Kevan Truman has taught third grade at Central school in D39 for 23 years. Mr Truman is known for his love of poetry and social studies. For years Mr. Truman posted a weekly blog called Truman’s Travels. Through this blog he introduced students to places around the world and encouraged them to research and understand the culture, people, food and history. When Mr. Truman announced his retirement, Caden (who had Mr. Truman in 2016), Owen (who was currently in his class), and Tyson (who has heard all about Mr. Truman) wanted to do something for him. They quickly came to the conclusion that they should incorporate their art and stories into a book all about what Mr. Truman loved most - traveling the world.
After dinner for almost two months, the boys worked on Trumantastic Travels. They did research, drew pictures, wrote content. It was very much a collaborative process! Mr. Truman is a very private man so we opted to leave the book for him on his desk and let him open it on his own. He sent the boys a lovely note saying that he was “speechless” and that he was honored to be the main character in such a terrifically creative book.
Mr. Truman now has the book, as well as some of the original art work (he predicts Owen might be a famous artist some day). The book is also in local libraries so Mr. Truman’s legacy and tradition of inspiring learning in social studies can live on!