Durbin Uses Sculpture as Teaching Tool for Constitution's 200th Anniversary
Nancy Horst
Friday, September 14, 2007
The city’s new sculpture at the Lyon County Historical Museum has become a teaching tool for Cindy Durbin’s third-grade class.
Durbin, who teaches at Riverside Elementary School, met with her class at the museum to introduce a lesson on the U.S. Constitution. Monday will be Constitution Day and students in many Emporia classrooms are learning about the document and its significance to U.S. history and individual freedoms.
This year is the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution, which took place Sept. 17, 1787, in Philadelphia.
The sculpture was purchased by Emporia Main Street as a gift to the city in honor of its 150th birthday this year. The sculpture was created by Alan Tollakson of Emporia.
The design includes the words “We the people . . .” from the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution. At the top are shapes of landmarks that represent Emporia’s past and present.
“Every year, my class writes a letter to the citizens of Emporia encouraging them to celebrate Constitution Day,” Durbin said. “This year I wanted to do something different. After I saw this sculpture, I thought it would be a good opportunity to teach about the Constitution.”
The school has a copy of the Constitution, a gift from local veterans’ groups. Durbin told the students that they will read some of the document, but she will put it into words that they can understand. She also has invited Tollakson to be a guest speaker in her classroom.
The class talked briefly at the sculpture about what it represents.
“The words ‘We the people’ are from the Preamble to the Constitution,” Durbin said. “Over 200 years ago, 55 very smart men got together to write this document after they had fought for our freedom to have our own country and our own government.”
She said she uses current events as well as literature to teach her third-graders about this piece of American history. Monday was one example when the class observed the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, with the rest of the nation. The war in Iraq is another world event that touches the lives of her students.
“I ask them to think of the people who are struggling and sacrificing overseas for us to live the way we do,” she said. “This is the first year that some of my students did not have a relative in the military.”
Wasp (anonymous) says...
Don't you mean 220th. instead of 200th. anniversary?
September 14, 2007 at 7:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )