<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In each issue of a quarterly publication called <\/span>The Planetary Report<\/span><\/i>, the Planetary Society includes a trivia question.\u00a0 Some are more challenging than others and everybody that emails in the correct answer has their name tossed into a random drawing for a free tee shirt.\u00a0 Having sent in my entry religiously over the years, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a <\/span>Planetary Radio <\/span><\/i>themed shirt from the society when my name was plucked from the bin some years ago.\u00a0 The question in the <\/span>Winter Solstice 2025 <\/span><\/i>issue was, \u201c<\/span>There were three astronauts who flew to the Moon twice during the Apollo program.\u00a0 One of them never got to land on the Moon.\u00a0 Who was it.?\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you are already wondering what <\/span>Planetary Report <\/span><\/i>trivia questions have to do with the title of this <\/span>FTV, <\/span><\/i>\u00a0let me explain.\u00a0 When I delivered the December 2025 <\/span>Planetary Report <\/span><\/i>\u00a0to the Ontonagon Township Library (it has become my custom to donate them when I am done reading them), former student Abby Ollila was covering the checkout counter.\u00a0 I asked her the same question as above.\u00a0 Her first response was, \u201cApollo 11?\u201d so I clarified that the answer would be the name of a specific astronaut.\u00a0 \u201cHew was on Apollo 13, but I don\u2019t remember his name – Tom Hanks played him in the movie <\/span>Apollo 13.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>\u201cClose enough\u201d\u00a0 I replied, \u201cHanks played Jim Lovell who also orbited the Moon on Apollo 8 over Christmas Eve of 1968.\u00a0 He was from Milwaukee and passed away recently, no doubt why they used this for the trivia question.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When the <\/span>Planetary Society<\/span><\/i> media person acknowledged the receipt of my entry, I told her, \u201cThis was a pretty easy one.\u00a0 I showed <\/span>Apollo 13<\/span><\/i> to my JH classes for twenty years until I retired in 2018.\u201d\u00a0 Both she and Abby had the same reaction, \u201cOh, I love that movie.\u201d\u00a0 As regular readers of these <\/span>FTV <\/span><\/i>ramblings will note, it only takes an encounter like this to flip on my \u2018wayback machine\u2019 brain switch and begin dusting off memories of days gone by.\u00a0 This trip took me back to my junior year \u2018Methods of Teaching Class\u2019 at Northern Michigan University.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of the boxes we had to get checked in our Methods class was demonstrating proficiency operating things like tape recorders, filmstrip projectors, and movie projectors.\u00a0 We were told to make an appointment with the Audio-Visual Department in the library across the academic mall from the Science building.\u00a0 The girl who watched me set up and operate all of these machines was a student employee who may or may not have actually understood how to do what she was watching me do.\u00a0 When I set up a movie reel, she wondered out loud if a film could be run backwards, so I showed her it took just a simple flick of the switch.\u00a0 Threading a reel of film through a projector wasn\u2019t too hard, but if one was, shall we say, mechanically challenged, it could be an anxiety inducing procedure.\u00a0 One of my Methods classmates admitted they had to go back and do the whole test again because the projector and reel to reel tape recorder gave them trouble.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My student teaching mentor, Wayne, encouraged me to use film strips, overheads, slides, and movies during my time at Bothwell Middle School.\u00a0 The cluster of eighth grade teachers I was assigned to (Math, English, Science, and Social Studies) would plan the four hour block of class time we had together each day.\u00a0 If one of us had a movie to show, the whole cluster of a hundred and twenty students would push the movable barriers in our large open cluster aside and watch it all together.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t have to show the same movie four times and what class time we had left was evenly divided into four shortened periods.\u00a0 I was put into a Social Studies class instead of a Science class (which was my original assignment).\u00a0 This is probably why I have totally forgotten the one movie I was tasked with showing during my semester there.\u00a0 Suffice to say the projector didn\u2019t give me any problems..<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My first teaching job in Ontonagon had me teaching five sections of seventh grade Geography \/ Earth Science and one study hall.\u00a0 When I found out there was an archive of movies available through the Intermediate School District office in Hancock, I got into the habit of finding at least one movie to show per month.\u00a0 The listing for newer movies wasn’t large, but I managed to find some interesting topics.\u00a0 A semi-comedic look at the glaciation of the Great Lakes set to Canadian folk music arranged for accordion called <\/span>The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes<\/span><\/i> was a memorable one.\u00a0 In fact, it turned out to be such a hit, it is the one film I showed to my classes every year.\u00a0 I showed it for so many years, I started with a film version, moved on to VHS video tape, DVD and finally, a version hosted on the internet.\u00a0 I even managed to base one of the presentations I did for the Ontonagon County Historical Society on <\/span>The Rise and Fall <\/span><\/i>video.\u00a0 If you have never seen it, do a quick search and watch it – I guarantee it won\u2019t be a wasted twenty minutes of your time.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When the Junior High students moved over to the High School building in the fall of 1983, the first thing I did was check out the film projectors on hand.\u00a0 I do not think that I over did it when it came to using movies in class, but I took some ribbing from some of my older colleagues.\u00a0 When French teacher Dave Morin would see me toting a film canister, he would say, \u201cHey, Cecil B. DeMillimaki, what are you showing this week?\u201d\u00a0 My own kids were born in 1981 and 1984, so I can date the next big advancement in classroom technology to around 1986.\u00a0 I found out the AV department now had their first VHS recorder and player on their shelves.\u00a0 There were so many excellent educational programs beginning to show up on WNMU TV 13 (NMU\u2019s educational TV channel), I asked if I could take it home to record some shows to use in class.\u00a0 The district didn\u2019t have cable access to the classrooms yet, otherwise I could have recorded the programs I wanted at school.\u00a0 A couple of stores in town had just started stocking a few VHS tapes so if I happened to have the machine at home to record something, I would pick up a newer movie or record a program for our kids to watch at home.\u00a0 When they were still very young, one of the shows they used to like (<\/span>Today\u2019s Special<\/span><\/i>) featured a manikin who would come to life and interact with his human friend.\u00a0 Having several episodes of these programs on tape was a fun change of pace for the kids in those pre-computer \/ internet days.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The programs I used the most in class were PBS creations like <\/span>NOVA.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>If there was a hot topic going on in the world of Science, <\/span>NOVA <\/span><\/i>was always on the cutting edge helping to explain the newest thing.\u00a0 The second most used video in my archives was all about the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.\u00a0 The written descriptions of the absolute devastation caused by the blast that removed a good chunk of the mountain\u2019s peak just do not do the event justice.\u00a0 The before and after shots of the Spirit Lake recreational area were telling.\u00a0 The crusty old owner of the Spirit Lake Lodge, Harry Truman, would only appear on film before the big bang.\u00a0 I would always stop the video on the screen showing the surface of Spirit Lake covered by floating logs and debris after St. Helen\u2019s blew its top.\u00a0 \u201cSomewhere under all of that lies Harry Truman and the lodge he refused to evacuate because the government wasn\u2019t going to tell him what to do\u201d I would tell them.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When Homer Hickam\u2019s book <\/span>Rocket Boys<\/span><\/i> (1998) was turned into the movie <\/span>October Sky <\/span><\/i>(1999) starring Jake Gyllenhaal, I had a dilemma:\u00a0 <\/span>Apollo 13<\/span><\/i> had become my \u2018go to\u2019 video to share as part of my eighth grade astronomy unit.\u00a0 It was a perfect filler just before the first semester ended.\u00a0 <\/span>October Sky<\/span><\/i> was just too good to pass up, so it became my traditional \u2018three days until Christmas break\u2019 video.\u00a0 Laura Dern (in her pre-<\/span>Jurrasic Park<\/span><\/i> days) and Chris Cooper were fabulous in this true life story. Young Homer grew up and became fascinated by rockets when <\/span>Sputnik <\/span><\/i>became the first artificial Earth satellite in 1958.\u00a0 He eventually penned three books about his years growing up in Coalwood, West Virginia and ended up working for NASA.\u00a0 Later versions of <\/span>Rocket Boys<\/span><\/i> were retitled <\/span>October Sky<\/span><\/i> to better identify with the very popular movie.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There was one thing I had to explain to my students before I showed them either of these films.\u00a0 True life stories that take years to evolve are hard to cram into an hour and a half or two hour movie.\u00a0 Certain \u2018liberties\u2019 must be taken to make sure the story is told within that time frame without altering the true events that happened.\u00a0 For example, in <\/span>Apollo 13, <\/span><\/i>the scene where Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) tells his wife, \u201cAlan Shepard\u2019s ear problem has flared up and my crew has been moved up in the rotation to take the Apollo 13 flight.\u201d\u00a0 In reality, Shepard had just had his inner ear problem corrected surgically but it was NASA who wanted him to have more time to train properly for his flight, thus the switch in crews between Apollo 13 and 14.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Along with the adjustments in certain facts and events to make the movie flow in a sensible manner, I would mention the reaction the movie had on the people who were actually there during the mission.\u00a0 When <\/span>Apollo 13 <\/span><\/i>was screened for the very NASA people depicted in the movie, they were asked for their comments about anything that they saw in the movie that might not be quite right.\u00a0 The movie\u2019s producers held their breath, figuring if they didn\u2019t get it right, the NASA folks would savage them for every little mistake.\u00a0 Instead, they got observations like, \u201cThe license plate on Jim Lovell\u2019s Corvette was not used until the late 1970s\u201d and \u201cThe logo on the back of the launch tower closeout crew is incorrect – that wasn\u2019t used until later.\u201d\u00a0 When the producers finally pressed the NASA folks to tell them what they thought about the movie itself, they were delightfully surprised:\u00a0 \u201cOh the movie is great – as close to showing the real thing as you could get.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0During the four decades I worked to coordinate the annual Junior High Student Council Halloween Carnival, I had to find a way to keep my classes busy on the day we had to set up the cafetorium for Halloween night.\u00a0 It became clear that the two hours between the close of school until the doors opened for the carnival were not sufficient.\u00a0 I requested a sub for my afternoon classes so the JHSC could have some extra time to get things set up.\u00a0 The question became, \u201cExactly what kind of lesson plan can I leave for a substitute teacher on Halloween?\u201d\u00a0 The answer arrived in the form of <\/span>The Simpson\u2019s Halloween<\/span><\/i> episodes.\u00a0 I was not a big fan of Bart Simpson when he first came on the scene, but the sophisticated humor employed to tell some of the classic spooky tales they parodied drew me in.\u00a0 Thus another annual tradition began – I would record the <\/span>Simpson\u2019s Halloween Special <\/span><\/i>each year and then show that to my classes.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As the use of outside video became more widespread, we had several discussions over the years about what was appropriate to show to students in a school setting.\u00a0 It was at one of these meetings that a colleague pointed out they had heard objections about me using <\/span>The Simpsons<\/span><\/i> videos in class.\u00a0 When pressed to provide a specific name or names to the objections, they finally admitted they were the ones who didn\u2019t think it was appropriate.\u00a0 I pointed out that these episodes were only shown to my eighth grade students who were a) old enough to understand the humor, and b) already watching the show at home.\u00a0 As long as there were never any official complaints registered, the practice carried on until I retired.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Seventh grade students are in that buffer zone between being \u2018elementary kids\u2019 and \u2018junior high kids transitioning to high school\u2019.\u00a0 On Halloween, they would be shown <\/span>It\u2019s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!<\/span><\/i> and nobody ever took issue with that TV special.\u00a0 Over the last decade of my career, I added sixth grade Science to my duties.\u00a0 I searched for a suitable holiday film for them and ended up digging up a golden oldie from my youth.\u00a0 It was called <\/span>Donald Duck in Mathamagic Land<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 Seeing it again brought me right back to my elementary days when I first\u00a0 got interested in Science.\u00a0 Okay, it was put out in 1958 and was a little dated.\u00a0 When they explained how math influences \u2018modern music\u2019, the animated clip that went along with it featured what can only be described as \u2018big band jazz\u2019.\u00a0 Did the kids note the incongruity of calling an orchestra featuring blaring horns \u2018modern music\u2019?\u00a0 Like me back in the day, they were probably too busy trying to decipher Donald\u2019s dialog as delivered in his nasal burr.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As the internet began to infiltrate education, my viewing habits began to evolve.\u00a0 A former student teacher of mine sent me a whole set of <\/span>Bill Nye the Science Guy<\/span><\/i> episodes he had taped from Public Television.\u00a0 I knew more about <\/span>Mr. Wizard<\/span><\/i> than Bill Nye, but I had never really thought about using the <\/span>Bill Nye the Science Guy<\/span><\/i> show with my classes.\u00a0 As I picked through the titles, I found episodes that addressed very specific topics we covered in class so I cherry picked the ones that went along with stuff we were already studying.\u00a0 When a class full of JH students chants \u2018Bill, Bill, Bill\u2019 along with the opening credit music, one can not help but notice they are engaged in the subject matter.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With a projector attached to my main computer station, I was able to show clips about a lot of very timely topics.\u00a0 These not only went along with our space units, they also served as current events lessons.\u00a0 Dr. Bruce Betts from the Planetary Society was a great source of humorous snippets about astronomy topics.\u00a0 It took a while for his evil alter ego \u2018Ecurb\u2019 to make sense – kind of like those <\/span>Star Trek Mirror Universe<\/span><\/i> screenplays that have the main characters play evil versions of themselves – but he did make the kids think.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The internet was also a great way to share up to the minute news and coverage of the space program.\u00a0 When I was in elementary school, we would all crowd into our little gymnasium and watch the early manned NASA liftoffs on a black and white TV set up on the stage.\u00a0 The new millennium version of this is done in living color, often with live camera feeds being sent from the rockets themselves.\u00a0 If time didn\u2019t allow all my classes to see the event live, there were always multiple platforms that would post the launches for later viewing.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In my early days, the topic of debate was \u2018will TV ruin the minds of our youth?\u2019\u00a0 It seems they are saying the same thing about the internet and social media.\u00a0 Watching NASA launches on TV got me interested in Science and began to form my life\u2019s work before I even knew teaching Science would become my vocation.\u00a0 Showing films, videos, and snippets from the internet were always tools I found very useful in my career.\u00a0 Perhaps 3-D technology will be the next platform that will allow students to view their lessons in the middle of their classrooms and not just on projection screens or monitors.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t that be something?<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video – Perhaps the best song written about ‘Movieland’ courtesy of Ray Davies and The Kinks – from\u00a0One form the Road<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In each issue of a quarterly publication called The Planetary Report, the Planetary Society includes a trivia question.\u00a0 Some are more challenging than others and everybody that emails in the correct answer has their name tossed into a random drawing for a free tee shirt.\u00a0 Having sent in my entry religiously over the years, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,12,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-humor","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3733"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3736,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3733\/revisions\/3736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}