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A Teachable Moment
Oct. 30th, 2008 11:40 pmOkay, I'm afraid the Obama-love is starting to rub off on me, but I am charmed.
A month ago a second grade class wrote to various celebrities. Enclosed were "Flat Stanley" dolls. Remember Flat Stanley? He was the boy in a children's story who was flattened in a freak accident that modern children's books probably wouldn't dare include -- he was flattened by a heavy picture falling on his bed -- and after this, of course, being a millimeter thin, he had many adventures.
So anyway, off the Flat Stanleys went into the unknown.
Mark Spitz, Nancy Pelosi, Alex Rodrigez and John McCain have not written back.
Obama, however, wrote back. His letter is delightful. In spots it strikes me as tough going for a second grader, but of course the recipient shared it with his class, his teacher, and the whole school, and they're all talking about it. So I'm sure they've learned a lot. In the course of telling about how he took Stnaley around with him, Obama snuck in a whole mini-lesson on US government.
I keep forgetting Obama was a professor for a while.
Here's a PDF of the letter.
I love the part where Obama talks about how he gets "a little nervous" talking in front of crowds, so Flat Stanley gives him some helpful tips on public speaking!
I also love the subtle bit of office humor at the end:
A month ago a second grade class wrote to various celebrities. Enclosed were "Flat Stanley" dolls. Remember Flat Stanley? He was the boy in a children's story who was flattened in a freak accident that modern children's books probably wouldn't dare include -- he was flattened by a heavy picture falling on his bed -- and after this, of course, being a millimeter thin, he had many adventures.
So anyway, off the Flat Stanleys went into the unknown.
Mark Spitz, Nancy Pelosi, Alex Rodrigez and John McCain have not written back.
Obama, however, wrote back. His letter is delightful. In spots it strikes me as tough going for a second grader, but of course the recipient shared it with his class, his teacher, and the whole school, and they're all talking about it. So I'm sure they've learned a lot. In the course of telling about how he took Stnaley around with him, Obama snuck in a whole mini-lesson on US government.
I keep forgetting Obama was a professor for a while.
Here's a PDF of the letter.
I love the part where Obama talks about how he gets "a little nervous" talking in front of crowds, so Flat Stanley gives him some helpful tips on public speaking!
I also love the subtle bit of office humor at the end:
