Funding for the EBR program is provided
by Schnabel Engineering and CCWF
ENGINEERING
BETTER READERS
KICK-OFF ASSEMBLY
Briceville School in Coal Creek, Tennessee
26 September 2018
A PROVEN SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM THAT BASICALLY BRIBES STUDENTS TO READ!
Students read books and pass a
comprehension test with
their teacher to earn points to "purchase" prizes.
Their reading and other studies improve!!
Funding
for the prizes was provided by
Schnabel Engineering and CCWF
VIEW OVER
200 PICTURES
at
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmt7b8RV
One of the WVLT-TV
segments can be seen and heard here:
https://www.wvlt.tv/content/news/Incentives-boost-reading-interest-for-students-494421651.html
Briceville Elementary School students are future leaders of the county, state, and Nation. Inspiring them to become avid readers is how we prepare them for those future roles.
Briceville students learned about the Engineering Better Readers program at a kick-off assembly where General Henry Knox teleported from the past to give students a lesson on American history. Knoxville and Knox County are named in his honor.
READ THE EXCERPTS FROM GENERAL KNOX’S LESSON FROM THE KICK-OFF AS SHOWN BELOW
First-grade teacher Melissa Fleming explained how the program works—students read books and pass comprehension tests, for which they are awarded points. Students save their points to purchase prizes, which include Xbox, Play Station 4, tablets, Nintendo DS, iPods, Legos Minecraft, scooters, bikes, and balls. After a grand countdown, 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, the curtain opened to display the prizes students can earn, which caused the students to erupt in applause.
GENERAL HENRY KNOX’S LESSON AT EBR ASSEMBLY
My name is Henry Knox and I was born in 1750. As a young man, I owned a bookstore in Boston and developed a hobby of reading about military tactics. From Sharpe’s Military Guide and Julius Caesar’s Commentaries, I learned how to design fortifications, situate entrenchments, and discern topographical advantage, becoming a competent engineer and military tactician
John Adams was a frequent visitor to my bookstore. He was impressed with my knowledge of military tactics and recommended me for a position in General Washington’s Continental Army during the American Revolution.
How did I first demonstrate my worth to General Washington? It was during the Siege of Boston when I was fortifying Dorchester Heights that I suggested to General Washington that we needed cannon to first contain and then expel the British. I recommended that he send a contingent of soldiers 200 miles to upstate New York to bring back cannon that had been captured from Fort Ticonderoga. He thought that was a great idea and put me in charge of the effort. It turned out to be so successful that the British fled Boston and sailed to New York City.
We couldn’t defend New York City and New Jersey because the area was surrounded by water where the British Navy could attack from multiple locations on our flanks. The British forced us to escape across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania.
That was one of our darkest hours. Many thought we were beat. Enlistment terms ended at the end of 1776, so the British decided to let us die on the vine that winter. That’s when General Washington went on the offensive by re-crossing the Delaware River to attack British troops in Trenton, New Jersey. I was in charge of logistics to get the troops across the river without being discovered by the British army. I got the attack force of men, horses and artillery across the river without loss. Following the battle, I was able to get that same force, along with hundreds of prisoners and captured supplies, back across the river by the afternoon of December 26.
For that accomplishment, I was promoted to Brigadier General and given command of an artillery corps expanded to five regiments.
Barry Thacker, PE, in character of General Henry Knox
From 1777 to 1780, we fought the British to a stalemate, but during most of that time, I was recruiting officers for training in artillery, engineering, and tactics at a facility as a precursor to the Military Academy at West Point.
In 1780, the British came up with a plan to end the American Revolution by invading the south. Their plan was to organize Loyalists—Americans who were loyal to the British Crown—to come north and surround General Washington’s Continental Army. It looked like a brilliant plan when the British under General Cornwallis captured Charleston, SC in May 1780.
Cornwallis got a big boost in August 1780 when the southern branch of the Continental Army was defeated at Camden, South Carolina. Lord Cornwallis then organized his army into three prongs where the main army was supported by two roving detachments. One was led by Major Patrick Ferguson and the other by Lt. Col. Banister Tarleton.
Kings Mountain was a lot like the crossing of the Delaware during the Battle of Trenton. It was do or die for the Continental Army and we succeeded when state militias under Colonels Sevier and Shelby defeated Ferguson at Kings Mountain. Continental soldiers under General Daniel Morgan then gained the upper hand by defeating Tarleton’s forces at the Battle of Cowpens, forcing Cornwallis to retreat to Yorktown, Virginia. I was there at Yorktown with my artillery, when we forced General Cornwallis to surrender.
On paper, we should have lost the American Revolution to the British who had the best army in the world. One reason we won is because we selected officers to lead based on character, merit, and ability, whereas the British sold officer commissions. Thus, the British were led by officers who gained rank due to their wealth. We made officers of soldiers based on their character, merit, and ability, then gave them adequate training to do their jobs. Character, merit, and ability beat wealth every time.
TURN UP YOUR VOLUME! IT WAS LOUD!!
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