Lesson One – High Cotton (Updated)

Although we have only been in school for two days this week, majority of the conversations around the school have been dominated by the 2011 Cotton Bowl. Living in a college town it’s no surprise that a Razorback game be the talk of the town, but it has been especially thick this bowl season because of the aspirations that the Razorbacks have had this year.

Updated version, Arkansas took care of business and handled K-State in the Cotton Bowl…showing the Wildcats how a real teams plays. Take that EMAW!

Lesson Two – Bad Christmas Presents

This lesson was originally posted in January of 2010, but it always makes for a great discussion piece after the holidays.

Christmas is always a memorable experience….sometimes it may not be a pleasant memorable experience but memorable at best. This week my students and I discussed bad Christmas presents throughout history, and I shared with them my story about the rock tumbler I received one Christmas. I was about 11 or 12 and at the age where parents are not quite sure what to buy you anymore….toys are no longer cool and your not quite into clothing at this point.

For those of you not aware of what a rock tumbler is, it is basically a container that you fill with a set of rocks and a “secret” mixture then place on a motor that spins (or tumbles) the rocks for about two weeks. After the end of the two weeks, you then take your rocks and rinse and repeat with another “secret” mixture….for another two weeks. At the end of a month you have nice pretty rocks that you are not quite sure what to do with….turns out they are great throwing rocks. Can you beat this bad Christmas present? If so, leave us a comment.

Lesson Three – Arkansas History

arkThe picture above is a copy of the tattoo that can be found on the back of my arm…pride, stupidity, or maybe both?

Starting this week we will be changing our curriculum from social studies to Arkansas history. This is a semester course and will highlight the role that Arkansas had in many important events in American history. For many of my students they have been dreading this switch for quite sometime, but for me I have been really looking forward to the switch. I really enjoy teaching Arkansas history because it allows me to teach American history while instilling a sense of pride for being from the great state of Arkansas by explain how we fit into the big picture. Often times the thinking of students, in regards to Arkansas history, is that nothing cool has ever happened in Arkansas…however that couldn’t be further from the truth. As Arkansans there is plenty to celebrate and there are also many events that happened within our own borders that have shaped our national landscape. Hopefully once we are finished with this semester my students will feel the same way that I do and start taking pride in the fact that they are from Arkansas as oppose to thinking nothing cool has or ever will happen in our state.

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