To the Moon

After a restful three day weekend, we were back at it on Tuesday. Because of my illness on Friday, I met my students for the first time on Tuesday in those classes. In Ethics this week we spent time talking about where ethics come from and why we should be concerned about ethics. We talked about what evidence exists that the world is becoming more or less ethical. We also discussed the famous thought experiment of men working on the tracks and a speeding train on its way to kill them and whether or not it is right to steer the train to another track killing one, or leave it alone and let it kill 5. We had an even deeper discussion about whether or not pushing someone in front of the train with the same outcome is different ethically from steering the train with the same outcome. We of course relied on the Justice series with Michael Sandel to help us out.

In my brand new co-taught class, Sacrifice for Freedom, we participated in a little simulation. this role playing activity put out by the Choices Program, is designed to help us think about the competing interests at the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War One that led to World War Two. We also discussed our goal of creating a website where we will store our research and the information we learn about the people in Europe and America who were affected by the War. Its really great to be able to co-teach a class, and I look forward to the chance to observe my colleague teaching and vice versa. The course is designed to be more of a seminar with a lot of discussion and project work.

For AP U.S. History we started by reviewing the reading and work the students had done over the summer. We also started discussing the new themes and historical thinking skills that are part of the AP U.S. history redesigned curriculum and exam. We read an article about the death of Silas Deane and how new interpretations of evidence could lead us to believe he may have been murdered, when previously many thought he had committed suicide. Students had a chance to apply these skills using the article.

(Silas Deane)

In my History v. Hollywood class this week we spent time looking at early film clips and talking about how film making has changed. We also talked about how films can be used to teach history and tell stories and the limitations of film in trying to do this. Students in this class can receive College credit from Thomas College, and so we discussed the benefits of that as well. Students seem very excited about the course and the College Credit option. Next week we will talk about the Civil War a bit and start watching the first film in the course, Glory. The film tells the story of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment.

(Memorial to the 54th Massachusetts Regiment)

In my Honors U.S. History class, we put Columbus on trial! We have been reading, and discussing what Columbus actually did. We talked about the myths and the facts as we know them and how this impacts what we have come to believe about Columbus and whether or not he still deserves a Holiday. I used the book Rethinking Columbus as a resource to help with our study. Our mock trial ended with a conviction of Columbus and an essay assignment to use sources to support a claim about the way we remember Columbus.

(Columbus! Another myth? This is the first painting of Columbus, but was painted 13 years after he died, so did he really look like this? How can we know?)

My VHS class started this week as well. I teach the online class U.S. Foreign Policy 1945-present. The first week is really just getting to know each other.

The real focus of my week was a new initiative we have implemented this year called Focus Time. We have added a 50 minute block of time to our schedule on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. This is a time when all teachers and students have set aside to work on extension of class activities, extra support on assignments, or extra curricular type activities. How it works is that each day a teacher selects at least 10-12 students to "tag" for Focus Time the next day. Some days Social Studies has a priority over other subjects, other days its other subjects. Then in the morning students check a website called EdYouSched and it tells them who tagged them and where they are supposed to go. If they do not get tagged, they go to a silent study hall. Students who are really struggling in classes but do not qualify for Special Education could be targeted for a new Federally mandated program called Response to Intervention. Whatever services they might receive would happen during Focus Time as well. We EdYouSched, which is a web-based app that we use to "tag" the students and find out where students are once they have or haven't been tagged. Students use it to see who tagged them.

This is my honest take on it as of this moment. It's a bit clunky, a bit stressful (trying to think of who to tag and then doing it), and I'm not sure the students I have (at least so far) really use the whole time effectively. However, I LOVE the fact that we are trying to do something to change the culture in our building around learning. I think it sends a great message to students and parents that we are committed to supporting students to meet standards. Especially for students who struggle or need time with the teacher for help, I think it will have a big impact. I think we will end up making some tweaks, or maybe even some bigger changes. It seems in my classes students need help from me in fits and starts, when we are working on certain projects or certain types of projects. So I see there being times when I am tagging students without much of a reason and that feels odd to me but I think we have to do it to make it work for everyone. Once everyone is used to it, there will be fewer of us feeling odd at times. I really have to applaud my colleagues for taking a risk with this in an effort to help students. It would be much easier to do what we have always done and wonder if we could do anything different, it takes a lot of courage to try something different and risk it not working. One of  my advisees on Friday had an assignment and needed a good deal of help from the teacher, but the assignment was due last period. He plays football and so a "0" would make him ineligible for football.  I told him to ask the teacher to tag him before school. He ran to the teacher who tagged him and when he came back he said "Thank God for Focus Time". This is the same student who had mumbled that it was "stupid" on the first day of school. So when I was feeling a little stressed by Focus Time this week, I reminded myself of a quote from President Kennedy when discussing the U.S. plans to put a man on the moon. "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." So let's put these students "on the moon" and see what happens!