Teaching these topics in the locations where they actually happened will be a thrill and an honor.  Seeing these locations and experiencing them first hand will be exciting.

My sermon about snakes in Scripture begins at 23:05.

The Project Trails program begins in 2025, and I will serve as the master teacher.  While in Boston, this June, the Gilder Lehrman Institute houses participants and presenters at Boston University. When one takes a fast look at the university, he may overlook some of what makes the university interesting.  The school boasts of some notable alumni and faculty.

When I first looked at the school, out of interest for where I will spend a week, I initially recognized one particular faculty member - Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone.  In fact, Alexander Graham Bell invented that phone at Boston University.

One well-known student studied for his doctorate at this university.  You may recognize his name - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The co-creator of the Wonder Woman comic book is from this school.  The lead artist for Magic:  the Gathering cards attended this school.  A long, long list of people from many areas can be found online.

In fact, the entertainment industry can thank BU for a number of famous people.  Here is a partial list:

Broadcaster influencers and authors Bill O'Reilly and Howard Stern went here.  Science and science fiction author Isaac Asimov went here.  Julia Child attended here.  Al Gore's wife, Tipper, attended Boston University.  More recently, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was here.

Looking at the list, one immediately noticed a mostly left-leaning clientele, but regardless, that's quite a list.  Still, it's incomplete.  The school also boasts lots of the first black man who... the first woman to...  the first Asian...  the first Native American...  the youngest woman... etc.

I don't know where I will be on campus or which dorm facility I will sleep in, but knowing some of this information will give me more with which to enlighten the teachers I will be leading while in Boston.

I am proud to be one of the two Gilder Lehrman master teachers recruited for this project in Kentucky.  The TRAILS program from the Wilderness Education Project is an opportunity for me to present pedagogy to K-12 educators in the Bluegrass State, starting just a few days from now.  TRAILS is an acronym standing for Taking the Road to Achievement in Instructional Leadership for Social Studies, and it is a major undertaking.

I am responsible for roughly 12 hours of direct instruction with the elementary cohort of this program.  In addition, I will help facilitate question/answer periods with the historian/scholar, Dr. John Fea.  Once in Boston for the summer sessions, I will also serve as a guide and coordinator for a limited number from the group.

I look forward to spending many hours with a group of teachers who take an interest in history and education. We're going to share some rewarding moments in the next few months - maybe even some laughs and tears along the way.

In just a few days, if the weather allows, I will travel to Lexington, Kentucky, for the first of three sessions as the master teacher for the elementary cohort for Project Trails.  As a master teacher with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, I will present the pedagogy sessions for the program, following Dr. John Fea of Messiah University, our scholar who will deliver information regarding early American history.

While I get to visit Lexington, I thought I should know something about the place.  We find out really quickly that Lexington is known by the moniker, "Horse Capital of the World".  It's also popular for the abundance of whiskey production.  Lesser known, the girlhood house of Mary Todd Lincoln (Abe's wife) is here, as is the law office of Henry Clay.  Confederate president Jefferson Davis is also from Lexington.

Entertainers from the city include George Clooney, and Chris Stapleton, as well as Naomi Judd and daughters Ashley and Winona.  Jim Varney, famous for his portrayal of Earnest, is also from here.

Outside of Lexington is Midway University, the headquarters for our presentations.  This school is "related by covenant to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)".  While in the area, during one of these trips, I would love to explore some of the areas known as being important to the Restoration Movement.

This lesson mostly addresses Biblical history - that record we have in the New Testament, specifically.  We begin, of course, in the book of Acts, when the church is established on Pentecost.  We will talk about the events prior to Pentecost and then move into the events that followed.

Without discussion, however, we will make a deep observation of the artwork below, filling out an O.P.T.I.C. sheet that asks for Overview, Parts, Title, Interrelationships, and Conclusions.

We must then move out of Luke's historical book of Acts and into the epistles (letter) and other sources.  Nero comes along in the AD 60s, and Jerusalem falls in AD 70.  John likely writes his account of the Gospel, probably the simplest to understand, and his three letters in AD 80, before being exiled to an island (Patmos) in the AD 90s, where, he writes about the Revelation.

We take a gander at all of these things before venturing forward from here.  In future lessons, we will make historical references, rather than Biblical ones.  Our emphasis will always be on the true words of inspiration and providence, but we will easily notice when the church "fathers" and others deviated and changed the church into something different.

How exciting is it to be presenting history in one of the most historic locations in our nation!  In June, I will travel to Boston, Massachusetts, to lead teachers through this important stop on the road to becoming the United States of America.  Along the way, in the course of one week, I have been shouldered with the task of showing elementary educators ways to teach what is sometimes difficult history.

In our first session, we will delve into a very intriguing lesson entitled Explorers and Exploration in Early American History: Shifting the Narrative, 1489-1609.  I have presented this previously in a virtual pedagogy session, and my interest was piqued in the artist considered within.  In these lessons, students are shown a couple of maps from the 16th and 17th Centuries.  They are guided through analyzing sections of the map.  They are also asked to do some shallow research about the early explorers Christopher Columbus, Francisco Pizzaro, Ferdinand Magellan, and Amerigo Vespucci.  In another lesson, students read a letter from Columbus to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand from 1493.  This is accomplished in six chunks.  Next, excerpts from Pope Alexander VI’s Doctrine of Discovery, 1493, are brought out for an interesting assignment:  students are requested to look at the document for three perspectives - looking at the main characters, the side characters, and the hidden characters.  In still another lesson, artworks from periods of discovery are displayed for consideration.  Students are to observe the works and list what they notice.  Excerpts from Bartolomé de Las Casas’ Account of the Spanish Conquest of Native Peoples of America, 1542, are then read and analyzed, narrowing the text, first, to a compelling sentence, then to a strong phrase, and finally to a single, impactful word, all still pointing to the ways in which explorers utilized power in their situations.  Finally, the class takes a look at more art with the same subject of exploration, settling on the innovative and provocative art of Titus Kaphar, after which they are charged with the mission of creating something of their own in the same genre of "shifting the focus".  It is, indeed, a packed set of lessons.

In the second pedagogy session of the week, I will present the lesson titled The American Revolution:  The Boston Massacre, "Yankee Doodle", and the Declaration of Independence, 1770-1776.  That's another mouthful!  Paul Revere's engraving of "The Bloody Massacre" is packed full of conversation and provides the first part of this lesson.  Participants observe the work, followed by the chance to really demonstrate a What do you notice? and What do you wonder? strategy for appreciating the message.  The second part of the unit is a deeper look into the song Yankee Doodle.  We first consider the history of the song, before digging into the lyrics to figure out what it means.  Students are next asked guiding questions about chunks of the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence.  The culminating activity is to conclude how each of the three items promoted the idea of Revolution and Independence from British rule.

Our final pedagogy session of the week in Boston is called American Symbols:  The Flag, the Statue of Liberty, and the Great Seal.  This one is different from all others in that it is written for K-2 students.  By this time of the program, participants may be ready for something simple to close out our sessions.  Actually, don't be deceived:  these lessons are far from simple.  We will talk about the symbolism of each of these items.  We'll look at the colors of the flag, the so-called "Betsy Ross Flag" as well as the current Stars and Stripes.  We will look closer at the Statue of Liberty - the tablet in her hand, the torch, the chains at her feet.  Then we'll introduce the Great Seal and break out all of its components, even finding it on the back of a dollar bill.  For each of these, students are provided with a graphic organizer on which they draw a single symbol.  They can then draw another image, or they may use keywords or sentences to describe how their idea symbolizes the same concept.  Again, this is not as simple as simply coloring a picture to hang in the hallway.

By the time we're finished with all of this - in addition to scholar lessons and extensive tours around the cities of Boston, Lexington, and Concord, we're all going to be exhausted - but it should be a satisfying exhaustion that may make the plane rides home quite relaxing in contrast.

The church of Christ in Carthage, Missouri, is embarking on a new adult class about church history.  We're calling it FIRST2000, because this class is about the first two millennia after the death of Christ.  This post acts as a warehouse, mostly for the visual aids being used in the class.  If the things below seem random in nature, attendance in the class will certainly help bring it all together.  Most of the materials used in this particular lesson are handed out live in class.

Knowing some of the vocabulary being used in this particular lesson may also help.  Here are some words we will need to define and understand:

To help us define veneration​, we will look at some of the items at the following link:

Fred Jones Museum of Art (University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma)

My sermon begins at 22:35.

Our time in Boston, this summer, promises to be full of action and adventure (as well as history and teaching skills).  I recently received a preliminary schedule.  Teaching the materials and hearing from our scholar, Professor John Fea of Messiah University while being in the actual locations of the events will be an honor.

FRIDAY
I have designated the first day of our week as Travel Day.  This will be the day that I take flights to the final designation - the dormitories of Boston University.  I should meet my secondary cohort at some point.  I don't know what there may be for us to do if we have time.

SATURDAY
Saturday is a day for Working, Planning, and Mapping.  We're going to walk through the schedule, find locations, and make plans for our parts of the professional development to come.

SUNDAY
Teachers arrive.  In the afternoon, following check-in, we have welcome and dinner for participants in the excursion.

MONDAY
We begin the first real day of the event with a scholar presentation and a pedagogy session.  In the afternoon, we will visit the Old North Church where we will have an audio guide tour and a Hidden Histories tour.

TUESDAY
Tuesday is going to be an active day.  We're headed to the Old South Meeting House.  We'll take an Agency and Enslavement Tour, a Massacre and Memory Tour, and finally a tour of Paul Revere's House.

WEDNESDAY
Our second full scholar and pedagogy sessions will be on Wednesday.  A special session with the scholar will be held at the Mary Dyer Statue.  From what I've seen, this will be a touching and interesting tribute.  To wrap up the day, we'll trek over to the Boston Common and the Faneuil Hall and Visitor Center.

THURSDAY
If we thought Tuesday had a busy schedule, Thursday is going to be packed with activity.  This is the day we focus on the first battle of the American Revolution.  In other words, we're headed to Lexington and Concord.  We begin at the Lexington Common.  We'll go to Buckman Tavern, the Old Belfry, "hot spots on the green", and the Hancock-Clarke House.  Back to Minute Man Park's Lexington Visitor Center, we'll make our way to the North Bridge, Old Manse, and other commemorative locales.  A visit to Colonel James Barrett's Farm, the Hartwell Tavern, and the Parker's Revenge Archaeological Site will round out the day.

FRIDAY
Our final scholar and pedagogy Session will be on Friday, and participants begin to file out in the early afternoon.

SATURDAY
​The rest of us check out of the dormitory on Saturday, and I'll make my way to the airport for another day of travel towards home.

If I can fit in a side trip to Salem, the Tea Party Ships Museum, or a whale watch, those things could completely fill up my schedule.

​If you are a part of the Cecil Floyd family, you must know how fortunate we all are to have Chris Bozarth as our principal.  With my 16-year-old daughter in the hospital, this week, and so many uncertainties about her condition, Principal Bozarth has proven to be a tremendous support.  He has a mature wisdom that allows him to quickly adapt to a situation.

On Tuesday, upon awakening, we made the decision to take my daughter to Children's Mercy in Kansas City. Before the trip, something compelled me to visit the school and my classroom first.  I had no lesson plans prepared that a substitute could use, but that did not make a difference to my grade level team or to our leadership.  When I walked to the office, our principal had just arrived.  He quickly shuffled me into his office, shut the door, and was confronted with all of my uncontrolled emotions.

As I often do, I had already played the scene in my brain, and at no time did it play out without sobs and tears.  I sat down and put my head on the table in the crook of an arm.  You, Cecil Floyd family, must know what a supportive man we have in the top spot at our school.  He did not miss a beat in pulling a chair alongside me and putting a hand on my back.  He allowed me to cry out loud and pour out my worries and innermost thoughts.  Knowing where my faith lies, he prayed with me and shared scripture.

I just needed the contact and wisdom, and I knew Mr. Bozarth would be easily accessible and readily willing to take as much time with me as I needed. Before I left, we shared an embrace and he told me he loved me.  I definitely felt better at the end of our meeting than at the beginning.

And now you know.

I hesitated to share this story here, and I kept things very general in the interest of not getting emotional as I wrote it, but I also know that great achievement needs to be recognized.  Too often in education, we measure achievement in scales and graphs.  Too often do we consider percentiles and lexiles, without considering the human element.  Mr. Bozarth is that human element, and I know his concern care extends beyond the school walls and far beyond earth's atmosphere.  I thank God that this man is in this place at this time.  For me.

​This week has helped realize, one more time, that I am a human.

A broken one at that.

There is a line in a song that I've often used with other people.

I like the line.

Really I do.

But at the same time, I do not like it applied to me.

I will present professional development sessions to approximately 50 Kentucky elementary teachers on three occasions in the next few months.  After listening to our scholar, Dr. John Fea, present historical expertise on early American history, my assignment as the master teacher in the event is to use lessons from Gilder Lehrman.  It's all part of the Project:  TRAILS program with the Wilderness Education Project.

The first unit is titled Pilgrims, the Mayflower Compact, and Thanksgiving, a series of lessons for Grades 3-5.  It is a unit that I used in part when I taught fourth grade in Joplin.  I also presented this unit in a summer virtual situation a couple of years ago.  The pedagogy session is to demonstrate to teachers ideas for how to use the unit in their classroom.  This one is on deck for later this month.  Students first read through a secondary source, broken into six smaller chunks, and then draw a representation for and summarize each section.  Next, they get to read the actual text of the Mayflower Compact, answering guiding questions along the way and then summarizing the whole thing.  Finally, students read through excerpts from a letter by Edward Winslow, written in December 11, 1621, looking for quotes from the text that answer eight questions at the end.  This one is pretty cut and dry as far as the skills used.

In March, we are going to get into The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.  Participants will discuss the difference between reality and the romantic poetry of the same name.  The task, first, is to read through Longfellow's famous poem about the event.  The lengthy text has been chunked into smaller bits for this keyword/summary skill assignment. They then do the same with an excerpted copy of Paul Revere’s Letter to Jeremy Belknap, ca. 1798. The final activity is to place information from each of these documents, one fictionalized and one primary source, into a Venn Diagram and then determine the validity of Longfellow's poetic work as a source of information.

The final presentation will be in May, when our topic will be The Preamble and the Bill of Rights.  The Preamble is relatively short in contrast with the Paul Revere poem and the Mayflower Compact materials, but the lesson still breaks it up, this time into single lines, for analysis.  As one might anticipate, the Bill of Rights material presents a larger challenge:  over the course of two days, the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution are broken into individual paragraphs and students put each into his/her own words.  For a culminating activity, each student creates an artistic illustration for one of the amendments and presents it in a short, oral presentation.

My preparation for the three sessions is complete well ahead of schedule.  I am so ready to meet the participants and present my materials with my own flair.  It won't be long now.  Here's hoping that winter doesn't interfere.

When I accepted a full-time position as the preacher for the church of Christ in Carthage, Missouri, I knew changes were on the horizon.  At the end of 2025, I had to say goodbye to the two churches that I've served regularly for the past several years.  I've worked with the church in Washburn, Missouri, since 2021, where I started during the COVID pandemic, and I've preached for the church in Columbus, Kansas, for about 20 years.  Each of them honored my leaving with gifts, hugs, and some tears.

That got me thinking.  Since being hired for my first teaching position, besides these part-time preaching jobs, I have left a handful of jobs, and each has been bittersweet.  In 1995, I left a five-year position at Buchanan Elementary School in Oklahoma City.  I had taught first and second graders during that time and forged a positive reputation among the faculty, students, and parents.  Upon leaving, memory books were constructed for me to take with me.  Since this was just weeks following the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building (four and a half miles away), the school was sent about a two-foot by two-foot area of marble from the destroyed building to serve as a mini-memorial of the life-changing event.  On my last day, the principal stomped on the marble with his cowboy boot heel to break off a piece for me.  Principal Blevins and I had worked closely during that year, and I had been in charge of the school in his absence on the day of the bombing.  He said that I deserved to have a piece since I was the one responsible for the safety of the staff and students.  When we moved to Joplin, Missouri, that year, my wife and I were taking a leap of faith.

On the day I arrived in Joplin, the first school I called had an open teaching position.  My interview was the next day, and I was hired immediately.  For the next 27 years, I taught fourth grade at Cecil Floyd Elementary.

I soon determined to put in the necessary time to earn my Master's Degree.  While taking a couple of summer classes, I thought I could work a part time job to help pay for tuition.  Since I had never worked in fast food, I wanted to have the experience.  It would be an adventure as I worked for a month or two at what may be the busiest McDonald's in Joplin, right on the busiest street, Range Line.  I handled the drive-through, taking orders over the speaker and making change at the first window.  Another goal in taking the position was to set an example for the "other" youngsters who worked there.  I interacted with customers at the speaker in creative ways, giving them thoughtful quotes and singing as they were stuck in the long drive-through lane.  When I needed to leave McDonald's and set up my classroom for the new school year, the managers rewarded me with a Ronald McDonald cake - a treat they never offered to any other departing employee.  I was honored.

Twenty-seven years after arriving in Joplin, it was time for me to retire from teaching at Cecil Floyd Elementary.  I had made my mark on the school in almost three decades.  In the final weeks, I was honored by students in a special presentation before receiving another party by my immediate peers.  Still another ceremony was provided by the rest of the school and the PTA.  The school district handed me a special trophy at a special luncheon.  Most memorable was a semi-private time at the end of my last day.  Principal Bozarth, who was also leaving the school to take a new position training educators in the region, met me in a neighbor's classroom for a final, tearful hug.  I cannot forget the response of my fourth grade teaching team upon watching two grown men embracing and crying together.

So there you have it.  Looking at it all collectively, I am humbled by the ways people have commemorated my service in every job I held.  Yes, humbled.  While I have always wanted to do my best in every position, I know I wasn't always able to.  It is nice to see that others have seen what I was trying to do.  Now, I find myself doing three jobs (I know, I'm supposed to be retired.).  I am preaching full-time, I supervise student teachers for a local university, and I contract to write history curricula and provide professional development in locations across the United States.  I still aspire to do my best and leave a mark on people in these jobs.