Publicly Educated

    When I was teaching, I would often throw together little pop quizzes that had nothing to do with the discipline of English, or Language Arts, as they preferred to call it. I created little 10-question quizzes to challenge the kids' brains in my classroom. I would often allow them to get together in groups of 2, 3, or 4, depending on how hard I thought the quiz might be. They couldn't use their phones or laptops, but I would set them free in the library to look up the answers; they could use books or other available media.

    One such quiz was "Name the State by its Landmark." Here you go—no cheating. If you know, you know. You can't Google it if you don't, but you can look it up at your nearest library. Ready?

The Grand CanyonThe Golden Gate BridgeThe Statue of LibertyThe Liberty BellThe AlamoThe Space NeedleMt. RushmoreTimes Square The Sears TowerCape CanaveralSee how many you know, and then take the International version.
 River Thames Loch Ness Monster Eiffel Tower Mt. Calvary The Colosseum The BIG Jesus Statue (Christ the Redeemer) Niagara Falls (two answers) The Blarney Stone  Parthenon  The Taj Mahal 
    For grins and giggles, I would try these quizzes out on my own kids to see if they were capable, if they knew the answers. I didn't mind if they needed help looking it up, but I wanted to see if they were trained. I wanted to know if their teachers had given them the education I feel every kid in our country needs; we need to know these things. I don't mean that we need to know so we have something to talk about over dinner, but we need to know because the surrounding states matter, the world and its achievements matter.  People are not being taught the basics anymore.    
    Anyway, that was me. I was that sort of teacher. I loved it when the kids asked for help, and I'd give them clues, and they could grasp those clues and figure it out. I remember telling one kid that the Blarney Stone could be kissed more easily by a leprechaun than it could be by a normal-sized person. She got it! Then, she turned and told me that leprechauns weren't people!  LOL...loved that!! That's a thinker!

     PHOTO CREDIT: PINTEREST.COM