On our second full day in the District, we started out by going to the Capitol. However, once we got there, we got tickets for 11:30 or some time that was far beyond what we had planned. Instead of waiting around for a number of hours, Brianna took the group to the National Gallery of Art while I went and tried to get tickets for the Spy Museum. Not only did I get tickets, I talked the person behind the counter into giving me tickets for any time of the day, instead of the normal entrance time. While I was away my kids pretended like they were Rocky on the steps of the Art Gallery.

From what I got from the kids, they seemed to like the National Gallery of Art. Brianna knows something about art, which is more than me, so she was able to at least explain the different era for a given set of art. The kids found the religious paintings to be particularly interesting.

We came back to the Capitol, unsure of whether or not to wait for our ticket times. It meant giving up our show time for Discovery Theater (see below), so I decided to opt for the theater. Before we went, though, we took notice of these crazy lefty protesters.

I wanted them to see the protesters and observe them to demonstrate what free speech means. I would ask, "Do you know what would happen if you did that when Stalin was around?" The response would be something along the lines of, "Oh! He'd shoot you and put you in that ditch!" They seemed to get the point, but then the protesters started coming over trying to talk to them. I told them they needed to back off and complained that I was censoring them and started telling them that their teacher was keeping them from the truth. The sad part is, I agreed with their message about the administration not doing enough about Hurricane Katrina. But, I certainly wouldn't let these crazies talk to my kids because a) I have to remain apolitcal in my job as a teacher and b) they're crazy.

After we escaped the loonies, it was off to Discovery Theater. This was my best attempt at doing some type of cultural or theater performance (there wasn’t much else to choose from). I’d show you pictures of the event, but photography was prohibited. Some of the kids really got into the "Michelangelo’s" performance and his discussion about his works. It gave me a few good pedagogical tips. "Michelangelo" made a point of telling students to always ask themselves critical questions. I already did this to a certain extent. "Why did the author choose to describe this scene like this?" and "If we are converting in metric, ask yourself: what is the first step that I take to convert this number?" are things I would ask. After the performance I started putting those questions into a bigger framework of critical thinking skills.

Once we were done at Discovery Theater, we got lunch and then ventured to the Spy Museum. Again, I’d show you pictures, but photography was not allowed. The Spy Museum was one of the more memorable places we went, according to the kids. The displays of various types of espionage equipment are very interactive and fun. Particularly appealing to me was the display on Stalin and the NKVD (the secret police). They knew when we got to it that a speech on Animal Farm was coming.

On our way out of the subway on the way to Burger King a young woman asked me if I was interested in something on foreign policy. I kind of said, "Hmm ok," since I was in front of my kids. I was about to grab it, but said, "Wait... are you one of those LaRouch people?" To which she responded, "Yes! You've heard of us?!" I retracted my arm, turned my body and said, "Not interested." She wouldn't take no for an answer and followed me, harassing me to take her literature. She kept babbling on, asking things like, "Do you like FDR? Did you know that Lyndon LaRouche blah blah blah..." I was embarrassed that this happened in front of my kids. All I did in response was hold my hands out flat at her, avert my eyes, and keep repeating, "Not interested. Please go away." Once she finally went away the kids got a huge kick out of how I had to deflect the crazy woman. "Not interested! Not interested!" they would mimick.

The Spy Museum took a while and it was nearly time for dinner. So, we went to a place on K Street that was open and fit our budget: Burger King. At Burger King we met up with several donors and friends of the project. Particularly funny was the meeting between Carl Schwab and one of my students.

After dinner it was time for the best of our trip: our tour of the West Wing. I had already been on the West Wing tour the summer before. The same guy who showed me around last summer was nice enough to get my students in there. They got to see the Cabinet Room, Roosevelt Room, Oval Office, press room, and the Rose Garden.

I was elated when two days later we were watching TV in the lobby of our hotel and the president held a press conference in the press room and my kids pointed and shouted, "Hey – that’s where we were!"

Up Next: The Air And Space Museum, Congressman Bennie Thompson, and Upset Parents

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This post is pretty photo-intensive, so please bear with the load time.

On our first real day out we had scheduled to see Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was assassinated. When we got there the line was literally around the block. Ford's Theater is cool, but not that cool. Instead, we decided to proceed straight to the Natural History Museum. One problem: it wasn't open yet, so we had to kill some time. We spotted one of the many souvenir shops and decided to make the obligatory stop that all kids make. They loaded up on goodies for folks at home, DC hats, FBI shirts, and all the other stuff that I bought in DC when I was their age.

Once that was all done, we went to the National Mall for the first time, then it was on to the Natural History Museum. We started in the mammals section were we saw lots of prehistoric animal remains. I'd post some pictures, but I already have so many in this post that it would be too much. Seeing the skeletons was a segue to the Live Insect Museum, which sounded really fun. Once we got in there the kids pointed with fascination at some of the insects and repulsed in disgust at some of the others. I told them stories about black widows and south western crickets, both of which they had on display.

A really interesting display that they had was an actual bee hive. The hive was inside and opened up to the front of the building where the bees would exit, go get pollen, and bring it back inside. Seeing this set off the text connection alarm in my head, since our class was reading The Secret Lives of Bees at that time. We briefly compared and contrasted how similar the bee hives were to what we read in the story.

While we were going through the museums my students kept spotting "challenge words" from our class word wall. It was one of those vindicating teacher moments because they were realizing that our challenge words are words that you really do need to know.

After the live insects, we ventured through the minerals section, which includes the famous Hope Diamond. We were running low on time, so we went quickly to the dinosaur exhibit. I was surprised that the kids weren't more interested in the large megalodon teeth or the T-rex skeleton. Maybe it's just that I loved that stuff when I was a kid.

Once we were done in the Natural History Museum, it was on to the American History Museum. I think they enjoyed the American History Museum more because it was material that they could better relate to. The first thing they saw was the flag that hung over the Pentagon immediately after the 9-11 attacks.

Next, I took them to what I thought would be a much more substantial exhibit on the 1927 flood of the Mississippi River, which devastated Greenville, MS. Despite the fact that the exhibit was small, it was still great to get them some local history from a national museum.

We got lunch at the museum and then went up to the civil rights exhibit that they had been running. The material was pretty gripping for these young black students. They'd never seen a KKK robe before or really seen pictures of explicit racism.

The most interesting part of the exhibit was a room that was half a white classroom and half a black classroom. They were quite easily convinced that the separate but equal doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson was wrong.

Speaking of racial intolerance, my girls were disturbed by the pictures of Hitler in the exhibit on America's armed conflicts. I had taught them about the Holocaust and they knew exactly who he was. All they could say was, "That man is so evil."

Further in the exhibit they took a special liking to the wartime propaganda. Hey -- understanding propaganda it's a sixth grade benchmark in Mississippi!

The next part of the trip was pretty awesome. My fellow Ed Trust intern and friend from UVA, Elliot Haspel set me up with his dad, who works at the Dept. of the Interior. We got a guided tour of the Washington Monument and many of the war memorials.

The Monument was actually really fun. I'd never done the tour of it before.

We made our way down the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Memorial. It was late in the afternoon and the kids were tired from walking all day. We checked out Lincoln, but what I really wanted to do was show the kids the spot where Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. I said, "Do you know the 'I Have a Dream' speech that you've studied in school every year since first grade? That's where MLK made that speech."

Not that the kids knew what the Korean War was, or would be able to understand its significance in the Cold War, but I took them over to the memorial anyway. While we were there, I had to get a picture of us the same way I got a picture with Katerina and Lindsay in high school. Lindsay and Kat came back four years later and did the picture again.

What happened next, I didn't get any pictures of, but it's particularly interesting. One of the chaperones on the trip had a friend who died in Vietnam. She wanted to get an etching of his name, so I took her over to the Vietnam Memorial while the kids rested. As it turned out, the name of this particular person was listed on the top of one of the middle slabs of the memorial, which was about 12 feet high. There are no ladders or anything there, so I tried walking around to the top of it. I was told by the park service that was a no-no, despite the fact that I needed an etching from the very top. I went back to the bottom and helplessly looked up to the top of the slab. Then, a man came by and asked what we were trying to do. I explained our situation and, without thinking twice, the man leaned against the wall and said, "Get on my shoulders." I hesitated for half a second and then did as I was told. I climbed up and got the etching as best I could. I climbed down and we thanked the man profusely, to which he responded, "Anything for a one of my brothers."

Once everybody was somewhat rested, we made our way to ESPN Zone for dinner. ESPN Zone was really fun for the kids. The only thing of note was that I took my star basketball player on in one of the arcade shoot-outs. We both tied each other in the first round, tied each other again in the second round, and he beat me by one point in the third.

On our way back to the hotel, we had to ride the subway from downtown and ran into a few homeless people. On our way down the subway to the Metro I put my body between the kids and a homeless man and ushered them down the escalator. As we were going down the kids were chatting about the homeless man and one of them said, "Man, he wasn't a bum. Did you see the shoes he had on?"

The last portion of this day was utterly absurd. We rode the Metro back to Pentagon City, where we catch the hotel shuttle. It was past 10 PM and everybody was exhausted. We had no problems with the hotel shuttle up till now, despite the fact that we were a group of 14 people. The shuttle came, filled up, and the driver informed us that he wouldn't be coming back for us because the hotel allegedly told us that we could not ride the shuttle. Pissed, I called the Best Western Pentagon front office and the man basically told us "too bad". While I did that, Brianna got on the phone with Travelocity, where we purchased tickets. Travelocity called the hotel and the hotel lied to them, saying they told us that we couldn't ride the shuttle. I went back and forth with the man on the phone for quite some time and he eventually hung up on me. I called back and yelled that I would get him fired and was on the verge of filing child endangerment charges against him for leaving us on the street that late at night. I doubt I could really do that, but hey, I was angry. You're probably asking right now why we didn't just take a cab. The answer is that I hadn't budgeted for it, and going back and forth that many times over the next few days would cost close to $150. After relentlessly calling, he eventually caved and sent the shuttle. When I got back, I went to front office, wrote down their names and demanded to know which of them hung up on me. They both stonewalled me, so I said, "If you don't tell me, I'm telling your boss and Best Western corporate that it was both of you." I still didn't get anything out of them, so I left. The next morning I talked with the manager, Subhash Vohra. He explained that because we got group rates we weren't entitled to ride the vans. But -- that was incorrect. We didn't get group rates. He was thinking about some other school group that was there. We were essentially three families who paid full fare. I called Best Western corporate and made my case to them. They pulled my reservation and wholly agreed with me. The management capitulated on the vans issue and we got the service as advertised.

When I got back to Mississippi I got this verbatim letter in the mail from the manager:

Dear MR. Hughes

Best Western Customer Relations has notified me that we failed to your expectations at our hotel. I appreciate your taking the time to write and hope you will accept my apologies.

PI. accepts my apology again for not meeting your expectations. When I met you this morning, and told you that our shuttle service is for individual guest only not for group. We have only 2 vans which we run from 6.00AM to 10.00PM. I also told you that we will help you for your group, but only first come first serve. Some time we will not be able to take all the guests together. I hope I clarify the situation. On me.

We appreciate your patronage and hope you will stay with us at Best Western Pentagon. I assure you, we will do everything we can to make your stay a comfortable and happy one.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Subhash Vohra
GM.

Needless to say, I do NOT suggest staying at Best Western Pentagon.

Next Entry: Missed the Capitol, National Art Gallery, Lefty Protesters, and The West Wing

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In my last Delta to DC post, we had just traveled to Atlanta and gotten on our train to Washington, DC.

The train ride wasn't terrible. The kids found ways to entertain themselves, as they did at the train station. The next morning I found out that many of the kids stayed awake well into the morning. That did not faze them.

When we finally got into the city we went to get our checked baggage and, of course, the white school got their bags before we did. What happened next was quite remarkable. Many of the kids on the trip hadn't done much traveling. One of my kids on the way to Atlanta explained to me that he had never been outside of the Mississippi Delta. Along with not having traveled many places comes a dearth of social experiences, like using forms of public transportation. My first inclination that my students were in for a bumpy ride came as we were going up an escalator. The kid who told me he hadn't been out of the Delta stepped on the escalator and nearly lost balance. Once he gained his balance he scratched his head and looked quizzically at the movings stairs. I asked him if he'd ever been on an escalator and he replied that he hadn't. To me, this spelled almost certain disaster for the kids, the luggage, and the parents and grandparents on the Metro. Indeed, when we shuffled into the subway car and it began to accelerate, everyone fell over. I had officially become that group of tourists. They eventually did get the hang of things, though.

After we got out to Pentagon City, we took the shuttle to our hotel and checked in. I had set an ambitious plan for the day, but that didn't come to fruition when our train was late getting in, travel took much longer than expected, and everybody wanted to rest for a while.

Once we did all get settled, I did what I could to salvage the day and took the group to Arlington National Cemetery. Things went well though John F. Kennedy's grave-site. It was difficult to get the kids quiet for the site, but the "Silence and Respect" signs did some to help my cause.

I thought that most behavioral problems would not surface much by having an almost 1:1 ration of students to adults. That was not the case, as I learned on the way up to Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. One student talked about another's personal issues and I had a near fight on my hands. Aside from that, the kids learned about the tomb and got a chance to show their respect for those who had paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Since Arlington National Cemetery was the only thing we had time for, we went to dinner at Union Station afterward. I pushed the kids to try some of the food they weren't familiar with. The closest I got was for one kid to get Chinese food. But, I did get one student to try one of my sushi rolls. He had mixed feelings about it at first, but later informed me that he threw it up in a nearby garbage can.

On the way back to the hotel, we had another completely impromptu lesson in culture. My students and their parents began speaking to a woman at our shuttle station and found out that she was from Ethiopia. The encounter didn't last very long, like the one in Atlanta the day before, but the kids were excited to have met someone from Africa.

Tomorrow: Museums, Monuments, Veterans, And A Crappy Hotel

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