Excerpts

Now and then, I receive letters from students who have been on my walking tour. It is obvious that the teacher has asked questions to prompt their writings; things like "what was your favorite story," "what did you learn?"  One teacher had the series of prompts, "what," "so what," and "what now?"  Here are excerpts from some of those letters.  Misspellings and grammar missteps are theirs, and only add to the charm in my opinion.

Downtown Presbyterian Church:

"I thought the prosprotereun church was cool because it was an Egept Church......I learned they made huge doors to let the gods in, and that their was a sun god, snake god, and wing god."

Sam Davis (always a favorite; mine too)

"I liked the story about Sam Davis the most. If he had just told who he had gotten the maps from, he would have lived. He wasn't stupid, he was a great hero."

"The thing I will always remember will most likely be the Sam Davis. I loved how inspiring it was."

"I learned that Sam Davis was a great friend....we should learn in this way because if you are just sitting at a desk with a teacher reading these stories to you I feel like it gives you no room to visualize."

"My favorite part was when you were talking about Sam Davis. I, unlike my friends who weren't listening, was paying attention. I loved how you made it humourous but serious at the same time. As myself, a mature African American, I would be with the Union. Although, I would never have the guts to do what he did." 

Edward Carmack: (some stories get a bit jumbled in their minds)

"My favorite part of the downtown Nashville walking tour was that there is a tunle under one of the staues...I thought it was weird that the tunnle under the statue of someone who didn't like acholic drinks sold in TN has a tunle under it named after someone who was famous for his whiskey."

"....my favorite was the twist at the end of Mr. Carmac's story. I liked how Jack Daniels dug a tunnel into the capital then a group of women put Mr. Carmac's statue on top of the tunnel. This made me laugh. My opinion on forbidness of wine is I am fine with living in a country without wine but the government should not have the power to limit what people drink, after all we are a free country."

"I loved the story of Mr. Carmack.  I loved the part where he grabbed the lady and used her as a shield.  Sometimes people do that to me when I am playing nerf wars with my friends."

Andrew Jackson:  (any story that has the words rear end in it catches their attention. I do not use the word butt :-))

"In the old time there was a funny duel. There was two men when the first man shot it hit the other man in the thume. Then the man just walked away. But the other man shot the man in the butt. Which then the duel was over."

"The best person that I liked was Andrew Jackson. He was brave against Great Brition. It's sad how all his family was Dead. I love how he just kicks Great Britions butt lol. But the best thing that I loved about him was that he was tough, smart, and brave."

"My favorite was when Andrew Jackson brought home Linquoyia from the Battle of Horseshoe Ben. I loved that story because it shows what kind of caring guy he really was. Because normally in a war or battle people are VERY serious. And all his men were saying that he should just leave it there. That is NOT NICE!"

"I liked the statue of Andrew Jackson. I like the story of him shooting the rear-ends of horses with a sling shot. Great thanks. P.S.  The girl with brown hair, bangs, and freckles."

"Andrew Jackson is like the song Trouble by Taylor Swift he always finds a way to get into trouble."

"My favorite part of the tore was.....Andrue Jackson....but I really liked the time when we ate lunch.  My mom really liked the tore to."

Andrew Johnson: (as in life, poor old Andrew Johnson, destined to be either maligned or forgotten)

James K. Polk:

"Thank you for telling me more about James K. Polk. I did not know that he kept his gol stones in a box. It must have been very painful for him in his surgery without being put to sleep....are kidnee stones the same as gol stones?"

Alvin C. York:

"My favorite part of the field trip was Alvin C. York. I've always been a fanatic about WWI (no point in WWII without it) so this was an addition to my liking of the history of the war. I liked how you explained how he got good aim instead of saying, 'he had good aim.'  Also, capturing 100 men and killing 25?!  That's got to be some kind of record!"

"....the one I liked best was Alvin C. York because I find him as a very courageus, determined, and brilliant man."

"I really liked your story about Alvin C. York. He is a good person to talk about because he inspires people to not kill. It teaches us when we are little not to hurt others. It is so cool that when he got signed up for fighting he said that he didn't want to kill people. Most people wouldn't do that."

Life Lessons: (some of these were actually told to them, others they extrapolated from the information for themselves-gotta love that)

"This should be taught so we can learn from past mistakes."

"This history will help us in the future so we don't make the same mistakes again. Like chamber pots that was an awful mistake but now we have toilets."

"Nashville used to not be clean. Usually, people would fill up their body-wastes in buckets, then dump them in the streets.  People will have to step on the gross mess.  If people didn't have to step on that, then Nashville wouldn't have to be the grossest town in American History.  It's truly a good thing that Nashville has cleaned up this mess.

Nashville also caused diseases, too.  When people littered and dumped wastes into streets, the gross appearance spread.  It really wiped out people quickly.  Now, we know that littering is a bad thing.  If it was still messy, then I wouldn't be living here!"

"I think I could apply Sam Davises story for me in the future to stand up for what I believe in."

"I remember something you told us that I will NEVER forget.  You said, 'don't be the ustonished, be the ustonishers."

"I learned many life lessons.  One was if you start fast you will finish with time left." (truly not sure where this came from, but I like it)

"It really taught me that all the choices you make in life are important."

"If I ever feel like I can't do something, I'll be like, 'if Andrew Jackson can be captured and in prison at 10 years old, I can do *insert what trying to do*!

"It might seem easy to do the wrong thing, but the right thing is what's good for the world."

"I thought about when you said 'what you learn is yours to keep.'  I loved that."

".....history that we can use in the futer, because who knows when you will be called onto Jeopardy."

"Now, I imagine history as the greatest book or movie ever!"

For today, I wish you time with children, the opportunity to work at what you love, and I wish you

blessings