Keeping the Dream Alive

I went back to my day job this week, as school is beginning to ramp up again. For those of you who may not know, I'm an elementary school counselor. On Wednesday I was in a training with a nationally recognized teacher who was sharing techniques on engaging students, etc. He was really good, but then he began using a lesson on the first moon landing in his examples. Now, as I said, he was really good (with the possible exception of how he insisted that microwave ovens "hadn't even been invented in 1969"...Oops!) but as he struggled to explain what a huge accomplishment the moon landing was, I was struck by two facts; almost at the exact same moment: 1. Kids have no idea what it felt like to live in that version of America, where ANYTHING seemed possible. 2. HE didn't know either. It hit me that this guy was probably born 15 years after the events he was describing.

Still, he did an ok job, but he didn't really capture the time.

I can say that because he was describing MY time. I was born less than 24 hours after John Kennedy said "We choose to go to the moon and do the other thing not because they are easy, but because they are hard." I was 6 when I watched in awe as first Neil Armstrong and then Buzz Aldrin climbed down that LEM ladder and walked on another world. After that, whenever anyone said "anything is possible," we believed it! It was a time of wonder and magic!

Fortunately, we do have some fairly recent documentaries that do capture the time well. First we have the Tom Hanks produced, "From the Earth to the Moon."

My VHS version....I need to upgrade to BluRay!

This 12 part series does a great job of capturing the feeling of that time. Of course, Mr. Hanks is also a child of that time, so he knows what he's talking about. I highly recommend binge watching this. Now. Do it.

Next we have The Discovery Channel's series, "When We Left Earth."

This 6 part series goes from Mercury through the shuttle. Its a great overview and has tons of rare footage.

I wish we could make it mandatory that every high school kid (and social studies teacher) be required to watch at least one of these series. Perhaps it would explain why STEM is so darned important! Maybe it would just inspire some kid to want more out of his world. I know I want more out of mine.