An Ambitious Musical Revue: "A Step in Time"

When I began teaching in 1975 there were a lot of things to get

used to.  Besides teaching, I was asked to help with coaching. But

another surprise was that each class in the school was tasked with 

performing some sort of school-wide assembly program each year.

During my first few years I had my classes enact some of my (and

their) favorite Jack Tales and Grandfather Tales, which had been 

hugely popular at Camp Cherokee.

But the most ambitious undertaking of all was in April of 1983,

when I got the idea for a musical "revue" performance. The seeds

of the idea came from the class's response to our spirited singalongs.

But this would go far beyond singing. With the encouragement and

crucial assistance of my assistant, Dawn Horne, and valuable input

from our music teacher, Dell Alford, the project grew. As they say, 

it took on a life of its own.

The final production consisted of seven musical acts. The program

had a code to indicated with acts each student chose to perform in.

It was a large and diverse class of 34 students, but they pulled together

from the start, taking the plunge into this endeavor enthusiastically.

Here, I'm going to document the nuts and bolts of that program,

primarily for the nostalgia of those students, of whom more than a

dozen are my Facebook friends. I think they'll be impressed to recall

what they had to memorize for this show. And maybe we'll turn up

a few of their classmates who aren't as easy to find on Facebook.

I hope so. They'll enjoy these memories, too.  Here goes.

Here's the inside of the program with a brief 

description of the acts. Besides the two performances

at school, we were later invited to perform at Vass-Lakeview

 Elementary and then at St. Joseph of the Pines Hospital,

 where my wife Judy had formerly worked as a nurse.

(Historical note: At St. Joseph's, we really set the place on

fire. At the end of our performance, we were hustled out of

the building and to our bus. Moments later, we learned there

was a fire in the kitchen as fire trucks rolled up to handle the

situation.  Ah, memories!)

Here is the all-star cast of that memorable production.

Refer to the program to see which acts each performed in.

My students decorated the front covers of programs

individually to serve as invitations for the other classrooms

and for parents and special guests. This one was sent to my

childhood piano teacher, Mrs. Louisabeth Griffin. My Atlanta

family still kept in close touch with her, and I knew she'd be

pleased to see the lineup of acts. After her death, her family

returned this program, which she had saved, and my brother

got it back to me.

The following images are the very rough blueprints

which guided every detail of the dances. These were

never intended for public viewing, but here they are.

They tell every step the dancers (or marchers) were to do,

and what the accompanying music would be.

For the opening marching we used lively John Philip

Sousa tunes. I called out marching commands that I had

learned during college at UNC when I was in Air Force ROTC.

The kids were flawless, as in all the acts.

MARCHING

This was the chart for positions in both marching,

the opening act, and "I Got Rhythm," the music for

the closing act. The simple dress code is in the corner.

CLOGGING

For clogging, we were not 100% authentic, but we did

the best we could. Debi Laton, our P.E. teacher, and Dell

Alford, our music teacher worked with us on a couple of 

simple clogging steps. We didn't have taps on the shoes,

but the effect and the music got the idea across.

The music was Doc Watson's version of "The Lonesome

Fiddle Blues" from one of my favorite albums: "Will the 

Circle Be Unbroken."

As I look over the instructions, I see it's a miracle the students

could memorize all this. What a great accomplishment!

Next was square dancing. I had gotten an old

square dance record at a sale at the Southern Pines

Library. The first dance was called "The Two

Head Ladies Cross Over." We had learned it in

class on rainy days before I got the idea for this program.

Some more details about the clogging are here, too.

SQUARE DANCING

I wonder how many students remembered 

who their partners were. As far as I know,

none of them married each other.

THE CAN-CAN  DANCE

The Can-Can Dance may have been the liveliest

of all. Again, memorizing their steps was quite a 

challenge. This was a huge hit with the audience.

THE UMBRELLA DANCE

The Umbrella Dance was another of my favorites

and looked totally professional. The umbrella props

turned simple moves into show-stopping effects.

It would remind you of dance routines that were

part of every big 1950's and 60's variety show,

such as Ed Sullivan and Red Skelton.

I GOT RHYTHM ...

I don't have a graphic for our closing number in which

every student took part. The arrangement was the same

as for marching. I played "I Got Rhythm" on the old grand

piano while the students sang their hearts out. It ended with 

what we called our "Broadway finale," with students going

to one knee with arms outstretched and faces uplifted.

Remembering this performance and other class plays is

a day-brightener for me. This group of students rose to amazing

heights to pull off this unforgettable memory.

Cherish the memories, you guys!

...WHO COULD ASK 

FOR ANYTHING MORE?!

The Adventure Classroom and the Coronavirus

As I see more and more parents adapting to home

 schooling due to the coronavirus, I thought I'd try to 

contribute some ideas from the "Adventure Classroom."

 These are not structured academic exercises. Rather,

 they are ideas generated by students at the end of

my last year in the classroom, 2008.

I did this activity at year's end so that kids

 unleashed for the summer would have no excuse

 to pester their parents on long, hot boring days.

This gave students personal responsibility for

staying actively engaged.A few of these activities

 do require adult supervision, but many can

be done independently. 

Due to the coronavirus, some might not be appropriate until

 social distancing can be safely relaxed.  A few entries might

 only make sense to my former students (around 1,000 of you!),

such as making a humor magazine or "The Almost Impossible 

Card Game."  Feel free to inquire.

Stay tuned for other activity suggestions from my files.

The Many Virtues of String Tricks

More than five decades ago when I was a student, a 

classmate showed the well-known string trick

Jacob's Ladder to our class.  Several of us learned it

and showed it to our parents, surprised to learn that

they had all seen it when they were growing up.

Favorite recipes, love of reading, and holiday

traditions are not the only thing that's getting passed

along to the next generation.

But string tricks?  YES! For the last several years I

taught, I explored ways to integrate the teaching of 

simple string tricks into meaningful learning time.

Here is a sheet I prepared for parents so they would 

understand that there was a method to my madness

(I had to do that a lot!) and this wasn't just a frivolous

waste of time.  Read through (especially if you're a

parent or an educator) and see what you think.

***********************************

I still believe those are all valid statements, and have

recently seen them reaffirmed in my own grandchildren.

Here are the tricks I offered to my school classes, sharing

them during break times.  Watching the learners become

teachers was perhaps the most gratifying aspect of this.

Each student had a list of these tricks so they could

keep a record of which ones they had mastered and

which ones they still aspired to learn.  The lists below

hung on the classroom wall for quick reference. In free

time before roll call and the pledge each morning, the

classroom was a laboratory of kids teaching kids and

begging for the newest tricks.  It was great!

String tricks are a great way to prevent boredom.  I 

allowed my students to take them to the playground

(though I made sure they had plenty of physical activity

as well) and on field trips.  These young ladies are

doing Jacob's Ladder on the way to the House in 

the Horseshoe.  We even showed string tricks to our

guides there, who acknowledged what a great example

of folk tradition the string tricks are.

During Thanksgiving, I decided to see if Brianna was

interested in learning Jacob's Ladder.  I always felt 

that age 8 or 9 was the appropriate readiness level

for both interest and manual dexterity.  She had it

mastered in 15 minutes and was doing it with her

eyes closed the next day.  Former students, does this

sound familiar?  Maybe it was YOU a few years back!

 All five of our grandchildren received strings during

Thanksgiving week and are excited about learning

more and more tricks.  I'll do some of the teaching

and so will they.  In fact, in the picture below you'll see

 that Hunter returned to Georgia as a "string missionary",

teaching his tricks to some attentive learners at his

basketball practice.  What a thrill to me!

If you're a former student, perhaps you remember 

doing string tricks.  If you've forgotten them all, you

can easily find them on-line.  There are youtube videos

that show the step-by-step as well as pictorial guides.

For grownups, there's an additional benefit I didn't

need for my school class (except at state testing time):

String tricks are the consummate stress reliever!

Cut you a string and give it a shot!

Biographies: Integrating History and Reading Naturally

More than 50 years ago, as a middle grade student 

at Skyland Elementary in Atlanta, I loved visiting the

school library.  I went through phases of reading

biographies, mysteries, then sports books. But I think

the biographies are my dearest memories, and certainly

helped kindle my lifelong interest in history.

Biographies are packed with adventure, discovery, and

larger-than-life characters.  But because they are real

people, they inspire the reader to dream and achieve.

I can think of no better medium to teach the important

lessons of the past while also fostering a love of reading.

The biographies at Skyland were part of an American

Heritage series called "Childhoods of Famous Americans."

The covers I recall were all the blue cloth-bound editions

like this one, copyright 1948.  Once I tasted the adventure,

I didn't care how old the books were, I dived in.

My luck at yard sales is as good as my luck

in all things-- the Loyd Luck, Judy calls it.

So over the years, I've been fortunate to adopt

a growing collection of these fine books, mostly

discarded from school libraries.  The book above

is the only one I have in that binding, and it has 

a nameplate in the front: it was a gift to a student.

It's actually in better condition than my newer ones.

Over 25 years ago I bought a dozen softback books

in the series at the Southern Pines library sale.

They were vintage 1963 editions. A few hardback

books I collected over the years are pictured with

them below.

Last Friday, in Camden, South Carolina,

I hit the jackpot once again. At forty cents a book,

I more than doubled my collection.  Out of the 22

 books I bought, only three were repeats of one I had.

(Can you find them?)

They are written in a style that would remind

you of Little House on the Prairie books and

Judy and I plan to read through the collection.

This one minute video gives you a closeup of

all the titles and subtitles.  Below the video, I

will also list all the books, authored by a wide

array of authors.

Jessie Fremont: Girl of Capitol Hill

Buffalo Bill: Boy of the Plains

DeWitt Clinton: Boy Builder

John Jacob Astor: Boy Trader

Dan Beard: Boy Scout

Carl Sandburg: Young Singing Poet

Julia Ward Howe: Girl of Old New York

Zach Taylor: Young Rough and Ready

Elias Howe: Inventive Boy

Katherine Lee Bates: Girl Poet

Stephen Foster: Boy Minstrel

Mary Mapes Dodge: Jolly Girl

Jed Smith: Young Western Explorer

Babe Didrikson: Girl Athlete

Frances Willard: Girl Crusader

Will Clark: Boy in Buckskins

Noah Webster: Boy of Words

David Farragut: Boy Midshipman

Maria Mitchell: Girl Astronomer

James Whitcomb Riley: Hoosier Boy

John Wannamaker: Boy Merchant

F. W. Woolworth: Five and Ten Boy

Robert Peary: Boy of the North Pole

Stephen Decatur: Gallant Boy

Ernie Pyle: Boy From Back Home

Susan Anthony: Girl Who Dared

Lee DeForest: Electronics Boy

James Oglethorpe: Young Defender

Aleck Bell: Ingenius Boy

Richard Byrd: Boy of the South Pole

Robert Fulton: Boy Craftsman

Edward Bok: Young Editor

Eugene Field: Young Poet

Lotta Crabtree: Gold Rush Girl

George Gershwin: Young Composer

Gail Borden: Resourceful Boy

Rachel Jackson: Tennessee Girl

J. Sterling Morton: Arbor Day Boy

Yes, many happy hours of reading await

me and Judy.  And I encourage you to invest

some summer leisure time to reading something

you enjoy.  If you have children, they benefit

just from seeing that you value reading.  And 

make it easy and desirable for them to read, too.

It doesn't have to be biographies; this is just 

my happy rant for the day.

And I certainly don't plan to give up my

Superman comics.  That's where I got my start!

Becoming a Nation of Readers

With two granddaughters embarking on the journey

of becoming independent readers, I've spent a good

bit of time reading and thinking on this important

topic lately.  I was compelled to re-read the landmark

report of the Commission on Reading in 1985:

Becoming a Nation of Readers.

I would like to share several nuggets of wisdom that

are interspersed throughout this work.  Many are

intuitive, and can be instructive for educators as well

as parents, who, after all, are a child's first teachers.

• Reading is a process in which information from the text and the knowledge possessed by the reader act together to produce meaning.  Good readers skillfully integrate information in the text with what they already know.
• Teachers whose classes are motivated are described as business-like but supportive and friendly.
• The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.
• There is no substitute for a teacher who reads children good stories.  It whets the appetite of children for reading, and provides a model of skillful oral reading.  It is a practice that should continue throughout the grades.
• When children do not feel too constrained by requirements for correct spelling and penmanship, writing activities provide a good opportunity for them to apply and extend their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences.
• The goal of phonics is not that children be able to state the "rules" governing letter-sound relationships.  Rather, the purpose is to get across the alphabetic principle, the principle that there are systematic relationships between letters and sounds.
• The idea that reading instruction and subject matter instruction should be integrated is an old one in education, but there is little indication that such integration occurs often in practice (a pet peeve of mine).
• No one would expect a novice pianist to sight read a new selection every day, but that is exactly what is expected of the beginning reader (as a pianist, this is another of my favorite observations).

I could expound on every one of these quotes, but space does not permit. I tried diligently to incorporate these principles in my class.  I reaped untold benefits from my efforts to integrate reading into all subject areas.  In fact, it did not bother me at all when visitors to the classroom could not say for certain what subject we were doing.  I did not want children to think that all our learning was so easily compartmentalized or that reading was only for a certain time of day.

The accepted language arts are 

READING

WRITING

LISTENING

SPEAKING

VIEWING

With skill, several of these can be included in many lessons.

The following mantra came from some long-ago training

session I attended.  I believe it and have seen its success

as a core belief, and certainly one that supports integration

of these skills:

What a child can think, he can say.

What a child can say, he can write.

What a child can write, he can read.

Truly, becoming a nation of readers could have a

ripple of positive effects on citizenship, the economy,

family life, and virtually every facet of our existence.

Go forth and READ!

Classroom Teacher or Strength and Conditioning Coach?

This morning I read an article about UNC’s strength and conditioning coach and how he had helped numerous basketball players transform their bodies, thus elevating their game.  Coach Jonas Sahratian quoted the philosophy of Kung Fu icon Bruce Lee: “Take what is useful, reject what is useless.  And add in your own that is unique to yourself.”

I saw immediately my own strategy as it applied to implementing change.  Of course, there were elements I was required to implement in my classroom from time to time.  But often, ideas were presented in workshops or meetings, but each teacher was left to glean what was helpful to his or her situation.  I loved workshops in which the presenter seemed to affirm my core beliefs right from the start.  Often they touted techniques or activities which I was already doing in some form or variation.   Even if those were not the presenters who caused me to change,  affirmation is also an impetus for renewing your effort, with the knowledge that a respected professional agrees with you.

More often, I would hear a mix of information at workshops, some of which I agreed with, some of which I heartily disagreed with, and some of which I realized I could change or adapt to improve my own classroom.  This is why I describe my philosophy as eclectic, and that was true throughout my career.  In the article about Coach Sahratian, he mentioned that what worked or was appropriate for one player was not the remedy for another.  Some players needed to lose weight and redefine their bodies.  Some needed to add muscle and bulk to compete at a high level and not get pushed around.  This is certainly analogous to any classroom, where a diverse set of learners not only have different needs, but different learning styles.  Much has been written about this in recent years, but good teachers have always varied and adapted their delivery of learning, even within the same lesson.  This is one reason I am a staunch adversary of “scripted lessons” and standardized anything!

Even in my summer camp days, mentors Jane McConnell and Don Moore espoused the same idea in this way: “There are 999 ways to reach a child.  And when all of those fail, there is still one more.”  Failure was not an option in my classroom.  Success was inevitable, but it took making the child a partner who could come to believe he or she could succeed.  No child wants to fail; the educator’s challenge is not to allow failure.  This can mean much more than teaching what the child needs.  It can involve healing, repairing, restoring confidence, and leaping tall buildings with a single bound.  All in a day’s work.  My Declaration of Independence, discussed at length in an earlier post, became one of my most powerful tools for student success.  And yet it was not inherently about academics.  Dr. Madeline Hunter’s education research was an integral part of my county inservice training in my formative years.  One thing she stressed was that teaching is both an Art and a Science.  I feel it is imperative that teachers not only be permitted, but encouraged, to embrace that tenet.  And in doing so, they will incorporate the key ingredient of Bruce Lee’s philosophy: “Add in your own that is unique to yourself.” For me, that was the key to the Adventure Classroom for 33 years, and continues in my volunteer efforts with all ages.

Mr. Loyd's Declaration of Independence

An early hand-written version of the Declaration.

This is the earliest sample of student signatures on the
Declaration, from the class of 1983-84.  Some years I gave
the list of signers to the first person who signed.

I never signed the Declaration of Independence.  But hundreds of my students did.  I’d better explain that I’m talking about our CLASS Declaration of Independence.  I honestly can’t pinpoint the year I implemented this icon of my classroom, but I believe it was by my third or fourth year of teaching, in the late 1970’s.  One thing I’m certain of: it was so successful as a motivational tool that led many students to challenge themselves that I continued to use it for the remaining three decades of my career.

If you are a former student of mine, chances are you know for a fact whether you signed the Declaration or not.  While it was not linked directly to grades in any way, signing was a momentous event for students in my class.  The goals were simply stated, but challenging.  Some students arrived in my class with the personal traits and attitudes to make their signing almost a foregone conclusion.  This fact in no way detracted from the event: rather, it was a credit to the student, his or her parents, and others who had been influential before they entered my classroom.  For other students, signing seemed an impossibility and was a yearlong struggle.  But countless times, those students achieved their goal, to the cheers of classmates who had learned to encourage them every step of the way.  How satisfying that was for me and the signer.  Many students and parents have vowed that this process was a life-changing turning point.  I am happy to add that for many students who never signed, their efforts propelled them to achieve these worthy goals at some point after they left my class.

For all its value, the Declaration was somewhat  subjective.  My goal was truly to help students “be all that they could be,” and whether they achieved those goals while under my tutelage or sometime later was not paramount.  But acquiring these traits at some point would make success more likely in the years ahead, whatever the task, venture, or enterprise.  And having kept up with countless students over these four decades, I’ve seen the Declaration to be a pretty remarkable rule of thumb for lifelong success.

The process went something like this.  At the beginning of the school year, I had an unsigned Declaration posted on the wall and made only a passing reference to it in opening class discussions.  Then, in a specially called class meeting, typically after two weeks of school, I explained the meaning and challenge of each tenet of the document.  The first, making wise decisions, was the foundation, and in a general way covered the other areas as well.  I gave the students vivid examples of behaviors and attitudes that would either meet or fall short of the criteria.  Sometimes I would use a fictitious “former student” named Joe Flunko to enact what NOT to do.  In fact, Joe Flunko served the same function in Math lessons and discussions about good work habits, smart testing strategies, and general rule following.  NOBODY wanted to emulate poor old Joe!

Students were instructed to carry home a paper copy of the Declaration of Independence to show their parents.  Including parents in the goal-setting was a crucial part of this team effort.  The paper explained that when a student felt that he or she had met every goal of the Declaration—on a consistent, day-to-day basis—they should compose a simple letter to me stating their readiness to sign.  Once I received this letter, two things could happen.  Sometimes, I agreed that the student was ready.  I would take the Declaration from the wall, lay it on my desk, and invite the new signer to come forward.  As they signed and dated it, their classmates expressed their shared exuberance.  The second thing that could happen was a private conference in which I explained to the student which items required more work or more consistency before they could sign.  Getting along well with classmates for two days, then getting into fusses, was not sufficient evidence of readiness. Working diligently one day and complaining about assignments the next day was cause for delay and self-examination.  But I’ve often thought that students who had to wait the longest appreciated the journey the most.  Some former students will be happy to know I have absolutely NO permanent record of who signed and who didn’t.  If you’ve become a responsible adult and good citizen, I’ll assume you signed the virtual Declaration of Independence for your own life, whether you signed mine or not.  Third grade was not the end of your journey toward independence, but an important milestone along the way.

Interestingly, now that these students have either reached or are well on their way to adulthood, I not only celebrate their independence, but hope they’ve recognized their dependence on others in their lives.  This includes, but is not limited to, the parents who nurtured them, the friends who supported them, the teachers who guided them, and the God who created them.  Perhaps you’ve heard “no man is an island,” and my purpose in stressing independence was in no way to make students think they didn’t need others.  Their independence would strengthen their relationships, give them confidence in their tasks, but in no way make them totally self-sufficient.  I continue to celebrate the happiness and success of my 1,000 students as I see their families growing and their lives blossoming, and their potential realized.

This photo and brief description of the Declaration is
from my 1981-82 Teacher of the Year album.  I had
started using this idea a few years earlier.

Here's the final version of the Declaration of Independence that I shared with students and parents.  A lot of it is applicable to all ages.  Why not check it out one more time, for old times sake?