::::::::
GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER & A GREAT TEACHING RESOURCE: GARDEN OF PRAISE
By Kevin Stoda, Taiwan
Today, at my junior high school, I discovered that some of my English students had just read about George. Washington, Carver. One teacher came over and asked me whether I knew him and Carver's story and showed me the book used in the student's class.
I nodded, "Yes, we studied him in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade when I was a child back in Missouri. Though, I think almost everyone knows of him--as he was one of the most famous [black] American inventors, teachers, and scientists of his era."
"In fact," I added, "George Washington Carver was born as a slave
only about ten miles from where my mother and her siblings were born and
raised in Jasper County, Missouri."
http://www.nps.gov/gwca/index.htm
I concluded, "Carver passed away in 1943, so he was still alive when my mother was born (in November 1941), i.e. on the Eve of WWII."
Then I went to my computer and looked up George Washington Carver on the internet and came across a fantastic educational website, called GARDEN OF PRAISE.
IN REVIEWING GARDEN
In reviewing the website, GARDEN OF PRAISE, I learnt the following things about George Washington Carver, which either I didn't learn in school--or too-many-years have passed for me to recall such details.
(1) "Thomas Edison offered him $100,000 a year to come and work for
him, but he thought he could do more good at Tuskegee" Institute in
Alabama.
(2) "Money, stylish clothes, and fine cars were not important to him. He
thought the truly successful person was the one who had learned to
serve others."
(3) Carver "made his students work hard, and he insisted they do each
experiment right. If they told him they had done something "about
right', he would say, "Don't tell me it's "about right'. If it's "about
right', then it's wrong.'" That's why it is said of him till today: "He
was one of the finest scientists the world has ever known."
http://gardenofpraise.com/ibdcarve.htm
The GARDEN OF PRAISE site includes games, crosswords, tests--anything a
teacher might want for their students, including a YouTube link to a
video which reveals how George Washington Carver talked and thought
about life, science, service, and education.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKSE1_ujTs8&feature=player_embedded
There are also many other good links on Carver on this website, such as the one to the Tuskegee Institute of Technology.
http://www.tuskegee.edu/Search.aspx?sterm=carver
Moreover, on GARDEN OF PRAISE there nearly 100 biographies of
inventors, politicians, leaders, scientists, artists and entertainers.
http://gardenofpraise.com/leaders.htm
All the material is aimed at young children and comes with a variety of teacher and internet resources.
I recommend it highly to all educators and lovers of biographies.
