Category: Education

News from the National Genealogical Society Conference

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 4 May 2016.

Greetings on Star Wars Day!  How appropriate that the start of this year’s NGS Conference is on May 4th (Force) be with you.  If you’re following me on Twitter you may have seen my tweet this AM.  One of the sound technicians at the conference who was working hard to make the sessions available live told me he is really interested in genealogy and was so excited to learn about family history while he did his primary job.  When he showed me his travel mug – of Darth Vader with the words “I Am Your Father”- I had to take his picture and send it out into the universe.  It was a perfect way to start the day!

I mentioned in my last blog I didn’t think I was going to be able to write until the weekend after I return home from the conference but I need to share a few events that have me really excited.

The first was the Board for Certified Genealogists “On the Clock” Dutch Treat Dinner that was held at Bravo Italiano Ristaurante on 17th Street in Ft. Lauderdale Tuesday evening.  There were 42 attendees consisting of Certified Genealogists, wanna be’s and family/friends.  Russ and James, the restaurant co-owners, and their staff did a phenomenal job making sure that our party was accommodated.  The food and atmosphere was superb!  I cannot convey how nice it is to be with a group of people who get excited about that serendipitous photo find of Great Aunt Betsy or can relate to the time you slogged through a violent rainstorm only to discover that the rural cemetery is now on private property you can’t access.  It was heartwarming!

I don’t know about you but I’ve not had much luck with connecting hubby’s or my dna that I had done through Ancestry.com.  I haven’t had it redone with the new dna kit but with the old one, my closest connection was Marie Antoinette.  I’m not making this up.  For the record, she didn’t really say “Let them eat cake” but that’s for a different blog.  Apparently others have had great match up success.  Today, I met 3rd cousins who found each other through Ancestry.com’s match.  They had never met in person before today and asked if I would snap a few pictures of them together at the conference.  They had a remarkable resemblance!  I was honored that they asked me to take their picture of that special meeting.  It was like living Long Lost Family in person!

When the Exhibition Hall opened after the keynote address, I never would have guessed what amazing event was in store for me.  I was meandering along when I came upon the booth of ArkivDigital, a Swedish Genealogical & Historical Research site online.  I had used the site once before, when I was in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library last spring. It helped me obtain the Swedish names of my husband’s maternal great grandfather, his first wife and their children.  I had tried to find information about the second wife, of whom my husband is descended from but I had no luck.  One of the ladies at the table asked me if I had any Swedish research needs and I responded that I had a major brick wall and that I absolutely hate doing Swedish research because I just don’t understand it.  She laughed and said I should speak with her co-worker who was engaged in a conversation with someone else because Swedish research is not difficult.  Yeah, right, I’m thinking.  Soon I was introduced to Kathy Meade who recommended I write down any dates I had for the ancestor and she would look them up in her database.  Since I was volunteering as a room monitor for the next session I had to run; I told Kathy I’d be back later in the day.  The other lady said she was sure that Kathy would resolve my brick wall.

After the next session ended I went online and wrote down what I knew – birth date from the death certificate, marriage date from the marriage license, death date from the death certificate, 1900-1930 census info, a few years of City Directory listings and the cemetery record.  The death certificate did not list a maiden name, of course.  The marriage record had the name of Johnson but I always figured it was wrong because she married a Johnson.  Perhaps instead, they were cousins.

I had the place of birth as Sard, Sweden but I’d never been able to find that place name.  A colleague told me she thought the place must have existed once in a rural area and was no more.  Kathy said she never heard of Sard and thought it might be a mistranslation or misunderstanding by a family member.  She recommended focusing just on known dates.  Into her database she entered the birthdate and Voila! there shows up the birth record, baptism date, census and parish exit emigration record.  I was stunned.  The first name wasn’t Louisa, it was Louvisa.  The last name wasn’t Johnson, it was Jonnason.  The emigration date matched the US census records AND she was from the same area that her future husband was from.  More research is needed but it is possible she went to the US because his first wife had died and there was small children left motherless.

Louvisa had worked as a maid in Sweden and her mother had died a few years before she emigrated.  She left behind two sisters and her father.  Once the shock of the find wore off I started crying.  Then I called my husband who told me to stop crying.  I then got up and did a happy dance.  I understand that in most public locations people observing my behavior would most likely make a judgement that I was mentally ill but at the convention I was soon joined by other attendees who had overheard what was happening.  They joined in the fun.  I tried to buy Kathy lunch but she said no.  Once I get home I’m purchasing the program AND taking her 4 Swedish research classes on Legacy.  I am sincere when I say this was worth the entire price of the conference.  If you are stumped with your Swedish line I highly recommend checking out ArkivDigital and Kathy’s Legacy classes.  Clearly, the Force was with me today at the conference!

Midwest Magic

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 28 Feb 2016.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the Leesburg, Florida Genealogical Conference of the Ohio Genealogical Society, Florida Chapter  Debbie Mieszala, CG, presented on 3 topics:  Newspaper Research in the Midwest, Land Records in Pennsylvania and Ohio and Pulling Evidence from Beneath a Record’s Surface.  I was especially interested in the Pennsylvania land records for the Kinship Determination Project I’m working on for my genealogical portfolio.

Having a horrible time locating a deed – I’ve checked with the county, actually two since one was split from the other, called and emailed the local historical society, public library, local genweb contact and genealogical society. Had found a genealogist who told me the probate records don’t exist, after I spent $78.00 and gave her precisely what microfilm to look up in the courthouse.  Worst part was she laughed when she told me it wasn’t there and didn’t credit me for the time left I had paid for. She did ask if there was another record she could look up while she was at the courthouse but that was all I needed at the time.  Then she didn’t write a report of her findings; I asked her to send me her non finding and she sent one line via email.  Found her on the Association of Professional Genealogist site so I assumed she’d be like the other APG members I’ve worked with.  Did she do anything unethical? No, she just lacked the level of professionalism that I’m accustomed to in this field.

I’ve blogged before about the experience my 2nd cousin had when he hired a genealogist across the pond.  Not wanting to admit his hire had done less than quality work he accused me of having wrong info.  When I showed him my proof he contacted his genealogist who was happy to charge him more to recheck her work.  When he balked she admitted she had only checked records 1900 forward and the children I had listed were born in the 1890’s.  I’m not sure who was at fault there:  Did he tell her to start with 1900?  Did she inform him she had only looked beginning with 1900?  (The records for the 1800’s were available as she later went back and verified my information).  Was there a language barrier that impeded communication?  Beats me!  Clearly she hadn’t performed a reasonably exhaustive search, especially since the records were available in the same respository that she had found some of her data.

But back to the conference….

If you never attended a presentation by Debbie you must – she shares her personal stories in a way that is both inviting and instructional.  I love how she laughs at the frustrations she encounters, such as illegible handwriting, missing sources and records not where they should be.

Now I have some new places to search and met some wonderful attendees from Pennsylvania who gave me additional advice. One gentleman has volunteered to send a cd he compiled of a valuable resource to anyone interested in Pennsylvania research.  That alone was worth the drive!  I’ll be spending part of today checking further and will make one last sweep through the areas I’m writing about in the summer so I can feel confident I performed a reasonably exhausted search.

My latest portfolio plan is to finish the KDP mid March, put it away for a month, check out the successfully submitted portfolios at the upcoming National Genealogical Society Ft. Lauderdale conference in May, edit the rest of the month and then visit the two areas I write about the most to make sure I’ve mined every available piece, do a last edit in August and submit in September – 1 month before my deadline.  We’ll see how this works out!

The absolute best part of yesterday, however, was two events that were, well, weird.  The first occurred at the conference.  During introductions I mentioned that I was interested in Mercer County, Ohio as that was where my Leininger, Duer, and Kuhn families had resided.  A woman sitting right in front of me turned and said, “My mother was a Leininger.”  Yep, we’re cousins who had never met. At break I brought up my tree and found her line.  She had never heard of the Leininger Family History books written in the early 1970’s so I gave her my email address and when I hear from her, I’ll forward her to the author.  That’s the 2nd time in two months I’ve met a cousin face to face on my dad’s side!  I would never have met either of these lovely ladies had I not been working on my portfolio.  Oddly, I’m not even writing about my family.  I’ve selected clients and my husband’s lines to submit.  Hubby jokes that my dad’s side must feel a tad left out so the living keep popping up.

When I arrived home my husband was all smiles and said I had to look at the mail right away.  Did I win something?!  Yep, I won the genealogy lottery!  A package had arrived from a former church historian in Indiana who had sent me copies of diaries from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s that had been donated to a church.  The diaries were written by the sister of the wife of the 1st generation gentleman that is the focus of my KDP.  I couldn’t eat dinner – I had to begin reading.  I’m only up to 1890 (so my 3rd generation hadn’t even been born yet) but the diaries contain information that I was told no longer existed.  Wow.  Double Wow.

What’s really strange is that I had contacted the pastor who had forwarded my email to this wonderful woman.  She had sent a few pictures back to him.  He didn’t forward her email to me, instead, he sent me a new email with the pictures attached.  As I reviewed them I noticed that one was missing.  I hated to be a pest and recontact him as I didn’t think the missing picture of unidentified children who had attended the church in the early 1900’s would be very helpful but I wanted to be thorough so I did email him again.  He forwarded my email to the historian who resent the picture directly to me.  I was correct that the picture wasn’t helpful, however, she mentioned the diaries and asked if the pastor had informed me about them.  Nope, guess he “forgot” that part.  I’m so glad I am a pest, otherwise I would never have known about this valuable resource.  The diaries quote scripture frequently; although I haven’t come across this line yet, all I keep thinking is Matthew 7:7 “Ask and you shall receive.”  Works for me!  Happy Hunting…

For the Love of School

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 1 Oct 2015.

I’ve been blogging a lot about education as I’ve shared my husband’s grandmother’s 8th grade final exams. As I continue to do research for the Kinship Determination paper in fulfillment of one of the portfolio requirements for obtaining accreditation as a Certified Genealogist, I found several references to a severe teacher in the early 1800’s in Pennsylvania.  I can’t share much due to following the directions for the submission but it’s hard for me to get the meanness of that teacher out of my brain!  He was well remembered nearly 50 years after he taught but those memories from his students weren’t at all pleasant.

We hear so much today about infusing rigor and insuring accountability in public education.  In the earlier days of our country, that was not a concern. Developing “good” citizens was what was most important. There were no teacher certification programs, curriculum standards or laws related to compulsory student attendance.  Yet students learned.  We moved from an agrarian society to a factory model and now, to a technological one.  Certainly different skills are needed today than in the early 1800’s, however, the basics are just as relevant as they were in the past. Instilling a desire to become a lifelong learner and teaching a student how to seek out needed information remains vitally important.

My grandfather received little formal education in his native Austria-Hungary (now Croatia).  Today, we would consider him to be illiterate.  My grandmother received 3 years of formal public education in the United States after she emigrated.  My mother was the oldest child of this immigrant couple. Mom received little educational support at home as the focus was on bringing money into the household to insure security.

My mother’s elementary school years were at Glen Park Elementary in Gary, Lake County, Indiana:

Glen Park Elementary School, Gary, Indiana

I took this photo when I last visited the area in December 2001.  My mom had wonderful memories of the warm teachers who instilled in her not only the basics but the culture of the community.  Mom said she cried when she graduated from the school and had to attend Franklin Junior High.  She was taken under the wing of the Home Economics teacher at Franklin and continued to love school.

Unfortunately, the Great Recession occurred and it was necessary for her to help her family financially so mom quit attending Lew Wallace High School in 10th grade to go to work.  At the time, she was the most educated individual in her family.

Being a second generation away from immigration, my educational experiences were very different than my mothers.  Noncompulsory kindergarten was available so I attended a church school’s half day morning program.  I was fortunate to start my schooling with a phenomenal teacher, Bethel Ebelglebin Mattingly.  “Miss E” was the founder of the Jack and Jill Academy at Augustana Lutheran Church in Hobart, Indiana.  I was reading, printing and could add and subtract two digit numbers by the time I finished her program. Once a month we went on a field trip – to the community library, the movie theatre (where Miss E. had kicked off her shoes and they happened to roll down the aisle.  We had a hunt to find them when the movie ended!), my father’s farm, picnic in the park, and fishing at Lake George are all fond memories.  The most important skill Miss E. taught us, though, was how to work with others.

One morning, about a month into the school year, Miss E. decided to move student seats around.  I was devastated to be moved away from my then best friend, Melanie, and placed between two boys.  These boys were alot slower than I was academically and would probably be called ADHD today.  When my mom picked me up from school I informed her I wasn’t going back if I had to sit at the new table.  Mom said that Miss E was very smart and must have a good reason to have made the seat changes so we had to respect the decision.  I didn’t care, I was not going to go back.  I had been bumped into all morning long, had felt the need to pick up all the crayons they dropped and didn’t like the noises they made.  Mom said she would speak with Miss E. but I was going back to school.

Mom followed through on her promise.  I stayed the next morning and was sure my seat would be changed. Except it wasn’t.  Mid-morning when the class went out for recess Miss E. told me we needed “a chat.” She explained to me that I was a model student and that she had hoped that I would help out the boys who needed to develop some of the skills that I had.  She asked if I wanted to be a teacher some day.  I told her I was going to be a cowgirl.  Miss E. said sitting between the boys would help me be a better cowgirl as cows needed extra effort to get them to go where you wanted.  Personally, I didn’t understand how the boys needed to be moved along like cattle nor did I care to move them but Miss E. was so kind and made me understand that the class was a team and we needed to move forward together.  My seat remained and I learned to get along.

Mrs. Mattingly passed away in 2009.  We kept in touch over the years and she was very pleased to learn that I did, indeed, become an educator and not a cowgirl.  Towards the end of her life, we would chat monthly.  If she called me when I wasn’t home she would leave a message on my answering machine that said, “This is Miss E.  I’m sorry I missed you, Lori dear.  I hope you’re being a good girl.  We’ll talk soon.”

My husband loved those messages since I still tend to be feisty (as the Walgreens clerk labeled me last Sunday but that’s another story) and he still kids me about being a “good girl.”  He saved on tape one of the last messages she left and I’m so glad he did.

Below is a picture of Mrs. Mattingly on her birthday:

Bethel Ebleglebin Mattingly

My parents separated during my kindergarten year so my mother and I moved back to the family home in Glen Park.  The next 8 years were spent at St. Mark’s School.  Grades 1-4 were in the old building and grades 5-8 were in what was then the new building (below).  Only headstart is offered currently:

Former St. Marks Roman Catholic School, Gary, Indiana

Although I received a rigorous education at St. Marks it didn’t include the loving nature of Miss E.  Our early grades had 50 students in a class, 2 classes per grade level so the teachers didn’t have alot of time for warm and fuzzy.  My teachers were either extremely old and I was in the last class they were teaching, or very young and they didn’t have the process of running a classroom down.  I had one exceptional teacher in middle school who left to seek fame and fortune in California and was never heard from again.

I developed a great dislike of math due to an incident at the chalkboard below (which is now a church office):

Former 1st Grade Classroom, St. Marks Roman Catholic School, Gary, Indiana

Our teacher would place math problems on the board and we had to go up to the board in line based on the row she called to complete the problem.  I didn’t like the feel of chalk on my hands and I hated the squeak it made.  My goal was to get done as quick as possible.  I was able to do that by figuring out which problem I would get ahead of time, calculating the answer in my head and then quickly writing the answer and returning to my seat.  Except one late fall day the student in front of me needed to tie his shoe so Sister Martina made him get out of line and told me to go around him.  I did and went to what should have been my problem. Sister told me to move to what would have been his problem.  I completely blanked out.  I stood there and couldn’t process.  She spoke louder to me which didn’t help.  I began to cry.  She told me I could stand there until I got the answer.  This wasn’t said in a threatening way but I felt added pressure to complete what I couldn’t so I cried louder.  Some sweet girl whispered the answer and I wrote it down and returned to my seat.  I decided that moment that I didn’t like math, would never like math and couldn’t do math.  I’ve been battling those thoughts ever since. I know I’m not alone; I guess that’s why I relate so well to the comment my husband’s grandmother wrote on her failed 8th grade Algebra exam “Not that old story again!”  (see blog of 10 Sep 2015 More of Elsie’s Exams – An Indiana 1910 End of Course Math Assessment)

In reflecting on my education, what I know of my mom’s, and Elsie’s from her exams, I’ve reached the conclusion that the most important part of education is not the rigor of the curriculum.  What matters most is that the student feels it’s safe to tackle the rigor and that the instructor listens and cares.

Funny how this is apparent in the historical records, too, but widely ignored. Reminds me of the quote by George Santayana,

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

In education we constantly look for the new big idea instead of looking to the past and finding the answer was there all the time.

Elsie’s Music Exam

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 27 Sep 2015.

Below is a copy of Elsie Johnson’s 8th grade music final from 1910, Lake County, Indiana School District.  Music is taught today as an optional elective and the course title would be either Chorus, Band or Orchestra.  Classical composers aren’t usually covered, either, as “noted musicians.”

The music class content is extremely basic, much like is taught in our elementary curriculum today:

This is the last document I have on Elsie’s school experience.  In addition to the final exams I’ve published (Reading, Grammar, Math, Geography, History and Music) Elsie was tested on spelling and penmanship.

Ahh, penmanship.  In Florida, penmanship is no longer taught.  I’m sure, like many of you dear readers, you learned cursive using the Palmer method.  D’Nealian became in vogue in the 1990’s as it was a transition between printing and cursive.  In the last 5 years, cursive is no longer taught in elementary in Florida.  The reasoning is that keyboarding is more important, printing is more legible, there is less time due to the increase in rigor of core courses and a student can learn cursive on their own.  It will be interesting to see if signature lines disappear from documents when the present generation reaches adulthood!

Elsie’s History

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 24 Sep 2015.

Elsie Johnson was my husband’s maternal grandmother.  She graduated as an 8th grader in 1910 from the Hobart Township, Lake County, Indiana school district.  With the start of a new school year I’ve been posting her final exams and comparing education then to now – 105 years later.

In 8th grade today in Florida, students continue to study American History.  The difference is they have a whole lot more history to learn since Elsie’s day!  I was surprised to see that Elsie’s test only measured through the Colonial Period.  No American Revolution, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish American War or Reconstruction.

Perhaps the focus on the French and Indian War was due to Indiana’s location.  Father Marquette and many fur traders were the earliest Europeans in Elsie’s region. I was surprised that Elsie’s answer to the cause of the French and Indian War was slavery.  Huh?  It wasn’t marked wrong, either. My answer would have been similar to that of today’s historians, “The war began because Britain felt they needed to prevent the French from gaining control over trade and territories that the British thought were rightfully theirs.1″

I believe that tension between France and Great Britain was even the primary reason noted back in Elsie’s day as I was recently reading a speech written for the American Centennial (1886) that was presented in Franklin, Pennsylvania and the author stated that the French, worried about the British moving farther west, had told local Native American tribes to distrust the settlers, thus causing attacks on homesteaders and thus began the war.

I was quite surprised to see a question (#2) regarding naming and locating 3 early colleges.  Eighth grade was the terminal year of education for most students in Indiana at the time.  Was this a way to encourage further education?  I laughed when I saw that question because that is something I currently do with my 7th and 8th graders but I require them to explore 20 colleges.  My thinking is it’s never too early to start post-secondary exploration!  

On page 2 of the exam Elsie writes “god” and it wasn’t corrected to show capitalization.  For awhile in the education world (early 1990’s), points were taken off if English usage wasn’t also correct. Clearly, the exam only measured the history curriculum.

1“The French & Indian War.” Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

Elsie’s Exams – A 1910 Geography Final

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 20 Sep 2015.

Elsie Johnson was an 8th grade student in Hobart Township, Lake County, Indiana in 1910.  My past several posts have been highlighting her state mandated final exams.  Today the focus is geography.

The test questions are glued to the upper left hand corner.  It appears that 8th graders were required to complete the 7th and 8th grade year questions.  I like that as retention of material presented in the previous year can be measured.

The continents of Africa and Australia were studied extensively in 7th grade.  The 8th grade test questions were determined by the teacher; please view the third test page for those responses.  In 8th grade, students studied South America and Asia.  How interesting Europe is barely mentioned, especially since many of Elsie’s generation would find themselves there in just a few years under the adverse circumstances of World War I!  I also find it odd that there is such a limited study of North America and no mention of Antarctica,

Geography is still taught in middle school today through Social Studies but recently in Florida, civics was incorporated into the 7th grade curriculum which cut out some Asia and Africa material.  Those lessons were transferred to high school.  Since Elsie terminated her education in 8th grade, she would not have learned those lessons today.

Of all the tests analyzed I have the most criticism for this one.  Question 7 hints at an answer for question 2.  Question 10 asks about tobacco.  My readers know that the dangers of tobacco use was a test question on Elsie’s Physiology exam.  I equate asking where tobacco was grown to asking today’s students where heroin is produced.  To test knowledge of export items I think other crops could have been selected.

My most surprising reaction was to item 9. I understand that the test was developed in 1910  but I still was shocked at asking students to classify people based on color. Was the objective to make geography “scientific” as in the world of science where one would classify species?  I don’t know.

Think about this – the test was administered during the Jim Crow, 45 years after the end of the Civil War.  It took another 50 years, the 1960’s, before this thought process began to change and yet we still classify students. Today, parents are asked if their children are Asian, Hispanic, Multi, Native American with Black and White remaining as options.

Genealogists know that the vast majority of our DNA is multi.  My blue eyed blonde hubby shows ancestry from Chad yet he would be classified as white.  I personally think it’s time to move past the labels.  I understand in the health world nationality can be important in identying serious health conditions that need to be addressed.  Yet, looking at someone’s skin tone could miss important information, such as sickle cell anemia or lack of Vitamin D absorption. Beyond health, there is no reason to be concerned with skin color.

As the world’s first melting pot, I think it’s time that the US moved beyond racial classification.  With the current changes taking place in Europe, I think the US needs to set this practice into a new direction. In 100 years from now what will the genealogical community say about us as a society?

1910 Indiana Science Test

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 17 Sep 2015.

The Back to Basics movement in the U.S. likes to emphasize the teaching of only Reading, Writing and Arithmetic as harkening back to early American education’s curriculum.  By the early 1900’s, however, Science, History, Geography and Music were also taught.  Today I’m going to share with you Elsie Johnson, my husband’s maternal grandmother’s 8th grade end of year Indiana state assessment in science. Evidently, the area of physiology was the curriculum focus.

In middle school today, physiology is a part of both science and health.  The exam questions were glued to the upper left hand corner of the exam:

Elsie’s answer to question 1 about smoking is:  “Tobacco dulls the mind and it affect the beating of the heart.” Wow!  I always heard that the dangers of smoking were not known until the 1960’s.  I remember when cigarette television commercials were banned. The tunes were so catchy we used to play “Cigarette Tag” as children during recess.  Someone was IT and IT chased all the players.  When a player was tagged the player had to sing a commercial cigarette jingle. Jingles couldn’t be repeated.  If the player couldn’t think of an original jingle than that player became IT.  Those songs are still stuck in my head!  “Winston tastes good like a (boom, boom) cigarette should,”  “I’d walk a mile for a Camel,” and Virginia Slims “You’ve come a long way baby, to get where you got to today.”  I never smoked so clearly the advertising didn’t win me over.

I’m not sure how Elsie received a 100% as she skipped answering question 2 about narcotics, which I really would have enjoyed reading.  Sadly, these problems still exist and we still teach the dangers in school today.

I have not included a chapter test on the skeleton which we also have.  Interestingly, the chapter test is in the same format as the end of year exam.  That’s important as the students were well aware of how the material would be presented and had practiced the format throughout the year.  Today, our students are taken to a computer lab to complete their end of course exams.  It’s the only time of the year that exams are given in that format which INMHO influences their score.  Next time we’ll take a look at Geography.

Elsie’s Exams Continued – 1910 Grammar Exam

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 13 Sep 2015.

Today in U.S. schools, Grammar is incorporated with writing, which along with reading, is taught through Language Arts in middle school and English in high school.  In the early 1900’s, however, Reading and Grammar were separate subjects.  Think of the old song,

“School days, school days, 

Dear old golden rule days. 

‘Readin’ and ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic, 

Taught to the tune of a hick’ry stick.” 1

My husband’s maternal grandmother, Elsie Johnson, had an 8th grade final grammar exam that I would have difficulty completing as I don’t recall most of it.  The questions appear on the upper left hand corner of page one and were glued down.  Check out Elsie’s 3 page test:

Elsie would have been considered an English Language Learner (ELL) today.  Although born in the U.S., Elsie’s parents spoke primarily Swedish in the home and in her community.  Elsie attended a church that had services in her parents’ native tongue and many of the shop keepers in her small town of Miller spoke Swedish.  No special classes were offered to Elsie; she learned English through total immersion.

In the 1990’s, an educational movement occurred as a result of a dire prediction that students no longer wrote because of the increase usage of cell phones.  Hence, many states adopted a writing assessment in key grade levels to measure writing ability.  In Florida, that test was named Florida Writes and was given in grades 4, 8 and 10. Elsie’s short narrative about how she spent her Saturday reminds me of an 8th grade prompt from about 1999.  Certainly not original but it is a topic in which students can relate.  Clearly the prediction of the end of writing was unfounded.  Young people today prefer to text and tweet over making phone calls but I will give the movement credit as today’s messages are succinct!

Now that cursive handwriting isn’t taught either, concerned groups are bemoaning the next generation will be at a loss.  I disagree as I think would many genealogists – looking at writing styles from old records it is often nearly impossible to read what was written.  I much prefer students print neatly than use illegible cursive.  I do wonder what today’s children will do when they’re supposed to place their signature on the line and then print their name under it, such as when they’re getting a mortgage or purchasing a vehicle.  Maybe the signature line will be obsolete!

I expected to see diagramming on Elsie’s exam as that was part of our 8th grade grammar test.  My mom attended Lake County, Indiana schools in the 1920’s and 1930’s and had to learn to diagram. That means the curriculum change occurred sometime between 1910 and the mid 1920’s.  I had to do it in the 1960’s and 70’s but it was gone by the late 1980’s when my children started school.  Guess that comes and goes out of style, too!

Next time we’re going to take a look at Elsie’s science final.

1Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, “School Days” Web. 30 Aug. 2015.

More of Elsie’s Exams – An Indiana 1910 End of Course Math Assessment

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 10 Sep 2015.

Last time I shared my husband’s maternal grandmother, Elsie Johnson’s, 8th grade Indiana end of year reading assessment from 1910 and promised to post the math exam.  I’m fascinated with Elsie’s math test as math was always a difficult subject for me in school.  In Florida, 8th graders take Algebra I, a high school credit course, unless they have scores at a low level on the 7th grade math assessment.  Since Algebra is considered a gateway math course, meaning it is the basics of all higher level math, success in that class is important.

Take a look at Elsie’s Arithmetic exam page 1:

This would be a part our 7th grade curriculum today but only a small portion. I suppose the limited problems did show variation in using order of operations, fractions, decimals, and interpreting a story problem but I’m surprised there was no geometry, measurement, probability or graphing.  Clearly, being able to calculate a discount was considered of prime importance. I also find it interesting that Roman Numerals were used to differentiate the problems.

Elsie was administered an algebra test but with a score less than 75%, the state of Indiana would not consider it to be passing:

(See my blog of  6 Sep 2015 for the exam cover page which highlights rules to pass.)

I wonder if algebra was taught to 8th graders and if they did not pass, a more basic exam was given to them so that they could be promoted to the grade level. None of Elsie’s exams are dated, other than the school year on the front cover, and the pages are loose leaf so I have no idea in what order the exams were administered.

I love the handwritten note circled at the top after the formula to solve is given stating “That old story.”  Makes me laugh every time I see it! Clearly, Elsie was over the story problems using marbles in the scenario.

Elsie’s Exams – An Indiana 8th Grade Reading Assessment from 105 Years Ago

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 6 Sep 2015.

Tests and schools go hand and hand.  Lately there has been much parent backlash regarding the number of and amount of time spent on school assessments.  The validity and reliability of the assessments are also an issue.  Last spring in my state, students were still completing their online state required end of course assessments when the legislature decided that the results couldn’t be used as they had not been normed.  Duh!  Teachers and administrators had been complaining about how unfair the tests were but no one listened until the 12th hour.

Another major educational concern is the use of a common core curriculum.  States rights advocates complain about Federal meddling.  Some educators complain that the common core doesn’t address what’s most important.

Personally, I’m over all of the testing requirements – it’s way too much and I wish politicians could witness the stress their mandates are causing children.  I’m glad I never had the pressure at 8 years old that today’s kids have.  For the past 15 years in Florida, if a child didn’t score high enough on a standardized test administered in the spring, the student can be retained even though the child had performed adequately all year in class.  For many students, the test was the first time he/she ever was given a test formatted in that particular way so the unfairness of the retention is even greater.

I truly am an advocate of a nationwide curriculum and testing program with regional elements added.  Genealogists know that families don’t stay in one place for long and transitioning for children is hard enough without having to adapt to a new curriculum.  I’m not saying every child in America should be on the same page in the same book every day.  Children learn at different rates; humans are not automated and differentiation is necessary and beneficial.  Comparing learning, however, does need to be uniform. When I first started teaching in Florida I was appalled at the standardized test questions that asked about tobogganing and ice skating.  Seriously, most of my students had no experience with northern winter weather.  How unfair!

My husband’s grandmother, Elsie Wilhelmina Johnson attended school in Lake County, Indiana in the first decade of the 20th century.  A first generation American with Swedish spoken at home, I am amazed at how well she performed academically.  We have copies of her graduation exams and they were tough!.  Take a look at the testing rules:

cover-sheet

Rule 10 states that a student needs a 75% on the exam AND classwork above 60% to pass for the year.  A 60% today equates to a grade of F so in Elsie’s day, good test takers who slacked throughout the school year could pass.  We had that problem in middle school and the way our district fixed it was that students had to gain a minimum of 2 points a semester, which at the lowest, is two D’s. Prior to the change we had darlings getting an A first grading period and then failing the next 3 grading periods.  The old rule was a student must earn 4 points a year in a subject to pass and the A equaled 4 points.  Our rule change eliminated slackers.

Elsie’s exams were for completion of the 8th grade which was the highest grade she attended.  High School was available through 12th grade but was not mandatory.  Exams, though, were state mandated with the final test question “to be determined” by the local district.  Wish we still did that today!  This would allow for local differences yet still give educators a better idea of how a child had progressed in comparison with a broader group.

When I first began to teach I was a reading teacher so Elsie’s reading tests are of particular interest to me.  My husband and I attended school in the 1970’s in the same district as Elsie and we did not read the selections on her exam until high school.  In Florida, only Don Quxiote is still read and that is at the high school level:

rdg-final

Elsie’s reading test was in two parts.  Here’s the 2nd section:

rdg

I particularly like how the reading selections crossed curriculum areas, Pilgrim’s Progress with US History, Burn’s with science and Longfellow with philosophy.   In that case, the crafty teacher could have easily taught reading through the other core classes.

It appears that Elsie had one teacher all day who taught all lessons.  WOW! This would certainly not occur today unless it was through a homeschool environment.  Teachers are prohibited from having to develop more than 3 different plans for levels or classes.

Think also of how much time was saved in not having students transition from room to room.  Five minutes passing time for 7 periods would save 30 minutes a day!

Next time we’ll look at Elsie’s math…