We also started looking at the Articels of Confederation and how that led to the Constituional Convention. We don't have a separate required Government course in my school, so to address those Standards we deal with them in US History. The people at The Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics provided me with 3 DVDs and a set of 4 Books for free about 6 years ago. Most recently, I discovered that all of these resources are now available for free online! The videos are well done and designed to be engaging for students. I also use parts of the We The People textbook, which I received a classroom set for free after attending a workshop on the Center for Civic Education. What I like about this text is that is has critical thinking scenarios that helps students apply what they learn to their own lives. To help with this area of study we also have a guest speaker coming to our school in about a week. This man is an attorney who has worked in the South and the West around Constitutional Law. I am also using a resource that former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor helped to create called iCivics. This great resource has online games for students to play that they actually like!
O'Connor delivered a keynote address at last year's Maine Council for the Social Studies Conference. I am on the board for this group and truly enjoy this work. Much of our time is devoted to planning the annual Conference. Last year the Conference was fantastic and we had an awesome turnout. This year the Conference is shaping up to be even better! It is held on Friday November 8 at the Augusta Civic Center. The Keynote address this year deals with the Gettysburg Address (150th anniversary this November) and I am looking forward to it!
The highlight of my week, however, was our Advisee Day Out! Every year at the end of September we have an Advisee Day Out. Each grade level does something pertaining to the grade level goals and by Advisee group. Every student is a member of a group of about 9-11 or so students assigned to one Advisor for all 4 years. Seniors use this day to plan Project Graduation and Graduation related activities. Juniors are out in the Community performing Community Service through Advisee groups. The Sophomores make use of a MELMAC grant to tour 3 different Universities in the State. I am a Freshmen Advisor and our goal is group building so we decided to hike up Mt. Battie in Camden, Maine.
(The stone tower located on top of Mount Battie)
(The view from the top of Mount Battie- stolen from fellow Advisor Paula Weisberger)
The whole Freshmen class traveled to 2 different trails of varying degrees of difficulty in an attempt to support the whole group hiking to the top. Each group made a flag for the hike. One of my advisees put on our group flag "We won't stop until we get to the top!" and that was more or less true! The hike took a bout an hour and my group was on the challenging trail so it was definitely a workout, but one that was well worth it. I think I have one advisee who will forever be looking for Bigfoot while walking in the woods, but that's ok because I also am forever looking for Bigfoot! The weather was amazing on this day! It was in the 60''s and mostly sunny. The Freshmen class is just a nice group of kids in general and that helps a lot. I also have a great group of fellow Advisors. We have been together as Advisors, most of us for 3 full cycles (a cycle is 9-12th grade) and all of us have been together for one full cycle. I really enjoy the group because they are clearly committed to making days like this work, they know how to have fun and enjoy humor, and they are dependable and reliable. There have been times when an Advisor has been ill, had a family emergency, or something else and the others have stepped up to help out. It truly does feel like a family and I think that carries over to the students and plays a role in forming those bonds!
(Myself and 2 fellow Advisors in the bus on the way to Mount Battie)
I ended my week at a training for developing Webinars to discuss Literacy strategies across content areas. The Maine Department of Education has a grant to support this work and is paying a bunch of us to develop Webinars to showcase the Literacy strategies we are using in our classrooms. These Webinars will be part of a Professional Development opportunity for teachers. This is known as the Cross Discipline Literacy Network. Many of the resources will be made available to anyone for free, but the program has other components to it and there is a small fee to access the entire program which is designed for Maine teachers. I am working on strategies I have developed from a book called The Core Six and specifically using close reading to support Compare and Contrast strategies.
More Government and the film Lincoln next week!
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