Not Your Average Show-and-Tell

A few years ago, I taught my class of gifted middle-school students how to research their family trees. For two weeks, they learned to figure Soundex codes, read and interpret census records, determine relationships and fill in charts. For the final day of class, I asked students to bring in five items that were significant to their families. For my part, I brought my father's baby shoe, a book of poems my mother had collected, my grandfather's World War I draft card, the wallet my great-grandfather carried in the Civil War and a page from the family Bible.