The Biographies

Gnu speaking to the scholars.  "We will be reading and discussing biographies this week.  Who can tell me the definition of the word biography?"  Silence, no takers, not even a single guess.  Not the best of starts but Gnu was prepared.  Sitting on her table at the front of the room is a stack of biographies.  One by one she holds up a biography, tells the scholars who the biography is about, and then asks the question again.  Multiple hands go up with the right response.  Progress and now starts the real challenge.  One by one Gnu calls the scholars up to her front table and hands them a biography.  With their biography in hand, the scholars are given the following directions.  You are to read the biography.  Fourth graders, (MiniJ, Knapper, BigHouse, Uh-Uh-Uh) and Tourette get no reading help.  The remainder of the scholars, Grr!, S&T, and Huey can ask an adult for help but only with words they cannot read.  After reading the biography, you will do a book report.  The book report must have a beginning, middle, and ending.  No one will get any help with the initial writing of their book report.  When you finish you first writing you can get help editing the book report.  After the editing is complete, you will rewrite the book report in your best penmanship.  When I feel that you have written your book report in your best penmanship, you will then be allowed to type your book report on one of the laptops and print it out.  When everyone has finished typing their book report you will come up to the front of the classroom, one by one, and give an oral presentation on the biography you read.

Here is a list of the scholars and their biography.  I'll also tell you what they know about the person in their biography.

MiniJ - Jackie Robinson, some familiarity
BigHouse - Harry Houdini, not a clue
Knapper - Thomas Edison, not a clue
Uh-Uh-Uh - Betsy Ross, not a clue
Tourette - The Wright Brothers, not a clue
S&T - Jesse Owens, not a clue
Huey - Thomas Jefferson, not a clue
Grr! - Abraham Lincoln, a president

With their assigned book in hand, the scholars are told to begin reading.  As I looked around the room, the scholars were reading as best they could because Gnu had the foresight to pick out biographies that were written at the second grade or maybe the third grade level.  Eventually, even though they were told this was an independent project, they started drifting toward Gnu's front table and my back table.  "Mr. Schultz, I don't know what to do?"  "Did you read the book?"  "I read the first couple pages but I don't know what to do?"  "Did you find out anything interesting about your person?"  "Yes."  "Show me what you found in the book."  "I found this Mr. Schultz."  "Do you think this is important information?"  "Yes, Mr. Schultz."  Then go get your notebook and write it down.  When you find five or six other items that you think are important, write them down in your notebook."

The process was painstakingly slow but they all continued to work.  As they were approaching their final, best penmanship version, Gnu told they that they could either use the internet to put a picture on their final typed version or make a prop of some type that would go along with their character.  This got them real excited and construction paper, colored pencils, colored markers, crayons, scissors and glue sticks were in high demand.  When they reached the final step, the typing part of the process, it slowed them all down.  S&T was the first one to ask for help.  "Mr. Schultz, can you help me?  There are red lines under my words and I don't know what to do."  "Bring me your laptop and I'll take a look at it."  When S&T sat the laptop in front of me the first thing I noticed was that he was using a size eight font.  "How can you read this," I asked him, "the letters are too small."  "I can read it just fine Mr. Schultz."  "Well, I can't and if you want me to help you I need to make the letters bigger."  I pulled down the font drop box, selected font size twenty-six, made the changes, and pushed the laptop back towards S&T.  When he looked at the screen he said to me with a smile on his face, "Mr. Schultz that's a lot better."

After almost two weeks, the book reports are ready.  "Who wants to go first," Gnu asked and Huey raised his hand.  Below is the book report presentation order.  As you read on please remember these are THOSE kids in THAT classroom.

Huey was Thomas Jefferson.  He used the following props with his presentation.  A nickel, a quill made out of construction paper as Thomas Jefferson was holding a quill in the book and finally, with help from Gnu, he had pictures of Thomas Jefferson's home on the internet that he put up on the big overhead screen.

MiniJ was next with Jackie Robinson.  From my standpoint, this was going to be the most interesting presentation.  Two years ago, if given this assignment, there is no way MiniJ would get up in front of the classroom and give a presentation.  Although he didn't have a prop, he stood in front of the room and gave his presentation.  There was no shyness, no hesitation, he read his book report from the front of the classroom as if he had done it a dozen times before.  When he finished, Gnu started applauding and so did I because we both knew what just happened.

S&T followed MiniJ with Jesse Owens.  His prop was a gold medal that he made out of construction paper and yarn.  Although he struggled with the reading, he did his best and when he finished Gnu and I applauded again.

BigHouse walked up next as Harry Houdini.  A chain made from black construction paper was his prop.  He had the chain wrapped all around his body as he read his report.  Easily the best reader in the class, BigHouse did a real nice job.

Uh-Uh-Uh followed as Betsy Ross.  She recreated the first flag using construction paper and crayons.  Probably the second best reader in the class, Uh-Uh-Uh also did a real nice job.

Tourette had the Wright Brothers and he followed Uh-Uh-Uh.  Tourette worked on his prop the longest and it was easily the most impressive as he patiently put together a bi-plane using Legos that was absolutely amazing.

Knapper, unfortunately, did not finish his assignment as he was absent from school for four consecutive days.

Finally, it's Grr!'s turn and neither Gnu nor I knew what to expect as Grr! missed a lot of time doing this project as he spends his afternoons in a general education classroom.  When Gnu asked Grr! if he wanted to give his presentation he said, "yes".  So, despite the fact that he did no have a book report to read, he slowly made his way to the front of the classroom.  As he was walking to the front of the room he put on his props that were made out of black construction paper.  First was the stove pipe hat that was held together with scotch tape.  Second was the black beard with an opening for his mouth that was held to his face with piece of yarn.  Finally, again, using scotch tape, he stuck a black tie on the front of his shirt.  So there he stood, in the front of the room with nothing to read and then he began.  I recognized immediately what he was doing and I sat straight up and listened.  As he spoke I thought to myself, "oh my God, he's giving his presentation in the first person."  When he finished talking, he took a deep bow and walked back to his desk.  One of THOSE scholars in THAT room just blew me away with a first person presentation about the sixteenth president of the United States without any notes in his hand.

When each scholar finished their presentation, Gnu had them stand in the front of the classroom holding their book report and their props and took a picture of them.  A couple days later when she had everyone's picture developed, she took the book report and the pictures out in the corridor and hung them on our bulletin board for all to see.  As she did so, the smiles on the scholars faces was priceless.  Once again, I'm going to say it.  I'm working with an wonderful teacher who, in a classroom full of THOSE kids, gets them to do some amazing things.

The decision or should I say my decision about the next school year has not been made due to unforeseen complications.  I'm going to give you the abridged version as the full length story would double the length of this blog post.  To start with, the BigB2 had a panicked look on her face when I told her I may not be returning for the next school year.  Shortly after, I informed Gnu about my conversation with the BigB2 and she caught me off guard with this statement, "as much as I want you to be in this classroom, I don't think you should return next year given the circumstances."  Finally, and what may be the real deal breaker, the school corporation, based on a decision made by the school board, is changing the start time and end time of the school day at my school.  As I said previously, it's complicated so I guess you'll have to wait until next week to hear the rest of the story.

Check off another blog posting.  Next up is the Super Bowl and I'm thinking popcorn and a Sun King Wee Mac adult beverage.  Until next week, enjoy life despite all of the insanity that is going on in the United States following the recent presidential election.