Welcome back, friend!
I am posting this the day following the inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama, and I pray that God protects him and his family, and gives him the guidance he needs, which is not necessarily the guidance he wants in my opinion. No, I did not vote for the man, I am an independent and he is much to liberal for in my opinion, but he is the president and I will give him the support I would and have given all our other presidents since President Carter.
Due to the historic nature of yesterday, Mrs. Taylor and I abbreviated the class work so that the students could have the opportunity to witness history as it happened. Against my personal feelings for the President, I find that I have to agree with that decision. I remember the moon landing, and the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert Kennedy, although I did not understand the impact - I was only 5 that summer. I graduated the year the hostages came home from Iran, watched the disaster of Columbia live in Belgium, was serving when the Wall came down in Berlin, and was part of the security for the B-1B the day it went on full active alert status. I have been honored to meet Ambassadors, Generals and heads of State on numerous occasions from many countries, and helped in the recovery of many victims of crashes and explosions. Each episode was historic in its way, and each has impacted my life, so I am not prepared to deny such a day to the students of this generation.
The class work that was assigned was to compare four pastoral poems for style, theme and literary devices, read a three page biographical entry on the Bard and note at least two items that are new information about Shakespeare to the student, and write a draft (bullet points) of a letter to the President, which the classes will write in class today.
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How did the class respond to the time off to watch the inauguration? did they seem to get the historic reference...or is there really historic reference as compared to landing a man on the moon or 9/11 or Challenger exploding? Interesting thought there...wonder if she plans on coming back to this event. The speech had some places for good debate in there--certainly good for a class.
ReplyDeleteTough keeping politics at bay, huh!
For the most part, the classes were caught up in the history of America's first African-American President. There was a lot of debate,
ReplyDeletepro and con, amoung the students, those who supported the Obama campaign and those who did not. Surprisingly, it never got into a shouting match, with all participants waiting their turn to weigh in. The letters that I have read from the students since have all been
respectful, even in disagreement. I feel like these students are, for the most part, more aware politically than many of my contemporaries were at their age. They ask good questions about many policy decisions that President Obama faces. Is there a historical reference for this event? For these
students I beleive so. Just as I will always remember where I was during the events I listed
from my memories, these students will always remember THIS inauguratation day and where they where.