MzTeachuh
MzTeachuh is a resource blog providing educational links for professional development, timely articles for special needs, ed tech and STEM, as well as interesting and amusing posts in the Fine Arts and the Humanities.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Teachable Moment: Memorial Day and Regular Kids Who Were Heroes
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This crew was delivering supplies to French civilians during the D Day invasion and was shot down. My dad's cousin, Blake Treece, T/Sgt. Radioman, is in the second row, fifth (l to r.) |
After Pearl Harbor Day, my dad (Larry) and my aunt Maxine joined the Navy. Both my dad and Uncle Robert flew in the Pacific. My dad was a quick study, after flying Corsairs, became an instructor pilot. Robert became one of the first pilots to fly a B29 as part of the Billy Mitchell Group, sort of a test pilot while fighting the war.
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Robert, Grandma, Alphia, Larry, Maxine. Just after Pearl Harbor Day. |
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The Lady Hamilton, B 29, Billy Mitchell Group. |
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College Memorial (OCA) with the names Robert Mills and Blake Treece. |
Another of my grandmother's nephews and my dad's first cousin from Searcy, Arkansas, Claude A. McBride, served in the Army in the Philippines, being killed in action.
Regular kids from a most regular, simple town in America, Marshall, Arkansas. Where does the courage and brilliance come from? On this Memorial Day, by my observation as a teacher, the USA is filled with such courage and brilliance in all our boys and girls. Devotion, teamwork, collaboration that leads to heroic deeds develops in the minds, spirits, and souls of kids allowed to believe in their own capacity for excellence and their intrinsic value as citizens. Kids from all demographics and ethnicities, which is, of course, what America is made of.
I feel compassion for my little grandma in the photo, knowing she would lose her Robert. And her brother and sister would lose their Claude and not know ever what happened to Blake. (They passed away before his remains were found.)
We can value their choice to serve our country and expect the same excellence and commitment to all varieties of service to continue because all regular kids can be heroes. And they're sitting in your classrooms.
Saturday, May 18, 2024
All American Cheesy Jokes and Serious Thoughts
Hurrah for the red, white and silly. And Garfield has just the light-hearted touch we sometimes need.
Try not to turn each of these jokes and riddles into too much of an opportunity to teach, though with younger children, you might have some 'splaining to do, Lucy.
Teacher: Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?
Student: On the bottom.
Teacher: The Declaration of Independence was written in Philadelphia. True or false?
Student: False. It was written in ink.
What did Paul Revere say at the end of his ride? I've got to get a softer saddle.
And just to be teachery, don't forget Longfellow's adventuresome poem, 'The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.' It's so cheesy, kids love it.
Paul Revere's Ride
Did you hear the one about the Liberty Bell? Yeah, it cracked me up.
What did the visitor say as he left the Statue of Liberty? Keep in torch.
What did one flag say to another--nothing, it just waved.
What colonists told the most jokes? Punsylvanians.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_adams_2.html?gcl
Try not to turn each of these jokes and riddles into too much of an opportunity to teach, though with younger children, you might have some 'splaining to do, Lucy.
Teacher: Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?
Student: On the bottom.
Teacher: The Declaration of Independence was written in Philadelphia. True or false?
Student: False. It was written in ink.
What did Paul Revere say at the end of his ride? I've got to get a softer saddle.
And just to be teachery, don't forget Longfellow's adventuresome poem, 'The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.' It's so cheesy, kids love it.
Paul Revere's Ride
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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Embarrassed someone saw my crack. |
Keep in torch! |
What did the visitor say as he left the Statue of Liberty? Keep in torch.
What did one flag say to another--nothing, it just waved.
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'What kind of tea do Americans thirst for? Liber--ty. Ha ha.' |
What colonists told the most jokes? Punsylvanians.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. John Adams
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John Adams |
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_adams_2.html?gcl
Monday, April 29, 2024
Monday, April 15, 2024
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Monday, April 8, 2024
April 8, 2024 Partial Solar Eclipse in Apple Valley, California, USA
We'll get about 58%.
I've already seen two other total eclipses-I guess that is unusual. At Hickam AFB Honolulu, Hawaii 1991 (during homeschool) and here in Apple Valley at Granite Hills High School 2017.
April 8, 2024 Partial Solar Eclipse in Apple Valley, California, USAI've already seen two other total eclipses-I guess that is unusual. At Hickam AFB Honolulu, Hawaii 1991 (during homeschool) and here in Apple Valley at Granite Hills High School 2017.
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