Opening Day

Sorry baseball fans, which I am one, this post will not have very much to do with the best sport ever. It is about the opening day of the 2015/2016 school year in the district I work in. I am entering my thirteenth year as an employee for the Newton-Conover City School District (NCCS). I am entering my first full year as a teacher aide after twelve years in a Social Studies classroom at Newton Conover Middle School. I am not going into why I am now an aide and not teaching, although as an aide I do a lot of actual teaching, except to say that it was fully my decision NOT the district's decision although they were very receptive to my wishes.

I sit here in the classroom which I will be working this year on a day very quiet and reserved compared to the following days in which most of the teachers will show up and meetings will commence. Students arrive in a week and during this time classrooms will transform into wonderful, inviting places for a wide variety of children to come and learn. Not only will they learn the basics (the three R's) they will also learn social skills, manners, and they will hopefully feel they come to a safe environment. Some of the students I will have the pleasure of working with haven't grow up like I did in a home in which I never doubted my parents love for me, I never wanted for food, shelter, and clothes.

One thing I used to do in my Social Studies classes was a Today in History bell-ringer. I would jot down one or more historical events that happened on that particular day and discuss and or as each year we had more technology at our disposal research the events and journal about them. So here it goes for the week of August 17.

August 17, 1786- Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee... is how the song goes for on this day Davy Crockett was born
August 17, 1812- Napolean Boneparte's army defeated the Russians at the Battle of Smolensk.
August 17, 1833- Canadian steamship the Royal William begins the first trans-Atlantic steamship crossing from Nova Scotia.
August 17, 1933- Lou Gherig plays in his 1,308th consecutive game, which breaks former Yankee's Everett Scott's record. (Gehrig would go and play in 2,130 consecutive games)
August 17, 1943- General George Patton and his 7th Army completes the Allied conquest of SIcily in World War II.
August 17, 1945- Indonesia declares their independence.
August 17, 1969- Woodstock Music Festival ends.

August 18, 1227- Genghis Khan dies...
August 18, 1590- Roanoke Colony was deserted beginning the Lost Colony mystery.
August 18, 1795- President George Washington signs the Jay Treaty with Great Britain in attempt to ease tensions with Great Britain.
August 18, 1920- Woman Suffrage Amendment is ratified.

August 19, 1909- First auto race at what is now the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on dirt track for five miles NOT 500.
August 19, 1934- Adolf Hitler becomes president of Germany...
August 19, 1946- William Jefferson Clinton was born in Hope, Arkansas.

August 20, 1911- The first telegram to circumnavigate the globe was sent and took 16.5 minutes to complete.
August 20, 1920- Professional footbal was first organized in Canton, Ohio as the American Professional Football Conference (APFC) the forerunner to the National Football League (NFL).
August 20, 1940- Leon Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico.

August 21, 1831- Nat Turner's slave rebellion began in Southhampton County, Virginia.
August 21, 1858- The first Lincoln-Douglass debate was held.
August 21, 1920- Christoper Robin Milne was born (yes that Christopher Robin of Winnie the Pooh fame)
August 21, 2004- Michael Phelps wins his 8th medal at an individual Olympics giving him the record for most medals won at an individual Olympics.

August 22, 1848- US Grant marries Julia Dent. One "theory" that has popped up was that Julia and Mary Todd Lincoln did not get along in social gatherings so Grant gracefully declined the President's invitation to join him at Ford's Theater that infamous night. If Grant was there the security would have been more tight because most people viewed that there was a bigger threat to Grant's well-being than there was Lincoln's. So, as they say the rest is history.
August 22, 1950- Althea Gibson becomes the first African-American on the US Tennis Tour.
August 22, 1989- Nolan Ryan registered his 5000th strikeout.

August 23, 1784- The State of Franklin decclares independence from North Carolina. Franklin would later become part of Tennessee.
August 23, 1814- As Washington DC was under attack by the British during the War of 1812, First Lady Dolley Madison attempts to save some of the Executive Mansion's (White House) treasures which would be set ablaze by the British. She escapes with some including a famous painting of George Washington.
August 23, 1939- In order to avoid a two front war Adolf Hitler signs a non-aggression pact with Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. Hitler would eventually break this pact which would lead to his eventual defeat in World War II.

These were just a few of the many events that occurred in the global history from these dates. Hope you enjoy the post. This is the Mad Genius! signing off.