The Apple for the last few months publishing some of the same postings you see here except over there I also use my “other” name, Lisa Cooper.

You can see all the featured writers at The Apple listed here along with their bios. Scroll all the way down to find out more about me.

Head here to explore all The Apple has to offer.

Sunday Snippets

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

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

I’m sorry. It’s not my intention.

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

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

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

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

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

“No,” she said.

Maybe it’s our behavior.

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

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

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

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

Wordless: Ship to Shore Connections

Question: How does this ship have a connection to Watergate?

Remember the name, Bob Woodward? Yep, he’s the guy along with Carl Bernstein that helped bring down the Nixon White House with their Washington Post stories involving the Watergate burglary.

But did you know…..

At one point young Bob Woodward served in the US Navy and the ship in the image above was his first of many posts…The USS Wright.

In the book Silent Coup by Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin it is revealed that Lieutenant Woodward eventually ended up as a briefing officer for Admiral Moorer in 1969. Woodward was often doing Top Secret work as Admiral Moorer was then the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. One of his assignments was to act as a briefer for Alexander Haig….Not sure who he was?

Alexander Haig was the Military Assistant to the Presidential Assistant for National Security Affairs. Basically what this government-speak means is he was Henry Kissinger’s assistant in 1969. Later during the height of the Watergate mess Haig was Nixon’s Chief of Staff.

Kind of makes you wonder what sorts of things came up during those briefings between Woodward and Haig in the White House basement….In 1969, Woodward was basically a lackey in the Nixon Whitehouse, and by 1973 he was bringing the walls down around their ears.

Funny how things work out, huh? This also explains why many often mentioned Alexander Haig as a possible source for the infamous Deep Throat.

You can find other bloggers participating in Wordless Wednesday here

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Culture of No Fail Failure

This bailout thing has me pissed off…royally. How has the greatest nation on earth….the nation that can do anything….the nation that was forged when a group of so called rabble-rousers stood up to the King of England…the nation that mobilized one of the greatest fighting forces in history and defeated Hitler….the nation that walked on the Moon….the nation with grit, determination, and know how….how have we sunk to the point where we no longer allow failure?

Little Johnny has missed 90 days of school, but since “the test” will catch him next year he moves on ahead to fifth grade unprepared. I mean we wouldn’t want his little psyche hurt, would we?

Little Susie gets a trophy for cheering because…..well, she showed up to one of the three practices each week and well….all the kids should get a trophy so everything is fair.

The end of the school year finds me scrambling for award titles I can give certain students…..the students who don’t deserve one…..the students who have to receive an award because the administrator sends out a directive that “all students must receive an award” mainly so said administrator doesn’t have to deal with the student’s mom or dad (more than likely the reason behind why the kid doesn’t deserve one in the first place). These are the students who scream at me, the students who threaten me, the students who never complete an assignment, the student who I find on a daily basis hanging by one arm from the boy’s restroom ceiling, the student who bullies other students…..yeah, them. They get awards too, because….well, we need to be fair, remember?

What we are doing with this type of mentality is creating a culture where no one takes responsibility, the work ethic is basically left for dead along the highway, and then we all have the audacity to stand around, wring our hands and wonder why in the hell education in the United States isn’t improving.

In our (yes, I participate, but only because I’d lose my job if I didn’t) culture of never failing we are actually doing the opposite….we are failing, and we are doing a magnificent job of it.

So much so it has infiltrated the halls of higher education where students are ill-prepared, but walk about with an air of entitlement. Our no failure culture has crept into the business world because that’s were those entitled college and non-college students eventually end up.

….and now, our no fail culture has reached the hallowed halls of the US Capital. The banking firms that are being bailed out have known for months…several months things were going south. I mean, come on, you’re making money providing mortgages to folks with no….absolutely no qualifications. Why? Well, the non-working, non-asset holding public deserves a nice home in the suburbs. It’s a nice thing to do.

No job or a job barely making $25,000, barely a car, no savings, and bingo! You’ve hit the jackpot. You’re sitting pretty in a nice suburban home with three bedrooms, a front lawn, and a real driveway. Soon your neighbors get upset with you because your grass needs cutting, and they aren’t too happy about the cars lined up along the street because the driveway is for the grill and the parties, right? And suddenly those mortgage payments become due and as the months go by the payments begin to increase because you didn’t read the whole document. The cry goes out, “There ought to be a law….how dare those mean mortgage companies make people sign mortage deals they can’t handle?!?”

Then as the foreclosure signs go up and home after home on your street is abandoned and left derelect there comes the cry, “These people can’t help it. Something should be done to help them keep their home.” They have no responsibility for taking on a debt they couldn’t handle. Why? Well, why should they? I mean what’s government for….it’s there to help people, isn’t it? The government should make sure those people keep their homes.

….and now….

The banks can’t get rid of their foreclosed properties fast enough, the money that was supposed to come in from all of those fantastic sub-prime deals didn’t materialize (why would they think it would?), they’ve borrowed money from other financial institutions to stay afloat creating a house of cards that flew to the floor last week. Once again the cry rings out, “Oh my gosh….we can’t let them fail! Something must be done…..they must not have any responsibility in this. Why? Well, why should they?”

John Q. Public is ready and waiting to foot the bill. We pay taxes and don’t even realize we’re doing it since the government makes it easy on us by taking it from us before we actually get our paycheck and don't forget all of those little embedded taxes.

Funny though….if you really take a minute to notice…..the politicians are busy pointing to the folks on the other side as the culprits in the mess, but the only people taking the responsibility is the tax payer.

Until we understand as a nation that government is not there to wipe our rear ends, hand us a bottle, and burp us….until we understand as a nation that each of us holds the responsibility for our own version of the American dream….until we understand that as parents we, not the state, are responsible for our children’s education….until we understand that owning a home is not a right... it’s something we do when we can afford it… then this mess will continue.

Responsibility…..silly, silly word!

$24 Million Later....

I’ve been in the middle of home renovations for what seems like forever. New hardwood floors, new appliances, updated furniture, etc. We get one room halfway cleaned up, and it’s time to tear another one down not to mention the decisions on color, fabric, and window treatments. I don’t do well in that type of situation…it takes me to long because I like so many things.

Two things I haven’t thought of during our renovation is making our home smaller and actually removing the plumbing….totally. I mean, I’m five weeks out from having intestinal surgery. Believe me, I have issues in that area.

Why on earth would anyone want to remove their indoor plumbing?

Check out my latest post over at American Presidents Blog for the answer.

13: Another Side to John Wilkes Booth

When I throw out the name John Wlkes Booth what comes to mind? The end of Lincoln’s hopes for a kind Reconstruction, assassin, actor, murderer, Confederate sympathizer, member of the anti-immigration Know Nothing party, located in a barn, died on a porch, and maybe you even know he was thought of as one of the handsomest men in America in the 1860s.

But what about the romantic Booth? Did anyone have his heart?

Someone most certainly did.

1. In 1864, he exchanged photos and letters with 16 year old Isabel Sumner from Boston Massachusetts. He gave Isabel a ring, set with a pearl, which was inscribed "J.W.B. to I.S." When Booth was sick in New York Isabel sent him flowers. It seems the romance was short-lived, and there is no evidence it lasted beyond the summer of 1864.

2. Sometime in late 1864 or early 1865, Booth entered into a serious romance with Lucy Lambert Hale, daughter of John Parker Hale, a Senator with abolitionist leanings from New Hampshire. However, an American Heritage article states that Lucy began receiving anonymous notes from Booth as early as Valentines’ Day, 1862. Lucy had been pursued by several men including Oliver Wendell Holmes. An image of Lucy is seen below.

3. In January,1865, the paths of Ms. Hale and Mr. Booth crossed when they both found themselves residing in the National Hotel in Washington D.C.

4. Ms. Hale and her father were making preparations to move to Spain as the Senator had been attempting to get President Lincoln to appoint him as minister to Spain.

5. By March, Hale and Booth were secretly engaged. They were often seen together in the National Hotel and there were reports of them kissing and touching, The Senator, Lucy’s father, denied any connection between Lucy and Booth when inquiries were made. In fact, many historians report that Senator Hale hoped to unite his daughter in marriage with Robert Todd, President Lincoln’s son.

6. The young lovers’ behavior was quite scandalous since Lucy Hale was the daughter of one of the nation’s best known Senators. A liason was beneficial for Booth because Lucy could give him access to many movers and shakers of the time.

7. Much as been made throughout historical accounts of those days leading up to Lincoln’s assassination including the fact that Booth attended Lincoln’s Second Inaugural on March 4th. What many don’t realize is Booth attended as the invited guest of Lucy Hale. Many historical resources quote Booth’s good friend, Samuel Knapp Chester relating that Booth said of the ceremony, “What an excellent chance I had to kill the President, if I had wished, on inauguration day!” Booth can be seen in the picture below. Find him in the image below...top row….right of center.

8. President Lincoln appointed Senator John P. Hale to the position of American Ambassador to Spain. Hale instantly accepted the position since after 20 years as New Hampshire’s senator he had lost his re-election bid. He also saw how moving to Spain would be just what he needed to seperate Booth and his daughter.

9. Many detailed histories of the events leading up to the assasssination of Lincoln state that Lucy Hale and John Wilkes Booth were seen in conversation at the National Hotel at the same time her father was meeting with the President.

10. It was that very night that President Lincoln attended the performance of “My American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater and Booth carried out his assassination plot.

11. After shooting the President Booth leaped to the stage shouting “Sic semper tyrannis” breaking his leg along the way. Still, Booth is able to get away from the theater unaccosted.

12. When Booth was finally apprehended he had a picture of Lucy Lambert Hale in his chest pocket.

13. …..and what happpened to Lucy? She spent the next five years with her father in Spain and was never questioned regarding her relationship with John Wilkes Booth. She eventually married William Chandler who also served as a New Hampshire Senator.

There is an interesting article regarding Senator Hale by J. Dennis Robinson titled "Hail Hale, the Hype's All Here", and you can learn more about the home of Senator Hale here

You can find other bloggers posting 13 lists here

Wordless: Why Is This Significant?

Yes, I know….you are probably thinking that this isn’t a very good Wednesday image…..You might be wondering what the significance is. I'm certain if I popped this image up on the screen in my classroom someone in the room would tell me, "Well, it's just a page in a book."

Now really....would I put something here that isn’t significant? Would I share something with students that isn't significant?

We are looking at the first source where the term “New England” was first used.

Significant? I think so.

For the next few weeks I’m going to be spotlighting images obtained from the Images of American Politics site, a really great source. You can access it here.

Today is Wordless Wednesday. You can find other bloggers participating by clicking here

Tools of the Trade: Study Guide

When I began teaching one of the first “real world” moments came to me when I met with parents at conference time especially when the student had a “C” or worse in my class. I’d ask parents:

*Has your child been bringing home his/her textbook and reading a little each night?
*Has your child asked for your help regarding the unit vocabulary?
*Have you seen your child’s Social Studies folder?

Invariably the answers would be:

*I thought they couldn’t bring their book home, or…..textbook? What textbook?
*What vocabulary words? You mean his/her spelling words?
*What notebook? You mean his/her Trapper Keeper I picked up at Walmart?

At this point I’d bring out my copy of the state objectives for social studies and I would go over the items students were to master. As of last year our standards are now printed in our textbook so that makes it a bit easier to share with students and parents. Most parents are simply blown away by what their child must know at the fourth grade level....sometimes I am as well.

In Georgia, fourth and fifth graders complete the very same content they will see again in their high school American History course. Fourth graders journey from Native Americans prior to 1500 to 1860…just shy of the Civil War, and fifth graders continue by beginning with the Civil War and on through present day. It can be quite a daunting journey for students and their parents who are not used to the large amount of content, new vocabulary terms, and intricate details. For example, the new standards for third grade contain 10 main standards with 25 elements. The new fourth grade standards show 16 main standards with 42 very detailed elements. From third to fourth students are expected to take a skip, leap, and a very high jump in the amount of content the state of Georgia wishes to cram in little heads. You can view Georgia’s fourth grade standards here, and fifth grade standards here.

For the last several years Georgia Standards in all subject areas have been revamped and then slowly rolled out by subject matter. The 2008-2009 school year is the year Social Studies standards are being rolled out. Realistically there is nothing new for me and my fourth and fifth grade colleagues other than the stopping and starting points involving the Civil War (I have always taught the Civil War since I began teaching fourth grade). The other main difference with these “new” standards is a few things have been deleted or worded a bit different. For example, in the old standards I was to make sure students knew about the Native Americans groups in South America….Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas. Now that standard is gone, yet magically these native groups appear from the fog to become the nemesis of various Spanish conquistadors.

Getting back to my study guide I knew early on in my teaching that I had to provide something for parents to use as tool. I also needed a tool to help students get an overview regarding what we would be studying for the unit, and I found that the study guide could serve to help me as well. By providing the study guide I indicate I’m willing to help, willing to provide more information, and I’m there for parents. Once I’ve “taught” parents to look for the study guide many of the phone calls, notes in their child’s agenda book, and emails cease because the study guide has everything a student and parent needs in order to be successful with the content.

The image I’ve placed here with this post is a typical study guide for one of my units. If you click on it you will get a much larger image. I’m also reproducing the text for you below if you would like to cut and paste.

Over the years I’ve had to tweak my study guides depending upon vocabulary changes, a new textbook adoption, and even due to the lesson plan format requirements my school system metes out. This particular study guides goes along with the Learning Focused theories hawked by Max Thompson….notice I have an over-arching essential question for the entire unit and further down a set of key questions that also serve as the various lesson questions.

Essential Question: What was the Age of Exploration, and what effect did it have on the Americas?

Following the essential question are the standard elements for the particular topic. I think it is important for students and parents to know exactly what is expected. Students cannot hit a target unless they are shown where the target is. Reading through the standards I’m sure you understand that nine and ten year olds would not understand the language. This is why I generally spend the time following a unit test handing out the new study guides, and I go over it in depth with the kids. We find the verbs in each standard….describe, explain. We discuss various words in the standards such as reasons, obstacles, and accomplishments to determine if we know what they are and so on through each and every standard. Sometimes I have students write a clue word or words out to the side of each standard to job their memory. Here are the standards as they appear on my study guide:

Standards: Students should be able to:

*Describe the reasons for, obstacles to, and accomplishments of the Spanish, French, and English explorations including the explorations of Cabot, Balboa, Ponce de Leon, Columbus, Hudson, and Cartier.

*Describe examples of cooperation and conflict between Europeans and Native Americans

*Describe how the early explorers adapted, or failed to adapt to various physical environments in which they traveled.

*Explain how the physical geography of each colony helped determine economic activities practiced therein

*Describe opportunity costs and their relationship to decision making across time (such as decisions to send expeditions to the New World).

The next two sections of the study guide are fairly simple…..I provide students with a date for their unit test, and I provide the textbook pages. The page numbers help the parents out more than the students. Students cannot go home and say they forgot or more importantly cannot tell their parents I didn’t tell them. My rear end is covered because parents know I always give a study guide at the beginning of a unit…..come Hell or high water. Here are the test and textbook sections:

Final Unit Test: The unit test will be given on Wednesday, November 1st.

Textbook: This unit of study is presented in the following pages of our textbook: 84-119.

As I stated before the key questions serve as my lesson questions for the unit. This study guide indicates six questions so I have at least six lessons in the unit. This doesn’t mean my unit is six days. Lessons can last two, three, four, even a whole sometimes depending on the content. Sometimes I allow the content itself to drive the number of lessons or the lesson question. Sometimes our text does this. Notice the sixth question involving latitude and longitude. This is a skill students should know, and it happens to be a lesson included in our text so in this instance the text drove my decision to add the question/lesson. Notice how I explain a little about the key questions. Students should be able to answer these questions following a lesson. The purpose of the lessson is to find the answer to question. I begin the lesson by identifying the question, and I close the lesson by revisiting the question and we look at possible answers. Here are the key questions:

Key Questions: The following questions will help students review the information presented during the unit of study. Answers can be located in the textbook or class notes:
1. How did early European, African, and Asians trade?
2. What new technological advances led to the discovery of North and South America?
3. Who were the early explorers in North America and what did they discover?
4. What was the effect of continued exploration in North and South America?
5. What types of people lived in New Spain and what kinds of lives did they lead?
6. How can lines of latitude and longitude help us locate places on Earth?

The final section of the study guide is for vocabulary. Notice I have divided it by lesson and have seperated the words into columns. I also provide some hints regarding where definitions can be found. While many of these words are in the text I often have words that aren’t. Students have to resort to using their all important notebook which I teach is the most important tool they have for learning. When we go over the study guide I say each and every vocabulary word and then ask students to repeat them after me. This particular activity is usually fun as I try to use proper pronuciation of the Spanish and Portuguese names. We all usually resort to fits of giggles as the kids try to pronounce the names like I do. Some are really intently serious about it. Students usually ask to go over the names one more time.

Here is the vocabulary section (I only included the first column of words….you can refer to the image for the rest):

Vocabulary: You should be able to identify the following terms in multiple choice format. Students can locate the words in their textbook or class notes as we progress through the unit. Vocabulary flashcards for each word including definitions and illustrations are due on test day.

lesson 1
kingdom
Ghanacaravan
Mali
Mansa Musa
Songhai
merchant
Marco Polo
Kublai Khan
the Silk Road
Zheng He

Creating Standards as You Go and a Moment of Mirth

The Georgia Carnival is flying high once again over at Georgia on My Mind. Check out the first entry over there…..my young friend Ethan is upset that Georgia Educrats had all summer to tweak his grade level’s math standards yet the new school year finds him with unfinished standards and no textbook. Grrr……I have to ask...what did they do for 8 weeks? Math doesn't change that much? They couldn't get a simple set of grade level standards in place over an 8 week period? There is a bright ray of sunshine for Ethan….he has a teacher with some real credentials....it's just a shame that it's now getting to the middle of September and the teacher doesn't really know what he should be teaching in October.

And now for some weekend mirth (and boy do I need some.....):

It seems everyday we have more and more reasons to bemoan educational progress therefore a little humor goes along way. Several days ago I received the following in an email from my cousin. She said she thought me when she read it and I can understand why…….true the story involves a school setting, but the title and the subject matter also involves me since I had my youngest child at home in the presence of three midwives.

….and before you ask…..yes, it was a planned birth. :)

Now, on to a bit of mirth titled Middle Wife which is apparently the product of a 2nd grade teacher somewhere in the United States:

I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself,
but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second-grade classroom a few years back.

When I was a kid, I loved Show-and-Tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, Show-and-Tell is pretty tame, Kids bring in pet turtles, model Airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that.

And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they're welcome.

Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater.

She holds up a snapshot of an infant. 'This is Luke, my baby brother, And I'm going to tell you about his birthday.'

'First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.'

She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement!

'Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, 'Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!' Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. 'She walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!' Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.

'My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the Domino's man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this.' Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.

'And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!' This kid has her legs spread with her little hands miming water flowing away. It was too much!

'Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push,' and 'breathe, breathe! They started counting, but never even got past ten.

Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said it was from Mom's play-center, so there must be A LOT of toys inside there.'

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat. I'm sure I applauded the loudest.

Ever since then, when it's Show-and-Tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another 'Middle Wife' comes along.

September 11th: Other Sites

When you visit Arlington National Cemetery and have a goal in mind of visiting the Kennedy graves and Arlington House you don't really realize how much of a climb the trek is. It starts off rather innocently and after you get to the Kennedy grave site you realize you are hiking up, up, up. I knew that from Arlington House I would be afforded great views of Washington D.C., however, when I turned to the right I was so surprised to see the Pentagon in my camera's viewfinder. Of course, it made sense when I thought about it. I made sure I snapped a view of the Pentagon as it is seen from the very pinnacle of the Arlington property.

I wanted to share this image with you today because when we remember September 11th we tend to head off to New York instantly.......The Pentagon is a site of remembrance on Patriot's Day as well.

My September 11th memory can be found here. Other posts regarding terrorisim and other visions of 9/11 are here.

More Campaign Ads

Back in February during the height of the Presidential Primary process I created an article with several campaign ads and discussed a method to engage students in a method of comparing and contrasting ads.

Within the last few days both of the ads I present here today have appeared in my email box via friends. Both ads were created by private inviduals and both are powerful messages in their own right concerning Iraq.

The first message is pro McCain….make sure you stay with the video until the very end. The message was created by the young man seen in the video.



This ad favors Obama and was created by a group of San Diego State students as an assignment. As with the first ad stay with it until the end.....make sure you view the series of Iraq images.



I’ve recreated here from the original post in February the process I use with students to compare and contrast ads. In the next several days we will be bombarded with tons of quips, barps, mini-messages, and all-holds-barred commercials touting one candidate over another. Perhaps we all need to go through the same process my students have done in order to keep it real and not let these messages cloud the issues.

Here’s the process:

First using Ease History we begin by looking at campaign ads from the past. As we watch them we categorize the ads into the following categories----biographical, issue-oriented, values-laden, and negative. These terms come from a lesson plan at the website found here.

Once we have looked at several examples for each category I divide the class into groups. Each student receives a work sheet with the following questions (taken from this page):

Name:
Date:
Group Members:
Candidate in Ad:

1. How would you categorize your ad? (biographical, issue-oriented, value-laden, or negative)

2. Describe the language and tone of the ad? Is the narrator a male, female, or the candidate? Does the ad specify an action for the viewer (i.e. to elect the candidate, to visit the candidate’s website, to vote against the opponent)? How do language and tone shape the overall message?

3. How do words, images, color, music, camera angles, lighting, people, and symbols contribute to the message of the ad? Do you think they are effective?

4. Did this ad influence you? Did you learn from it? How did it appeal to you? How would you change it to make it more effective?During our look at past campaign ads I also provide opportunities for students to answer the questions they will encounter during the group portion of the activity so that once they are are on their own they are familiar with the direction I’m trying to take them.

This activity meets several of Georgia’s standards for Language Arts as well as Social Studies.So, now it’s time for me to hold your feet to the fire. It’s your turn…Which one appeals to you, if you dare. :)

Related Content: Comparing and Contrasting Campaign Ads

Seen Here, There and Everywhere

I guess one of the advantages of being at home for awhile is that I can finally get caught up with emails and visiting my favorite blogs. I’ve found some interesting things:

Over at the AHA Blog (American Historical Association) reading list was published that included some interesting things—a link to a dicussion regarding the argument comparing academic resources and Wikipedia, a link to a site where you can compare the topography of Washington D.C. from 1791 to today, and for a little chuckle you can read how The Book of Secrets has made it home again to the Library of Congress

Mark Grimsley over at Blog Them Out of the Stone Age has reviewed the book
The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat by Earl J. Hess. Grimsley states, “No kidding. If you think of yourself as a serious student of military history, this is one book you need to read—sooner rather than later.”

Via Chris Wehner at Blog 4 History I found this cool site called (formMy Year of Living Rangerously formally Volunteer in the Park). Mannie, the Ranger, works at the Antietam Battlefield site and he has posted The Sunken Road in 55mm….a recreation of The Bloody Lane, September 17, 1862.

JL Bell from Boston, 1775 is doing some great research on Declaration of Independence signer Richard Stockton comparing and contrast primary and secondary sources.

Kevin Levin over at Civil War Memory is once again writing about myth and memory and how they relate to actual events in Southern Heritage and Me. Kevin states, “No doubt, I am often perceived as an outsider whose purpose is to denigrate the people of the South and Southern Heritage. The outright attacks and/or suspicion, however, have only added to my curiosity about the blurred relationship between history and memory as well as the importance that people and certain organizations place on maintaining and defending certain views of the past.”….. “The interesting question, however, is when those modes of remembrance distort the past and serve to fuel our own contemporary values, interests, and insecurities. In other words, at what point do we leave the realm of history and enter the world of mythology and story-telling, and is it possible to achieve a healthy balance between the two? “……”It's not that I am challenging or questioning Southern heritage, it's that I am looking into or questioning one among any number of ways of remembering the past.”

As a Southerner myself I find it often difficult to write about my ancestors or other historical figures and relate their Confederate beliefs without coming myself as as supporter or making it into some romantic mythological tale. It is a fine tightrope I walk in that instance.

Finally, I posted a new entry over at The American Presidents Blog concerning Jimmy Carter and some of the challenges he had to overcome during the 1976 Presidential Campaign.

The Disease of Washington D.C.

Way back in June, 2007 I visited Mississippi and toured the home of James A. Quitman of “Halls of Montezuma” fame. Pictures from Quitman’s home, Monmouth, can be seen here while you can learn more about Quitman’s service to his county here. While I don’t agree with many of Quitman’s views I found it tragic that his service to his country ended earlier than it should. In my post I wrote:

Quitman’s work came to an end tragically after attending a dinner for James Buchanan. Poison was suspected after several men fell ill. Quitman lingered for sometime, but eventually died from what some state was National Hotel Disease. What’s that? Ah, another story for another time.

Perhaps now that both political parties have had their convention and running mates have been secured it is time to tell the story and revisit the climate of Washington D.C. in the past and in the present…..

In her book titled Reveille in Washington 1860-1865, Margaret Leech sets the stage on the eve of Buchanan’s inauguration which was held on March 4, 1857. She states:

….the city of Washington was a southern town, without the picturesqueness, but with the indolence, the disorder and the want of sanitation…Fish and oyster peddlers cried their wares and tooted their horns on the corners. Flocks of geese waddled on [Pennsylvania] Avenue, and hogs, of every size and color, roamed at large, making their muddy wallows on Capitol Hill…People emptied their slops and refuse in the gutters, and threw dead domestic animals in the canal. Most of the population still depended on the questionable water supply afforded by the wells and by the springs in the hills behind the city. Privies, in the absence of adequate sewage disposal, were plentiful in yards and dirty alleys....

Andrew Dickson White, a U.S. Diplomat, author, educator, and co-founder of Cornell University wrote in 1896 of our nation’s capitol:

The general impression made upon me at Washington was discouraging. It drove out from my mind the last lingering desire to take any part in politics. The whole life there was repulsive to me, and when I reflected that a stay of a few years in that forlorn, decaying, reeking city was the goal of political ambition, the whole thing seemed to me utterly worthless.

I visited Washington D.C. in May of this year, and while I did not find the physical city of Washington in the dire straights Leech relates, the aura of the town reeked of the sticky mud found at the spot which serves as middle ground for the give and take of a tug-of-war. It was so thick in the air you could cut the tension with a knife.

I can certainly agreee with Mr. White.

Why in the hell would anyone want to get into the political pool?

But, before I go down that road of why we should volunteer to run for political office I want to visit the National Hotel part of the story…….

The National Hotel sat at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 6th Street. It was one of the city’s largest hotels. During the 1830s and 1840s, the hotel was known as Gadsby’s. For some reason by the 1850s it was the meet and greet place popular with Southerners who flocked to Washington to take place in the slavery debate during the 1850s…perhaps they served a mean bowl of grits…….I’m not sure.

Think back over the last two weeks and how the presidential nominees arrived at the convention hall a bit early to be on hand following the acceptance speech of their vice presidential nominees. When James Buchanan was nominated by the Democrats for the 1856 election he wasn’t even in the county……this actually made him attractive in that he had not sullied his hands with the struggle during the Kansas-Nebraska debate. Buchanan was in England when he was nominated on the 17th ballot. He didn’t want to run, but accepted the nomination as his cross to bear.

Buchanan won the election over the first Republican candidate for president, John C. Fremont. Though Buchanan was not born a Southerner he was as historian Kenneth Stamp (America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink) relates….a consummate “doughface”….meaning he was northern man with southern principles.

The nation was taking sides and doing so rapidly. Viewing Buchanan’s actions today and through our 21st Century eyes it can be said he simply didn’t get the political realities of the time. When he discussed the problem of slavery he returned time and time again to the Constitution (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), but the North wouldn’t hear of any Constitutional arguments that favored the South, and he could not grasp the fact that sectionalism had taken hold and altered exisiting political parties. The Democrats had split in two….the Whig Party was no more….and the Republicans were still testing their legs.

While the Democrats argued that they had been poisoned by abolitionists a more sane reason for the outbreak has to do with the unsanitary conditions at the National Hotel and in the city of Washington itself. Many sources states the winter that year was particularly frigid and the hotel plumbing had frozen leading to a backup of sewage that overflowed and contaminated the hotel’s kitchen. Another theory suggested rats had drowned in the hotel’s cooking water.

President Buchanan held that secession was illegal, but if a war was fought over secession it would be illegal as well. Therefore…..he did nothing and his non-action is remembered as the worst single failure by a United States President.

At the pre-inauguration event held at the National Hotel many men had gathered to have dinner and make speeches with President-elect Buchanan. Many of those in attendance were Southerners. Afterwards a virulent strain of Dysentery broke out among many of the attendees including Buchanan.

Once the outbreak was realized the Southerners cried that a plot was afoot managed by the Republicans and their abolitionist friends to wipe out Democrats. Many of the stricken guests remained sick for months and even years. Several died. President Buchanan spent the first six weeks of his presidency in bed. Some of those who died were Mississippi Congressman, John Quitman (I referred to at the beginning of this post), Pennsylvania Congressman, John Gallagher Montgomery, and New Hampshire Senator John Parker Hale.

So, how does all of this relate to today’s Washington? As I stated before the hygiene of Washington is much better today, but the political climate?

It oozes of sickness on both sides of the aisle. I’m tired of the discussions, I’m tired of the finger-pointing, and I’m tired of the “got-chas”. I want my government to protect this nation, I want my government to stay out of my life as much as possible, I want campaign reform including getting a handle on the the various folks who lobby for a living, I want to keep more of my money meaning less pork, and I’m tried of attempting to solve every problem in American society by creating a governmental program.

While it will be nice to finally reach that finish line of voting day in November I fear the tug-of-war will not be over until the common man….you, me, and that guy over there standing on the corner rises up and tells those entrenched in our nation’s capitol to go home....but why would we want to do that? That would mean we would get involved, we would take responsibility, we would then have ownership of the problem.

Perhaps that is what this country needs.

The picture presented at the beginning of this post was taken during Buchanan's inauguration and is considered to be the first photograph of a presidential swearing-in.

13: A Teacher's Throne

I worry when I travel about a school building and continually see a teacher sitting behind her desk. Don’t get me wrong…..there are times when a teacher needs to write a note to a parent, speak privately with a student, or complete an item of paperwork during the day, and it simply cannot wait. But day after day, week after week, I worry when I see a fellow teacher sitting behind his or her desk no matter the time of day.

I agree with many administrators that feel a teacher’s place is out and about among the students. Teaching is not listing an assignment on the board at the beginning of class and then taking a seat on our throne.

However, a teacher’s desk…..even though I rarely sit behind mine….is the hub-center of any well run classroom. It is the spot I head to during class changes. I stand behind my desk and take a quick check over my notes for the day, things that must be done by 3:30, and other important “stuff”.

Here are 13 things I can’t do without on my desk in no particular order:

1. Pictures of my family and former students---On the left front corner of my desk are pictures of my husband, my children, my mother, and a few scattered about of former students. Behind my desk is a bookshelf with more pictures scattered about including each homeroom group I’ve taught. Looking upon the pictures has always helped me to keep my priorities in line and at some of my lowest times has helped to motivate and inpire me.

2. Bell---I have a little tap bell that you usually see on the counter of a business like a drycleaners on my desk. When I’m ready to begin class I simply tap the bell and the sound alerts students that EHT is ready to begin. I tap the bell and begin…..I DON’T tap the bell and wait for quiet….I DON’T tap the bell and ask for quiet. As a class we have already decided the bell IS the signal.

3. Timer---I keep it on my desk mainly to protect it from playful hands, but my timer is used in testing situations and various activities. I don’t invest a bunch of money in fancy timers----kitchen timers work and aren’t costly.

4. Drink/coaster---Students learn early on that Elementaryhistoryteacher has to have a drink whether it’s a bottle of water or fountain coke I’ve picked up on the way to school. In fact many students offer to go get me a Coke as they arrive first thing in the morning since I’m in a much better mood after I’ve had a sip of Coke. :) A good coaster for a drink is key so that it doesn’t prespire all over my papers.

5. Papers to grade/return---Every teacher has to have a system for grading. I take up papers and keep them separate by class group with a paper clip. I put them inside the back cover of my Agenda/PlanBook since I know that item goes home with me each an every night no matter what. When I unpack in the morning I pull out graded papers and place them at the front of the room with my lesson plan, so that simply by seeing them I remember to hand the papers out at the beginning of class. I usually have a helper for the day during each class period…..they know to look for papers to return and by the time I’m ready to begin class students already have them in their hands. Then I just remind them to place the papers in the appropriate place in their folders.

6. Place for “must do today” items---Every day of the school year includes items that must be done that particular day…A head-count for a t-shirt order, a parent note that must be responded to, a book order that must be finalized and turned into the office, etc. Those items are always front and center on my desk and lay on top of my open Agenda/PlanBook….sometimes papercliped to the page for that day. I know by the end of the day those items must be completed and sent on their way to wherever.

7. Agenda/PlanBook----My school system provides me with a spiral bound book that contains a calendar, a teacher’s plan book, grade book pages, phone log, etc. I use it and I’m grateful for it. It’s nice to have everything together in one book.

8. Favorite types of pens/pencils---Isn’t it more fun to do your work when you have the type of pens, pencils, and erasers that motivate you? My personal favorite is black gel pens, but I never keep them stored on top of my desk. I store them in a drawer. When they are seen on top it is too easy for me to allow a student to borrow them and then….then they merely walk out my door never to be seen again. I do have a cache of pencils and pens for student use…..I keep them in a bucket near the front of the room.

9. Staple remover and Stapler---Again I make sure students know my desk stapler and remover is off limits for their use. I keep two staplers for student use at the front of the room along with a student hole-punch as well. Why? Because students tend to be a little rough and something is always on the fritz.

10. Letter opener---just a personal choice. I can’t stand torn envelopes and jibbles of paper hanging about.

11. Thank-you, get well, blank cards for colleagues, parents and always a few that are appropriate for students----when a fellow teacher is feeling low, you need to send a thank you to a parent, or a little “way to go” to a student it is so easy to reach down into my bottom drawer and pull out the type of card I need.

12. A plant----Plants dress a desk up a bit, but I tend to go towards silk so I don’t have to remember to water them plus students knock them off from time to time and dirt won’t get everywhere. I also have a small American flag on my desk at all times as well.

13. “Get to this later” pile----this is a pile of stuff that I run across through the mail or reaches me when someone hands it to me. Perhaps one scrap of paper has an idea on it for a field trip or lesson activity idea….perhaps the paper has info on it about a really great piece of technology….perhaps it’s a lesson plan someone wants me to look over or it’s an activity. I try to clean this pile out once a week, at the end of a term, and at the end of the year, however, there are still items in this pile that have been there since my first week of teaching. :)

So, that’s how my throne checks out….What about yours?

Lots of bloggers participate in Thursday 13. You can locate them here

Carnival Information......

The latest editions are out!

You can find the History Carnival at Osprey Publishing, the Education Carnival at Lead From the Start, and I posted the Georgia Carnival over at Georgia on My Mind last Friday. The Georgia Carnival isn’t just a collection of postings concerning the state of Georgia….there’s always a wide range of topics there from national politics to art, to an interview with an ice road trucker.

Wordless: Jenny the Elephant

When I was a little girl and would walk through the gate at the Atlanta Zoo I always wanted to head to the elephant exhibit first. They were my favorite animal. Due to the nature of my curriculum I have never been able to lead a field trip to the zoo, but I have gone along on my fair share of trips with my own children and their classrooms as a chaperone. The kids always enjoyed visiting with Starla, the Elephant. She could hold a paint brush in her trunk and painted several masterpieces each day. The children were entralled.

Today, the Atlanta Zoo is one of the most premiere facilities in the United States, but as the zoo’s own website states, in 1984, a series of highly publicized events belied deteriorating conditions at the Zoo, prompting Parade Magazine to label the institution as one of the top 10 worst in the nation. A subsequent investigation lost the Zoo its accreditation, and an outraged public demanded that the facility be closed. Mayor Andrew Young appointed an emergency crisis team. In support of a new vision for the Zoo, Young appointed Dr. Terry Maple as interim director. The team set out to address immediate issues, beginning with reducing the collection in order to provide more appropriate living spaces for the animals.

Since it is 2008 you would think all of our nation’s zoos are up to speed regarding animal facilities, but apparently some are not including the Dallas Zoo. My blog friend NYCEducator posted a video and some information yesterday about Jenny, the Elephant and how comedian Lilly Tomlin has been speaking out about Jenny’s living conditions.

It seems some folks want Jenny to live out her final days in Tennessee at an elephant sanctuary while just a few days ago the zoo decided to upgrade the elephant facility and keep Jenny where she is.

Situations like these beg for use in the classroom. Students could research the problem and obtain the various points of view before arriving at their own. This activity hits on activism, citizen responsibility, research, letter writing, analysis, etc.

Here are some links if you want to get involved:

The mayor’s email address tom.leppert@dallascityhall.com
News stories here and here regarding the zoo’s decision to keep Jenny.
an article regarding Lilly Tomlin's involvement and a blog article that attempts to stay with the facts

Other bloggers are participating with Wordless Wednesday today. You can find them here

Classroom Notebooks Revisited

A couple of weeks ago I posted an article regarding a letter I send home prior to midterm grades, and I usually send something like it again before the end of each term as well. A couple of readers had questions so I decided to revisit the whole thing.

Teachermom asked…I have one question - what kinds of things/sections do the students have in their notebooks?

I’m so glad you asked me Teachermom! I could have sworn when I posted the article that I had previously written an article regarding my notebook guidelines, but for some reason I didn’t link to it. Yesterday I did some research and found the article from August, 2006 titled Keeping a Notebook: Elementaryhistoryteacher Style.

This article should answer your questions though I believe I should also post a walk-through lesson where I have students writing notes. I’ll try to get to that soon. :) If you use notes and a classroom notebook in your classroom, I encourage you to read the article.

My great blog friend, Polski3, also had a few questions regarding the grading process for the notebooks. He asked, What are the elements of the notebook grading rubric? Just a few to consider: Is it complete? neat? Did the student follow instructions? Is it completed on time? Is there evidence that the student is using their notebook as a learning tool?

The image I’ve provided with this article is one example of a very informal rubric I’ve used with much success. I’ve tried to keep it as simple as possible so it’s quick and painless for me. I also want it to be as simple as possible for students to use if they grade each other as I mentioned in the article. Click on the image and you can see a larger version and read the grading elements.

One question Polski3 had did give me pause……..Is there evidence that the student is using their notebook as a learning tool? Not always. Just because the student passes the end-of-unit-test it doesn’t necessarily mean he/she utilized his/her notes. However, at various points during class I attempt to reinforce for students the fact that they do have a very valuable tool at their fingertips. For example, when I attempt to connect mastered material with new information I might ask a series of review questions. It is very easy for me to walk over to the posted table of contents in my room and wonder aloud, “Hmmmm….I wonder where that answer might be in my notebook?” Suddenly there is a flurry of folder pages being turned and poured over. I also encourage students to utilize their notebook first before turning to the textbook when completing crossword puzzles and other review activities.

So, Where Ya Been EHT?

I’m home.

Finally.

It has been a harrowing ten days in the hospital…an unexepected stay.

Thirteen days ago from seemingly nowhere I began to have severe pain in my abdomen. Pain that came in waves reminiscent to labor pains. Being the strong, stubborn woman I am I attempted to heal myself and summed it all up to the fact that many forty-something year old women tend to do…..”Oh, it must be The Change.”

Wrong.

I finally had had enough on the third day and decided to visit my doctor. My insurance provider then sent me on on wonderful travel tour of Atlanta as I had to visit first one office and then another in order to have this test and then another to determine the source of my discomfort. I tell you it isn’t easy to navigate Atlanta traffic lying prone in the passenger seat of your vehicle……it makes it very hard to help Dear Hubby drive...a habit of mine that drives him batty.

Finally, with a set of ultrasound results in hand I visited my internist only to hear her say some parts of my innards were still invisible and I would have to trek to north Atlanta to have yet another test…..a CT Scan…at yet another wonderful facility my insurance company owns.

I couldn’t believe it. Another pain-filled ride through another rush hour….my second such ride that day…..I didn’t think I could endure it. It was crazy.

“Dear Doctor,” I said as I made a direction point with my finger, “there’s a fine hospital right on the next corner, and you’re telling me I have to drive an hour for a test….and then I might have to drive again to the hospital my insurance company wants me to be at?”

She confirmed. I’d had enough. I should have gone to the emergency room to begin with with, but…..I was trying----trying----trying to play the insurance game, so when payment time came there would be no problems.

Dear Hubby and I high-tailed it to the ER on the corner….Dear Doctor had called ahead, gave me my assortment of test results, and we didn’t wait long at all. Within minutes I had an ER doctor, an IV feeding me some sort of wonderful drug called Newbaine, and the CT scan was completed.

Then enter my medical savior…..a fine young man with a face any mother would love. Man, these doctors resemble teenagers these days, don't they? Where are all the old codgers of my youth? Young Doctor Man wanted to enter my body and complete a Laparoscopy to see what exactly was going on in my innards. Dear Hubby and I consented and suddenly there was a flurry of events. While the surgery nurses were trying to get together items to prep me for an unexepected Friday evening operation and asking me hundreds of questions, I was racking my brain regarding the many things that Dear Hubby needed to do.

Then I was removing my rings for Dear Hubby to keep. Reciting a quick “to-do” list…calls to our children….our parents, our pastor, friends and other family.

A rushed good-bye kiss, and then I remember nothing until I woke up in recovery.

A one hour look-see turned into a four hour major surgery.

I can only imagine what Dear Hubby went through as he sat in the waiting room. It had been too late in the evening for our parents to travel, but two couples from church along with a pastor showed up to wait with him.

For the last ten days I’ve been in a Morphine induced trance recovering from the removal of a tumor in my Colin, removal of approximately one foot of my intestines, removal of my Appendix, and the removal of an ovary…..a complete Hysterectomy now waits in the wings.

….and I get You just thought Elementaryhistoryteacher was just being a bit lazy with the blogs. :) Never......ever. They have been on my mind. My trusty laptop even visited the hospital and had been in the bed with me for the last three days.

I even managed.....somehow....to get the Georgia Carnival up, but I don't know how. Morphine and blogging just don't seem to go together that well, ya know?

….and BTW…..those of you that put those doctor visits off and don’t go for your screenings as you should….please, please, please make those appointments this week. :) It's much better to ride that Insurance roller coaster going here and there when you are well instead of when you are in acute pain.

At least now I have several days in the future to devote to history blogginess.....my loss is your gain....hmmmmmm.....maybe it's my gain as well. :)