Another School Year Begins!!

Our school year began officially on Monday morning 8/25, but most teachers started prep the week before. I had most of my planning for the first two weeks done (with a few exceptions) so I was looking forward to Monday morning and getting back into things! All Middle School and High School teachers were asked to report to Camp Androscoggin in Wayne, ME (in our school district) for 7:30. We arrived to a wonderful breakfast spread. After some brief opening activities, we had the chance to select different options for training. We could choose from things like using a low ropes course for group bonding, and learning more about substance abuse in youth. I spent some time learning about some of the new thinking in how to address youth with substance issues. We then had a great lunch spread with ice cream sandwiches. After lunch, we had time to meet in our grade level groups (I am a 10th grade Advisor this year) and plan some things for the year. This year we were going to hold Open House before the first day of school, and so we also wanted to discuss some things with parents and used our time to plan this. It was a fun and energetic first day!

Tuesday was another workshop day. We once again started off with a breakfast, followed by a meeting of all Staff in the district in the High School Gym. Our Superintendent gave a brief welcome and preview of some things we will be working on during the year. She also had all new Staff introduced and welcomed. After this, people went in many different directions. The High School Staff met in the Performing Arts Center to have training on Suicide Prevention. A new Maine law passed last year requires at least 60 minutes of the training, and I think it makes a lot of sense. Most of the information I knew, but it was a nice reminder. I also think it was powerful to look at the survey data and other data see how suicide is a growing problem here in Maine. I can see why the Legislature was moved to action. We had a Staff meeting after the training that included lunch from Subway. This meeting had a lot of content, and I think we went through it a bit too quickly. We discussed some of the new changes this year. But rather than Blog about them all now, I will spread them out over the coming weeks as they are put into action (I think we probably should have done the same thing with the Staff). There are two big things that I think had an immediate impact. The first was a slightly new schedule which included Focus Time, and the second is a container in every room for students to store their cell phones so they won't be a distraction.

Focus time is designed to give teachers a chance to meet with students as needed. We are using the Web App EdYouSched to notify students where they need to go each day for Focus Time. Our first Focus Time will be Thursday of next week, so we will see how it goes. So there is a technology piece the Staff need to learn, and they will need ot think about who they are tagging for Focus Time and why. This time can help us with students who are identified as needing a learning intervention. Federal law requires us to have a "Response to Intervention" or RtI program. We will be able to use Focus Time to help students who end up with RtI. There are many more things we are doing differently, so its all a little stressful, exciting, overwhelming, positive, etc. at the same time. The one thing I believe for sure, is that it will all help improve teaching and learning in the long run. In the short term, there will be issues and that makes us all a little nervous.

Wednesday was the first day for 9th and 12th grade students. The Seniors' job is to help with initiatives designed to welcome 9th graders to their new advisee groups and to the School. The Freshmen spend time during the day getting to know the folks in their group. they also spend time learning about High School and how things work. This year I am a 10th grade Advisor. This means that I do not have a responsibility and can use the time to prepare for classes. I had done a lot of work the week before, so I spent most of my time planning for the weeks to come and meeting with other teachers to talk about things for the upcoming year. Everyone has 2 years when they have this time and 2 years when they don't, so it all works out in the end. Wednesday night was Open House. We had about the same number of parents as usual. I heard from many parents who liked the idea of having it before school starts. I do think the conversation stayed on the class and the curriculum much better by doing it before school started. Also, we have no papers yet to grade. It made for a very long day, but no matter when we do it it will always be a very long day. I didn't have any students on Wednesday so I know it was harder for those who did. I still maintain, its better to have that really hard day now with a long weekend ahead, and no papers to grade than 3 weeks from now with no long weekend, a full day of class before and after and lots of stuff to grade. I heard from at least one 9th grade Advisor who agreed with me. One suggestion I heard that might make more sense, was to do it Tuesday night instead of Wednesday night. I do still have to wonder about the format though? We ask parents to come in be there for 2.5 hours. That's a lot of time for parents to give up. I wonder if we did a more "open" format parents could stay as long or as little as they want? Things to consider before another year, but for now its over!

Thursday was the first day for all students in grades 9-12. This means the first day of classes. I was very excited for this day! After a brief assembly and a few minutes with my advisees, we were off to class. I had 2 classes on the first day, History v. Hollywood and honors U.S. History. Students seemed to be in a good mood and did as I ask without issue. No one complained to me about the cell phone thing, no one used their cell phone in class, and students responded when I asked questions. I made a few jokes and students laughed. So overall it was a good day! I was just as excited for day 2 and my other classes when I left on Thursday. Unfortunately I had some minor achy pains in the afternoon and by evening they had increased in intensity. By bed time I was feeling the stomach cramps. Unable to rest or sleep from the pain, I finally gave in and headed for the ER at 2:30 in the morning. Based on what happened last Spring I was guessing it was Diverticulitis, and after some tests my guess was confirmed. By 8am I was on my way home with pain killers and antibiotics, feeling some better. I hate to be out, especially when its unexpected, but even more so when I haven't even met the students yet! So it was disappointing and stressful to call for a sub for Friday. My plans were vague and not very productive for students. Luckily I had super-sub Bob Ingalls who is the master of working with a class without plans or very little to do. Unfortunately I missed Friday, but even with that episode it was still a good first week back to school. Next week we will begin to get in to our routines and hopefully I am feeling better!

Prep for the new school year

Two weeks ago we took a little family vacation south. We visited my wife's sister and her family in the Washington, DC area. While there I had the fortunate opportunity to visit the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

(Smithsonian Museum of American History)

(My son at "The American Presidency" exhibit at the Smithsonian)

(War exhibit at the Smithsonian)

 Aside from a few glorious hours at the museum, we spent some time at some of my favorite historic monuments in DC.

(We went to the top of the Washington Monument and got a view of the Lincoln Memorial and the World War Two Memorial)

(White House view from the Washington Monument)

(World War Two Memorial in Washington, DC)

(Inside the Lincoln Memorial)

(The Lincoln Memorial)

(The U.S. Capitol)

(I paid my first visit to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial- it was not completed the last time I visited DC)

(Me with FDR, also my first visit to this Memorial)

(The Jefferson Memorial)

We also visited the Vietnam War Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial. What I love most about the monuments and memorials in Washington, DC is that history lives on there, every day and every year. The important events of the past are never forgotten, and this is how I feel in general. Maybe that's why I like it so much there?

One of the highlights of my trip was a visit to the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA. Why Bedford, VA? As it turns out, 40 men from the small town of 3,000 people in Bedford were part of the D-Day landings. 19 out of the 40 died on D-Day. No other town or city in an Allied nation suffered as many deaths per capita as Bedford, VA. Alan Kershaw wrote a remarkable book I read called The Bedford Boys. It tells the tragic story of the Bedford soldiers who died on D-Day. The book was incredibly moving, and so was the memorial. Though it was about 20 miles out of our way and quite rural, it was well worth the the trip. I was blown away by the symbolism and detail of the very large memorial.

(The National D-Day Memorial)

We finished up our trip visiting a former colleague who is now a professor of education and theatre at the University of South Carolina. We had a wonderful few days in the State's Capitol of Columbia and I encountered a vibrant and progressive University contrasted with a stark reminder of recent past that was not progressive at all. Very interesting place! My former colleague and friend is doing great things there and I am very excited about that!

(University of South Carolina welcome center)

(This is the Lonstreet Theatre on campus. My friend's office is in this building)

(The stark reminder of the recent past... in front of the South Carolina State House flies the Confederate Flag, next to a Confederate soldiers memorial)

When travel ended, it was time for school...

This past week I spent a good deal of time working on getting things ready for the new School year. During the Summer, the custodial staff does a great job of cleaning the rugs and tables and desks in everyone's classrooms. Since they are somewhat unfamiliar with the classrooms, when things are put back they aren't exactly the way I want them. I always spend some time putting my room in order, and this year was no different. I also had updated my class syllabi and printed those and made paper copies for the students. I was pleased to see my supply order had arrived so I also put away my supplies. I have been working on a few lessons and adding them to units throughout the Summer.

(I didn't take a picture of my actual supplies, but this is a close approximation)

I am lucky enough to be the Social Studies Department Learning Leader which is like a Department Head. One of my duties for this is to serve on the school's Leadership Team. We had agreed to meet for 2 days this week and plan some of the opening trainings and dissemination of new information to the Staff. We have some really exciting changes taking effect, some driven by outside mandates, but also some driven by our desire to better help students. One of the biggest changes involves the addition of a "Focus Time" period. The way this period works is that teachers select students any given day from their classes to attend. Students are tagged virtually each day so they know where to go during this time. There is an application called "EdYouSched" that we are using to "tag" students for this time. Our Federally mandated "Response to Intervention" program will be implemented using Focus Time as well. We have a new way for restricting iPads that we hope will increase students focus and several other minor initiatives we hope will improve the school. Its all a little scary because there are many unknowns, especially when it comes to EdYouSched, but we are all taking a bit of a leap of faith in an effort to better serve our students.

We are also going to be assessing students every 2 weeks on their Habits of Work. We will call this the "HOW Rubric" and it doesn't impact GPA, but it will be reflected on a student;s transcript and impact whether or not they are eligible for co-curricular activities. This is a link to our HOW Rubric.


I did spend some time this week working on a lesson for a Webinar I will be doing with another teacher in November. This lesson is adapted from the book, Reading, Thinking, and Writing About History by Chauncey Monte-Sano , Susan De La Paz ,  and  Mark Felton. These folks are connected to Stanford History Education Group I have written about in the past. The Investigation I will be piloting is around using primary sources to think about answering a historical question, in this case, "Who fired the First Shot at Lexington Green in The Revolution?" I am co-teaching a new course this year and am very excited about it. Students will be using language skills to examine primary sources and attempt to create a website to house the stories from the World War Two era that we collect. I am lucky that this year since I do not have 9th or 12th grade advisees, I have time on Wednesday next week to prepare lessons. So while I only have the first few classes planned, I feel ok knowing I have that time available next week before the first day of school. I am very excited to get to those first classes and really immerse ourselves in the ideas! This will be my 34th first day of school as a student or a teacher and I still get really excited! 

Next week I will write about the first day of classes and the opening of the new school year!