Famous influential People

This evening I taught a pre-GED reading lesson about influential people. The lesson did not go the direction I wanted which sometimes happens when the mood is right or wrong however you want to look at it. I dumped my plans and moved into something else that I thought would still accomplish the same goals. Earlier in the day, I found an old clipping from a newspaper just part of a page no name date or other identifiers. The page was important because it listed Historical Famous Influential People that were residents of Maryland. I decided a history lesson would be helpful especially because the class ends in a few weeks and I want these people to find things of interest to read over the summer.

I read off the first name and saw a lot of head shaking and thought occurring but in the end I had to tell these people that have worked all year to learn who Francis Scott Key was. The next name was one I had never heard of but found him very interesting and I think my students did as well. Tench Tillman a Marylander and better yet an Eastern shoreman having been born just outside of Easton was from a famous local family, but his unsung claim to fame was to have the honor of being the person selected to deliver the message to congress in Philadelphia at the time that Cornwallis had surrendered in Yorktown. I didn't know this then and find I rather amusing that while most of us know of the man riding horseback screaming "the British are Coming" like some lunatic, very few know of this man that delivered the news that alerted the country that we had accomplished our goal of separation from England.

I read a few others and we discussed at length that very famous women "Black Moses" of her time Harriet Tubman. This leader of people worked tirelessly to achieve freedom for a persecuted and mistreated race. I found this PDF file when I Googled Tubman's name. I was surprised to learn her parents were rescued from certain death by hanging in the very small town I was teaching tonight "Denton, Maryland"

Many other names Like Frederick Douglas, Edgar Allen Poe, Colonel William Richardson, Johns Hopkins (did you know he made his fortune in the Railroad and by hauling whiskey over the mountain from West Virginia.)

So while Maryland will most likely always take a back seat to our more populous northern Yankee, New England States, We do have very influential people that tread on the lands we now tread.

Why Someone I spoke with yesterday decided to get their GED.

I was enrolling someone in Adult Education GED prep classes in Federalsburg Maryland today, and I asked the question "Why is getting your high school diploma important to you?

" This person responded that it was because of something President Barack Obama said during his address to Congress in February. This person quoted word for word the portion of the speech shown in bold below.

I included more of the text from that portion of the speech just to be sure it was not out of context and I felt it evoked an even more powerful response.

"It is our responsibility as lawmakers and educators to make this system work. But it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in it. And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma. And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country – and this country needs and values the talents of every American."

Now, I am not a Democrat and disagree with a lot of the ideas that the president has. No I did not vote for him. I am very excited about the fact that one line in a speech could motivate someone to take the kind of life changing step this person took to get enrolled in Adult Education and get his GED so as to "-not quit on our country!"

First thoughts

I have toyed with the idea of creating a blog for a long time now. My idea behind the blog is to create a place to put my thoughts down, about the things I see and do. Initially the postings to this blog will be very random, but hopefully as I increase my postings they will become more focused on specific topics I am most interested in.
My first idea for creating a blog was to get the message out that Dads are important parts of a family structure, for the past 6 years I have been extremely involved in working with custodial and non-custodial fathers helping them become the best men they can be, by showing them what it means to be a father. The responsibilities, the fun and the difficulties that are experienced as a child grows from infant to child to adult, with Dad as his or her most important role model along the way.

Another area I am keenly interested in is Adult Education. I truly believe that earning a High School Diploma is a necessity in the working world we live in. I don't believe everyone needs the level of education required to achieve a High School Diploma, but that they need that piece of paper to prevent roadblocks that may pop up as they make their way to their desired career goal or goals. What I mean is that I have met people that have not graduated from High School that are extremely intelligent, people that have knowledge that can not be demonstrated by taking a test. These people have skills and abilities that surpass the simple skills learned in high schools, unfortunately a slip of paper or lack there of, can lock them out of careers that would be beneficial to their families and the communities they live in. More on this in a future blog.

Now for some fun stuff, My favorite pastime currently is called Geocaching. Geocaching is an online and offline adventure using a GPS receiver and coordinates for a cache container, provided by the website www.geocaching.com. After entering the coordinates in your portable GPS, you are off on a search that will take you to places inside and outside of you very own neighborhood that you may have never known existed. I have seen views across the Delaware Bay from a top a 200ft fire tower, and been in forests so thick that you would find it hard to believe Baltimore and Washington DC are less than 1 or 2 hours away. I have paddled on ponds, lakes and rivers across both Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia finding unique places of natural, and sometimes historical value. I have been on wooden covered bridges less than an hour from my home and climbed cliffs so steep and high that one slip would have surely resulted in severe injuries. I have become part of an unique community of what are called "cachers" all in search of the next cache hide. This activity could be considered a near obsession for some and an addiction for many. My son travels on many of my trips into the woods or across the states looking for these hidden little treasures.
I think this is enough for my very first post in the future I will go into much more detail for each of these topics I have introduced here.