clair057

This post first appeared here at History Is Elementary in June, 2006 . I’m currently attending a seminar on educational law, so it seems appropriate to re-run this today. Enjoy. Earlier this month we sidestepped another effort to amend our Constitution. That’s not surprising since there have been approximately 10,000 proposed amendments since 1789. Most of them never got out committee while some amendments, the Equal Rights Amendment, for example, gained great notoriety but expired while waiting on ratification. If it’s possible to love a document then Elementaryhistoryteacher absolutely adores the United States Constitution. My American identity rests in the stability and continuity of the United States Constitution. I really get into teaching my government unit even though some of the more intricate workings of our government I’m required to cover in fourth grade are a bit too lofty for the students to grasp. However, I try. I lay seeds that I hope will sprout later. I teach students...

This post was written in June, 2006 and since Vacation Bible School season is fast upon us I thought I would re-run it. Go back in time with me to the olden days when summer was June, July, and August, kids caught fire flies while the adults talked ‘big talk’ on the porch, and my sister and I would find ourselves in our pajamas at the Dairy Queen on the whim of our parents as dusk overtook the day. Each summer morning I would awaken to an already fiery sun around nine a.m. I would lie there awake and listen to the sounds around me. Sometimes I would identify the sounds of the washing machine, the slam of our wooden screen door, or my mother speaking on the telephone. I never dressed immediately. Instead I would get up and wander about the house looking out the front door and then moving towards the back of the house to check out what was going on. I’d say good morning to mom and then fix my breakfast. Sometimes it would be cinnamon toast or my personal favorite back then….Saltines spr...

This post first appeared here at History Is Elementary in May,2007 . Enjoy! Look at my title. Balloon. Bomb. Separated each word means something very different and the concepts they represent are on opposite ends of the desirable and undesirable spectrum depending on the situation. Of course, when you place the words together the concept they represent (water balloons) can also reside on opposite ends of the desirable and undesirable spectrum. Having a balloon bomb fall on you when you least expect it is not a desirable situation. Watching a water balloon drench someone you are upset with can be a great thing. Playing with water balloons on a hot summer day is a very desirable situation for many, however, believe me when I state being appointed as the adult who gets the honor of filling 200 water balloons for a field day event is not a desirable situation Today’s 13 list doesn’t deal with just bombs, or just balloons, or even balloon bombs filled with water. The balloon bombs that are...

This morning I noticed on Facebook (yes, Elementaryhistoryteacher has a profile, but it's under an assumed name) several of my former students were commenting they just had one more week of school. Fellow educators were also giddy at the thought the school year is almost over. Can’t say that I blame them. In May, 2006 I was posting concerning end of the year awards and a letter that ALL of my students receive at the end of the year. I provide the full text of the letter and encourage other teachers to use it if they so desire. I finally managed to get our team awards done yesterday and gave them to my team members so they could verify signatures, etc. I typed up awards for all As all year in each academic area, and most improved in each homeroom. The front office prepared our certificates for all As all year, all As and Bs all year, and perfect attendance----the usual, you know. As a team we decided to give our awards tomorrow so if there is some sort of mistake it can be correcte...

This article first appeared here in March, 2006 . I write the following sentence on the board: Millard Fillmore was a know nothing. I ask students to tell me what the sentence means. “Well…..somebody isn’t too smart,” a student volunteers. Another comment is added. “That guy, Mil-, Mil-. That Mil- guy doesn’t know nothing.” I ignore the grammatical error. At this point it will just confuse them. I try to turn students in another direction. “What are nouns?” Someone regurgitates “Words that name people, places, ideas, and things.” I counter with, “What’s our strategy to find nouns?” Several seconds go by. I hold up my board marker and point to it. Several hands go up. “We look for noun markers like the words a, an, and the.” “Good, take a look at the sentence again. What do you see?” “Know nothing is a noun. It has an “a” in front of it.” “Yes. So is Millard Fillmore stupid?” “No, somebody is calling him a name.” “What else do you notice about the words “Know” and “Nothing”? After sever...

This post first appeared here in November, 2006 Is it possible to love someone through another’s memory? To love and admire someone you never met, someone you will never be able to meet, someone who at the moment of their passing caused an incredible upheaval of grief and gouged an enormous chasm of longing for things that can never be, someone who a large number of people still speak of with reverence, awe, and thankfulness? I believe it is possible. I know it is possible. I know it because I participate in this kind of love and admiration everyday for two vastly different Americans who left this Earth almost a year to the day from one another. My admiration for these two inviduals stems from my mother who shared her memories of them with me during my formative years where they became entertwined and linked indelibly in the murkiness where actual memory and grafted memories blend. I was six months old on Saturday, November 24, 1962. Naturally I have no real memories of this day. What ...

This post originally ran in May, 2008 . I thought it was appropriate to re-run it today….. Ah, testing is over….Spring has sprung….and the fifth of May brings cries of Happy Cinco de Mayo, Elementaryhistoryteacher! Students discuss how their families will invade the nearest Mexican restaurant for special deals, free beer for the adults at some establishments, and lively music. Whoa there…I like Mexican food, music, and an occasional beer as much as the next person, but exactly what are we celebrating? It’s lunchtime and lots of people are moving about the campus, so I send out a group of kids with clipboards in hand and ask them to take an informal survey asking any adult in the hallway, media center, lunchroom, or main office why Cinco de Mayo is celebrated. I send out another group to ask students at lunch the same question. The two groups remaining in the classroom stay busy until our survey takers return. Fifteen minutes later the data is passed along to the groups that stayed in t...