Special Times

I have been looking forward to Memorial Day all year, because I knew we would be recognizing at least one local soldier who was killed in World War Two. Fortunately, we were able to recognize two this year.

Over the last few weeks students in my Honors US History class learned about World War Two by connecting it to the stories of two local men who were killed in the war. Private First Class Harvey Madore of Augusta, ME and Captain Joseph Berry of Wayne, ME fought in the war and are buried in Europe. Madore is buried in the Epinal Cemetery in France and Berry in the Sicily-Rome Cemetery in Italy. I am fortunate enough to be able to visit both cemeteries this summer through the Understanding Sacrifice program. Our work garnered some attention from TV station WVII in Bangor and the local newspaper the Kennebec Journal. We held a school-wide assembly at our school on the Thursday before Memorial Day to remember the meaning of the Holiday and to tell the school about both men. The families of both men were in attendance and we presented each with a framed photo of the grave of their fallen loved one. The students performed very well and I feel privileged to have been a part of it. I hope this is a tradition that will continue.

This is the WVII Channel 7 News report of our work.

On May 13 we took 22 students in grades 9-12 to the annual Model United Nations Conference at Northeastern University. This year the Conference was only one day, but that didn't seem to dim the students' enthusiasm for this annual event. Our students did very well representing Russia, Togo, and Qatar. We had 8 students win awards including two who won representing Russia in the Security Council. We had our typical evening in Boston exploring a bit. It was along day, but a lot of fun. Our journey is chronicled in this Blog.

(It was a little cloudy and a few sprinkles were around, but we still went for a ferry ride)

My amazing month got even better when I found out I had been named the 2016 Gilder-Lerhman Maine History Teacher of the Year. I was nominated last Fall and submitted the necessary essays and classroom work, however I didn't think I had a serious shot at it. I was humbled and surprised to find out I had been selected. Its really a testament to my colleagues and my students that I was able to earn this award. I am very fortunate to work in a supportive environment with great kids! I feel honored and humbled by this!

Things are wrapping up quickly and we are working on Final projects. Students are completing projects in all classes, and for the first time, US History students are doing "museum exhibits". This is a trial run to help us prepare to introduce the National History Day competition to next year's US History students. As we approach Memorial Day things are just starting to wind down. I have Junior advisees and they are white water rafting on our field trip day coming up on June 13. This is the time of year to be thinking about awards and graduation. I also will be making final preparation for the Social Studies Symposium held at my school on June 29th where I will be presenting with my wife on teaching Elementary Social Studies. Once that is over, it will be time for a real vacation and then my trip to visit the World War Two Cemeteries and historic sites in Italy, France, and Belgium in July!

May is always busy

May is always busy, there's just no way around it. My students take AP exams during the first two weeks. We also are planning a Memorial Day Assembly and took part in the Model United Nations Conference. This on top of other things makes for a very busy few weeks!

AP exams always provide a bit of stress and this year was no exception. This was my first year teaching AP Psychology and I will be interested to see how the students did. The AP US history exam changed two years ago and I still am getting used to preparing students for these changes. Now that both are over, my new challenge is keeping students engaged in class for the last few weeks!

In my Honors US History class we have been working on an Assembly in conjunction with my Understanding Sacrifice project. We are planning to tell the school about the importance of Memorial Day by remembering the sacrifice of Harvey Madore of Augusta, ME and Joseph Berry of Wayne, ME.

Harvey Madore

Joseph Berry

We have a special day planned and the families of both Fallen Heroes will be here. The Kennebec Journal is planning to cover the event and WCSH 6 as well as WVII 7 might also cover it. WVII 7 was contacted by National History Day (one of the sponsors of Understanding Sacrifice) and they were interested enough to call me. Reporter Jack Hilton visited my school last week for about 3 hours. He was interested in the story I am doing on Harvey Madore for my Understanding Sacrifice project. He interviewed Harvey's son Bob and myself. He also interviewed 3 of my students. The segment aired that same night. I have it linked here and also the video portion is below. He told me they will use some of the other video and interviews as part of their continuing Memorial Day coverage and they hope to include it as part of a bigger story after our assembly. Its really exciting to see that after all of these years Harvey Madore's sacrifice is not forgotten! I can't wait for assembly on May 26th!

I was really excited last week when we confirmed our keynote speaker for next Fall's Maine Council for the Social Studies Conference. Author and historian Kenneth C. Davis has agreed to speak and sign books at our Conference on November 10th. He has a new book coming out in September In the Shadow of Liberty and he is also speaking at the National Conference in December! Very exciting for Maine!

Kenneth C. Davis

Last Friday we took 22 students to the annual Model UN conference at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. We have attended this event for 13 years and this year may have been our best in terms of student engagement and achievement! Despite being out for a month with surgery, the students were well prepared. Two of my colleagues worked with them while I was out and I really appreciate their efforts! We had two students win Best Delegation in the Security Council (no small feat), and 6 others win for Best Negotiators and Best Position Papers. All of the students did very well and I was very proud and humbled to work with them. Model UN takes a lot of time and energy. With the increased mandates on us and less time to tackle them I have been very close to saying no more Model UN. I'm so glad I decided to give it a go one more year (at least). I will need to reevaluate where things are next year, but it really was a great experience for everyone involved! Below are a few photos form the Conference.

After a busy and fun two weeks, all energy is now on the Assembly for May 26th! After that things will definitely wind down for the last few weeks. That will be a time for end of year details and to start thinking about the Social Studies Symposium on June 29 that I am presenting at and my trip to the World War Two Cemeteries in Italy and France as part of the Understanding Program in July!

Recharged for the stretch run

It was so nice to have to have 10 days off in a row. Yes I know I missed just about 4 weeks, but my strength and stamina have been slow to return since my surgery in March! Though I am feeling much better, I've had some pain and discomfort from scar tissue and have been really quite fatigued. So having this time (with no student work accumulating) was nice. The weather was good and that helped too. After the vacation we are looking at 37 school days left with only Memorial Day as any type of break.

Spring, and May in particular, is my favorite time of the school year. You are starting to see the students you have worked with all year grow and mature and achieve a degree of success. The days are longer and warmer and flowers bloom and the grass turns green. You are seeing AP courses wind down as students take AP exams. You also have the Model United Nations Conference  to look forward to. As a teacher of Juniors and Seniors, they get distracted for a few days leading up the prom. Once every four years, it also become a distraction for me as a Junior Advisor who must put on the prom!

We held this years prom at the Governor Hill Mansion in Augusta just as we did four years ago. This beautiful building is a great place for the prom. It needs very little decoration or sprucing up and is located nearby. It doesn't feel like school at all and I think that lends itself to what the prom represents in some ways as a move toward adulthood. It's always a long night and usually we have to say no to plans with friends in order to attend the 4 hour dance and dinner before. This year was no exception as we missed out on a dinner Birthday party for a friend of ours for the prom. My wife and I received text messages from our friends who were having fun while we chaperoned the prom. But considering its only once every four years and I have a great group of co-workers to do this with, it's not really a big deal. This year's theme was Star Wars, and so we definitely had some fun with it! (Prom photos below)

There was some academic stuff going on this week, it wasn't all just prom and games! In my Ethics class, I had a guest speaker who discussed nursing and medical ethics. My friend Sara Casey has visited my class for a couple of years now and she always does a nice job of portraying ethics in the medical field and providing interesting stories for my students. The students asked great questions and we all learned a lot!

In my Psychology class we have been discussing consciousness and played the game "The Exquisite Corpse" to illustrate the potential of the unconscious and different ways people have tried to tap into it.

My AP classes have been wrapping up content in an attempt to prepare for the AP exams about to unfold. In my Honors US History class we started planning a Memorial Day Assembly to honor the sacrifice of two local soldiers killed in World War Two. My students learned about PFC Harvey Madore of Augusta and Captain Joseph Berry of Wayne. Now they will plan a brief but impactful assembly for the school to tell their story and honor their sacrifice. This is connected to my participation in the Understanding Sacrifice program and my summer trip to Europe to visit the graves of these Fallen Heroes. I look forward to this great experience!

The next big event will be the Model UN Conference in Boston. This will happen on May 13. This year we are taking 22 students to Northeastern University to participate. We are representing Russia, Qatar, and Togo. We travel farther than any other school, most are pretty local to Boston. Unfortunately they are now only running the Conference one day to better accommodate those schools even though it now becomes a bit less of a good investment for us as a result. We will be thinking about how well this goes and maybe looking at alternate plans in the future or rethinking how to do this conference. Either way, our students should do well, have fun, and hopefully learn a lot!

I find myself with mixed feelings as I definitely enjoy the warm and sunny weather, but also dread the malaise that inevitably comes from my students as a result. 32 days left!