Mary on Mary

Mary just completed her report on Mary Harris "Mother" Jones. Mother Jones was initially chosen because Mary found her name while skimming through the index of her social studies book for an idea. She liked the fact that Mother Jones referred to herself as a hell raiser. Mary's teacher confided that this was the first time any student has chosen Mother Jones as a famous American topic.

Along with the written and oral report, Mary had to depict her famous American using a paper doll. I was reading through her note cards and noticed that she mentioned that her doll is how she imagined Mother Jones looked in her 40's when she began wearing velvet and lace. I asked whether the doll really looked like any woman in her 40's. Mary replied, "Sure, why not?" I then asked her whether the doll looked older or younger than her teacher and suggested that her oral grade would be much improved if she aged the doll by another 20 years.