We the People

It is time, once more, for one of the hardy perennials of my annual calendar, the We The People presentations, during which my students, in groups of five, give speeches and answer questions about various aspects of the U.S. Constitution to panels of parent judges. We make the students dress up (coat and tie, dress or skirt). The calendar is a little weird this year, so we have to squeeze the preparation into fewer days the usual, which makes me nervous. I'm sure we'll manage; we always do. My daughter R has helped out the last few years, staking groups out in the hall to run them through their speeches while I am doing the same with another group in the classroom. As I write this, I recall the words of my older daughter, M, who recently had occasion to read through all the personal entries in my columns from 2009-2011. She pointed out that I tend to say the same thing every year about the same recurring annual topics. And that I do the same thing in real life, which makes me predictable (some people call it a rut; I call it a comfortable routine). I hope these remarks are a little different this year. I'll close by noting that it is important for students to really understand the Constitution, and that I think this annual project, instigated by my colleague Mrs. S, and part of a national program (started by Warren Burger as part of the bicentennial, no less) is a very worthwhile expenditure of student--and teacher and parent--time.