A new semester!

The first day of the new semester is always a little crazy. Students have new schedules which means some have mistakes to be fixed. It also means students decide they want to change their classes wither because they go to the new class and don't like it or because they realized they need a different class of some sort. I also have a new schedule with 2 new classes, so Monday was pretty crazy for me. After school on Wednesday I had my second webinar using The Core Six book. For this webinar I used an inductive learning strategy around a text about the Civil War. I shared the activity and student work. A colleague of mine also added the work she did at the Middle School level. It was very interesting to get feedback from other teachers about this common core aligned literacy strategy!

(Screen shot from our Webinar)

Later in the week we had our first PLC (or Critical Friends Group) meeting of the new school year! A fellow teacher in my school had been observed and video taped. This teacher shared the video with us and we used a protocol to help the teacher analyze the lesson. It was very interesting for me and I hope it was helpful for the teacher.

In my U.S. history classes we did a Labor Union simulation that I really enjoy. I like it because the kids really get into it and see it almost a competition. Most of them do not have jobs yet and so they really have little idea what its like to work. Those students who do have jobs often share some of their experiences in the workforce and I think most students find the hole thing very eye opening! This is always an interesting unit for me because I disclose to the students that I belong to a Labor Union and this usually leads to a lot of questions. The one they find the most disappointing is that its against the law for teachers in Maine to go on strike.

(19th Century imagery supporting Labor Unions)

I was very excited to start my new classes! Including my online VHS class, I have 3 new classes that started this week. Its almost like the first day of school and I really look forward to it! I started teaching Psychology this semester for the first time in my life. I'm a little surprised how quickly and easily I have taken to it. I have always been interested in Psychology so maybe I shouldn't be surprised, but its always more work to create relevant and meaningful lessons the first time you've taught a subject. Thankfully the other teacher who has recently taught Psychology in my Department shared with me all of the files this teacher had including lesson plans. It was very helpful to get these resources. In Psychology we started off by discussing some of the myths and misconceptions about psychology and the brain. We also watched a great TED talk by Micheal Shermer about pattern recognition by the brain and how it might explain belief in the paranormal, conspiracy theories, and more. We have only just begun, but I have been invigorated and encouraged by the interest from the students. I also started a new Ethics class this semester and I can tell already this will be a great class. I have quickly discovered there are plenty of students interested in debating the issues in this class which is great! Its also clear that there is much diversity in opinion in the class as well. Its another enthusiastic bunch and Im looking forward to working with them. The first thing we did was to analyze whether society was becoming more or less ethical. In the end we compiled the evidence and the class concluded society was becoming less ethical. I took the evidence they compiled and created a wordle. I created one for the evidence of the Ethical Barometer rising, and one for the evidence of the Ethical Barometer falling.

(Wordle for evidence of society becoming more ethical)

(Wordle for evidence of society becoming less ethical)

We then discussed values and the work of Rushworth Kidder. Not only is Kidder the founder of the Institute for Global Ethics, but he is also a researcher. Kidder travelled the globe and worked with people from many different cultures and discovered that they all identified the same 8 values as most important and the keys to ethical living. From this work Kidder concluded that Ethical values are the same for all people. He further concluded that the notion of one society having different ethical values than another (called Ethical Relativism) fails. Students have difficulty with this believing this at times. But they often come around more in their thinking when I lead them through an activity where they get to select the values they think are most important and they end up being the same 8 Kidder discovered around the world time after time. What are those 8 values? Here you go: Honesty, Freedom, Respect, Fairness, Compassion, Loyalty, Responsibility, Equality

We also started the Model UN club this week and have an important meeting next week! Things are going very well right now and I'm really enjoying the classes!!! Aside from Monday, it was actually a fun week.

End of the Semester

The final week of the semester means one thing... culminating assessment! Whether its a test, a presentation, a project, or something else students have to do something to show they mastered the course material for the semester. In my AP class students took an Exam that is similar to the Exam they will take in May but only covers about half the content. In Honors U.S. History, the $35 Dollar Bill project was their culminating assessment. In Ethics, students created keynote presentations on a controversial ethical dilemma in the world today and analyzed ways to resolve it. In History v. Hollywood my students made documentary films about historical films and compared and contrasted how historical subjects were treated by the films.

What makes this week busy, is that in addition to dealing with these assessments, the school is also trying to prepare for next semester. This includes scheduling classes, assigning study halls, shifting class sizes, etc. We used to have half days during this week so we would have the afternoon to grade assessments. Someone decided it wasn't fair for High School teachers to have the time when elementary teachers didn't get the same time (though I don't think elementary teachers give end of the semester assessments?). I personally would like to see us have those half days back. We are told we do not have to give an end of the semester assessment in year long courses, but its hard not to in a semester class (which I mostly teach). This makes for a very stressful week all the way around.

The new semester begins next week! I will be teaching Psychology for the first time and I'm very excited about it. I have a whole new section of Ethics to get going as well. On Wednesday a new section of my online class American Foreign Policy 1945-present will begin. In U.S. History we will be doing a labor simulation and looking at conditions that led to the rise of unions. On Monday next week I will be doing my final webinar of the year. This one will be on inductive learning. I am very excited for my most favorite activity of the year in U.S. History starting the first week in February and that is the Teddy Roosevelt Murder Mystery Simulation! There be much to blog about next week!

Wrapping things up

As my elective courses in Ethics and History v. Hollywood work on Final presentations, we wrapped up the semester in US history with Reconstruction! We spent some time this week analyzing the success of Reconstruction with a Common Core aligned task called the "Reconstruction Web". With this task, students must evaluate resources for credibility. They also have to identify arguments, and explain which ones are the most compelling. Finally they have to comment on whether or not Reconstruction was a success.

(A critiq of the Freedmaen's Bureau established during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War)

This week the Maine Council for the Social Studies board met and started work planning a new idea for professional development. Because the National Council for the Social Studies Conference will be in Boston next Fall so close to us, we are not planning to run a regular Conference in Maine next Fall. Instead we are planning to kickoff a slightly different approach to professional development starting this Spring and again next Spring. After that we hope to keep this going in addition to our regular Fall Conference (which will return in the Fall of 2015). Our plan is to host 2 different regional meetings hosted by historical organizations for about 3 hours for no cost and with free food. The meeting would address suggestions for digging into the C3 Framework for Social Studies and Common Core, and give teachers a chance to network with each other and share ideas. This is planned for March and the details will be released soon.

Since we are not running a regular Conference this Fall we are planning to promote the National Conference in Boston and to even organize a bus or two to take folks to Boston early in the morning and return late at night for a small cost (much cheaper than gas and parking if you drove yourself). The National conference in Boston will be November 21-23, 2014.

With the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday approaching on Monday, our calendar had professional development time Friday afternoon after the students went home. We met within our Departments and Social Studies looked together at the Common Core and C3 Framework to identify Priority Standards as the first step toward a Proficiency Based Diploma for Graduation.

Our Model UN Conference is scheduled for May 16 and 17 at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. This will be our 10th year attending. Its a great experience for our students to role play countries in a meeting of the United Nations. Its also good for them to be exposed to students from an urban area, and to experience some of the sights Boston has to offer. Students are in Committees during the day on the 16th and the 17th, but during the evening of the 16th we take them on a walk to Bunker Hill, "Old Ironsides", and a nice little boat ride over to Quincy Market and Fanueil Hall. Overall its a great experience, and we started the process this week! So far we have 18 students signed up and over the next few weeks we will begin the research of the countries and the topics. All of this is outside of our regular classes, but really enhances our interest in the Social Studies. It's a lot of fun and hard work!

(Quincy Market in Boston)

(My colleague Mike Streeter enjoys the view on the boat ride form Old Ironsides to Quincy Market)

(Students participating in the Model UN Conference at Northeastern University)

Back to Work

Coming back after the Holidays is rough... other than Summer, its the longest break of the year and it always seems like the longer you are on break the harder it is to go back! Break for us was extended a bit this year. Though we had a half day of school on January 2nd, we had school cancelled due to weather on January 3rd and 6th, making Tuesday the 7th the first day back for all intents and purposes.

With only 3 weeks left in the semester, returning to school finds us preparing for semester finals. My online class through Virtual High School ended just before the break. It ends early because the class takes no breaks during the semester. The next semester starts at the end of January. For the VHS class, students did a virtual presentation on the future of US Foreign Policy. In AP U.S. History, students will be taking an Exam that is similar to the AP Exam they will take in May. Much of it is review. In Honors U.S. History, the $35 Dollar Bill Project was their Semester Final, but they will have a regular test on the last day of the semester. For the two elective semester courses, these Semester Finals serve as the class Final. For Ethics, students pick a current important Ethical issue in society and analyze it a Keynote presentation. In History v. Hollywood students are suing iMovie to create a documentary that compares and contrasts two historical films and how they portray a particular historical event or person.

This is a screenshot from a part of one student presentation in my online VHS class.

This is another screenshot from a part of one student presentation in my online VHS class.

Over the next two weeks, students will either be reviewing for a test or working on putting together a project to be presented. To start the week, students submitted posters or pamphlets promoting the famous Abolitionist they portrayed in the Simulation we did last month. Here are a few samples:

This week we spent a good deal of time in U.S. History studying the Civil War as we wrap up new content for the semester. One source for the military buff students is this website that animates Civil War Battles. The students enjoy watching how the Battlefield changes. I couple this with a History Channel video that gets into the rising death toll in the war and the connection to medicine of the era. The best Battlefield animation on the website is the one on Gettysburg. I learned a lot about the Gettysburg Address at the MCSS Conference this Fall thanks to the presentation by Jared Peatman. I used his material to create a lesson for analyzing the Gettysburg Address. This is my first Common Core aligned lesson! A related topic the students find fascinating is the differing views of the War around the country. Most find it unbelievable that Confederate veterans and heroes of the war are still honored in the southern states. Almost every year students ask, "why would they honor traitors?" This is a very difficult topic for my students to understand, but we try! We discuss what the Flag means, and we talk about why Confederate are honored. Its also a great reminder about how the "winners" write history. To help with this discussion we listen to this song "A Good Ole Rebel" and then I ask, "Is this song treasonous?"

In our Department meeting this week we met with our new Curriculum Coordinator and planned our next Department time around identifying Priority Standards for Social Studies and Common Core for History. We also plan to share literacy strategies. Next year's 9th grade students must graduate with a proficiency based diploma, so we have begun the process of modifying our curriculum to address this change.

The last full week of the semester is next week and we will be working on projects and reviewing for tests. I am excited to start the new semester the following week!