My high school American History teacher played an Edison Standard
for all of his classes one day. I think it was brought in by a
student. I was fascinated. But it was years later until I saw another
one, and started collecting. I would have been horrified if the
teacher made us write a paper about it. That would have ruined most
of the fun, and make me wish I had never seen it!
Jim
On Nov 10, 2006, at 2:15 PM, Peter Fraser wrote:
> I've given a presentation on Edison, as a person and inventor, to the
> 5th grade classes at my kids' elementary school for the past 8
> years. i bring in a Standard and a Gem or a Q, and a Vic R and an
> orthophonic portable, and samples of various media and misc other
> stuff (including a vinyl LP and a tape cassette, which are becoming
> just as alien as a cylinder record to today's 10 year olds). i also
> bring a candle and a replica edison bulb, and a recorder and a few
> shaved brown wax cylinders, and a string/tin can telephone.
>
> and then i walk them through a comparison of how they entertain
> themselves today vs before and after Edison's phonograph, and a
> comparison of how we light our rooms. then we go to demos of home
> recordings (i have an awful rendition of O\ld Black Joe, plus a
> commercial version, which makes for a fun comparison, and no, i don't
> hand out the lyrics to that one). i play some late 20s hot jazz and
> explain how it was music parents didn't like their kids to listen
> to. the 5th grade kids love hearing that they now have more formal
> education than Edison had. but their favorite is lining up to record
> their names and a brief phrase onto wax, and then hearing it back. i
> also usually get one or two of the musically talented ones to record
> a musical performance. when i can get it together, i burn them CDs
> of their recordings as well, afterwards.
>
> we always talk about who their heros are, and how the heros of
> yesterday are different than many of those of today...and how that
> contributed to the naming of their school when it was founded in the
> early 30s: Edison Elementary. this leads to another sort of
> comparison, of what we value in our society now vs what people
> admired then, still rather basic but often remarkably insightful for
> 10 year olds. of course, i live in the sometimes-disdained and
> horrid/ugly/crowded/yaddayadda San Francisco area, where we have
> those awful San Francisco values ("coming soon to a Congress near
> you!"), so your mileage may vary on this particular point.
>
> it's always a gratifying experience, and we have a lot of fun. i'll
> probably keep doing it even after my kid is out of there.
>
>
>
>
> -- Peter
> [email protected]
