Lengel closes his tome, General George Washington, with Washington leaving his military service and making his way back home to Mount Vernon.  We can only imagine the Christmases the general missed. While Martha joined him in the field for part of the eight-year war, he had to have missed being home for the holidays (and other times).  Returning to Mount Vernon, he would be able to farm again, socialize more, and relax with his wife.

But first, he had to say goodbye to his troops.  First, he had to resign from the service.  No one can empathize with the general as, with tears clouding his vision, he delivers touching speeches in both locations.  Only then can he make the ride to be with Martha on Christmas.  Douglas Southall Freeman describes his arrival:

The reader can only imagine the emotions of his journey - from the thoughts of leaving his "second family" in the military to the nervous anticipation of seeing his beloved farm again.  The change, like every major change in life, comes with the fear of not being able to to adjust.

But there he is.  Riding through the cold night.  Riding toward his life's love.  We can only imagine the homecoming.

Through empathizing, Fourth graders might just learn:

• That absence makes the heart grow fonder.
• Suspense is part of the reward.
• Family is important.
• Change can be difficult.

Today is a big day!

I can look on the bright side.  Recently, I addressed the benefits of having a student-teacher.  Today, I want to take the opposite approach, because, believe it or not, I do like to teach my class.  So here are the ten reasons I do not like having a student teacher.

1.  I don't get to see my kids as much.
This must be the first reason.  I don't get to interact as much with the children in my class.  I don't get to make the same connections I would if I were present in the classroom for longer periods of time.  I miss that, and I feel in some ways that they have fallen into a different pattern as a result.

2.  I get bored.
While I have kept myself busy with school-related planning and activities, there have been a couple of moments when I have felt like I wasn't earning my salt.  I strive to keep my mind occupied and on task, but any time a person has to be self-driven, that can be difficult.

3.  I have to bat cleanup.
On a few occasions, I have had to enter a situation that I don't know anything about.  I've had to sort out some behavior infractions that happened while students were not under my direct supervision, and I expected myself to "fix" the situations.  It is understandable that kids will push limits.  The chemistry with a different teacher will always change, so this is to be expected, but negative reactions are not invited.  Sometimes I felt successful, and sometimes I felt lost.

4.  I don't like to interrupt.
The student-teacher needs to feel that the class is hers.  That's something that's hard to establish while the regular teacher is still in the room, so I try to leave the class in her hands as much as I can.  That said, I still need to monitor her in order to guide her through the experience, but interrupting the flow of her lessons is difficult, and I don't want to be a distraction.

5.  Time moves too slowly.  When a person is displaced, the anticipation of something to come can be a hard thing to overcome.  I understand that anticipation of this type - the anticipation of a return to glory (if that's not overstating things) is something that makes time crawl.

6.  Time moves too quickly.
With all of the ideas and plans that I've tried to create during my times outside the classroom, I still have not had enough time in the day to work through them all.  Before I know it, the morning has passed, and it's time for lunch - at which time I try to check in with the student-teacher and my peers.  Then the afternoon flies by in the same way. Just when I get started on something in earnest, the time is gone.

7.  People think I have free time.
They see me at a keyboard, or they see me in the hallways, and my peers assume I'm avoiding work or playing.  It doesn't matter if I've filled in for absent teachers and teachers who needed breaks.  It doesn't matter if I've had professional discussions with the principal.  It doesn't matter that I've searched for and discovered some amazing tools and trends for education or if I've created many of my own materials to use in the coming weeks and years.  It doesn't matter that I've developed and come to understand my own methods and how they align with researched educational practices.  Nothing matters except that they see me outside my classroom and away from my students; therefore, I must be relaxing with nothing to do.

8.  I am tied to the university forms and schedules
In many ways, university leaders and state legislators are disconnected with the ways classrooms actually work. They've created a collection of forms and schedules that every one of their teacher-candidates have to follow, and they allow the cooperating teachers (including me) little opportunity to establish our own methods for helping their students develop professionally.  The evaluation forms are limited to specific scores in specific areas and do not always tell the whole story about a candidate.  This can frustrating, let alone the idea that sometimes it feels like jumping through hoops to fulfill requirements instead of doing the things that are necessary to truly guide the teacher-to-be.

9.  Our family doesn't seem as cohesive.
Back to the beginning (number one, above):  have you ever spent an extended time away from your parents or your siblings?  When you returned to their presence, do you feel like you have to play catch-up?  That's how things are for me and the kids.  I feel like they've moved on in a sense, that they have broken up with the old guy and moved on to a new relationship.  As someone who never liked break-ups, it's hard finding myself in the middle of one - even if it is only temporary.  At best I feel I'm in an off-again/on-again relationship.

10.  I'm a little bit lost.
I need to make sure I know where we are in each subject.  Students have moved more quickly in some subjects than in others, and I need to know where everybody is.  I'm going to have to catch up to them in Math, but they're going to catch up to me in Grammar.

I don't know what the solution is - especially since there are some refreshingly positive things about having a student-teacher in my classroom, as well.  I've already addressed a few of those in my previous post.  Like anything in life, it is what you make it; I hope I have made it worthwhile for everyone involved.

Some teachers do not want to have a student-teacher in their classrooms.  They want to keep their class for themselves.  I understand that.  It is hard to leave a class of students, after working with them for a full semester.

However, I also feel the obligation to pass my experience to the next generation.  Here are some of the reasons I love having a student-teacher in my classroom.​

1.  I enjoy creating stuff.
Leaving my students in the hands of a novice can be a difficult proposition, but I have been allowed the opportunity to create new lessons, activities, and projects for future classes.  In some cases, these have been made available for the teacher candidate, helping her "fill the time" from bell to bell.  I feel a little guilty (not really) allowing myself the time to search for materials and gather them into a useful pile, but I have remained productive and very little time has been wasted.

2.  I don't like grading papers.
When the teacher candidate is fully in charge of the classroom, she needs to get as much of the teaching experience. That means I have not had to fully grade papers, which is a huge load off of my responsibilities.  Now, that doesn't mean that I don't still have responsibilities in this realm.  I still have to touch every paper and record every justifiable grade, and at times I have to discern the purpose or the weight of certain grades.  With another person grading, report cards are interesting.  Since a variable has been changed, I plan to compensate for that change after the assignments are tabulated.  Still, not having the day-to-day headache of meticulously evaluating assignments personally is a relief of which I will gladly take advantage.

3.  I get a feel for the pulse of the school.
Parking myself in the teachers lounge during the times I have been out of the classroom, this semester, has shown me more of the personality of our school.  Teaching is a profession that is typically done in a vacuum, without a lot of collaboration with peers.  That's usually OK with me, as I tend to march to the beat of a different drummer, but sometimes we don't get the chance to interact with other teachers - teachers in other grade levels, new teachers in our building, and the like.

4.  There is great value in experience.
I see a difference in the experienced teachers and the newer ones.  Just as there is a change that occurs between kindergarten and fifth grade, there is also a maturity that comes with serving a number of years as a teacher.  For some, the changes are subtle, but for others, there is a certain confidence that drives us.  Hopefully, we don't overreact to the choices our students make.  And also maturity may not be the best way to describe us, we are able to articulate issues and solutions at a higher level than some of our younger peers.

5.  I'm a seasoned educator; pass it on.
The last few years have been years of growth in my career.  They have not always been easy ones.  Changes in direction for our district - both positive ones and negative ones - have affected me tremendously.  I know what it is like to hit the wall and to get burned out.  I understand better, now, how to survive more than tornados and terrorists.  I know better, now, that I have to work through the pain.  There is a blue sky after the storm, and the world is not going to crumble if I don't kill myself trying to comply with all of the requirements of my job.  Teachers in training do not have that view.  Their walls are years into their future, and their challenges are very different.  My challenge as a cooperating teacher is one of calm support.  The student-teacher has to understand that being quick to listen, slow to anger, and slow to speak is golden advice.  It doesn't mean to be nice and withhold strict expectations, but it will save a great deal of heartache in the future.  I gladly pass on little bits of wisdom throughout the experience of having an unripened educator under my wing.
​
6.  The good ol' days are alive and well.
Seeing a new teacher find her niche and grow professionally, in spite of there being such a short time period in which to do so, has often drawn me into my own first years.  I remember the simple things being not so easy.  I remember the people who helped me.  I'm sure those years were tough, and I remember feeling quite inadequate, but as with most of us, those were the good ol' days.  My reminiscing is filled more with the beauty a time removed from reality.  And I appreciate those stepping stones that made me who I am today.

7.  I get the chance to professionally reflect.
In the same ilk, I have been given the opportunity to reflect upon my own current practices in the classroom.  I have done more professional reading in the last year than at any time in my career, and in the last semester I have especially developed a pattern of applying what I have learned to my teaching philosophy.  Much of this has affirmed what I believe and try to practice, while others have challenged me to change or try new directions.  I don't think teachers typically do this; more often we tread water, trying to keep ourselves alive while we feel overwhelmed from all directions.  When I develop myself professionally and in a self-driven manner, I am better prepared to face the challenges that can arise from peers, pupils, parents, and principals.

8.  I have the challenge of old problems.
I forgot the challenge of time management - of not knowing how long a project will take, of forgetting to leave in time to get to lunch or art, of forgetting that dismissal is at 2:55.  It's a challenge that still rears its ugly head from time to time, but not in such a rudimentary manner.  With a student-teacher in the room, I have gotten to revisit my old nemesis of time.  Now, I have the responsibility to lead another human being in addressing the challenges of class management and time management, leaving me with a feeling of supportiveness. 

9.  Contact with other branches of education are important.
I have not been in college for a few years now.  I have not been in contact with our regional professional developers in years.  To rekindle relationships at those levels, albeit with different people in positions, is a valuable part of my time as a cooperating teacher.  More and more, I am convinced that I have more to offer to education than what I present daily to my fourth graders.  Networking with educators outside of the bubble of my own classroom or even my own school site is something more teachers should take on.

10.  I get to help the next generation of teachers.
When the principal asked if I could take on a student-teacher, I told him I would.  I also expressed that I felt a slight responsibility to help new teachers.  This semester has been especially rewarding as I have helped one of those newbies wrestle her way through a classroom of diverse students and curricula that can be vague, not to mention new.

In 1988, I worked for a tax and bookkeeping service in Mustang, Oklahoma.  No, I was not an accountant.  No, I had no training as a CPA.  No, I was not interested in number-crunching in any way back then, nor am I now.  But sure enough, there I was, working for a man named Henry and his daughter Mel, juggling accounting legal binders, entering numbers into tax forms on a primitive, computer.  Still, there I was, making a little moolah just before realizing I should do something that would more effectively utilize my talents (That would be teaching, for those of you who aren't paying attention.).

On one particular summer day, Henry needed some papers delivered to a location in Oklahoma City - probably a client, but I've periodically slept since then.  After a few seconds of deep deliberation, the only actual non-familial member of the staff was selected to make said delivery.  Stepping into my car, I drove out Mustang Road to the westbound on-ramp to Interstate 40.

Immediately, I realized, something was different.

Behind me on the highway - nothing.

Before me - six black and white cars.  Five police cars drove side-by-side, spanning the lanes.  Behind the five, another officer steered his car left and right, weaving to and fro to keep me from advancing.  At every entrance ramp, more highway patrol cars or city police blocked traffic from entering the highway.  How my car made the cut to trail behind the strange parade, I can't be sure.

Finding a radio station in the know, I finally realized what I had gotten myself into:  I was driving Henry's important manila envelope behind Vice President George H. W. Bush's motorcade, headed to the Cowboy Hall of Fame for a quick presidential campaign stop.

Hey!  I didn't have anything better to do, so I followed the six police cars, who were following the limousines and secret service cars, who were following more police cars (and who knows what else).  Surely, the helicopter overhead wasn't keeping a suspicious eye on me!

I found a parking slot and left the manila envelope on the passenger seat.

I walked my almost 23-year-old frame into the museum.

I found a spot in the back, not knowing what to expect.  I found a spot to listen to the platform of the presidential candidate.  I found a spot just to the left of a tall, black-suited young man with an earpiece.  I found a spot to stand beside a seriously-focused secret service agent.

And listen I did.  The speech was a good one.  I liked what I heard.

And when the man concluded, I think I even went out and delivered the paperwork.

Here was a man who would preside over the fall of the Berlin Wall and the conclusion of the Cold War.  Here was a man who would lead our nation into a coalition of allies to defend Kuwait against Saddam Hussein and Iraq, a man whose popularity rose to high elevations before plunging just in time for a three-way fight for a re-election that just wasn't in the cards.

Thirty years later, and we remember George H. W. Bush.  His resume does not only list POTUS, but also includes World War II aviator, baseball player, oil magnate, United Nations ambassador, and director of the CIA.  Today, his body will be interred at his presidential library and museum in College Station, Texas.

​May his family rest comfortably following their public and private periods of mourning.

Our November celebration of positive behavior took place in the darkness of our classroom, as we enjoyed a few glow-in-the-dark features and electronic devices.

It is startling that George Washington became a micro-manager during the winter at Valley Forge.  With a disorganized military in deplorable camp conditions, with mud and ice everywhere, General Washington seems to have hit his limit.  Still, it appears that he knew he was the glue holding everything together.

Washington wrote detailed instructions for everything under the winter sun - even describing how to cut cloth.  Edward Lengel describes more in General George Washington​.

Maybe the general adopted the same philosophy as Oliver Hardy:  If you want something done right, do it yourself. Perhaps from experiences he knew he couldn't trust the work to anyone else.  Or was he just sick and tired of his soldiers getting things wrong?

He didn't know what kind of force he would have left to face the British when the season changed, and he probably shuddered to think what would happen to his army if the war lasted longer.  Even with the worst conditions surrounding him, George Washington still thought about the war - not only strategy, but survival.  He cared for the men placed in his care, even if they were strangers to military techniques.

At some point, with the loss of control a man fights for it even more.  This was the winter - the winter at Valley Forge - that George Washington and some highly significant second-hand men had to take control, all of this while inoculating  everyone from smallpox and establishing more sanitary restroom facilities.

A fourth grader might glean some positive ideas from such a lesson:

• ​A person can indeed thrive under the worst of conditions.
• A person can bounce back from defeat.
• Self control is better than being controlled by someone else.
• Sometimes instructions must be explicit.
• Learning can be painful.
• Dig your latrine away from camp.

Some of us were not satisfied with the field trip to the Truman Presidential Museum, earlier this week.  For most of our fourth graders, we experienced a two-hour walking lecture, preceded and followed up with a 2 1/2- hour bus ride.  So when we returned, we revisited some of the things that we saw or heard at the museum.  Here are some supporting videos that I found online:

Here are the pictures I took with my phone when things were too dark for the regular camera without a flash.

Thanks to a generous grant and the also-generous support of our PTA, Cecil Floyd fourth graders traveled to Independence, Missouri, on Tuesday, to visit the Harry Truman Presidential Museum.  The museum is set to close for the year of 2019, only to reopen after that with a $22 million upgrade.  That's a much higher price tag than it took to build the initial library in the 1950s.  After some snow on the weekend, we were fortunate to see the current edition (The museum was closed for the weather on Monday, but roads were dry for us on Tuesday.).

Our tour guide, Mark, guided us around the snow-blanketed graves of Harry, Bess, and their only child, Margaret and we found President Truman's office.  This is the office he walked to from his house, just a few blocks away, after he returned to Independence from the presidency.  Some very important people sat in this office, including Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as top-rated comedian and actor, Jack Benny.

We saw artillery pieces fired by the regiment that served under Truman's supervision in World War I, cars owned by the Trumans, campaign buttons, china plates, wedding shoes, the pistols from an attempted assassination of President Truman, the newspaper that Harry held up after defeating Dewey the 1948 election (even though the headline announced the opposite outcome), and of course, the replica of the oval office from Truman's time there. 

We learned about the gift of a Grecian mask that was given to the president by Greece - a mask that dates some 4-500 years before Christ. We also the Bible Harry placed his hand on to take the oath of office following President Roosevelt's death in 1945.  On this somber occasion, the only Bible that could be found was a Gideon Bible.

We learned about the Truman Doctrine to help rebuild Europe, and the daily drops of supplies requiring 5-600 planes to land there every day.  Our guide also shared the account of the man who became known as the Candy Bomber - a man who made handkerchief parachutes and used them to drop candy to children in West Germany.  Finally, we saw the only written documentation from the president to order the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

Some of these items are pictured below.  I'll post some addition pictures from my phone, tomorrow.

Sometimes we stay in our own "bubbles".  We don't look past the nose on our own faces.

Take some time to watch this video:

Now for some questions:

• What acts of kindness does the man ignore, then perform in this video?
• What do pockets represent?
• What does the title, Mr. Indifferent, mean?
• How can we become more aware of serving others?
• What does being kind do for a person's character?  A person's personality?  A person's health?
• Where can you find people to be nice to, today?