Memorial Day, An American Experience

Here in Michigan Memorial Day is a big deal--parades down small-town main streets, trips to the cemetery where veterans' graves (including my dad's) are marked with brand new American flags, speeches by politicians using crackling sound equipment, and bands playing "Stars and Stripes, Forever." It is a time to pause and think about sacrifices--ultimate sacrifices--some people and their families are making to ensure that the American experiment continues unabated. Each one of us probably knows a person serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, for we are a nation at war.

All of my adult life has been spent living and working South of the Mason-Dixon Line where Memorial Day is viewed with some ambivalence as a Yankee holiday. In Alabama and Georgia there's more zeal for a Confederate Memorial Day that they celebrate earlier in May to commemorate not only fallen Confederate soldiers but also the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston, C.S.A., to General William T. Sherman, U.S.A. on April 26, 1865.

Tennessee, Kentucky, and Louisiana celebrate on June 3, Jefferson Davis's Birthday. Confederate "Decoration Day" dates are decided by each celebrating state--somehow fitting that the conflict fought on the states' rights issue is memorialized by the states...

Natives of the Midwest may not even know that the customs around their  holiday date back to the Civil War becasue for them Memorial Day is the beginning of summer. And in the upper Midwest summer, even more than Memorial Day, is the really big deal.

Summer is more appreciated in climes where winter rules for long cold months. More people have convertibles. Men wear half-sleeve shirts when the temperature gets into the 60s. Women stick to "white shoes between Memorial Day and Labor Day." And, most people go to their summer places--cottages, camping, and boating--for this long weekend.

All through junior high and high school, I celebrated Memorial Day by having a beach party for my friends. Sunburns were the order of the day. People at my class reunions still talk about coming to those beach parties and pictures of them have showed up on Facebook. Oh my!

 My house near Lake Michigan is the summer place for our family. Last year, one of my three sons brought his family for the long weekend. We went to the beach (even though the temperature didn't get above 70F) every day, and we had the traditional hot dog and S'mores event around a roaring beach fire. My neighborhood here, comprised of some "year-'round" houses and some cottages, has filled up. American flags are flying from the porches. Friends will gather to catch up on a year's events and to mark the beginning of another summer season.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping at a local Walmart. Bad timing on my part! Distance to my parking spot could have been measured in fractions of a mile, and the aisles were so crowded that they were difficult to navigate. It's similar to Race Weekend in Bristol. Shopping carts were full of beer and picnic supplies, and cars in the parking lot pulling trailers and campers were stuffed to the gills with folded up lawn chairs, golf bags, barking dogs, and squirming kids.

Memorial Day. Lots of American experiences rolled into one long weekend. Happy Holiday!

Getting Full Credit for DQs: Write On!

I learned a great deal from creating the discussion questions for last year's class and from reading students' answers. I struggled to write good questions; sometimes I hit the mark. There are things about each reading that I want you to notice; these are not always things that can be determined by an objective quiz. Some of my questions worked well last year in that they did elicit the sorts of responses I'm looking for.

Here are some pointers on getting full credit for your Discussion Question answers.

1. Your answer should first and foremost convince me that you completed the reading, understood it, thought about it, and finally--in the forum--wrote about it. When several people cite the same example and that example is from the first 25% of the text, I get suspicious. I don't like the fact that I get suspicious, but I admit that it happens.

2. Examples from the reading are critical to success in discussion forums. Just saying what you think without backing it up will not generally get you full credit. Knowing what you think about a reading will be more authoritative if you cite a particular section of the work (paraphrase) or even better when you quote from the reading.

Here are some examples from good work done in last year's class. I found these three answers to be exceptional. They hit the mark because they show thought, they give examples, they use the language of the writer they are talking about. Read and enjoy!

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The question: Jesse Stuart never found a school he couldn't transform.
Why do you think this was the case? Which of his methods seem most effective to you?
What qualities make him a good teacher from your vantage point? Why?

"Whittling the Timber" by Laura Grinstead

Jesse Stuart said it best, "It wasn't that I was a good teacher. I had good timber to work with. I had taught the ambitious descendants of a land locked people, who for the first time in their lives had the advantage of high-school training. They had made the best of it. They had given me their best. I had given them my best. They would return soon to their plowing and planting, to their work beneath the sun, wind, and stars in their valley of mists and tender voices of spring. And I would return to college to take courses in education, to prepare myself for the greater school task ahead."
      Mr. Stuart believed in his children and he found ways to help each and every child, no matter the age or the situation. That's what made him a good teacher. He came to their levels and never criticized a person for being the age of 23 on a first grade level.
      The method I liked the best was helping the smaller children to stay awake in class, with play. School should be interesting for those students, because it will help them to always be interested. Taking the time to find out what each child enjoys can make a difference in the long run. His way of teaching was like our system No Child Left Behind, but Mr. Stuart's just worked a lot better.
      Each individual was a piece of timber that he whittled out to the best of their ability.



"Jesse's Passion" by Jessica Counts

I believe that Jesse's passion drove him to achieve greatness!   He had a passion for the students, teaching, and for learning, and this was seen both in and outside the classroom.   When he taught high school for the first time, he studied outside the classroom in order to give the children the best lesson possible.   He believed in each one of his students and shared his passion with them to make them believe in themselves.   He never gave up on a student, but saw the potential in each child/adult.   Despite all of the obstacles that he had to overcome-teaching all grades 1-8 in a one room school, walking great distances to and from school, criticism, etc.-it never deterred him from his goal…he had a passion.

            I loved reading about how the needle's eye was the school teacher and the thread that ran so true was play.   The more I thought about it, I realized how true this statement was.   Children's play is apart of their development, they need to play.   The different stages of play (object, individual, imaginative, etc.) indicate the different stages of development.   As you are teaching children they are in these developmental stages that play is also a part of.  Jesse's insight was deeper than just occupying the children, it was crucial to their learning. 

            One of the other things that I noticed about Jesse is that he always used positive reinforcement and gave the students ownership of their school.   When he went to Landsburgh High School he changed the sign from "KEEP OFF THE GRASS ...If you don't, you will be punished.  This means YOU!" to "PLEASE, PROTECT THE GRASS" (page 126).   His sign was a lot more effective because it gave the students ownership and did not put them on the defensive; as the saying goes, you will get further with sugar. He also created a family like environment within all of his school houses. "I told them that we planned to paint the house.   I told them that this building was our home, that we were a unit the same as a family and we had to work together." (page 46).  I find this significant because children thrive in security, if they know that they are safe and cared for then often times they perform better.

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The question: How do these two writers contribute to your "American experience"? What do their perspectives bring into focus for you? How do their experiences and their thinking help you face your own situation?

"My American Experience" by Emily Smith

Both of these writers greatly influenced my American experience.   They introduced historical perspectives that I was not very familiar with.   Bell Hooks discussed the oppression that women slaves experienced.   Before reading this book, I had not thought about the differences in the treatment of men and women slaves.   I learned that women slaves suffered the effects of racism and patriarchy.

Jesse Stuart gave a very interesting insight into the public school system in Kentucky.   From his experiences teaching in a one room school house, being a superintendant, and being a principal I learned a lot about the school system and Stuart's successful teaching philosophies.   These different perspectives help me to refine my views of the feminist movement, public education, and teaching philosophies.

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Perhaps my comments and these excellent posts by students in last year's class will help you succeed in the discussion forums.


KVB

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At the Beach

This is it! My beach...Lake Michigan. The photo at left is one of my favorites of Birchwood Beach, where I grew up and now am very lucky to own property. Sand, sky, dune grass, blue water! No, you cannot see across it. This place is as close to Narnia as anyone can get in this lifetime. People who've been here understand why I make the 11-hour drive from Bristol whenever I have a few days off from classes at King College.

My house, called Stollaway, was built in 1941 and had extensive renovations and an addition in 2006-2007. I live five minutes by foot from the beach on a cool ravine. The creek you see in the picture above flows through the ravine and into the lake. The picture at leftt gives you a sense of the house and shows you the trees that dwarf it, towering four times the height of the roof's peak. My workspace looks into the ravine behind the house. The trees are virgin timber--enormous tulip poplars, maples, beeches, and oaks. I see deer, coons, ground hogs, squirrels, and sometimes a fox.

I've been working diligently for the last three days to get ENGL 2162 back into shape for our American experience together that begins officially on May 31. Re-working the Blackboard site is a tedious endeavor...so many dates to change!

The course syllabus and all documents for Module One are revised and ready now. You could actually start reading and doing your four required activities any time. Once class begins it's a lot like The Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags--no getting off, no time to wish for something else--just an intense and very rewarding experience.

My biggest hopes for you are that you will have fun with the readings and that you will let them take you to "places" you haven't been before--the ante-bellum South, the dangerous  American West, a circus train, Michigan's Upper Peninsula,  black women's American lives, a coal camp, a synagogue. I hope you will be open to these unfamiliar places and let the people you find talk to you about what they know. I want you to expand your cognitive space to a broader American experience.

This blog is the things I would say to you if we were having class f2f. It will let you know what I'm thinking and also help you navigate the documents and screens of our Blackboard interface. I hope you'll read it and comment.