Happy Veteran's Day
To celebrate this year, Carli's school had a very nice program to remember Veterans. (Past and Present). Carli asked her grandparents for pictures and info and this is what we got back.
John Paul Jacobs (Jon's grandpa- the one he was named after)
Paul Jacobs (Jon's dad-and my new fav hottie- hubba hubba-lol)*
*
(I know that I have family who has served also- but I don't have pictures and I don' know their stories- I really wish I did)
Carli's class was chosen to give a special presentation. It was a sweet poem about veterans, in which each child said a line or 2. I think it was after the poem that the principal was talking about giving thanks this month and how 'Veterans' should be at the top of our list.
I think I was touched by seeing all the men an women who have served our country walk in. There were a couple of women, one had a sweet baby in her arms. There was a very old man in a wheelchair. There were the young men with beaming smiles on their faces and the old ones that had something behind their eyes that I couldn't quite figure out. I think it was humble pride.
The whole presentation made me think about what we have in this country and how beautiful it is.
Here is a story that I recently got in an email- although I have read it before, I am always touched by it.Little Rock teacher Martha Cothren uses some unorthodox teaching methods in her social studies classroom at Joe T. Robinson High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. But she gets her message across.
On the first day of school in September 2005, with permission of the school superintendent, the principal, and the building supervisor, she had all of the desks taken out of the classroom.
When the kids walked in for first period, there were no desks. They looked around and asked, "Where are our desks?"
The teacher said, "You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn them."
They thought, "Well, maybe it's our grades."
"No," she said.
"Maybe it's our behavior?"
She told them, "No, it's not even your behavior."
And so they came and went in the first period. Still no desks in the classroom. Second period, same thing. Third period, same.
By early afternoon television news crews had gathered in the class to find out about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of the classroom. The last period of the day, the instructor gathered her class.
They were sitting on the floor around the sides of the room. She said, "Throughout the day no one has really understood how you earn the desks that sit in this classroom ordinarily. Now I'm going to show you how and why you have the right to sit in this class."
She went over to the door of her classroom and opened it, and as she did 27 U.S. veterans, wearing their uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk.
They placed those school desks in rows, and then they stood along the wall. By the time they had finished placing the desks, those kids, perhaps for the first time in their lives, understood how they got the right to sit at those desks. FREEDOM!
Their teacher said, "You don't have to earn those desks. These guys did it for you. They put them out there for you, but it's up to you to sit here responsibly, to learn, to be good students and good citizens, because they paid a price for you to have that desk. Don't ever forget it."
On the first day of school in September 2005, with permission of the school superintendent, the principal, and the building supervisor, she had all of the desks taken out of the classroom.
When the kids walked in for first period, there were no desks. They looked around and asked, "Where are our desks?"
The teacher said, "You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn them."
They thought, "Well, maybe it's our grades."
"No," she said.
"Maybe it's our behavior?"
She told them, "No, it's not even your behavior."
And so they came and went in the first period. Still no desks in the classroom. Second period, same thing. Third period, same.
By early afternoon television news crews had gathered in the class to find out about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of the classroom. The last period of the day, the instructor gathered her class.
They were sitting on the floor around the sides of the room. She said, "Throughout the day no one has really understood how you earn the desks that sit in this classroom ordinarily. Now I'm going to show you how and why you have the right to sit in this class."
She went over to the door of her classroom and opened it, and as she did 27 U.S. veterans, wearing their uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk.
They placed those school desks in rows, and then they stood along the wall. By the time they had finished placing the desks, those kids, perhaps for the first time in their lives, understood how they got the right to sit at those desks. FREEDOM!
Their teacher said, "You don't have to earn those desks. These guys did it for you. They put them out there for you, but it's up to you to sit here responsibly, to learn, to be good students and good citizens, because they paid a price for you to have that desk. Don't ever forget it."
1 comment:
I love the pictures! So handsome! Like Scott in his scout uniform! :) Its almost the same! :) Love the new mini van and the stories!
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