 |
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Passing It On:
The School -- Main Road School's Educational Program
The population at Main Road School in Franklin Township, where Licciardello's residency took place, is a mix of children from multiple-generation agricultural families and more recently arrived urban and suburban families.
Glenn Christmann created his math curriculum for sixth graders with this in mind. He decided to present a study of auctions within a frame of regional socioeconomics.
He was able to integrate math, social studies, language arts, and health by developing lessons on various aspects of the production-consumption chain and on the skills and structures of auctioneering. Students learned how produce is grown, how it is marketed, and how its consumption is both an economic and nutritional issue for families, as well as how to conduct an auction and calculate commissions.
Christmann's preparation for the residency introduced him to the world of agriculture and the auction. He began by attending the Vineland Produce Auction and Andrea's Auction to learn about their structure. He interviewed Henry Licciardello, and "things started to fall into place, especially after talking to Henry. He had a personality about him that people will take a liking to."
Together, the two worked out the steps that would prepare the students for the culminating event of the residency, a mock auction in the classroom. Christmann believes that when students "have a good idea of what's coming, they're a lot more receptive to it," so he envisioned his role as "paving the way" for Licciardello to "come in and do what he's best at--auctioneering." Licciardello, in turn, helped Christmann pave the way. Before the residency began, he taught Christmann the auctioneer's chants, and Christmann took the skill back to his students. He also recorded the auction and told the class, "This is what you're going to be doing by the time we're done."
Although Licciardello had taught his son and a friend how to auctioneer, he was unsure of how children in a formal schoolroom would react. "I thought it would be real interesting, but I didn't know what the response of the youngsters would be.... But I come to find out that they were really interested. And when they were really interested, it was really easy."
The program began with an introduction to auctions in which the class developed a list of nine types of auctions: farm, real estate, antique, consignment, household liquidation, estate liquidation, benefit, catalogue, and truck and trailer. They then prepared for Licciardello's first visit by reviewing listening skills (identifying main ideas and supporting details) and preparing questions for interviewing.
During his first visit, Licciardello talked about his own preparation for auctioneering and reviewed the skills and methods he had learned. He introduced the class to the jargon of the occupation and began working with them on some of the math and language skills involved in it, such as bookkeeping procedures, calculation of commissions, breathing techniques, and enunciation.
 |
Christmann followed up on those topics by playing a recording of an auction and having his students identify bid scales (the increments used by an auctioneer) and filler words (any words other than numbers used during bid calling).
When Licciardello returned, he led the class through an activity designed to help the students build a skill that is important to both an auctioneer and a good speaker: keen observation of and response to one's audience while speaking. The students formed a large circle and practiced bid scales, each at his or her own pace, while looking at classmates. Then each student took a turn in the middle of the circle, reciting these scales as he or she proceeded around the inside of the circle and made eye contact with each classmate. Finally, they formed small groups to practice these skills.
Another activity that sharpened enunciation was individual and group recitation of tongue twisters. Christmann prepared a handout of "tongue twisters" that Licciardello provided. To the delight and confusion of the students, it included such lines as:
Theophus Thistle the famous thistle sifter while sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb.
Betty Bottor bought some butter but she said this butter's bitter. If I put this bitter butter in my batter it will make my batter bitter. So she bought a bit of better butter, put it in her bitter batter, made her bitter batter better. So it's better Betty Bottor bought a bit of better butter.
With these activities, it became apparent that many of the elements of performance that are so important to a good auctioneer are also important to a good teacher. Negotiating, motivating, and maintaining interest, attention, and order all help teachers teach as much as they help auctioneers sell. Recalls Christmann: "He [Licciardellol was able to get the kids to do things that they ordinarily wouldn't do.... [If] the kids would get silly, he'd settle them down. Or he might tackle them in pairs instead of as a group. 'Now this is how you do it' or 'Try this.' He worked a lot with one on one."
Christmann then tied the auction into the agricultural production-consumption chain that is so much a part of regional culture. The students followed an agricultural crop through the many steps in its production: testing and preparation of the soil, plowing, planting and fertilizing, spraying, cultivating, irrigating, harvesting, packaging, and selling or storing. They then followed it through the Vineland Produce Auction, examining the set-up, procedures, and role of the auction in getting the produce onto the tables of consumers.
The next few activities gave the sixth graders some practice in personal finance. To make the connection between the market and the consumer, Christmann helped his students plan a well-balanced set of meals for a family of four. They reviewed the basic food groups and calculated serving portions for adults and children. Then they "shopped" for the ingredients, using newspaper ads and supermarket circulars to get the most economical shopping plan. Finally, they computed the costs of the meal plan. Each student was then assigned the task of creating his or her own plan in a similar way. To evaluate success, the class later reviewed all the plans and decided which student would get the most for his or her money.
Preparation for the class auction required creating the "merchandise" to be auctioned, preparing a clerking system, designating personnel, and establishing ground rules. Each student found magazine pictures of items he or she wished to sell, mounted them separately on construction paper, and recorded his or her name, item description, and list price on the back. They reviewed consignment procedures used at Andrea's Auction and developed a clerking system to use for the class auction. During the next two days, under Licciardello's guidance, student auctioneers chanted scales, "ring men" (helpers) identified bidders on the floor, and a student clerk recorded the transactions.
Some of the lessons learned were unplanned but advantageous for both students and teacher. Christmann recalls the final auction session:
[During the first day of the auction], the prices were outrageous, so the next one, we put a dollar limit on. I gave them each one hundred dollars in Monopoly money, and at the end of the auction, some of the kids still had money left. They each had bought something, but some of the kids had money left. Some had thirty, some forty, some ten. And at the end of the auction, we had some items left to be sold, and the kids were pooling their money-giving the money to others, so they could purchase this particular item that somebody else was bidding on. And I said, "Oh, they shouldn't have been doing that! That shouldn't happen!" And Henry said, "Oh, yes! That happens a lot in auctions." He said, "You get family groups or friends ... and they'll just pool their money together and purchase something for one or the other. Maybe they'll pay back later."
I tried to stop it during the auction, and he said, "No, no! Let them go!" And he told me why later.
Licciardello knew that they were learning a lesson that life usually teaches.
HOME | ABOUT FOLKLIFE | ORGANIZATIONS | EVENTS | RESOURCES | PROJECTS
