Tuesday - March 30, 2010
As promised, we are going to write a short story about our teaching careers. There are times when I wish I had kept a journal during my 34 and 1/2 years of teaching. Oh the stories I could write now! :)
This first little excerpt is actually one I remember that happened to Bill, many many years ago. It took place during our teaching careers before the computer was even thought about to be a reality to have access of in the classroom. We were required to teach map skills to all levels in the elementary school! I use to teach my second and third graders how to read a map as part of the reading program! They were introduced to what a "legend" was and the the use of the "symbols" on the map. Needless to say, these maps were very simple. As the students moved up in grades, the maps got a little more detailed! All grades had questions on the state achievement test - so we needed to teach map skills to prepare them not only for the test, but for life as well - or so we thought!
Bill taught 8th grade for most of his 32 years of teaching. 8th graders learn all about WV. They are introduced all kinds of facts and stories about WV. They also are preparing to take a Golden Horseshoe Test in which all 8th graders in WV participate. Representatives from each county who scored they highest on the test are honored with a reception at the Capitol in Charleston and given a Golden Horseshoe. It is a great honor for these students.
One episode that has given us many laughs and shaking of our heads is centered around Bill trying to teach map skills using a map of WV. The students were trying to locate the many places around the state that have a historical value to the founding of the state. This particular lesson not only was about teaching map skills, but locating the main cities in the state as well as the county in which the city is located!
While trying to engage the students into using the legend and symbols to locate the cities, Bill had one student who was having a really hard time with the task. He got frustrated and was going to call it quits! As a teacher we can't let that happen. We try another approach to get the student involved. Bill coaxed and helped this student locate the cities. The student was frustrated and Bill tried to coax him into WHY it would be a great idea for him to learn to read a map - especially one of WV. This student was a hunter - he loved going up into the mountains of WV to hunt deer. Bill approached the student with the idea of getting him more involved with the lesson by saying to him that if he wanted to go to the mountains to hunt deer how he would need to be able to read the state map. "Kids do say the funniest thing!"
This student looked at him being dead serious and said, " I don't need to know how to read a map!"
"Why not?" asked Bill. "If you wanted to get to the cabin to go deer hunting, you will need to know what roads to take to get there."
"No I won't! I'll just get in the truck with Daddy, and he can take me to the mountains!"
Bill then knew he might as well stop the lesson with this student for the time being!!!! This student was never going to have to worry about doing things by himself - there was always going to be someone else who would take him where he needed to go! (or so he thought!)
This student did grow up and ultimately he did have to read the maps to get where he wanted to go! It was almost the "Peter Pan" syndrome - "I'm never going to grow up - Daddy will take me where I need to go! " :)
Map reading has gotten a lot easier to read today - you have a little "talking box" that tells you when to turn right, left, go straight, and stop! So maybe this student knew something about map reading all those years ago we didn't. Daddy may not be taking you, but the GPS will!!!!!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Yum-Yum Pie
Thursday - March 18, 2010
I came across the recipe I am going to post this week and it took me back in time! I had graduated from high school, was a student at Marshall living at home (one of the luxuries of living in a college town), and along with other family members helping with my grandmother - my father's mother. I remember us having a lot of company because relatives were coming to our house to visit with Mammaw.
My cousin Donetta was at the house a lot. She would come by and would help Mom and me make desserts to have on hand. One of her favorites to help us make was called Yum-Yum Pie. I don't remember where we got the recipe, but I do remember we made it a lot!!! It was easy to make and we could change the taste by using different pie fillings - cherry, blueberry, apple, peach, etc.
Donetta and me - 1970
Yum-Yum Pie
Ingredients:
- 2 cups Graham Cracker crumbs
- 1 8oz pkg cream cheese
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 stick butter (melted)
- Cool Whip
- 1 can Cherry Pie Filling (or a pie filling of your choice)
Procedure:
- Combine 2 cups Graham Cracker crumbs, 1 stick butter(melted), and 1/2 cup sugar
- put half of mixture on bottom of pan ( we used a cake pan)
- The other half is reserved for the top
- Beat cream cheese, 3/4 cup of sugar, and Cool Whip together.
- Take half of cream cheese mixture and spread on top of crumbs.
- Next layer - spread pie filling on top of cream cheese mixture.
- Add remaining cream cheese mixture
- Last - spread balance of crumbs on top
- Chill
- Eat and enjoy!!!!
This post is in memory of Donetta!!!!!!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Family - WWII Registration Card
Monday - March 15, 2010
When I started to get information about Mom's early beginnings and trying to find facts to go along with what we knew happened, I joined Ancestry.com. WOW - the information Bill and I both have located for both sides of the family is unbelievable. We have to be careful as some of the information is not correct, but with further digging we can locate what we know is true.
This picture includes my grandparents, great-aunt, great-uncle, and ????
Pappaw is the man in the middle and Uncle Sam(Pappaw's older brother) is on the right!
Mammaw is on the right with Uncle Sam's wife - Aunt Crannie (Mammaw's sister) on the left
I will eventually share with the readers what I had discovered about Mom's side of the family as will Bill for his side of the family, but it was a card that caught my attention that my grandfather - William J Layne (Lane) had to complete at the beginning of WWII. The draft was in place and all males were to fill out a registration cards!! My Grandfather was 59 at the time! I was so amazed to have found this - and it is written in his own penmanship!!!! Pappaw lived in Wayne County, WV but was required to travel to Welch, WV to register. I found this to be really interesting and will try to find out why he went there rather than Huntington!
This is the card Pappaw completed on April 27, 1942.
+Pappaw.jpg)
The Register's report had an interesting comment! I am hoping Dink and some of my other cousins can help my memory!! It states that Pappaw's " finger off at 1st jt. on left hand (ring Finger)." I remember Papaw's finger being bent back, but not having a joint missing!!! Okay Dink - I need help with this bit of information!!!!! If there is a story you need to add it to the comment section!!!
This is the card completed by the Register for the draft board!
+Pappaw.jpg)
Pappaw as I last remember him! We all loved him very very much!! He was a great grandfather and took great care of his family!
Monday, March 1, 2010
1920 - 90 Years Ago
My mother turned 90 on Feb 28. Wow - 90 years of changes. I've already devoted a story on her on our other blog "Beyond the Other Side." What I would like to do is give you some of the things that have taken place in history the past 90 years. There are so many things I could put here, but I will share some that was included in the picture presentation for Mom on Saturday.
* 1918 - 1920 the world was experiencing a flu epidemic. Ironically it was the "swine flu." Most of the deaths stemming from this strand of flu took place during 1918-1919. According to the research I did, many deaths from this flu was still taking place in the early months of 1920. My grandmother was one of the victims. My mother was born on Feb 28; her mother died on Feb 29. Yes she was born in a leap year.
* Prohibition began on January 16, 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect.
* Babe Ruth becomes a member of the New York Yankees
* 19th Amendment passes – women are given the right to vote.
* Walt Disney starts his first job as an artist for $40.00 a week.
* American Professional Football Association forms. (NFL)
* Warren G Harding elected 29th President of the United States. Some historians say it was the women's vote that helped him win the election!
* Detroit radio station is first to broadcast a news program on the air.
* Bob Hope became an American citizen.
* The following were some that have February 28th as their birthday:
* 1918 - 1920 the world was experiencing a flu epidemic. Ironically it was the "swine flu." Most of the deaths stemming from this strand of flu took place during 1918-1919. According to the research I did, many deaths from this flu was still taking place in the early months of 1920. My grandmother was one of the victims. My mother was born on Feb 28; her mother died on Feb 29. Yes she was born in a leap year.
* Prohibition began on January 16, 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect.
* Babe Ruth becomes a member of the New York Yankees
* 19th Amendment passes – women are given the right to vote.
* Walt Disney starts his first job as an artist for $40.00 a week.
* American Professional Football Association forms. (NFL)
* Warren G Harding elected 29th President of the United States. Some historians say it was the women's vote that helped him win the election!
* Detroit radio station is first to broadcast a news program on the air.
* Bob Hope became an American citizen.
* The following were some that have February 28th as their birthday:
1917 – John B Connally – politician
1920 – Relma Irene Whitman - wife, mother, grandmother
1930 – Gavin MacLeod – actor
1940 – Mario Andretti – Italian race car driver
1944 – Bernadette Peters - actress
1945 – Bubba Smith – American football player and actor
* The following events happened on Feb 28th:
1827 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co. was incorporated.
1854 – Republican Party formally organized
1912 – First ever parachute from an airplane
1935 – DuPont scientist, Wallace Carothers invents “nylon.”
1959 – 1st polar orbiting satellite, Discoverer I, launched
* The number one for Entertainment during 1920 included:
“After You Get What You Want, You Don't Want It” - Irving Berlin.
“The Mark of Zorro” – Douglas Fairbanks
“Whispering” – Paul Whiteman Orchestra
“Way Down East” – Lillian Gish
*If you are at least 90 years old, you have lived during the terms of 17 Presidents for the United States:
- Woodrow Wilson
- Warren G Harding
- Calvin Coolidge
- Herbert Hoover
- Franklin D Roosevelt
- Harry S Truman
- Dwight D Eisenhower
- John F Kennedy
- Lyndon B Johnson
- Richard Nixon
- Gerald Ford
- Jimmy Carter
- Ronald Reagan
- George H Bush
- William Clinton
- George W Bush
- Barrack Obama
* You have lived through the Great depression of the 30's
* Survived the country's involvement during WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, and now the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
* Witness through television the assassination of President Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy; The Oklahoma bombing; and the devastation on 9/11 in New York, PA, and Washington DC.
* You saw the first man go into outer space; first orbit around the earth; and the first step man placed on the moon.
I could go on and on with all you have seen and experienced, but thats why historians write history books! It is mind boggling when looking at all that has taken place the last 90 years. Hope you enjoy looking at only a dent of those happenings!!!
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