Kelly in Kansas

It's another Monday and the end of the semester is near. I made a significant dent in the grading last week - which is definitely a good feeling in light of the dynamics of everything else going on right now. Today is the last time I meet the teaching methods course. One of the students chose to eliminate himself last week. He thought having to work more than an hour and a half a day was a good excuse to get an extension on a class project he's known about for 6 weeks but hasn't started working on. How do you tell a student that it's not unreasonable for a family to expect a senior in college to work more than 1 1/2 hours a day - especially when they are taking more than four years to get their degree?

I'm learning to push back a bit, although I'm getting different reactions from people who don't expect it, it is a better feeling than sinking in to even deeper feelings of being overwhelmed.

Most significantly, I received confirmation that my gut was right that the uninvited guest that arrived less than 24 hours after Mom died from over 2,000 miles away did indeed have an agenda that was not actually meant to help anyone but herself. Mom was right again.

Labels: Mom, people, school, teaching

The good news is that Mom is still with us. The ear, nose, and throat doctor wasn't available on Sunday and wasn't coming into the hospital on Monday so the nurse took some pre-emptive action to stop the bleeding in her mouth. They discovered it was coming from the tubes in her nose. Smoking also makes the sinuses delicate.

She was partly awake more than once yesterday. It cheered Dad's soul to see her eye's open and have her squeeze his hand and move around. I kept telling her the tubes were temporary. The nurse said that she won't remember the last time she was awake each time she wakes up. And, Marcia told me that based on her experience you know who has come to see you but your are also hallucinating. After her wreck, she thought people were coming to see her in Mexico.

A large group came in last night with another heart attack victim. They were all good people and luckily had mostly well-behaved children in contrast to the other group. I did talk to the Service Excellence Director yesterday about the continuously loud cartoons on both the DVD and the personal DVD player blaring into the room. Given that this is the most critical ICU unit, we need occasional peace and quiet. He stated that no children should be there and even if they had permission, as soon as someone complained, they were gone. We did finally see security more than once yesterday without calling them.

Some of my students took it upon themselves not to show up for class yesterday to turn in their first lesson plans. What their friends forgot to tell them about my notices to the online classes was that although there had been a family emergency, deadlines remained the same. The department secretary even went downstairs to collect their work so they didn't have to walk up to the office but they never showed up. They weren't on the highest road to begin with this semester. I'm certainly not in the mood to suffer fools gladly but it doesn't surprised me that this crew took it upon themselves to make the wrong decision without the wrong information.

Dad finally got some sleep last night - I was certainly getting worried about his not sleeping - esp. when day before yesterday it was too loud in here to even cat nap. I'm hoping to get him out of the hospital at some point today. But I certainly am glad he is sleeping at home and gradually processing the upcoming changes. This morning he was discussing Mom's moving her bed downstairs since obviously going up and down stairs won't be in her repetoire for awhile.

Labels: Dad, heart attack, ICU, Mom, teaching, wating room

There is plenty to do but a feeling that it is all possible if I don't let myself get overwhelmed. There's still a week before one of my F2F classes meets to start the semester. I will put up some more material for them to prep for the first part of the semester. Seeing who has taken time to take a look and work on some of it enough to have questions will help me get to know my students a bit better before I see them the first time. I keep thinking of ways to get around the various issues perplexing students when they enroll in a class late. I don't want to hold the rest up but it's hard not to create extra work for yourself when students seem to think it is up to you to catch them up instead of their showing a bit more initiative - esp. with all of it online on the university's CMS site. (If I'm rambling a bit more than usual, it's because I'm thinking aloud.)

The best news right now is that my annual performance report that is due Tuesday is already submitted. I was able to get enough of it done before break despite the numerous distractions from the normal semester. This year I'll aim to get it done before I go on break and maybe just have to wait for the end-of-course evaluations.

One of the small breakthroughs I've had lately is to look at these evaluations as what they are - course evaluations - and not evaluations just of me. Some students love the technology throughout the classes while others are still struggling with it apparently unaware how much of it will govern their future work lives. I have a course release for an outside service responsibility for the next two semesters and am hoping that, unlike my last course release, I don't let the work on fewer classes just expand to still fill the normal time it takes to handle a 12-hour load.

I've been able to get quite a bit of Truman work done even if it's not as much as I'd like. And I can finally give up the hope of finishing all the big household rearrangement tasks (if I haven't used it since I moved in over 15 years ago, I can probably get rid of it or donate it to charity) and resign myself to just keep plugging away on them. At least the outside isn't calling as much given the weather although more leaves need gathered. (That's probably related to the immediate neighbors who haven't picked up any and they keep blowing this way. . .. )

Not meeting my first class until the second week is preferred to meeting it once right away (it's once a week) and then having a week off. There's not as much playing catch up with the students who add in between.

I've posted the graduate syllabus for the course on political cartoons for the semester with all of the detail on the assignments. All that is left is creating the unit folders and links in the CMS. But that's a task for late in the day or evening and not when I'm at my best writing.

I had been feeling guilty that I wasn't working til 11pm like I did back in my 20s and 30s but am discovering that I can actually get more done if I take some time off. And in talking to a colleague that is a prolific scholar, she said she always stops at 6pm (unless there's an immediate deadline for indexing or proofs) and chills out - watching tv reruns is a favorite. She says some of her best ideas come then when she is letting her scholarly brain rest. I remember my major professor saying my best ideas would come when I was walking on the beach (my first TT job was at the University of West Florida) and while I didn't quite believe him and did NOT spend enough time on the beach the year I was there, I did finish the dissertation.

So, this week I need to get in my regular pattern for the semester before the grant teacher institutes and travel starts in late February.

But I am now ensuring that I take Sundays to read the newspapers. I used to not let myself do that until late in the day but have decided that is a good reward for working so hard all week. Besides, I will be working later today anyway.

Labels: classes, CMS, colleagues, students, teaching, work, writing

What do you (mostly) use your office for?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Study of Student Entitlement. The SHOCKING Results.


'Entitled' students expect good marks
by Shannon Proudfoot
Canwest News Service

Most university students believe that if they're "trying hard," a professor should reconsider their grade. One-third say that if they attend most of the classes for a course, they deserve at least a B, while almost one-quarter "think poorly" of professors who don't reply to e-mails the same day they're sent.

Those are among the revelations in a newly published study examining students' sense of academic entitlement, or the mentality that enrolling in post-secondary education is akin to shopping in a store where the customer is always right.

The study asked approximately 400 undergraduates aged 18 to 25 whether they agreed with these statements:

* If I have explained to my professor that I am trying hard, I think he/she should give me some consideration with respect to my course grade - 66.2 per cent agree

* If I have completed most of the reading for a class, I deserve a B in that course - 40.7 per cent

* If I have attended most of the classes for a course, I deserve at least a grade of B - 34.1 per cent

* Teachers often give me lower grades than I deserve on paper assignments - 31.5 per cent

* Professors who won’t let me take my exams at another time because of my personal plans (e.g. a vacation) are too strict - 29.9 per cent

* A professor should be willing to lend me his/her course notes if I ask for them - 24.8 per cent

* I would think poorly of a professor who didn’t respond the same day to an e-mail I sent - 23.5 per cent

* Professors have no right to be annoyed with me if I tend to come late to class or tend to leave early - 16.8 per cent

* A professor should not be annoyed with me if I receive an important call during class - 16.5 per cent

* A professor should be willing to meet with me at a time that works best for me, even if inconvenient for the professor - 11.2 per cent.

Labels: semester, students, teaching

It always seems to take until about the third week of classes for students to fully demonstrate that they realize the semester has indeed started. That's especially true when Labor Day shortens the second week.

We had enrollment the Friday before classes started on Monday. However, more than a few students waited until Monday to come to campus to handle diverse issues that could have much more easily been handled on Friday - especially if it meant attending class on Monday and/or arriving in class at the start time. It still amazes me that students will bang their way into a closed door instead of waiting until the door is opened for them. But I digress.

I always like to get a "feel" for my students before finalizing the semester's assignments and always reserve the right to tweak assignments to ensure that students fully understand what is expected AND that I've been as clears as possible in conveying those expectations. I continue to reiterate to them that earning an "A" does not mean that they "met the requirements". Instead, that means a "C" or average. I have used some of the explanatories that Liz Lawley has used over the years to try to more clearly express this to students. That goes along with explaining that grades are earned and not negotiated.

A large project is about to be put to bed and for that I will be more than thankful. It's been more stressful than it needs to be by design - especially given how much of it is out of our control. That's the nature of a group project. But, when it is out and available - hopefully within a year from now - it will have been well worth the various ensuing struggles. And, the best part is that I have gotten to know several colleagues much better and, as a result, have even more admiration for the work that they do. We do similar work as this project will attest but almost every one of us comes at it with a different mode of thought and/or approach. In other words, great minds think alike but also distinctly.

Labels: colleagues, fall semester, projects, students, teaching

We had a short period of rain today and it now officially smells like spring. The redbuds are just gorgeous.

I emailed the city again this morning about the drainage blockage dating back to some construction behind us over a year ago. About an hour later, I saw a city car out front and had a nice conversation with people who seem to understand what needs to happen so that I'm not living in a swamp.

And there was the potential for more good news but the mud flaps I've been waiting 11 months for did not fit in an acceptable manner even to the GM service techs. There was double-sided sticky tape and gaps that would not only collect dirt and gravel and road debris but also encouraging the paint finish to get scraped up. So, back on went the generic mudflaps. The engineers have just had trouble resolving the new style running boards with the mudflap design.

Another situation is resolving itself and I am not left being the bad guy and have been in fact thanked for my extensive efforts on behalf of this organization.

I was able to get in some more heavy duty weedeating but will not head out to the farm given the hail possibilities. I had hoped to hunt for morels since they seem to be popping up all over. We're not supposed to get any super warm nights so maybe I can find them next week.

The best news from yesterday is that I finished all my grading even though it took me until after 7pm to do so. But I came home without that weighing on my mind. It's continuing to amaze me how students think grades are a debate and how students spend more time gaming the system and losing in the short term instead of understanding that the instructor operates on more than just raw points. But sending a 300-word email about less than 5 points is probably not a student's best option - but pointing that out to them only creates more havoc. So, I offered to do an entire regrade of all assignments and adjust all late papers instead of just this student's latest one. He's forgetting how much slack he has been cut and so arguing about 5 points that won't actually make a difference in the hundreds of points being offered is just not the best option. It's also interesting to see how some students think just by doing the work and meeting minimum standards earns them an A while most of us consider that average, or C.

I'm off to the Western Social Science Association meeting in Denver tomorrow. An econ colleague is going with me and two old friends and at least one new friend that I met at the OAH will be there.

Oh, I talked to Doc the other afternoon about Beau and Maggie. I pushed hard enough that he finally said he'd like me to get a puppy so that I have more influence in forming their personalities. It's made me think a bit more along with the advice he gave about how to check them out before I bring them home. I'm supposed to talk to their foster mom tonight and hopefully that will help me come closer to figuring out whether I am better as a one-dog house or a two-dog house. In any case, I have a room reserved for the first weekend of the month and will hang out with friends in St. Louis after I meet the dogs and do some thinking about what works best for everyone involved. This is so hard but worth it in the end. I can't believe I haven't had a dog at home for 5 months . . . it just doesn't feel the same - even though I'm trying to stay busier than usual.

Labels: adoptions, city, classes, conferences, Denver, dog, dogs, drainage, grading, students, teaching, weedeating

Trips to Baltimore (gorgeous spring in bloom) and Dallas went well. Getting from Balt. to Dallas was hell, however. A side stop in Omaha (NOT on the route) because of t-storms and running out of fuel. Missed connection but made next flight. Plane at gate and additional four hours because of line of storms. Planes were coming in right and left at Love field when I arrived - and this was at midnight. Thank goodness major prof brought Mexican food home from the dinner I missed and is a night owl who didn't mind picking me up late.

It was fun being recognized as one of UNT's outstanding alumni and seeing my grad professors that haven't retired. Seeing Bob Caro talk about his work on LBJ was inspiring as well the talk on Lady Bird by Jan Russell. Caro walks across Central Park to work every morning - what a way to start the day!

The Denton Benefit League ball was also a great time had by all.

But I never been so glad to be home in my life.

Today's the last regular (non-test) day of my in-person Modern America class and my last set of assignments for the online class. Student teacher visits are complete - just reports to finish.

A cardinal is hanging out in the branches in front of my office window - a truly wonderful site of nature. Need to get out and mow before we have 3 more days of rain . . . .at least it's good exercise.

Labels: airplanes, cardinal, classes, Denton, semester, teaching, travel, UNT

It's been quite a week on this end. I helped some other departments in the college and university work on submitting a grant to prepare more elementary teachers to effectively teach middle school math and science. And, of course, grant deadlines are always interesting.

Students are finally getting the hang of what to expect in classes and that my classes aren't the "hang out for several weeks and then hurry up and take a test, repeat" and instead require consistently keeping up even if it's a once-a-week F2F class.

Went to a service meeting yesterday - was great seeing everyone - we're getting ready for our next accreditation visit in 2010.

We had 60 something degrees yesterday as another cold front moved in but, sadly, we missed out on the wintry mix.

I'm working on a project all day today and then will enjoy the farm and working out in the cold with frozen, non-muddy ground. And, of conditions are right, I will burn waste wood tomorrow.

I have a lecture ready for Monday about German American internment camps in Kansas to help bring home WWII to our students. I saw the Camp Concordia remains this past August . . .. along with finding a neat quilt store.

Labels: Camp Concordia, classes, German-American internment, grant, service, teaching

Profgrrrrl's most recent entry details her early successes with asserting control over her schedule. Previous posts detailed her feelings of being overwhelmed by meetings requests from both university colleagues and students. It's hard to get much done when you're constantly having to stop to go to a meeting. She's quickly finding that others adjust to your not being available in person 24/7 - esp. given the ease of email. I still find that most students who can never find a convenient time and finally do just want to go on and on about how busy they are, etc., instead of discussing something I can actually do anything about as a professor.

And, on a related note, I allowed students 3 weeks to get there books before having an assignment due specifically over a book (one of the best ways to get them to read historical monographs!) and there's still a complaint that the student doesn't have the money. At least this time I was able to come back with how I had so many financial problems of my own that I couldn't possibly take on the numerous financial problems of all my students. Luckily, that moved the conversation on to something else - esp. as I moved into the computer lab to help this student with a blog introduction assignment.

There's one very energetic group of grad students that are presenting a good challenge - constantly answering all the questions. They are a nice change from the apathetic group last semester and definitely an easier challenge to handle (give them another week or so and my constantly reinforcing how well I think they are doing so they won't feel as much need to prove themselves) than no participation at all. And that helps guide some of the future assignments. The main challenge is ensuring that this small group doesn't alienate the rest of the group. And the larger group is sitting near the front instead of gravitating toward the back - another plus!

Labels: classes, discussions, meetings, profgrrrrl, schedule, students, teaching

Enrollment was last Wednesday and classes started on Thursday with a day off for MLK Day yesterday. That means I see my first F2F students on Monday. This morning I woke up ready to teach - all kinds of ideas swirling in my head about how to approach the new semester. I have a course release to work on a book project and am doing the usual teaching one class online, Modern America, 1912-41, and supervising student teachers. The latter varies from 3 students in nearby towns to 15 that may be spread around 250 miles in two directions. (I don't mind being dragged to Kansas City, though . . . )

My F2F class is Modern America, 1941-1968. I took a different approach to the narrative text and made it optional since they can also utilize a survey text from a previous class to get the background. Hopefully that means less complaining about textbook costs - which I find difficult given that if I require a text, they use it and are tested on it. Winkler's Homefront USA from Harlan Davidson, a nice compact discussion of the topic, is one of the other texts along with Lizabeth Cohen's Consumer's Republic. It's my first time using Cohen and I've already found the graduate student notes that summarize it in 3 pages that shows up on the first page of a Google search. Wonder how long it will take students to find that. But, forewarned is forearmed.

Another facet of the class will be studying Jack Kerouac's On the Road. I think it's important that students read some of the literature of the period so that they better understand it. in the past, I've used Peyton Place for this class but it's not longer available for the last publisher and I don't want to encourage the used book market. Plus, I can still show the Peyton Place film and accomplish some of the same results in student learning. What always amazed me about using Peyton Place was how the men enjoyed reading it. And, of course, a "banned book" is such a foreign concept in today's culture.

The anniversary of the publication of On the Road was one motivation to use it along with my visiting a Kerouac exhibit in Lowell, MA, when we had teachers there to tour the mills last summer. Getting to view the scroll of On the Road was interesting as well as the modern exhibit interpreting his life. This was in contrast to the Lowell exhibits that are in need of updating once they get more funding - the machinery was intriguing but not anything I hadn't seen before.

I found a book in our university library about the "women in black" - the females who have often been overlooked in regard to their contribution to the Beats - not only psychologically and physically supporting the men when they weren't doing so for each other but their actual artistic contributions. So it should be a fun exploration for all of us.

One of the first things students will do is examine and debate the causes of World War II. That will be a good way to review how we arrived in 1941. And, of course, it's obvious to highlight the drama surrounding Pearl Harbor with some comparisons to what our intelligence services could tell us then and how we still have some of the same coordination problems in this century. The next challenge is how to "review" the New Deal without getting lost in that massive topic while emphasizing that World War II ended the Great Depression and not the New Deal. Taking a close look at FDR and Eleanor will also be fun.

The online Modern America, 1912-41, class will focus first on Woodrow Wilson as a person and as a president before we jump into World War I. In that course, students are reading Willa Cather's One of Ours. Cather spent a great deal of time just across our northern border - that's the Nebrasks she describes in her book and much of it isn't that different in psyche than the Kansas we know down here except that we are closer to larger population centers - especially in modern times.

Another change I made this semester is just having the graduate students write the analytical papers over the Major Problems texts from Houghton Mifflin. By confining it to that group, I can expect a higher level of achievement given that they are supposed to be surrounding by historiography and not just being introduced to it.

Here we go . . . . .

Labels: classes, Kansas, Kerouac, learning, Modern America, Nebraska, on the road, One of Ours, semester, students, teaching, Willa Cather

Education Historian Sherm Dorn has tagged me to discuss why I do what I do so I am snagging his post title and running with it. Finally meeting Sherm in person was one of the highlights of going to the Social Science History Association meeting last November. Sherm discusses how his work allows him the opportunity to "navel gaze" and puts his teaching into the larger context of his students' higher education.

I've taught at five distinct types of state institutions and now teach at a former normal school in a rural area. Many of our students are first generation college and are still learning what it takes to do well in school. As with students everywhere, many are still doing more work to try to avoid doing the consistent and thorough work usually required to be a successful student. In many cases, students are so busy with their jobs and/or families, that most studying takes place late at night right before the exam or paper is due. The change I've noticed in the last few years is that students are more willing to overtly to assign outside blame when they do not do well - missing a deadline or not fulfilling the minimum requirements is somehow irrelevant. On the other hand, there are numerous students working really hard and trying to fit quite a bit into their busy, overscheduled lives.

Working with pre-service and in-service teachers allows me some unique opportunities to explore a wider variety of topics than my stated doctoral fields (20th century US political, diplomatic, Borderlands, oral, and local history, and teacher education) and explore new research options that overlap into my scholarship. Our 12-hour teaching load means that teaching dominates our lives and finding research and focus time is especially critical. One of the ways I've managed this is by teaching online and teaching 3-hour classes instead of a 3-hour class one-hour slice at a time. I find we get much more done and students have plenty of time to fit in the reading given the week between classes or the usual two weeks between online assignment due dates.

My primary mission is helping my students - many of whom are already teachers themselves or will soon be - become lifelong learners and enhance their quest for new knowledge. And, as with most other humans, those who are the busiest are the most likely to find time to do this. There's always something new to learn around the next corner and hopefully I inspire students to keep finding their own paths to discover their own learning.

Another important facet of what I hope to instill in students is the ability to trasncend the facts and dates of history (not ignore or forget but actually build on them as a foundation) to develop their own theories and analysis of the history of the world aroudn them to better inform them about their world and what part in it they want to play.

Labels: education, history, learning, Sher Dorn, teaching

Starting a new semester, no matter how much pre-planning, is always a bit hectic. It's good to have students back around and am looking forward to working with them on learning more about Modern America and about teaching history in the schools.

And, we even had a light dusting of snow last night.

Labels: semester, students, teaching

Dean Dad has an interesting question about what students expect from faculty and faculty's other demands. My response which is just the tip of the iceberg of a longer post follows:

As a faculty member who's been involved in both North Central re-accreditation and NCATE (teacher ed) re-accreditation, I have seen it so overwhelm faculty that it prevents them from doing the other parts of their job while it is going on. Depending on how often that is determines whether it is a good or bad thing.

The most challenging aspect was the resentment of other faculty who didn't want anything to do with it toward those who believed it was part of what they had to do - esp. to keep a particular program viable in the age of budget cuts. There are still too many within higher education (primarily faculty) who think, "I have tenure, I know what I need to do" without understanding we do need to at least keep some binoculars handy to keep an eye on what is going on in the rest of the world - esp. the world we are preparing students to enter that is much different than the world in which we were students.

Sherm makes an excellent point about accountability and it would be interesting if another read can place current events within the historical framework for us.

There's also another interesting point - in some cases (and definitely not in others), having Grad Student or Adjunct X teach a course gets more actual teaching done than is automatically done by a group of professors - esp. those who see teaching as the least of their responsibilities. As usual, a whole multitude of issues in the question asked

Labels: accreditation, Dean Dad, faculty, NCA, NCATE, North Central, teacher education, teaching

Am in Chicago for the SSHA. This meeting has been on the list for several years (esp. since department colleagues went to the meeting when it was in New Orleans) and now it finally made it. Not only Chicago but also the H-Net presence planned for the meeting.

I had dinner with a colleague I've wanted to talk with in greater detail than in previous meetings. He's doing some great work intersecting teaching and practice and research - but how can we do more? We're hoping for good attendance at tomorrow's session despite the still palpable disengagements between teaching and scholarship as if they were separate entities instead of either side even considering the idea that there is the possibility that good teaching and good scholarship are innertwined. At least with good research, there are definite implementable rules but will people as an ever-changing factor, teaching can be a quite different challenge and, yet, no less "un"-scholarly.

Labels: chicago, H-Net, research, scholarship, SSHA, teaching

From Inside Higher Ed, more food for thought . . . (or, are students customers)

o I thought I would try to fit in better. I compared my reading load and teaching style with that of Professor Queenbee, whose pedagogy I respected, who was popular, but who also had a reputation for being rigorous. The page count was the same. I couldn’t understand what the problem could be, so I resorted to asking a student why her peers objected to my reading assignments. “You expect us to answer questions about them!” she said in their defense. “Professor Queenbee just tells us what they say.” I guess I just don’t like my students enough to do that for them.

Labels: collegiality, customers, professors, students, teaching

I'm spending the last weekend of summer at the lake. Although I had planned to get here more often, it's been mid-late June since I was here. We went out on the boat for lunch and had some great crab rangoon at Backwater Jack's.

The energy of the lake has dispelled from summer since, although it's in the 80s today, we're outside the traditional summer window of Memorial Day to Labor Day. It also means fewer of the neighbors are down so there's not as much random noise. The newbies at the lake, for example, don't realize that playing their boat stereo is heard louder across the cove than where they are sitting on their dock. ;-)

Since TAH grants started, summers just zoom by - and this one even faster than ever. But that may also be a sign of getting older every year.

My students are bearing more of the responsibility of doing their work this semester and although it's taking some gradual condition on my part not to worry about them so much, it is a normal expectation that they can read directions and, more importantly, be expected to follow them instead of just "sorta" doing so. And this is especially true of graduate students. I am trying to redirect my psychic energy into worthwhile directions instead of directions over which I have no control.

My teaching methods class has self-selected down to 4 people - a very manageable group - and much more so who dropped because they sensed it was "too much work". We're expected to meet increasingly higher standards but students are still stretching to see how this connects back to them. My job is not to get them ready to student teach next semester but, instead, give them the opportunity to do so. In return, I am causing much less stress damage to my internal self - both physically and psychologically.

The dirt work at the farm also came into focus late last week which, in return, releases a large dose of psychic energy. Now I can turn to other issues that haven't been hanging over my head for years. I do much better with tasks I can just do myself - but operating dirt moving equipment is certainly NOT one of those. Next on the list is getting rid of the armadillos who have almost taken over both the area around the house and the fields.

Some longtime neighbors are moving. I haven't seen them to ask them to where - although it will still be in town. I will certainly miss them - I watched their kids go from pre-teen and early teenager to all grown up with jobs and families. The newer younger neighbors on the other side fill in somewhat of a gap - but a bit different now that I am the age of my neighbors who are moving when I first moved to the neighborhood. I guess it beats the alternative. And, I certainly appreciate my retired neighbors who always keep out a watchful eye over me - and, more importantly, my mail.

I notice Shadow has deteriorated a bit more since we were here in early summer - and maybe that is because I'm paying more attention. I can't take him on long walks anymore given that that will stress his little heart too much. He had an excitable evening the other night running around and playing with me - I just kept an eye on his breathing, etc., - and he reminded me he still as some "young pup" energy occasionally. He's never been much of a dog that wants to play either with people or other dogs. He sets his own course and I've tried to give him a good life. He has always been a great companion - occasionally needing his space but also understanding the need to "cuddle" and be petted.

Home is where I'll be for another week before I head off to a conference in Oklahoma City with some grant teachers and then, two weeks later, the grant directors' conference in New Orleans. . . disaster tour by a local included.

Labels: grant, history, neighbors, Shadow, stress, summer, teaching, vacation, work

These are two of our Project eHIKES graduates who are continuing to incorporate history into their classrooms:

Constitutional scholars
Constitutional scholars

By Colleen Surridge

Parsons Sun

Most people can tell you when Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter is, but many don't know what holiday occurred Monday.

Monday was the day the National Archives and Records Administration celebrated the 220th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787.

Sept. 17 is known as Constitution Day. The law establishing the holiday was created in 2004 with the passage of an amendment by Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. The holiday also mandates that all publicly funded schools provide programming on the history of the Constitution on that day.

While some high school students may say their First Amendment rights are being infringed upon by schools not letting them say what they want or wear T-shirts that express what they want, Associated Press reported Monday, "A study being released Monday by a foundation that focuses on journalism and the First Amendment (John S. and James L. Knight Foundation) found that 51 percent of high school students questioned had not heard of the day when they are required by law to learn about the Constitution."

Throughout Parsons schools, no special activities were reported in classrooms to celebrate Constitution Day, except in Debbie Shaffer and Mary Colvin's fifth-grade classrooms at Guthridge Elementary School.

Students were given dice and paper clips and were asked to make a game with them.

The students were initially befuddled at what they could do with the two items, but after some time developed games with rules to play by.

"It was to represent the delegates of the 12 colonies when they gathered together and tried to figure out what they were supposed to do and how they had to come up with ideas that made up the Constitution," Shaffer said. "I think it is really important kids start to learn about community and government early, and this is just one step in their education. We keep it fairly basic, but we give them the understanding they can build on."

By afternoon the fifth-graders were learning about the Electoral College.

In fact, while Shaffer and Colvin start a weeklong study of the Constitution with Constitution Day, the two consider the Constitution so important it is incorporated into their students' lessons throughout the year.

Labels: constitution, Constitution Day, elemenary, history, Project eHIKES, Project Primary Sources, teaching