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!