December Seventh
This is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. My friends and I meet at Burger King for breakfast, our own Senior Citizen club: Gail, Adele, and I.
Adele is visually impaired, moves her chin up as if to peer deep into the past, "I remember the day I heard about Pearl Harbor. They all went to church to pray. I didn't go."
I was not in America yet, and add, "I watched the show on TV where the Children of Survivors are continuing their work to educate the children of today about what Pearl Harbor was."
"It's hard to believe, but I think there were about 1,000 survivors!," Adele adds. She gets her biscuits and gravy and sits down. We share attending Withrow High School. "We had great history teachers. Even at Pleasant Ridge Elementary. Those teachers were amazing. I loved history."
"At Norwood, too. History was fun," Gail adds.
I had a favorite teacher and volunteer, "I remember drawing maps, and coloring them. Lots of maps, but I don't see my kids make any maps. They download them, or bring them up on the website. We drew them, FREEHAND. That was how we learned the shapes of the cities, the states, the rivers, the countries..."
Adele interrupts, "We drew the United States, outlined the states and colored them in. I remember doing it all by freehand. Did you do that, too?"
"Of course, I did. Now it is all copied and handed out to the students. Give them a blank page, what would they do then? That is what we worked with... We were relieved when the paper had lines on it."
After breakfast I continue thinking about history and the child of today. I did love the stories of the past, and the way we studied them. Men in skirts, like the kilts of the Scots or the togas of the Greeks were noble in their day. Inventions like light bulbs and gunpowder worked wonders upon factories and wars.
People who did not know their history are said to relive it. Fascinating stuff. Oddly enough when we read and reread books it comes alive, but just watching a movie, it passes our eyes quickly, and just as quickly we are apt to forget. Possibly when you have a book, the word is still in front of you, persistent, insisting you reread it, before you continue. Nothing is quite as insistent as the word.
"Students now learn states and capitals with computer programs. They are quite effective."
"Sure. Point, click, drag, the computer flashes 'correct'!"
Maybe you can learn the states by computer, drag them to the right place.
Maybe you can learn the capital of each state by computer by pointing and clicking. It may flash 'correct' for you and give you a score.
Maybe you can quickly find flags for countries, national anthems, presidents, and years of wars on your Internet or computer. It makes your life fuller and information flows freely.
Give me the interaction with a history teacher anytime, the ideas that flow back AND forth, the feelings that you both can share, as you discuss Pearl Harbor and the events of December Seventh.
Adele is visually impaired, moves her chin up as if to peer deep into the past, "I remember the day I heard about Pearl Harbor. They all went to church to pray. I didn't go."
I was not in America yet, and add, "I watched the show on TV where the Children of Survivors are continuing their work to educate the children of today about what Pearl Harbor was."
"It's hard to believe, but I think there were about 1,000 survivors!," Adele adds. She gets her biscuits and gravy and sits down. We share attending Withrow High School. "We had great history teachers. Even at Pleasant Ridge Elementary. Those teachers were amazing. I loved history."
"At Norwood, too. History was fun," Gail adds.
I had a favorite teacher and volunteer, "I remember drawing maps, and coloring them. Lots of maps, but I don't see my kids make any maps. They download them, or bring them up on the website. We drew them, FREEHAND. That was how we learned the shapes of the cities, the states, the rivers, the countries..."
Adele interrupts, "We drew the United States, outlined the states and colored them in. I remember doing it all by freehand. Did you do that, too?"
"Of course, I did. Now it is all copied and handed out to the students. Give them a blank page, what would they do then? That is what we worked with... We were relieved when the paper had lines on it."
After breakfast I continue thinking about history and the child of today. I did love the stories of the past, and the way we studied them. Men in skirts, like the kilts of the Scots or the togas of the Greeks were noble in their day. Inventions like light bulbs and gunpowder worked wonders upon factories and wars.
People who did not know their history are said to relive it. Fascinating stuff. Oddly enough when we read and reread books it comes alive, but just watching a movie, it passes our eyes quickly, and just as quickly we are apt to forget. Possibly when you have a book, the word is still in front of you, persistent, insisting you reread it, before you continue. Nothing is quite as insistent as the word.
"Students now learn states and capitals with computer programs. They are quite effective."
"Sure. Point, click, drag, the computer flashes 'correct'!"
Maybe you can learn the states by computer, drag them to the right place.
Maybe you can learn the capital of each state by computer by pointing and clicking. It may flash 'correct' for you and give you a score.
Maybe you can quickly find flags for countries, national anthems, presidents, and years of wars on your Internet or computer. It makes your life fuller and information flows freely.
Give me the interaction with a history teacher anytime, the ideas that flow back AND forth, the feelings that you both can share, as you discuss Pearl Harbor and the events of December Seventh.
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