The end of May

The last week of May is almost always a 4 day week characterized by students who are a little less focused and classrooms that are sweltering. Most of this is true this year! The sweltering part being the only thing different. Luckily we have had a cool and rainy spring which does make what we are doing in the classroom much easier. I understand air conditioning in schools in Maine may not be worth the expense, but June is always uncomfortable with the heat. A good deal of days in May and September can be difficult as well. So far this year, though, I can't complain.

Students in all classes are working on their Final projects at this point and will continue this work until their Final period when they will present. In U.S. history classes students have learned about issues facing Native Americans in Maine. Students have been doing research on the Wabanaki tribes (Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Micmac) in looking at where they are today. For the Final, they will be role playing a group hired by the Wabanki to testify to the Senate to pass the Native American civil Rights Act that would recognize a degree of tribal sovereignty. Student have to find evidence and craft compelling arguments in small groups. While they are not presenting they are role playing the Senate and must craft argument to counter the presentations. All U.S. history students in my school do this same Final project. Part of the reason we do this is to satisfy the State law requiring the teaching of Maine Native American History (LD 291), but also because the issues are very important.

(Welcome sign before entering the Penobscot Nation)

(view of Indian Island- home to the Penobscot Nation- from Old Town)

(A Birch Bark Canoe that was used by Henry David Thoreau in 1850. It has not been well cared for, but a little work and it will be good as new. The Penobscot are known for their Birch Bark Canoes)

Psychology students have been studying mental health and are choosing a psychological disorder to do a presentation about. In Ethics, students choose a current ethical dilemma facing our society and analyzed it using the paradigms and resolution principles we studied. They have to do a presentation with this analysis.

This is the time of year when my focus begins to shift away from teaching "new" concepts, and instead I am either coaching them on their preparation for the presentations, or dealing with other things related to the job. As a result, I feel like I am wearing multiple hats!

For example...
I haven been preparing awards for students who excelled in my classes.
I have put together my supply list for next year to leave to be ordered over the summer.
I have finalized teaching assignments for next year.
I have prepare the summer assignments for next year's AP class.
I have organized the Advisee Day out for my 9th grade advisees.

There is more to do, but much has to wait until school is truly over! When the scholl year does end I will have only 3 days before I leave for my Gold Rush experience in California.

Next week is the last week for Seniors. So in Ethics and Psychology will be the Final presentations. The other classes will continue working on their Finals. I was fortunate to be voted by the Senior class to be a Class Marshal. This means I get to lead them as they march into Graduation along with another colleague of mine. This is a great honor, and I have been lucky enough to have done it 2 times previously. This means I have to participate in marching practice next week as well as graduation next Sunday. It's hard to believe that there is only 12 school days left in the year and that I have kept up this blog the whole year. I plan to continue through the summer at least a few times until I get to the one year mark! Not sure if I will continue next year or not... to be determined later!

Last "normal" week of the year

How can a week in May be the last "normal" week of the year? Let me explain!

Monday is Memorial Day and so it will only be a 4 day week next week. On Monday June 3rd Senior Finals start and Friday June 7th is only a half day of classes with the Senior Assembly in the afternoon. June 9th is our Advisee Day out- no regular classes. The Seniors are gone at this point having graduated on June 8th. June 10th is a regular day of school, but then the 11th-13th are half days for students with Finals in the morning. Monday June 16th is the last day of Finals and June 17th is the awards assembly with students going home at 11:30. Then school is out, and so this is the last normal week!

My VHS class ended last week and those grades are all turned in, so I am now done with that. Its hard during the year with vacations to always check in to that class, but it ends early as a result and now I have some time freed up. In Psychology and Ethics classes I gave a lot of class time to work the Finals this week because the Seniors would be turning in their iPads on May 28th. Many will have access at home, but some will not so I figured it best to give class time while they still had them. Students are researching Psychological disorders in Psychology and current Ethical dilemmas in Ethics and creating Keynote slide shows to present to the class.

On Wednesday we had our final PLC of the year. These Professional Learning Communities are designed to help teachers improve their practice. I find this time very valuable and this meeting we focused on our colleague who teaches Physical Education. The teacher had several questions with which they needed help and advice. I found it very helpful and interesting to see things in a different class and with a different perspective. It seems each time we meet in PLC I learn something new about an aspect of the school and teaching. I am concerned about a lack of support for the PLC this year in general and I hope the school can find ways to improve the support for next year.

Now that AP class has taken the Exam, there is not the same level of rigor needed in the class. My students watched the film "Thirteen Days" based on the book by Robert Kennedy about the Cuban Missile Crisis. Next week week we will start work on the Final which is a presentation related to Native American Rights.In U.S. History we discussed the War in Vietnam and students participated in a mock trial. I got this trial from a company called Interact. The trial was a simulation of the real life trial of Lt. William Calley. Calley was accused of murder at the village of My Lai and his defense was he was "just following orders". Each student had a role in the trial and had to do some preparation to perform the trial almost like a play or a skit. For some, its a bit scary, but many really enjoy it. The students did a great job with it and I think they learned a lot! I like how it brings up the issue of how polarized the country was during the Vietnam era and how the complexities of the war effected the way people thought about it.

My Grandfather and Great Uncles fought in World War Two, and they are all dead now. The work with my students in this new course and on this project bring my Grandfather back alive in a sense, and so it really is personal for me in many ways.

(My Grandfather Charles O'Reilly taken in Japan while he was in the Army during the War)

The best news of the week came at the end! I found out the proposal I had submitted along with the Newseum to present on the Civil Rights Multimedia Module they host on their website was accepted for the National Conference on the Social Studies. They have graciously offered to pay my registration fee, which I am very thankful for. I have already reserved my Hotel at the Hyatt in Medford, which is just off an Orange Line T Stop and half the price of the Hotel rooms next to the Conference location offered at a "discount". I have a bunch of student work to share from my teaching of the Module this Spring and I very much look forward to this presentation!

Model UN week

My focus going into Monday was AP exam review. In class, my students did brief presentations in which they analyzed the successes and failures of each Presidential administration in foreign and domestic policy from 1952 to 2000. We also did a matching activity matching important events to the decade in which they occurred. This is really helpful in keeping cause and effect straight. After school on Monday and Tuesday I hosted extra review sessions and both were well attended. On Wednesday, my students took their exams and I hope they did well! Now its all over, which is a relief for everyone, but I always feel a little sad. In less than a month every class will be done and I can't help but feel sad. We just start to get to know each other and for many I won't have them in class again. Its even harder for Psychology and Ethics because for those seniors almost all of them I had 2 years in a row. But I still have a month to torture them!

In Ethics we debriefed what we learned from guest speaker James Lawley's visit last week and started working on the Final presentation. Their Final is to pick a current ethical dilemma facing society and suggest possible ways to resolve it and analyze those resolutions principles. I was out on Friday at the Model UN Conference and so most of their class was spent working on this.

In Psychology we discussed hypnosis, meditation and biofeedback. We also analyzed the effect certain drugs can have on the brain. We watched this interesting documentary about hypnosis, and students worked on their Final projects. In Psychology their Final is to pick a Psychological Disorder and in a presentation, tell us about treatments and new breakthroughs in understanding the Disorder.

In U.S. History students worked on their Civil Rights multimedia show for next Monday. We had no class one day this week as all the Juniors were on a Field Trip connected to their Physics classes. They went to Funtown and rode on the rides and had physics problems to analyze using the rides.

Wednesday was an early release day. In the morning we had short classes, and then professional development in the afternoon. This is important time we devote in May to transitioning from one grade level to the next as advisors. The most important grade levels for this are 11th and 12th, because Senior year and Freshmen year have the most important things happening in terms of the Advisor program. I am a 9th grade advisor, and so after 2 years of stressful transitions to think about I really have very little to think about going into Sophomore year relative to the 11th and 12th grade advisors. However, it is still valuable time to plan for fundraising and the first advisee day out next Fall. We started things off with an ice breaker type activity in the Gym. I am not a fan of these activities. I intellectually appreciate using these techniques to help build bonds, but I am never comfortable with them and at times question the time they take away from planning when we already have little time as it is. I appreciate the folks who planned it and I understand the intentions, I just find them personally uncomfortable.

The end of the week was one of my favorite events! The annual Model United Nations Conference at Northeastern University in Boston, MA is something I always look forward to. For the last 4 months a group of 22 students have spent extra time researching issues and compiling evidence for a paper. they receive no grade for any of this work, but it is important in order to be able to participate appropriately at the Conference. For two days, Friday and Saturday, these 22 students are in committee sessions that mimic the real United Nations. Each group of 2 represent a delegation from an assigned country. This year our students represented China, Belgium, and Zambia. We had students from grades 9-11 involved and 3 other staff members from my school. We had to leave school at 5 am and we stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn in Saugus, MA. The cost for the Conference is about $250 per student and they pay their own costs. The amount of learning that happens is almost unquantifiable, but its so authentic, and obvious to anyone who works with these students. Its this level of real learning that we see happening year after year that keep us coming back. Students get to meet other students from inner city Boston, the suburbs of Boston, The American School in the Bahamas, and more. Some students are from diverse backgrounds, recent immigrants to the US in some cases. Our students also get a chance to "compete" with students their same age on a College campus. In addition, they get a little independence being away form their families for a night. For some of the students, it is the first time they have been to Boston, and that is also a big experience for them. In the end they learn so many things, not the least of which is that they aren't any less smart than these kids from the Boston area! Believe me, that level of confidence is a big thing for them!

(This is the list of participating schools in the Model UN and where they are from)

Friday morning we arrived at Northeastern about 9:30, and just missed the guest speaker at the Opening Ceremonies. That was not really a big deal, and after getting registered each delegation of 2 students went to their committee rooms. All of the committee rooms are located inside Shillman Hall spread out over 4 floors. We teachers spend a good deal of time rotating through the rooms and seeing all of our students in action. Lunch was pizza provided by the Conference organizers. At 4 we were done for the day. We all walked to Ruggles station next door and took the subway out to Bunker Hill. We walked around the Monument and then followed the Freedom Trail over to the U.S.S. Constitution. From there we took the Ferry across the Harbor by the Aquarium. We walked form there to the Boston Massacre site and then over to Fanueil Hall. Students had a couple of hours to get food and walk around Quincy Market. It started raining around 8:30, but we were able to stay mostly dry. The bus picked us up at 9 and took us to our Hotel in Saugus. We arranged for 6 am wake up calls, and all went to sleep. At 6:15 we knocked on doors to make sure the kids were awake and then we had breakfast in the lobby. By 8 we were on the road headed back to Northeastern for the last day of the Conference. Most of our students were actively involved in the deliberations and its always amazing to see them shine!

(Model UN happens here)

My Model UN students pose in front of Fanueil Hall

This is what it is like in each of the committee rooms during the Model UN

Lunch on Day 2 was hosted in a Dining Hall on campus which was very nice. This provided a nice amount of food and much diversity of food options. The students raved about lunch today! At 3:30 we all met in the auditorium for the Awards and Closing Ceremonies. We were proud to witness four of our students who were given Awards by the Conference organizers. Our students worked very hard and learned a lot over these 2 days. Students were engaged in discussion around topics such as what to do about North Korea, the conflict over the Kashmir region between India and Pakistan, Cultural Extinction, the use of Drones, empowering girls through education, Pandemic response, Cyber Crime, a historical simulation of a response to South African Apartheid, and more. It was a lot of work in preparation and we are all now exhausted, but it was well worth it!

(Of course we had to stop at Karl's Sausage Kitchen on the way home and get some German candy)

Next week will finally feel like the end of the year is starting to wind down. My VHS class has ended, Model UN is over, and Memorial Day is next weekend. There will be a lot of work next week on Final projects and a mock trial over the war in Vietnam.

Typical May

Last Saturday all Juniors in the State of Maine took SAT's. In addition to being helpful for College, this test serves as the required standardized test that all Juniors must take. This is the last year that Juniors will be required to take it. Starting next year all Juniors will take the Smarter Balanced Assessment, although many will still be taking SAT's. Because the Juniors had to be in school on Saturday for the SAT's, they are excused from coming to school on Monday. As result, I basically had no students on Monday. This provided me with some much needed time to get caught up after last week's absences.

My VHS class finished this week. The online class devoted to U.S. Foreign policy from 1945 to the present takes no breaks, but is 15 straight weeks. Because it takes no breaks it always ends before regular school does. It has been a good semester in this class and I enjoyed looking at the Final presentations students posted this week. For me, this does mean I will have some time freed up for the remainder of the year, and I have to admit I do like this part of teaching VHS classes.

(Screenshot form the Homepage of my VHS class)

In Psychology this week, students finished their presentations about famous psychological experiments. In addition, we discussed hypnosis and meditation. In Ethics class we finished watching the film "Million Dollar Baby" as a way to discuss the Ethics of Euthanasia. We also had a guest speaker on Friday. Attorney James Lawley from Lipman and Katz in Augusta, once again came to my class to discuss Death Penalty and other ethical issues related to the law. Mr. Lawley took time out of his work day to come and give students a unique perspective and they were clearly impressed. Mr. Lawley talked about his experience representing clients on Death Row, and his other experiences in the legal system. I very much appreciate his willingness to share with my students!

(James Lawley explains how a Death Row case moves through the court system)

(James Lawley answers questions from my students)

My AP U.S. history class is furiously in the midst of reviewing the content for the AP Exam. the College Board standardized test will be given on May 14. I hosted an evening Study session to help them review on Thursday and several students showed up for the session. It was a great chance to go back to the content we covered coming out of summer and review. There is a nice website for review as well that produces flash cards to help students. 

In U.S. history we have been looking at the Civil Rights movement. I made use of the historical module created by the educators at the Newseum to get students to examine the movement and try and make personal and local connections to the movement. Students are now working on a multimedia presentation that explains one way either Maine impacted the Civil Rights movement or vice versa. I contacted the Maine Historical Society and they provided me a link to what they have posted on this topic and also sent me a copy of the book, Maine’s Visible Black History: The First Chronicle of its People by H.H. Price and Gerald Talbot. This is a tremendous resource for this project, as it turns out! I look forward to seeing what students come up with for this! In addition, I am working with the Educators at the Newseum to develop a presentation. We have submitted a proposal to lead a session at the National Council for the Social Studies conference in Boston in November. We should find out in June if it was accepted. I hope it is as I am very excited to present on this topic!

Next week will be quite busy... classes will be working on the Civil Rights project, their Finals, or preparing for the AP exam. On Thursday almost all of my students will be gone on a Field Trip to Funtown to study the Physics of Funtown, and then I will be out on Friday with the group of students attending the Model UN Conference at Northeastern University in Boston, MA.

Back at it... sort of

Almost two weeks without classes for me! We had vacation in April and my family and I went to Orlando, FL and visited Legoland, Medieval Times, and Universal Studios. It was very hot and we had a good time. It was hard to leave behind the sun and the 85 degree temperatures.

(Legoland has a Miniland section with cool creations like these)

(Medieval Times features food and a great show form the 11th Century!)

(Me, Wolverine, and my son at Universal Studios)

(Hogwarts at Universal is impressive!)

At the end of my vacation, I still wasn't back to school. I had been asked by Educational Testing Services to consult with them on the Social Studies portion of the HiSET which Maine and many other states will be offering instead of the GED for folks looking to get a High School Diploma. I am not allowed to discuss the content of my work, but I did find it interesting getting to know teachers from around the country. I did learn some things that I can use in my teaching as far as how to think about assessments. ETS covered all costs for the trip including paying my school for the substitute the first 2 days of the week. ETS is located in Princeton, NJ. As a result we got to spend some time on the campus of Princeton University which was very interesting!

(All of these are from the campus of Princeton)

While doing our work we stay at the Chauncey Hotel. The Hotel is very nice, but a little misleading. I doubt many folks form the public actually stay here. It's more like a fancy dormitory in some ways. The whole time we were there we saw only those of us participating in the work for ETS. In fact the ETS logo is all over the hotel!

By Tuesday afternoon, everyone was ready to go home. Unfortunately really bad weather was plaguing the south and some of my colleagues were really concerned about getting home. A storm producing strong winds, rain and tornadoes was sweeping across the country. How naive of me to think it wouldn't impact my journey home!! I was scheduled (along with 2 other Maine teachers I soon found out) for a 6:15 pm flight from Philadelphia to Portland that should have had me in my home by 9:30pm. At 3 a Shuttle was scheduled to take a large group of us from Princeton to the Philadelphia airport. At 2:45 I decided to check my flight status one final time. I was disappointed to find it "Cancelled". So I immediately called US Airways to confirm this (they sent me no email, text, nor did they call me) which they did. Despite my insistence they said "Due to weather" they could do nothing for me except to reschedule on the next flight they could find which was the next day at 6:15. I then saw the 2 other teachers from Maine and told them. They also hadn't been contacted about the cancellation. Now we were supposed to board the bus for Philadelphia in theory. So I called our contact at ETS. She was extremely helpful! She immediately said "no, we will get you home tonight". Then she got on the phone with the travel company they use and within minutes had all 3 of us on a flight at 10:49 pm from JFK in New York City to Portland. She then told me a limousine would come pick us up and take us to that airport. Though we were disappointed, we were so grateful for how helpful ETS was being. The limo arrived within 15 minutes and we got in. I asked the driver how long the ride would be. He laughed and said "its hard to know what traffic will be like. Could be 2 hours, could be 6." Either scenario would still get us to the airport on time as it was now 3:45. As it turned out, the traffic wasn't all that bad. About 3 hours later we arrived at JFK. We were puzzled as we noticed by looking at the Philadelphia airport website our colleagues who were flying to Boston and Manchester, NH all left on time. How does weather cancel our flight and not theirs? All we could come up with was that the plane we were supposed to take was grounded wherever the weather was bad and hadn't made it to Philadelphia. The other possibility is that they lied to us and canceled for some other reason. Both are very likely! We had arrived very early, but that was ok as it gave us time to eat and settle in. Sometime around 7:30 we decided to eat dinner and noticed on the big board at JetBlue that our 10:49 pm flight had been cancelled. Twice in the same day at two different airport. We immediately got in line at the JetBlue counter. The other 2 teachers knew each other and had said they would stick together no matter what. So when the agent said he had only 1 ticket to Portland for the next day, they insisted that I take it. Because he said he could get them to Boston and they could take a bus from there (they live in the southernmost part of Maine) I agreed to this. I was happy we got in line when we did as there were now 40 or so people behind us waiting. So they had boarding passes for a 10:45am flight to Boston and I had one for a 10:00am fight to Portland. I called ETS once again and they were very good to us! They apologized and told us to get a hotel room and ETS would cover it. So we found the closest one we could get and reserved rooms over the phone. I then had to call folks from my school to arrange a sub for the next day (ETS said they would pay for this as well). After waiting for an hour for them to find the check bag of one of the other teachers, we then walked about 15 minutes to a subway like train. Took a train ride for several stops, and then waited for the hotel shuttle to pick us up. 15 minutes after that we were finally at the hotel. I suddenly realized I had left my jacket at the JetBlue gate. Luckily nothing was in it! We had heard the weather might be worse the next day in New York, but there was nothing we could do at this point. I took some time ot submit sub plans and then tried to sleep a few hours. A short night of anxious sleep (what happens if this flight gets canceled?) and we were on the shuttle bound for the airport. After going through security, we separated for our gates and wished each other luck. I was surprised to find my jacket near the spot where I had left it the night before! So I grabbed it and waited patiently. I got more optimistic with each passing minute that I may actually get home. Sure enough we boarded on time and took off. It was by far the roughest take off I have ever had. The pilot warned us that because of the winds it would be rough, luckily it only lasted 5 - 10 minutes. I heard from the other 2 teachers who made it to Boston without incident and were quickly on a bus for home. I noticed later that day, the 6:15 flight from Philadelphia that US Airways had re-booked me on because of the cancellation the night before, was once again cancelled. This time they emailed me the next morning and said because of the cancellation they had re-booked me on the next flight they could get me on which was Friday at 4pm. If not for ETS and its swift service, I would either have been in Philadelphia until Friday or taken a horrific 10 hour bus ride home from Philadelphia. So now I understand why they charge people so much for those standardized tests and I thank all the test takers out there for paying!

On Thursday, I finally went to school! My students in Psychology presented their research projects and my U.S. History students worked on the Civil Rights movement and other social upheavals in the 60's. More will come from this work next week! On Friday I was out once again to wrap up my literacy work this year through the Cross Discipline Literacy Network sponsored by the Maine Department of Education. The grant work continues for next year and so I hope some teachers from my district will participate. Next year we are going to emphasize the connections to the common core and the new teacher evaluation system. Perhaps this will encourage more participation?

Next week we are looking at Turning Points in the Civil Rights movement, AP U.S. History Exam prep, a guest speaker in Ethics, and we have the Model UN conference in Boston coming up the 16th and 17th. The end is in sight as we are looking at about 6 weeks left in the school year!