By Dawn Feddersen - Quad City Times | Friday, September 15, 2006 |
After summer break, teachers often start over with the learning process by going back to basics.
“Some
students didn’t even know what the ‘Star-Spangled
Banner’ was,” she said. But they do now. “We’ve been
singing it the entire month. They’ve been tested on the
first five words and the last six words. I tested them over
the order of the words. We’ve learned a lot of facts about
the flag: when the words were written, how and why. They
know that the words were a poem first and they weren’t set
to music until a month after they were written,” Hoffman
said.Her preparation of the 450 students in kindergarten through fifth grade culminated Thursday at the school’s first assembly in observance of National Anthem Day.
Speaking of the new tradition at the school, Monroe Principal Charlie
Driscoll said, “It’s the 192nd anniversary of the
writing of the ‘Star-Spangled Banner,’ and we’re
trying to get the kids to understand what that means.”In addition to reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and an all-school rendition of the national anthem, the students were joined by the Davenport North High School Marine Corps ROTC. Staff Sgt. Darwin O’Neil, the group’s leader, said, “We want to show these kids the pride, respect and love for this country that our group has.”
The pride Hoffman was feeling Thursday was for more than her country. “It’s really cool to see the students put so much effort into it,” she said. Ten-year-old Corralle Whalen said she only knew some of the words to the national anthem until recently. Now she is proud to know the entire song.
At Mr. Driscoll’s encouragement, she joined many of her classmates by wearing red, white and blue to school Thursday. “It’s a way we can represent our country,” she said.
Hoffman described seeing all of her students singing at once and showing off what they’ve learned as “…a truly awesome aesthetic experience. For me, as a teacher, there’s only a handful of experiences in your career that give you goose bumps, and this is one of them.”
