A TCAPS teacher goes to Washington D.C., along with the technology to include her students in the historic event.
A Northern Michigan teacher will be among the millions of people expected in Washington D.C. for Barack Obama's inauguration.
"You can't read from a book the energy that's involved, you can't read from a book the enthusiasm, and just well the overall aura that's associated with such a momentous ordeal," said Clair Taglauer, a Language Arts teacher at Traverse City East Middle School.
Taglauer is an advisor for a national student conference. It's taking her out of her eighth grade classroom and into D.C. for the inauguration. But she's not leaving her own students behind.
"I will be communicating with them via webcast," said Taglauer. "The district has been wonderful providing us with a little camcorder, a laptop to take with me. Each day I will put together a 5 to 10 minute video."
She'll post it online, e-mail the link to teachers, and let them show it to the students. She plans to talk about the sites like the monuments and Smithsonian, the conferences keynote speakers, Al Gore and Colin Powell, and the main event, the parade and swearing-in.
"The schedule says dress warm, plan to be outside for 6 to 8 hours," said Taglauer. "In Washington, they are expecting some of the coldest temperatures that they've seen for an inauguration in many years. Being from Northern Michigan, I know how to dress for that."
She's prepared for the weather and the security, but maybe not for the big question she gets from students.
"'Are you going to get Obama's autograph?' As much as I'd like to meet him up close and personal, I'm pretty sure it won't happen," said Taglauer. "But I'll do my best."
