Back to Before...

This blog was originally designed to record my experiences one summer at a professional development course (two actually). The Presidential Academy selected one teacher from each state and then brought us to Philly, Gettysburg and DC for one week each to discuss the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address and the Civil Rights Movement. That was the inspiration of the blog's name--Declaration Address and Dream.


Today I had a little bit of a deja vu from 2011. Dr. Lucas Morel of Washington and Lee University presented for the Gilder Lehrman Institute. Dr. Morel was the lead professor for the Presidential Academy and when I saw his name on the literature, I knew I was signing up.


For the interested, a review of some of the posts from Summer 2011:



Big Arnold and Your Bike


Pictures from the Walking Tour


Gettysburg and History as Art


Photos From the Battlefield


Gettysburg National Cemetery


Talk May Be Cheap, But it is Necessary


John Brown, Domestic Terrorist


I Want to Like Woodrow Wilson, I Really, Really Do


Some Pictures From DC


A Day in the Senate


A Morning in the House


70 Hours in the Classroom, 9 Sites, Battlefields and Tours, 3300 Pages of Reading


In one of my posts that summer, I explained what I liked about Dr. Morel's teaching style:

What I like about sitting in one of Dr. Morel's lectures is that there is an expected give and take. He asks questions looking not necessarily for the right 'answer' but an answer that gets us on the field and moving toward that answer. To participate, you have to know the material, not in a regurgitated ATM sort of way but an organic way of moving toward a concept or big idea. Its a teaching style which encourages participation and requires preparation. You want to get in the game. It is a pleasure to listen to what the other participants have to say about the Lyceum Speech or in response to the handbill pronouncing Lincoln an atheist.

It is a style I both enjoy and try to emulate. I can say that on several of the few moments I consider my most successful as an educator-this is the style I have employed.


I didn't get a chance to say thank you to Dr. Morel today, so let this post be that--Thank you Dr. Morel.

4 to 50:Talk to your grandparents (part one, war)



 

Today is Memorial Day.

 

My wife and sister-in-law are heading to Pratt, Kansas to place flowers on headstones and my sons are serving as greeters at Maple Grove Cemetery here in Wichita. As a military kid and veteran myself, this day is one of pride and reflection.

 

Today's thought is simple:

 

Remember.

 

I can't express my thoughts better than Lincoln did more than 151 years ago, so I won't even try. I will let his words, and my camera speak for themselves. The images are from Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg National Cemetery, Maple Grove Cemetery (Wichita, KS) and monuments and memorials from Washington DC.

 

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

 

 

 



Civil War Washington Teaching Fellowship--Reboot

In the last post, I talked about the Civil War Washington Teaching Fellowship. This mini-post is a set of links to previous posts about my week with them last summer. There are easily the same number of posts I don't offer links to so, if you are up for some exploring....

Walking in the steps of grieving father at Oak Hill Cemetery

When memories aren't allowed, let the house speak for you

Prepare. Experience. Reflect.

How long do you let kids marinate in an uncomfortable discussion?

Furnished with ideas, not objects

Sleeping in the president's deathbed

Wichita Connection #2

At Ford's Theater

I was asked by the kids which spot had the most meaning and I'll close with a link to that post. My attraction to these types of  location are all over this blog, like here, here and here. I don't think of them the way otehrs do, I see them as flashpoints for rememberance, reflection and vision for the future. History is a way of looking at the past in order to chart a course toward the future--these places encapsulate that idea.

How Sleep the Brave

The 149th Anniversary of Near Perfection

Lincoln at Gettysburg National Cemetery (Source: National Archives)

The Gettysburg Address

The sesquicentennial minus one of the Gettysburg Address is today. This blog was originally meant to process thoughts from my travels with the Presidential Academy a couple of years ago. One of the weeks was spent in Gettysburg and it had a profound effect on me. You can't wander the battlefield and remain unmoved. You can't wander the cemetery without feeling two emotions seemingly at odds with themselves: pround sadness and profound hope. The Gettysburg Address beutifully captures both in a way I don't think any other speech does.

This blog now serves as a gateway to my thoughts on oratory and so this post fits.

But I've also been waxing eloquent on Thanksgiving and I think it fits as a post to that as well. Lincoln hits the nail on the head when he reminds us that we can't consecrate what has already been consecrated. Our job is to pick up the plow and continue the work. Veteran's Day last Monday and Thanksgiving this Thursday are great bookends for that sense of gratitude and expectation Lincoln suggests. Gratitude at the work done for us. Expectation at our work ahead.

The link above is to Ken Burn's take on the Gettysburg Address.

The link below is my take on the national cemetery at Gettysburg.

Declaration Address and Dream-July 21, 2011