I still enjoyed teaching, even after 39 years, because I looked forward to telling anecdotes. But I also enjoyed telling jokes. I started each class with one of my story jokes. And occasionally I was able to squeeze one into a lesson. The joke below was told as part of the WWI lesson. I would draw a diagram of trench warfare, including the weapons, one of which was a biplane. I would tell them that the best German planes were manufactured by Anthony Fokker, who also invented synchronized machine guns that would fire through the propeller without hitting the blades. Today is the anniversary of Fokker’s birthday on April 6, 1890. “That reminds me of a story…”
A few years after the war, an American History teacher brought in a guest speaker for his WWI unit. The guest was a Swedish immigrant who had flown planes with the Lafayette Escadrille (a fighter unit that was cosmopolitan in its makeup). Bjorn Svenson told the kids his role in WWI and when he was done, he asked the children if they had any questions. One boy raised his hand and asked: “What was your scariest moment in the war?” Bjorn responded: “The scariest moment was when I was attacked from behind by two fokkers. I dived but the two fokkers were still on my tail. I turned right and the two fokkers were still with me, I turned left and those two fokkers followed. Finally, I flew into a cloud and lost those two fokkers.” Throughout this response, the kids were giggling whenever he said fokker. At this point the teacher interrupted. “Students, I think you should know that in WWI there were planes named after Anthony Fokker, a plane maker.” Bjorn: “Yah, that was true. But in this case the two fokkers were flying Albatrosses.”
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