What is Important?

Our church had its "consecration Sunday" last weekend. This is the Sunday when members make a pledge for giving during the coming year. We had Rev. Roger Russell from Wesley United Methodist Church in Canton, IL as our guest minister and he was excellent. His sermon focused on Matthew 22: 15-22 where the Pharisees are trying to trap Jesus in a discussion regarding taxes and money. Jesus responds, something to the effect that we should give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's.
Just like the Pharisee's I want all the benefits of living in America (police, firemen, paved roads, electric lights, indoor plumbing, etc.) but I don't want to pay taxes for them. But that isn't even what made me nervous, it was when Rev. Russell said the verses weren't about money but with God's ownership of me. I live an orderly life because I was created by an orderly God, I show love because my God is love, and I seek eternal life because I was created by an eternal God. God's rule in my life should be foremost because he owns everything about us. My focus must become less on things of this earth and more on things of importance to the One who created me.

Travel

We took a short trip to Vincennes and New Harmony, Indiana. While in Vincennes we visited Grouseland, home of William Henry Harrison and the George Rogers Clark Memorial (middle photo) where you can see several Revolutionary War burial sites. We spent a couple of hours in New Harmony where you can get an excellent cup of coffee at the establishment pictured. I am more and more amazed by the 19th century era of American History. Harrison had a wonderful home built (400,000 bricks) and he thought of everything, indoor well, all walls were brick which made it more difficult for angry locals to shoot you and it was harder to burn the house down. The sacrifice these men made for our nation is amazing. I know they had their faults, I've heard all that, but when compared with the people we elect today they were saints. I have always been disappointed with our treatment of Native Americans but can't seem to find any example of someone else who handled a similar situation any better. I would like to think we could have allowed them to continue to live their lives without relocating them.

As I look over all the change that occurred from 1800 to 1900 it truly fogs my brain to try and come up with what should have been done. As Bob Dylan sang so eloquently, "the times they are a-changing." That was the case, once Independence was won, a new Constitution established and the government began making "internal improvements," the future almost seems to be set in stone. The people here first were now in the way of progress. I know in 2010 what many people think when they hear I don't carry a cell phone with me........strange person.

The Simple Life

Vicki and I went to the Colonial Faire at Jubilee State Park last Saturday. I really enjoyed looking at all the colorful foods raised by Native Americans of the Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois regions. The colorful corn, squash, pumpkin, and berries were beautiful. What a word to describe food and yet the more colorful our food the more enjoyable our dining experience. As a history teacher I also found it interesting that history was their least favorite subject in school. History must be experienced not memorized.

The school year has begun. I love being back in the classroom for three hours per day. American Studies is using google docs to reduce paper, allow sharing of documents, assign presentations that can't be left at home, and equalize the playing field between have's and have not's. As if attempting to direct forty-seven juniors through google docs doesn't add stress, my team teaching partner and I were awarded a Smartboard. We love it, no more overheads, one machine does it all (well, not quite), we grade themes by bringing up the "doc" and grading, snap a picture, convert to pdf and save. It will then be returned to the student AND NO PAPER WAS USED! I follow a guy on Twitter who goes by "Teach Paperless" and he is an inspiration. Oh, I am trying to use Twitter on a regular basis and I am seeing potential classroom applications every day. However, I am going to two days of training on Blackboard this week and so I have another technology to learn and implement. Oh, I will turn fifty-six in October and my brain hurts. One question, why do many administrators when faced with a decision between FREE and pay choose to pay? My American Government teachers have successfully used Moodle for three years but we have to use Blackboard. Free vs pay. I don't understand. We didn't get a pay raise but we got Office 2010, Caterpillar Tractor Company uses Office 2003. Open Office is free, why do we need 2010? I know the pay guys add some bells and whistles but FREE is FREE......I have lived in a home without cable television and survived, I don't own a smartphone and the sun still rises in the morning, I drive a manual transmission Toyota that gets 40 plus mpg on the highway and it's not a Hybrid. Help me understand why complicated is better. Where is Thoreau when I need him?

Back To School

It is the time of year when our department celebrates retirements, retirees, and returning to school. Each year the week before school our Social Studies Dept. members, spouses, and children share a meal, memories and anticipation about the coming year. It is a special time for me because I touch base with former members and introduce new members to their new second "family." We are somewhat unique in that I hire people who I believe will make great teachers but also people I believe will bond with co-workers and form a team that shares ideas, struggles, joys and successes. I want people who are open with others, who take advice, give advice, can agree or disagree and be professional. I get to work each day with people who meet this criteria and exceed it. For those of you who don't hire in this manner........reconsider. All of the background relationships are what make us successful in the classroom, none of us stand alone, we are supporting one another at a variety of levels and that is what benefits our students. It is part of the reason when students have the schedule space they fill it with a Social Studies credit. Our family of teachers cares for each other which makes it easier to care for our students. Have a great school year!

Doing More With Less

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128953596&ps=cprs
I know most of us don't want to live with the crowding that the Japanese have to endure on a daily basis, however, the article explains the use of "micro-houses" to provide a small personal space and not waste more resources than necessary. Americans need to examine this concept carefully and consider whether they need all the space they have.

It Never Ends

Just finished the introduction to Connecting Teachers, Students, And Standards by Voltz, Sims and Nelson. Another book written by educators who don't get it or who do get it and won't dare write it. We are not all the same, programmers don't work in a team with the window washers, engineers at Caterpillar don't work in a team with the chip wheeler, they are entirely different skill sets. As a Social Studies Dept. Chair I integrated nearly all students into our Freshman level Global Studies classes over twelve years ago. I even used the same arguments as the authors, that the lower ability student will learn from observing the higher ability student. Every year we continue to modify our curriculum to try and raise the bar for that lower achieving student and for the majority of lower achievers it doesn't work. We are "teaming" students who will never be teamed in life. I don't want a "dumbed down" curriculum for lower achievers, I want a more direct intervention curriculum that involves parents, counselors, job shadowing, vocational education, technology and regular classes.

Oh, that part about lower ability students observing higher ability students and picking up habits.....we have not seen that happening. In fact, we can't even mix abilities in our cooperative learning groups because the lower ability student has caught on that the upper ability student will do the work if they just wait. We have gone to grouping by grades, top four grades, next four, next four and so on. Yes, that cruelly leaves the bottom four together but we have found that usually one or two of them step up and get the task done! It appears to mirror our larger society where if I just wait, someone will take care of me. Wow, school hasn't started and I'm depressed.

Most educators don't get it, we have the technology to guide students while they work independently. They can contact us with questions (oh, forgot, most of that stuff if used during school hours will get you a detention), allow us to edit writing on-line, share documents between themselves (oh, they might cheat???), but most schools are terrified. IT IS THE 21st CENTURY, time to start teaching students for their future and not my past. Oh, can a history teacher say that?

Remember, be nice and work hard.