Here comes Vacation finally!

For the first time since early October the temperatures touched the 70 degree mark here in central Maine. It didn't last long, in fact we had some snow and ice and a 2 hour delay in the same week! But with the Red Sox in full swing, and the birds singing, the signs of spring are finally here. All of this just in time for a week vacation (and a trip to Orlando, FL for my family and I).

Before vacation could start, we had some work to do. In U.S. history classes we have been studying World War Two from many different angles. In an attempt to wrap up this unit we finished by looking at the use of the Atomic Bomb and its effects. A big theme for this unit is total war and destruction, the likes of which the world has never seen before. Students are given an assignment to contemplate one aspect of the war they find to be particularly emotional because of the destructive impact (Pearl Harbor bombing, D-day invasion, Holocaust, Japanese-American Internment, occupation of France, bombing of Dresden, Atomic Bomb at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, etc. ). Then they have to create a Haiku and an accompanying illustration designed to convey the emotion of whatever they chose. Students are exposed to sample Haiku written by the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and we watch the film Barefoot Gen. I did not invent this activity, but modified it from an activity on the Zinn Education Project site. Barefoot Gen is a cartoon that is free on YouTube and at first glance looks like a kids cartoon from the 80's. It is not for young children however, as it gets quite graphic and deeply emotional. The kids get absorbed by this film and really are fascinated by it. It helps stir the emotions in them for this assignment. Here is some student samples:

In Psychology, my students are working on doing presentations to the class about a famous psychological experiment and its significance. To help with this we watched the film "Awakenings" this week. This film is based on the book by Dr. Oliver Sachs and details his attempt to treat victims of an Encephalitis epidemic that struck in the 1920's and the cause of it is still largely uncertain. In the film, the Dr. has a different name and some changes were made, but it does a great job showing the process Dr. Sachs went through and how his new ways of thinking helped to change the study of Psychology. Its heartbreaking to see how he "saved" these patients with the L-Dopa drug, only to see it became a temporary cure and watch them slip back into their catatonic states. I highly recommend it!

(Dr. Oliver Sachs)

In Ethics we have been talking about the Ethics of the Death Penalty. For this we looked at statistics globally and nationally around the Death Penalty. Students were fascinated about how many are executed in Texas each year, and how the rest of the country combined has so few. We also analyzed the various arguments for and against and viewed an excellent documentary that got at some of the issues with the Death Penalty. Students then debated the ethics of it (they could not choose their side!). It was a nice way to wrap up the week.

On Monday the Book Study around the Core Six Book for Literacy strategies wrapped up, and as usual when I meet with my colleagues I gained a bunch of new insights. This time around, for example, I thought about how vocabulary for content specific things (terms like "The Declaration of Independence") is different from just vocabulary (like "Independence") and got me thinking about if and how we should treat the mastery of these words differently. There are other insights I gained as well!

Wednesday night was another meeting of the Board of the Maine Council for the Social Studies. We debriefed the "Food for Thought" program that was held in March at the Margaret Chase Smith Library and discussed last minute preparation for a similar even tot beheld the next night in Portland at the Maine historical Society. We also talked about possible ways to continue to support social studies education in Maine and the upcoming National Council for the Social Studies Conference in November to be held in Boston. I really enjoy spending time talking about Social Studies Education with colleagues and these monthly meetings I find very energizing in this way.

And so the week finally ended and everyone was off for vacation. It will be almost 2 weeks before I see my students again as after vacation I will be in Princeton, NJ for a few days consulting with Educational Testing Services on the HiSET exam. I will blog about this experience as well as the Civil Rights project we will be starting right after vacation with support from the Newseum. Then my focus will be prep for the Model UN Conference in Boston May 16 and 17! I'll be back in two weeks! Florida here we come!

Back to Normal

As I posted last week, I was accepted into 2 different NEH Landmarks of American History programs. One of them is based in and around Saratoga, New York and focused on Fort Ticonderoga and the Revolutionary era. The other is based in Sacramento, California and focused on the Gold Rush in the 1850's. Unfortunately you are only allowed to attend one per summer. After some consideration of the pros and cons, I decided to accept the Gold Rush opportunity. My colleague, Mike Streeter, was accepted into the same program, and so the 2 of us will room together and start planning travel to get there the last week of June. For these programs, you do have to pay your own travel and hotel upfront, but in the end you receive a stipend that pays for all those costs and usually more. During our week in Sacramento we will be traveling to places like Sutter's Fort, Indian Grinding Rock, and Chaw’se Museum among other places. We will be exploring Old Sacramento, and with some down time we plan to go see a Sacramento River Cats game. The best part about it, is that we will leave the week with a common core aligned lesson plan or unit to use in our classrooms next year! It should be a lot of fun and I will of course blog about it.

World War Two was such an interesting time in History. Almost the whole world was embroiled in total war, and it seemed as if the very nature of freedom and the type of world that would exist was in the balance. This makes it one of my favorite topics to teach. Along with the stories from my grandparents who lived through this time period, it seems I can never get enough!

We spent some time this week analyzing the causes of the war in Europe and in Asia, and how the U.S. eventually got involved. We also analyzed some letters home form soldiers in the war. We used a clip from Ken Burns series The War, and read the actual letters of Babe Ciarlo.

I showed some images from my 2006 trip to Germany specifically connected to the legacy of the Holocaust in Germany today. This includes our powerful tour of the Concentration Camp at Dachau. Most have studied the Holocaust at some level, but its such an important issue that I think it can never be taught too much.

(All over the Jewish Quarter of Berlin are these gold cobblestones in front of the homes where Jewish people lived. Each cobblestone is one person never heard from again. On the stone it says when they were born and deported along with their name and where they were sent. The one above is a 12 year old girl sent to Auschwitz and never seen again. Very powerful for students!)

(one part of the Concentration Camp at Dachau, I am on the right in black pants)

(Larger than life photo of the liberation of the Camp in 1944, with the dead bodies from the Nazi attempt to kill the people in the camp before liberation)

(Guard tower at the camp)

(Entrance to the Concentration Camp at Dachau)

We wrapped up the week by analyzing propaganda in the form of popular cartoons from the era. These cartoons would never be shown on TV today as they are filled with racial and ethnic stereotypes. However, through the lens of an educational setting, these cartoons become powerful teaching tools for the analysis of stereotypes and propaganda. The Government's need to dehumanize the enemy to empower Americans to bring themselves to kill in the name of war plays a central role in these cartoons. It's always a great discussion, and one we can connect to the world today. We used a basic analysis sheet for this, and watched these cartoons: Private SNAFU- Spies, The Ducktators, Tokio Jokio, and Der Fuehrer's Face. It's important to remember with these cartoons, they are filled with racial and ethnic stereotypes and students need to be prepped for this and have a chance to discuss it after. It fits in with our theme as we have been looking at stereotypes and pop culture depictions throughout history.

In Psychology we looked at personality and perception this week. We did an experiment to illustrate the concept of Absolute Threshold. In Ethics we finished our interrupted discussion of evil, and moved into an analysis of the ethics of gender equality.

Next week is our last week before vacation. We will be wrapping up World War Two and starting to look at Civil Rights. We will also be watching the film "Awakenings" in Psychology class and students will be working on their projects for May 1st. In Ethics we will be debating the Ethics of the Death Penalty. Should be a fun week!

Scary week

Well this blog is devoted to what is happening each week during my school year and really mostly meant as sort of a diary for myself about school. This week though my health clouded everything else!

Saturday I committed to attend a two day session around the norming of the new HiSET exam that Maine has selected to replace the GED exam. Educational Testing Services is flying me to Philadelphia April 27-29 to work on this all expenses included. It should be very interesting!

Saturday morning I participated in a great Social Studies teacher networking group at the Margaret Chase Smith Library and Museum in Skowhegan. About 12 of us had a great talk about the direction of Social Studies, the future of professional development for Social Studies and the Library as a resource for classroom teachers. It was really a great morning and Dr. David Richards the director of the Library was a gracious host for this event. He encouraged teachers from around the State to bring their students to the library on a field trip. It would have been nice to have more teachers, but the first "Food for Thought" sponsored by the Maine Council for the Social studies was a success!

After an ER visit on Sunday that turned out to be diverticulitis, I went to school on Monday and we discussed the Stanford Prison Experiment in Psychology that I referenced last week and, and the Great Depression in U.S. History. That afternoon we had out first Model UN simulation and started to solidify our preparation for the Conference May 16 and 17 at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. We have students participating in all committees. Most of our students will be representing China, but a few will also be representing Belgium and Zambia.

These are the committees and topics they will be working on:

I was still suffering form stomach pain and exhaustion, so I decided to stay home on Tuesday and rest on Tuesday. Wednesday morning I got up and didn't feel right all day long. It was an early release day at school, so the students went home at 11:30. In the afternoon we had time to work as a Department on teaching assignments for next year and curriculum. About 1 pm I became intensely nauseous and almost passed out. A strange wave came over me that I hope to never experience again. One of my fellow teachers called 911. After vomiting, the spell seemed to pass, but I was taken by ambulance to the Hospital where I had one more of these spells. After running countless tests and meeting with several doctors they kept me overnight for observation. This is mostly because I have a family history of heart disease and they wanted to rule out any of that. Here is where I must add, the new Maine General Hospital in Augusta is amazing! The rooms are like being in a hotel, and the Staff there was amazing! So after a day without any of the antibiotics I was taking for the diverticulitis and with me feeling great and all testing negative, the Doctor determined thought its not typical, that I had sort of an allergic reaction to the antibiotics. I researched both and found that they do indeed show intense nausea, and anxiety in about 9% of the people who take them. At this point the Doctor prescribed a different antibiotic (one I've taken before) and sent me home. She also told me to stay home on Friday and rest. So I was happy to come hom eto my family and I know they were happy to have me home. But as result, not much happened in my classes this week! I am feelin gmuch better as I type and think next week will be back to business!

The good news... I was able to get the Model UN simulation in this week! The Red Sox opened, and there are now only 2 weeks until Florida! Also great news... I got accepted into 2 different NEH Landmarks of American History programs. Next week I can announce which one I picked! Also next week we are into World War Two.