Remembering 9/11: Journeying to the sites of a tragedy

Each summer I get a bit obsessive about having a theme for my travels. One summer, I decided to trace the  escape route John Wilkes Booth took after assassinating President Lincoln, while another mission took me to try and find the gravesites of the Lincoln conspirators.  Friends and family know that when I get that crazed look in my eyes and I start Google mapping everything, that a new adventure is brewing.

The Pentagon

For the last two summers I have been working as a tour guide in D.C., taking sweaty 8th graders all around our nations capital. The memorials are always my favorite places to take them to, especially the Pentagon Memorial. Even the most rowdy students are rendered calm and reflective by this powerful tribute to the losses incurred there on that fateful day in our history.

After having given numerous tours of it last summer, I decided that my new mission would be to visit the other two 9/11 sites in New York and rural Pennsylvania.  Although I do not personally know anyone that died in the attacks, after reading numerous biographies of the people who died in the Pentagon and sharing them with my tour groups, I felt drawn to exploring the events and the lives of those that lost their lives at the other sites.

After having gone to all three memorials over the course of two weeks, each one left an indelible mark on me. The 9/11 Memorial and Museum were both very powerful. The new museum is phenomenal and does a perfect job of reconstructing the events as a timeline. It is definitely not for everyone, because of the nature of the exhibits.  If you do go at some point, just be prepared to deal with the emotions that it brings up long after you leave it.  It has a way of staying with you. It reminds me of the feeling I get when visiting the United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum in D.C.  As a tour guide, I can only go through it once a season, because I have trouble letting go of it and frankly no one wants a depressed tour guide.  We always have to remain perky.

Of the three sites, I was not fully prepared for how I would react to the Flight 93 Memorial. It is in a beautiful and remote part of Pennsylvania and I was struck by how such a gorgeous location could be the site of such horrific tragedy.  The memorial itself is still under construction, although the main portion is completed and open to the public.

Upon arriving there, I was overcome by complete sadness.  I fully believe that some places hold a special energy to them, almost like there's an imprint left behind. The research that I had done into the lives of the people on board stuck with me as I walked along the long path leading to the memorial.  I was reminded that these were all just normal everyday people who woke up that morning, never knowing that they would end up becoming part of history in just a few short hours.


A large boulder marks the impact site and only family members, and I assume close friends, are allowed to go out there. It was decided that, at least for the time being, that location be a private area reserved for those that were closest to the victims.

Often, when I embark on these missions, they are about events and people far removed from our history. Usually, I will visit a place and then simply move on to the next destination. It was different for these places. Even though it has been several months since I visited them, the stories that they have to tell are still with me.

Tributes left at the Flight 93 Memorial 

The Stress-Less Review

Yes, it is that almost that time of year when both students and teachers face the stress of finishing the semester. With so much to do and seemingly so little time, it is often hard to just stop and take a breath at times.  Here are a few little tips to curb some of the stress we all deal with both during exams and the year in general.

THERE IS AN APP FOR THAT

There are a few apps that I love to make use of both in and out of the classroom.  My absolute favorite is one called Breeze which is a wind chime app that provides a set of virtual wind chimes.  You get to control various aspects, including the style of wind chime, the background, and even the weather and wind.  It's very calming and it's one that I enjoy projecting onto our board before a test or quiz.

Another great set of apps which focus on breathing are 5 Minute Relax and Breathe2Relax which offers up short deep breathing exercises which can seriously calm down anxiety in just a matter of minutes.

SCENT OF AN EDUCATION

Yes, it does look like an alien egg.

Yes, every classroom has a smell.  Being a teacher in humid Florida, my classroom tends to smell like sweaty middle schoolers who have not yet discovered the joys of deodorant. One thing that creates a nice and calming environment is my air defuser which pumps a pleasant smelling mist into the air.  Generally, I choose a citrus or lemon essential oil because it is not overpowering like some of the others like patchouli. I know that many schools have restrictions about candles, so the air defuser is a wonderful alternative.

A LITTLE GRATITUDE GOES A LONG WAY

During the hustle and bustle of the school day, sometimes it is nice to reflect on what we are thankful for.  I know that I'm sounding a lot like Oprah, but it really does work.  Take a minute or so and have students reflect on just one thing that they are happy or thankful for.  This can be done as a journal activity or have students fill out a slip of paper. I like to keep a special box in my room where we can collect them and return to them from time to time.  It's a very simple exercise and tends to ground students a bit before the regular class can begin.

Creating an inviting classroom is important for all who come in the door.  These suggestions do not take much time and naturally do not have to be done every day.  We all know that situations arise where we simply need to step back and chill before progressing forward. No, we will never eliminate all stress from our lives, but creating our own strategies can be helpful both for us as teachers and our students.

Oh and by the way, my classroom is really not a spa, although a professional masseuse would be awesome!

Scavenging with Remind

Recently, I tweeted about using Remind to come up with a scavenger hunt while at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum.  Remind asked me to be a guest blogger for them and here is my entry here.  Please check out my other posts and my website at One if by Land Adventures.

The Amazing Geocaching Race

I discovered Geocaching about 4 years ago and quickly grew a little obsessed.  For those of you who have zero clue what I am talking about, Geocaching began over 10 years ago and is a GPS based hunt for hidden caches throughout the world.  Some of them are as small as pill, while others can be the size of a shoe box.  For many, it is simply the thrill of the hunt since some of the finds are quite challenging.

After spending a summer of digging through the nooks and crannies around Florida and beyond finding these little treasures, I figured it would be a great activity for my Geography class.  Within the world of Geocaching you might stumble upon what is known as a "Travel Bug". These are items placed in Geocaches with special missions attached to them.  Geocachers that find them have the option of taking them with them and dropping them off at another cache.

Four years ago, each of my classes launched "bugs" into the world with the mission of just traveling and seeing historic sites. Sadly, two of them were lost somewhere along on their journeys. Unbelievably though, two of them are still out traveling the world.

2010

2014

Betsy Ross has traveled the most miles, logging a staggering 55,000 miles in the United States alone. Recently, I discovered that she was very close to home and I went to retrieve her to reunite her with the kids who remained at our school.  For such a long distance, she was in really great shape.  Heck, I know after a long plane ride, I look like death, but then again, I'm not made of plastic.

This year, my Geography class has created their own version of the Amazing Race with teams competing to log the most miles within the school year.  As the various groups travel around, we are going to look up each site they visit and do a 5 themes based activity researching and discovering about the location where their bug currently is located.  The nice thing about many caches is that many are themed and provide insight into the locations.  For example, in Tampa, we have some caches that highlight our immigrant history or share interesting information that would not really be found in a travel guide.  

I really hope that this batch of bugs travel very far.  It is quite amazing to see the reactions on the faces of the kids when they see how far their bugs have traveled and its pretty cool that they can learn something about our wide world in the process.

For more information about Geocaching, please visit their site and also check out my site as well.  Happy caching!

UPDATE:  After traveling for a few a months, this last batch of travel bugs have had quite the journey.  One group has gone international, visiting Belgium, France and Greece.  They are now resting somewhere in Spain, waiting to be picked up for their next adventure.

Teach from your soul

Please pardon the potential rambling which is sure to weave its way in, but I have been putting a lot of thought the last several months, actually years into what makes up great teaching.

It seems like everyone has an opinion on the matter. There's those that are strict, by the book teachers, and on the far other spectrum, there are those that are much more of the anything goes mentality. 

I have been at my school for 14 years, but in the last few years I have grown restless. Our school has as part of its mission statement to "be yourself" which is something I strive for not only for myself but for my students.

Sadly, my department has adopted more of a cookie cutter approach to teaching which involves very little other than Harkness style discussion. Don't get me wrong, I love discussion based work , but I believe there has to be variety too.

As a teacher, I am passionate about the life I have chosen to lead and I want that passion to translate to my students. Being told how to teach is soul crushing and removes individuality from the classroom.

After reading Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess, I was almost in tears because I finally felt like a found people who understood why I teach the way I do. I finally found some kinship among people who don't feel silly dressing up as part of an activity or even converting the room into a stage where the Boston Massacre is recreated or where students stumble upon a Civil War encampment.

I use lessons as a way to create memorable events for students, lessons that they will absorb and remember for years to come. In the end, I want to teach in a way that stirs my soul and taps into creativity. There's nothing better(and sometimes frustrating) than being jolted awake by one of those "aha!" moments where you think of a more engaging way to allow students to discover and learn the material. Even though I have been teaching for over 17 years, I still get a bit giddy about approaching something in a new and interesting way.

I know that my students appreciate and have enjoyed their experience in my class. Even the ones who just couldn't "get" history have come back through the years to express gratitude so I know I must have done something right.

I honestly do not know what my future holds in my current school. Perhaps this is all the gentle nudge that I need to pursue my real dream of teaching on the road through my site.  If you have not checked out my vision then please visit my information page. I would love and appreciate any feedback.

Until then, I feel as if I have to do what I know works for the kids and what gets them excited about learning history.  Isn't that our real goal, to create lifelong learners?

Tables Turned: Lessons from an 8th Grader

Yes, I will admit it, I absolutely love summer break and the time off that it affords me.  Well, time off is a bit misstated. The time off allows me to pursue other ventures, most namely my work in developing One if by Land Adventures and giving tours of our nations capital.

A few years ago, Worldstrides asked me to come on board and be one of their Course Leaders which is really a more glamorized term for tour guide.  The month I am able to spend in DC is incredibly rewarding and allows me to educate on site which is one of my true passions.

Touring in June can present its own challenges, most namely the heat and humidity which at times can feel as if Satan himself is taking one large fart on you.  Despite that we walk, and I do mean WALK, the sites in DC.  One of my personal favorite places to go while touring is Arlington National Cemetery.

There are some places that simply hold a certain power to them as if walking on the ground is an almost sacred experience.  Upon entering the gates of Arlington, I challenge each group to treat the walk as almost a walking meditation.  We are so surrounded by "noise" and each other, that I ask them to gaze around and really take in the cemetery.  What graves stand out?  Do you notice a particular item left on a grave?  How are others experiencing the cemetery?  These are all things I try to challenge them to do.

A few weeks ago, on a particularly hot and humid day, I took a group up on the road less traveled.  Typically, we usually visit the Kennedy gravesites and then walk up to the Tomb of the Unknowns and back down. On this day, I took them on a route where they would also see the graves of slain civil rights leader, Medgar Evers, Robert Todd Lincoln, and William Howard Taft.  The route does require some pretty heft climbing up oddly shaped stairs but eventually you reach Arlington House which has one of the best views of the entire city.

After the rather brutal climb, we were sweating bullets and I was making full use of my sweat towel and spraying down the kids with my trusty misting fan.  There was the usual grumbling about the heat and I was definitely feeling their pain.  It was then that one of the students came up to me and stated something that I will share with each tour group from now on.  She gazed out over the landscape, lined with endless rows of gravestones and said "You know it's really hot and miserable out here, but just when I want to complain, I think about what each of these people did for our country and then I realize a couple hours of heat don't mean a thing."  I stopped dabbing myself with the sweat towel and looked at her in stunned amazement.  She was so genuine in her statement that I almost teared up a bit.  A couple of her friends agreed and we ended up having a very nice conversation about it as we marched toward the Tomb of the Unknowns.

There are many times when we are told or observe people in general being extremely self centered in todays society.  Yes, that is the case in certain situations, but this young lady taught me a very valuable lesson that day and one that I will continue to share.

There's something about Thinglink

This has been a monumental year at our school.  We made the move to 1:1 iPad and like everyone else we have experienced wonderful successes, and yes, spectacular failures.  As I began the process of reevaluating pretty much everything in my curriculum, I made one vow to myself and my students, which was not to inundate them with thousands of apps.

Just one single visit to the app store can cause all kinds of app fatigue and there is always something new and powerful to try.  Throughout the year, I have tried many and put them through the test, even getting a focus group of students involved to determine which ones were most useful.

One that came sprang to my attention at the beginning of the year was Thinglink.  It allows the user to upload an image and make it interactive.  The old saying of "a picture can tell a thousand words" becomes a reality with this site and app.  Thinglink allows users to generate a variety of tags composed of video, music, links or simply text to make the image interactive.

My classes recently completed a semester long memorial project in which they researched a person or event from American history that they wanted to learn more about.  In the end they produced a research paper and they designed a memorial representing their subject.  Through the years, there have been mind blowing projects turned in and I have always longed to keep more than just a picture of them to show future classes.

This year, each student created a digital copy of their project using Thinglink.  Rather than just a picture, students have now been able to tag all the symbolic elements of their projects, providing the viewer a virtual tour.  Not only that, they were also able to provide extra information relevant to their topic such as site links and videos of themselves and short documentaries.  It has been a great success and students have also enjoyed showing off their work.

Unlike many apps, Thinglink is also computer based too.  There are definite advantages to both.  I actually prefer the functionality of the actual website, because there are more editing options such as different  buttons and such.  Regardless, it is a great tool and one that is not just flashy, but one that also gets those creative and educational juices flowing.

Here are some examples of some student projects.

The Manhattan Project

The Secret Six