Is it true that having two opposing teeth was a requirement to be a soldier in the Continental Army?
​It sure helps when ripping open the cartridge before plunging it into the barrel of a musket.

Here are some photos of the Old Courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri, where Dred and Harriet Scott's original case was placed before the state's Supreme Court.  Here, visitors can see the staircase that the Scotts climbed and the courtroom where their case was tried.

Originally Posted July 29, 2020

​It can be controversial - that's true - but that's not our fault.  Teaching the facts of history does not mean that we are complicit in the actions of historical figures.  The facts are the facts.  Sometimes they implicate people, and sometimes they simply demonstrate the flaws in humanity.  Life happens, resulting in good and evil consequences. Educators aren't always obliged to take sides, but to show the causes and effects of the choices made in the past. Please don't shy away from the controversial:  that may just be the spice of the lesson.  It may get an unlikely student to sit up and pay attention.

OK.  This one is blatantly untrue.  If you believe kids are bored by the subject, you haven't been in our classroom to see my students have mature conversations about some very serious subjects in colonial and American history. Sure, you can stick to the biased and bland presentation of a textbook (Blah.), but the magic happens when the teacher brings it to life.  Many teachers would be surprised to see ten-year-olds longing for more of a subject that the teachers themselves are bored with.  Please do not project your own dysfunction in history education onto your pupils.

Some Questions:

• Why do people wait for Zechariah?  What is delaying him?
• How do the people know he saw a vision?
• Was the angel real or just a vision (hallucination)?
• What does Zechariah do before going home to his wife?

Let's Think:
Zechariah probably doesn't get enough credit from us today.  He is a devout priest for the Lord, and his service is important.  Zechariah does not take his duties as priest lightly, and we have proof to back that up.

Yes, he has just left the temple after having an impromptu meeting with a messenger of the Lord.  He must be positively overwhelmed, but now he has to face people who are waiting for him on the outside.  There's simply no other way for him:  he can't sneak out, and he can't just sit tight and outwait the crowd.  He must face them, and in his current state, being unable to talk due to his slip-up in the previous verses, his explanation about the angel has to be a difficult piece of information for the folks to digest.

Is he being punished for something?  The people must wonder if their devout and dedicated priest has done something to warrant heavenly consequences.  He can only perform charades for them which must be frustrating for everyone involved.  One word.  Two syllables.  Sounds like crangel?

Still, the folks know that he has seen a vision.  In fact, that vision was a real angel standing before him.  It is not something that Zechariah imagines, and that's confirmed when what the angel says actually happens some time in the future.

Important to note is that Zechariah doesn't just run home to wife Elizabeth to tell her the news.  No, he still performs his priestly duties before he goes home, leaving me to wonder if someone else might have gotten to her first and spilled the beans.  How much of the angel encounter did Zechariah share with the people anyway?  It was awfully big news to keep bottled up.

Some people find it hard to see addiction before it begins.  Maybe they just don't believe it would ever happen to them.  This video illustrates addiction from beginning to a possible end.

Many of my reflections might be repetitions of the actual reports that I have already made.  If you missed any of those, you can always find them toward the bottom of my Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute page.  If I hadn't already reported about them, I would have to reflect on my experiences at the capitol, where I really allowed myself to get into characters in interactive presentations of the Virginia General Assembly of the 1770s, including my portrayal of Patrick Henry and my own invented character of Edward Pigg.  These experiences involved getting me unbridled, and I loved it!  Getting fully into character and pouring everything into those roles was absolutely rewarding in ways that are perhaps indescribable.

I would also have to repeat my report about brickmaking and receiving a genuine brick fragment from our leader. The fact that the fragment is from Martha Washington's first husbands estate in Williamsburg astounds me, and I shall cherish it.

For my final personal reflection on the institute, I'm going to go in a slightly different direction; in all of my previous reflections, I have referred to things I saw, experiences I had, or moments I shared with other human beings, but for this one, I want to relate something I brought with me.

On the last day, our leaders offered a time for people to share their feelings and ideas with the group.  It was a time when people said their goodbyes to the group and expressed their appreciation.  One of my new friends shared that she was very blessed to have attended the institute with such gentlemen - men who held doors for the ladies and treated the ladies with respect in every way.

I was one of four men in the group.  In elementary schools, male teachers are always outnumbered by ladies.  For my 32 years of experience teaching in public schools, I have always worked in a female-dominated setting.  At any rate, for many years now, I have subscribed to old school values of chivalry and proper etiquette.  I was certainly aware of my minority status and my traditional values while on this trip.

I began at the beginning by being the man who opened the door and held it open for all of the ladies when we entered and exited buildings.  At first they were surprised, then appreciative.  One of my new friends expressed how appreciative that there was a gentleman at the institute.  I made it a point to tell her that I was happy to serve as long as they would accept my traditional values.  I continued in this, allowing the ladies to go through buffet lines first and the like, until I noticed one of the other men stepping up his game as well.  I smiled to myself when he did, knowing that my influence had made a difference.  He probably wasn't accustomed to taking such a conscious role in those kinds of acts, but I think he enjoyed the appreciation of the ladies, both younger and older.

For me, right or wrong, I developed a sense of great satisfaction that I was being recognized for my chivalry, but perhaps even more so that I had a direct influence on another grown man.  One does not always get to see his positive influence on other people, and I couldn't help but feel a bit of joy on multiple occasions during the week.

So I loved when the "gentlemen" were recognized and applauded on that last day.  It was wonderfully rewarded for just being myself.

Remember this point from a couple of lessons back?

Much of the archaeological evidence has been revealed in the past 50 years.  Is it a coincidence that the tablets, cylinders, stelae, steps, engravings, relief carvings, and murals were done on materials that would withstand the passing of time AND that modern technology is just recently bringing these items into the light and confirming that they are authentic?  Might the dual timing a part of the Providence of God at a time when people are more skeptical of faith and in need of more physical evidence?

How do we go from stone to paper?  Let's go to the book to review these points along a timeline.

​Books like Matthew, Luke, or Acts would be this long, requiring them to be contained in separate scrolls. The video (left) demonstrates similar scrolls (from the Old Testament) in use in the Jewish community.

It is fairly easy for us to understand how a codex came about from this.  To form a codex, sheets of papyri or parchment were stacked and stitched together on one side.  These bound codices were more like our modern books.  They are easier to carry, and more could be contained in one volume.

Neil Lightfoot wrote, "It has been said that the inventor of the codex belongs with other nameless benefactors of mankind such as the inventor of the wheel and the devisor of the alphabet."  Then, he also observed, "More and more it seems that the codex may very well be a Christian innovation.  If not, we know at least that Christians were the first to make extensive use of the codex."

The Big Questions

Our focus for this study hinges on answering these two big questions.  The goal is to get closer to the answers each week in our class.

Does God Communicate with Us Outside of the Bible?

We contend that the Bible and everything it contains is supported by:

Mealtimes during the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute were always different.  I never knew where and with whom I would be sitting.  In one of our last meals together, it worked out that I was at a table with all of the younger teachers.  Strangely enough, it was an all new group for me, and I realized I was the elder in the situation.

This group was really talking about their plans for the new school year, and one in particular was lamenting the approach that her administration took in observations.  It really sounded like an adversarial relationship between teachers and administrators, one in which everybody had to be on their toes and looking over their shoulders for the next shoe to drop.

I related that to a time during my teaching career when I felt the same way.  Even superintendents, curriculum advisors, and principals from other schools in the district would drop in unannounced to observe in classrooms. Not only this, but they would "quiz" random students about what they were learning and why.  Not ever knowing what they were looking for, I didn't like trying to play their game soon decided to turn to the offense.

I turned the tables.  Instead of waiting for the bosses to attack my students, I sicced the students on the bosses. No longer would they wait to be asked what are you learning? or, why are you learning this?  From that point on, they would be the first to speak.  We practiced and practiced for the inevitable, and by the time an assistant superintendent came into the classroom, they were ready.  As she approached a table, students stood to greet her.  They shook her hand and with established eye contact, they asked her to have a seat.  They asked, "Would you like to see what we're working on?" they asked.  The AS was shocked beyond belief.  Before she left the school building, she spoke to the principal about what she had just witnessed in Room 404.

Not only was this a good offensive strategy for alleviating the stress of unwanted and overbearing observations, but it was what was best for the students.  The skills they learned in this project are valuable skills that they could use in regular life.  These were grown-up skills that emphasized conversation and professional talents.

The younger teachers at CWTI appeared to love the idea of going on offense, and they looked forward to using it in their own classrooms in the fall.  It was an unexpected moment when we could relate to each other outside of the history of the area.  I loved that they were so receptive to my suggestions.

Some questions:

• Is Zechariah's question a rude one?  Does it demonstrate a lack of faith?  Why or why not?
• Must age be an excuse for not following God's plans?  Explain.
• Who sent Gabriel on this mission to Zechariah?  Did Zechariah know that before he was told?
• Why does Gabriel call this "good news"?
• Explain the importance of being silent.  When should a Christian be silent?

Let's Think:
Because of his unbelief, Zechariah will be mute for a little while.  That must have been a real blow to this priest.  He's going to have some to think about the time when an angel of the Lord spoke to him directly and yet he did not believe what the angel said.  In spite of Zechariah's unbelief, however, the angel says God's plan will go as intended.  Nothing takes away God's ability to work.

Not only was Zechariah lacking faith in what Gabriel told him, but he seems to be making excuses.  Does he or does he not want to have a son?  He has asked for one, but now that the baby is coming, Zechariah seems to be rescinding his request.  Is he really ready, at his age, to raise a child?  Is his wife ready for that as well?

In many cases, especially in the Old Testament, the angel of the Lord is listed just like that - the angel of the Lord - but in this account the angel is identified by name - Gabriel.  We think that the original text often indicates that the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament could be Jesus Himself (which changes how we view those texts).  Zechariah does not have a line-of-sight on the Messiah, but he still has one of those eye-opening experiences that just makes you want to shout to the world.  (Oh yeah, he can't talk.)

I've noticed that my reflections of the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute experience come in two categories: times I spent alone and times with people.  As a traditionally self-proclaimed introvert who struggles to break out of that shell, I do not often connect with people I've only just met, but there was something about the setting and the people I was around, during that week in July, that really set this trip apart.

It was later in the week.  I had brief encounters with the other participants, but intending to see and do as many things as possible and take advantage of my time in Virginia, I had not always stuck to the crowd.  I often broke out on my own and walked at a faster pace.  In fact some of the younger ladies mentioned putting a bell around my neck so they could keep better tabs on me.  They never knew where I was or which direction I might be coming from.

There were, however, times in which my connections to the other participants really touched my heart.  Again, one of those times was later in the week.  I felt somewhat of a connection to two sisters from Oregon.  They were funny, fun to be around, and easy to talk to.  We had some free time to eat a voucher lunch, so we sat down to have a sandwich, chips, and a cookie in an outdoor dining area.

I've made many observations of conversations throughout my life, taking note of how topics change on a dime, triggered by words and the thoughts of the involved individuals.  Sometimes that can be very frustrating as I have more to add about a particular topic, but the conversation has already shifted.  While eating across from SHARON and JANINE on that picnic table, the conversation was personal.

We had already made a different connection.  I mentioned that I would be preaching the morning after returning home, and they asked about my religious affiliation.  "I'm a member of the church of Christ," I answered, and they were shocked.  They quickly told me that they were raised in the church of Christ, but that they had drifted into other beliefs through the years.

But now, sitting at the picnic table, SHARON shared her personal struggles with the recent death of her dad.  She opened up to me, and her feelings just spilled out onto the table.  It was a moment when I could also bring up the death of my own dad.  We connected to each other over our similar experiences.  We related to each other over strong and moral fatherly influences, and we missed them.  I just can't forget this time when two virtual strangers were able to cry together without embarrassment in a public place.  It was just a natural moment in time that transcended the presence of any others.  In fact, it was such a natural moment that I don't think anyone else even noticed.

We make some connections in our lives with other people, but it's hard.  We hold back with our friends out of embarrassment.  We try to stay strong with our family, not wanting to lead them into their own weaknesses.  And we would never choose to show vulnerability in a strange place with strangers.  But sometimes, we are strengthened when we allow ourselves the reality of a moment.  I don't know if its possible to predict such times, but I do believe we should be on the lookout for them.  Perhaps we'll find more of them when we allow ourselves some freedom.

The other participants at CWTI were the best of all the educational trips I have experienced, and I'm happy to call them my history siblings.

People should not wonder why teachers are leaving the profession.  It's true that some burn out after a few years. It's true that the wages do not equal the wages of the more elite professions in our society.  It's true that some teachers just aren't cut out for the job they thought they wanted.  But more than likely, it is the political game that teachers must play with administrators and legislators.

More often, these days, the government holds school districts to standards, but it is the administration of those districts, in the attempt or even guise of addressing those standards, who press down hard on their teachers to do things in specific ways.  I can talk until I am blue in the face about how teachers are expected to adapt to the needs of individual learning styles, but it seems that certain administrators will never get that teachers also have individual teaching styles.  One does well with just chalk and a chalkboard, while another achieves excellent results with technology.

At the risk of being repetitive, let's get to the next few ways that one can tell that the educational system is cracked (in no particular order).

• Every class must record grades for the same assignments.  Here is one that's ripped from the latest news, and it just does not make very much sense.  Someone gets an "innovative and original" idea that every class must be conducted in the same way; somehow, if every student gets the same instruction in the same manner, day in and day out, and if every teacher records grades for the same exact assignments, then miraculously, test scores will sharply increase.  I mean, really, how does all of that connect with logic?  It's an incredible leap of faith to believe that this is all connected with success, and indeed, the only thing it accomplishes is headaches, heartaches, and stress for the teachers.  It's one more item on the list that makes teachers want to quit or retire early.  Sadly, many teachers shrink into a state of indenture or start making things up.  Dictating carbon copy grade books is not the solution to a school district's woes.

​

• Teachers are not empowered to make professional decisions.  Sometimes it feels like I'm stuck in a loop, but these points really are different.  Yes, they all go together, but yes also, they are different.  We recognize that it is often the scientist who tries something new or something different from her peers who becomes the one who discovers a breakthrough, whether in medicine, energy conservation, or quantum physics.  Then, we fail to recognize that the innovative teacher - the creative thinker and vivacious presenter - who touches the lives of students.  These days, we have to use words like maverick or rogue to introduce the educator who makes inroads with a difficult class.  Why aren't professional decisions being left to the professionals who directly involve themselves with students?  Those people who climbed the educational ladders to rise above the workforce are the ones who need binoculars to see what's happening so far below them.  Do I tell the ants how to do their jobs?  No, they know best how to do what they need to do, and just because I am so far above them in the food chain does not give me special knowledge that should mandate their methods.

• Data, not student needs, determines direction.  I cannot be the type of teacher who hangs his hat on data points.  When students become red, yellow, and green dots on a wall, the system is cracking.  There are too many other factors that weigh in on the needs of individual students, and no amount of raising expectations is going to help the whole student.  They come to me in different emotional states, at different academic levels and different levels of maturity (not to mention different personalities), and they must be related to with all of these in mind.  To reduce three-dimensional humans to a two-dimensional line graph is harshly wrong, and if you believe that every classroom has the same personality, maturity, and ability, you might have left your common sense on the pillow at home.   The same administrators who say, We don't want you to teach to the test, are the same ones who say, Teach to the data that's based on the last test in order to prepare for the next test.  This singular, test-centric posture places the emphasis in the wrong location.

• Students are shuffled in all directions.  Hey!  Here's another one that based on logic (said no logical human ever).  Let's take those kids who have issues with attention deficit, lump them in with students who have a lack of interest, along with kids who have legitimate academic stagnation, and make them walk all over the school to get to special classes (based on the data, of course).  Let's take those kids who need extra personal attention and motivation, and have them spend a half-hour every day roaming the halls to get to a class for the learning disabilities, then another classroom where they will work on a "differentiated" computer program, then another classroom to address their speech issues, another to offer them sensory stimulations, another to address social skills, and another to... Well, you get the idea.  The radical idea that we can focus these particular kids by constantly shifting their focus to yet another adult face in another location is counterproductive!  But that's how you can tell the system is cracked - when they system creators won't listen to any other ideas that aren't theirs.

• Teachers must be "on the same page".  There was a principal several years ago who told me that our four fourth grade classrooms should be on the same lesson at the same time every day.  She even informed me that she wanted to observe the introduction to the lesson in one room, then go to another for the meat of the lesson, see the conclusion to the very same lesson in a third room, and watch students in the last classroom working through an independent assignment for the skill just taught.  Do you realize how treacherous that really is?  Yell it to the cheap seats:  all classes are not the same!  How is any teacher to deal with the needs for reteaching and expanding the lesson when he is tied so stringently to the whipping post that is a pacing guide?  You want the schools in your district to stand out among others in the area, and yet, you insist that your classrooms all look alike.  If we were all clones in every way, not one of us would stand out among the others.

When the principal mentioned above was in charge of our "system", I told my wife I was ready to clean out my classroom.  I couldn't stand it any more.  I had never hit a wall so hard in my life.  But soon the rubber band that the system was stretching broke and most things came back to center. 

​Still, some teachers were so used to the tight rubber band that they actually missed its pull.  They yearned for the script to be returned to them.  They lunged for any opportunity to be told how to stand and how to breathe - when to smile and what words to say.  They, like the American slaves, were unprepared for freedom, and the new, free system was unprepared to teach them how to be free.  These teachers flailed like fish on the beach.  They thought they couldn't walk without someone having a leash around their necks.  They didn't know how to blaze their own trails, how to make things special, how to rise above the norms.

As a result, a new rubber band was hitched to the engine, and the pulling began again.  Regardless of a history that demonstrated the band would break with these tensions, it's being stretched to its limit, once again.  Hopefully, no one will get hurt when it snaps.

If there was ever a moment at the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute that struck me in the gut it was this one. She was our first character interpreter, and she interpreted the real-life person of Ann Ashby, or Nanny Jones, a black woman who found herself in an 18th Century interracial marriage.  The story is complicated, but the interpreter was completely captivating.  What a story!

When she left the room, there was applause as everyone looked at each other and collectively released their breath.  But the event was not over.  Our host then introduced the interpreter as herself, Valarie Gray-Holmes.  She could now talk to us as a 21st Century citizen and refer to Nanny in the third person.

She introduced herself and then proceeded to tell us about her personal story and how it relates to Ann Ashby's history.  She talked about personal struggle, her mother's and grandmother's struggle with each other, and about forgiveness and reconciliation.   She talked about sexual assault, mistrust, and grudge-holding.  Her mother could not imagine why she wanted to portray a black woman in an era where blacks were considered as property and inferior.  She related the instance when her mother saw her interpretation of Ann Ashby for the first time and realized the connections that could be made.  She finally understood and appreciated the importance of telling this woman's story among the predominantly white history of the Virginia Colony.

It all struck home with a few of the people in the room that afternoon, and some had tears and visible emotions in response.  I was also hit hard by the account.  But it wasn't necessarily an oppressed minority story that touched those people.  It was the relationship that Valerie established with Ann Ashby.  It was the developing relationship Valerie shared about her mother.  And it was about her mother forgiving her late grandmother upon a newfound realization.  In all of this - with everything falling into place and developing as it did - Valeria considered God's Providence to be at work.

The other participants went upstairs to find lunch when they finally acknowledged their appreciation to our presenter.  When I came out of the restroom, everyone was gone, but Valerie was still standing in the hallway, getting her things together.  I could not leave without saying something to her.  I felt like she needed to know that her "performance" went beyond just the telling of a story of black history or racism, but that it also connected with someone who has recently experienced mental illness nearby, someone who went through an unforgiving situation and had the realization that grace trumps evil (even perceived evil), someone who connected with her personal story.

In talking to her as she stood there in period dress, my voice halted, and a lump developed in the center of my skull.  My words stopped, and my lips pursed and trembled.  Those burning tears behind my eyes burst forward, and I couldn't continue.  In my desire to let her know that her story resonated with a white, landowning man, the connections and similarities kept coming forth in my mind, and it was overwhelming.  Her own tears mingled with mine as we shared the importance and the brilliance of the connections and relationships that we have made, as well as the role of God and His direction in our lives.  It was an incredible moment that I should never forget.

After a nice lunch with my new history brothers and sisters, I struck out onto Duke of Gloucester Street to look around.  Most of the street was empty at this time of the evening, and I thought it would be a nice time to call home.  A couple of the CWTI participants were a distance behind me, probably headed toward a bus stop to head back to our hotel, so for the most part I was alone.  When my wife answered, she asked the traditional, "How was today?" and I didn't get very far before those heaving sobs hit me again.  She was very patient as I talked through the crying to explain the experience of the day.

Those other teachers getting closer, I turned to walk down a side street, making sure to keep my back to them.  I hadn't planned on breaking down in such a way in such a public location, right there in the focal portion of the most important street of Colonial Williamsburg.  It's not something most folks experience - that thick and heavy emotion involving the 18th and 21st Century connections with history and humanity.  Valarie Gray-Holmes, Ann "Nanny Jones" Ashby, and I were very fortunate to meet in a time when our stories could intersect so richly, and this was simply a one-of-a-kind experience that few people could ever comprehend.