Habits of Work

With several classes now down, things are settling in a bit. We are still dealing with tagging students for Focus time and figuring out issues that arise around that. In all my classes, we spent a little bit of time reflecting on the anniversary of the attack on 9/11 and how that day still affects us. Our class rosters have firmed up, especially in the elective classes which tend to see a good deal of change. In History vs. Hollywood we have been discussing Film as an art form and how it can be used to teach about history. We have also delved into the basic of the Civil War and finally this week started to watch the film Glory. The students are very quiet in this class! The class is meant to be a lot of discussion around the things we see in the film and our analysis, but this has proven difficult with this class so far. I'm hopeful that after a few more classes they will want to talk more.

In Honors U.S. History this week we had our first Pop Quiz! We started the week introducing the online textbook for the class and we talked about how to read from it and take notes. I warned them we might have a quiz over the reading. I tagged as many as I could before the class when it was due and reviewed the highlights with them. Then we had a quiz! There was much panic, but I told them not to overreact and that it was all part of the learning process. In addition, we talked about the Puritans a bit, and the idea of Democracy and Democratic Ideals.

(tongue in cheek depiction of the first Thanksgiving)

In AP U.S. History class we talked about historical thinking skills and did an activity to illustrate each skill. We also started talking about the outcome of the French and Indian War and the events that led to the Revolution. I asked students if the Revolution was inevitable, or at what point did it become inevitable. We did some investigation, debate, and discussion. It feels like many students had always assumed there was no choice, but now they wonder. They also wonder about the motives of those rebel leaders. It was a great discussion!

(Paul Revere's depiction of the Boston Massacre

In Ethics we just got into some philosophy about how people make ethical decisions. Students were given thought experiments that led them to discover the idea of consequential or Utilitarian thinking, The Categorical Imperative or rules-based thinking, and the Golden Rule or care-based thinking. We talked about how most dilemmas are analyzed from one of these 3 perspectives (or a combination of them). Soon we will be looking at universal values and the ramifications for ethical dilemmas.

In my VHS class, students finally got into the content. I have 23 students from Virginia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Connecticut, Ohio, and Switzerland. They seem very enthusiastic and energized to learn about U.S. Foreign Policy. Online classes pose a different set of challenges and rewards compared to face to face classes. In some ways I really enjoy the class, in others I grow weary of it. Because of the need from VHS to have every section of a class the same, I do not have much freedom to change to content of the course. I t would be great to make edits on the fly, instead I have to wait until Summer and propose changes. By then, my mind is not in it and its more difficult to make those proposals. Also, it goes through a process and so it may not be allowed, so what's my motivation to take time to propose changes if the likelihood of being approved is unknown? At any rate, I am pleased with student progress so far.

I am teaching a new class this year, Sacrifice for Freedom, which I am co-teaching with a Foreign Language teacher who just happens to be able to speak German, French, and Spanish. The idea is that students will focus on the World War Two era, and create a website for educational purposes to document people and their stories who were involved in the war, resistance, collaboration, etc. Students must make use of a target language for resources, either French, German, or Spanish. At this moment, the students have been tasked with creating 40 minute presentations about the basic events of the war within their country. We have some great guest speakers lined up and still working on more! It is a seminar style class, students self assess themselves and my co-teacher and I meet with each individual every two weeks to talk with them about their grade and then issue our official grade based mostly on the self assessment. I have enjoyed the class so far. We have pushed the students in some ways (our presentation requirements are more in depth and demand more of them than they have done in High School) and yet given them lots of freedom and opportunity to do the work of real historians in areas of interest without having to worry about memorizing things for a test. It is just the beginning, but we are all very excited!

Something else I thought a lot about this week is a new initiative we have at school this year. A group of teachers met last school year to discuss the State mandate that incoming 9th graders graduate with a Proficiency based diploma. During these discussions to support those students, they proposed that the school implement a standards based Habits of work rubric to help support the work habits that lead to success. This is the HOW rubric they came up with:

The idea is that each student will be assessed on the three areas of the HOW rubric in each class every 2 weeks. To remain eligible for privileges and co-curricular activities, they must average a 2.25 or higher on the HOW rubric in each class with no "1"'s (average the three habits together for each class). Other than that, it does not affect a student's GPA or the grade in that class. Very likely the HOW score and the grade will correlate, however. I think this HOW rubric will help students see the connection between effort, work ethic, and success. We are struggling currently to find a way to keep track of these scores as our grading program does not work well with standards based stuff. Aside from these technical difficulties that we are working on fixing, I think it will have a positive impact on students and be great vehicle for conversation about work ethic.

Next week I being plans for the first Cross Discipline Literacy Network Webinar and really start getting into the foundations of Government in the U.S., it should be fun!

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!

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!

Summer PD: Historical Thinking Skills

Much of my work this summer has been connected to a re-imagining of the U.S. History curriculum. To prepare for two Webinars I will be delivering during the coming school year, we have been reading the book Reading, Thinking, and Writing about History by Chauncey Monte-Sano, Susan De La Paz , and Mark Felton. This book take an inquiry approach to the study of history and really focuses on key Common Core standards. The foreward to the book is written by Sam Wineburg who is connected to the Stanford History Education Group and they are known for taking this approach to history curriculum. I am very excited about using their website as well as the book.

I was further encouraged to find that the AP U.S. History course is moving in the same direction! For the first time ever, the College Board is redesigning the exam for the AP U.S. History course. This also means a redesign of the curriculum. In order to prepare for this I attended a week long training at St. Joseph's College run by the College Board.

Our instructor for the week is an AP teacher in Massachusetts. He has been an exam reader for years and was just recently trained for the redesign. At St. Joseph's, several AP courses run institutes, most had from 4-10 participants. We had 31 in ours, and I'm sure its because of the redesign. I learned so much from this week, but my big take away is that there is now less emphasis on content and a greater emphasis on skills. For me this is good news because I have been teaching this way anyway and just hoping students when memorize content to prepare for the exam on their own. Now, I do not need to implore them to memorize as much.

As is typical with these workshops, the textbook companies all sent a bunch of textbooks for us to take home as sample copies. I have many of them already so this wasn't much help for me. I wish they would give us sample copies of primary and secondary source readers, but I guess they don't because they figure people will just photocopy them as needed.

(Just some of the many textbooks the companies sent to give to us)

(even more textbooks visible here)

During our week we explored how the new exam has changed the way the multiple choice questions are written, now included short answer questions, and have a new method of scoring the Document Based Question as well as the Long Essay question. We also had the chance to design our own questions to help practice with students. We created one lesson, and practiced our skills with some lessons we received from the College Board that we can use in our classes. The College Board requires all teachers to submit a new syllabus to be audited because of the significant changes the course has had. We spent a good chunk of time looking at sample syllabi and discussing the changes we need to make. I'm happy to report that I was able to redesign my syllabus during the week, and it was approved by the College Board less than a week later. Its nice to have that done before school starts.

St. Joe's is a great facility, very quiet and just a beautiful campus. The food all week was perfect to help us recharge after working all day. the highlight was the lobster bake Thursday night. I don't eat much lobster, so I had steak instead and it was exquisite! 

I relish these professional development opportunities! I had a chance to exchange ideas with 30 colleagues from around New England (as well as 2 who teach abroad in DOD schools and 1 from California) around this new approach to the AP course. I received a bunch of free resources, and we were well fed in a beautiful setting. There is a cost involved, but the district really gets its money worth. Any AP U.S. History teacher who does not attend a training is really going to be behind in getting their students ready and I just don't see how their students would be able to do well on the exam. There is no way I would feel confident about preparing my students without this training. I would definitely go again in a few years. 

Now for 2 weeks of relaxing before I get back at school stuff. We are driving to South Carolina and then camping for a few days when we get back. After this, I have a Leadership Team retreat and I will be working to get my classes ready for the start of the new year. I plan to blog once a week again this school year as I think it really helps me in my planning. I have already looked back at last year to see what I was doing and when. Its nice to have time for vacation, but I am looking forward to getting back on the classroom!!