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...
I've written and published a book! Of course, that was my intention when I began this blog way back in 2006 when I was still in the classroom, but the book I've published isn't exactly the book I had planned. The planned project - a teaching memoir - will still be published along with a few other projects, but the book you see to the left is what fell in my lap along the way. It needed to be done. History education is my prime focus along with writing curriculum. Over the last couple of years I've written a few college courses used by teacher candidates at Johns Hopkins University School of Education, and I have some other curriculum ideas up my sleeve, but local history has taken a front-burner position over the last year. I've been researching and writing the local history of Douglas County for the past four years, and have had a weekly column the Douglas County Sentinel for a year and a half. I've been a longtime fan of the Images of America series of books ...
Cute Young Man approached my desk rather gingerly because he knew he shouldn’t be up. First, since it was our “silence is golden” time – that time I allotted on the plan book during the week for students to read aloud anything they wanted to from my classroom library, so he shouldn’t have been out of his seat since I had already given everyone a chance to choose their reading material, and we had already rotated through the restrooms. Secondly, since I read something during this time as well……I really didn’t like being interrupted. Cute Young Man whispered, “Elementaryhistoryteacher, I need to ask you something.” Hmmm….that was obvious since he was standing beside me during “silence is golden” time, but I decided not to mention that and said, “What do you need, Cute Young Man?” He had a book in his hand….not one of mine, but it didn’t matter. Students could bring items from home to read. The important thing was that my students we...
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