Perhaps this is the most wonderful thing about teaching: seeing the wonder and amazement on a child’s face as she learns something new. It’s the eyes brightening and a brow rising as a young girl makes the connection between something she has read in a book and now experienced in another lesson, in a hands-on activity, or on a field trip.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of chaperoning Mrs. Williams’ fifth-grade class to the R.M.S. Titanic exhibit at our local science center. I had already helped my son with his oral presentation on Titanic chief officer Henry Tingle Wilde, so I knew that quite a bit of background had been shared in class. All of Mrs. Williams’ students had done presentations for various Titanic passengers and crew.
However, walking into the special exhibit, seeing first-hand artifacts recovered from two-and-a-half miles below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, and getting close to huge, detailed photos of the doomed ocean liner made the knowledge we all had of the Titanic disaster unfold as nothing else could. There were seven children in my group, and when we walked into the exhibit we were all given fake tickets that bore the names of different passengers and crew members. Whether a passenger was traveling first, second, or third class was also noted on the ticket.
We discovered the difference between first class, second class, and third class cabins, food service menus, and entertainment choices. We viewed lumps of coal twice the size of footballs, also recovered from the wreck, which crewmen shoveled into the ship’s boilers day and night to provide steam to propel the engines and turn the turbines that generated the ship’s electricity. And, at the very end, we looked on a list of survivors and fatalities for the names printed on our fake tickets. In less than an hour, we’d become attached to our Titanic brothers and sisters, and the tragedy of that April night in 1912 meant something more. We’d reached across the century to share in a unique human drama and connected what the students had learned with what we’d experienced in that exhibit.
In the darkness of the science center’s special display area, I saw seven faces light up with understanding, knowledge, and an appreciation for what it means to be human. That’s the light we, as educators, seek to turn on as often as possible in our students.
I wish all of you nothing but the best of luck in that endeavor.
I’d like to extend a special thanks to fifth-grade teachers Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Smith of Southwest Elementary School in High Point, North Carolina, as well as their terrific group of students. Also, thanks to the staff of the Natural Science Center of Greensboro, North Carolina.