Spring has Sprung

My week started off with a wonderful guest speaker in my Ethics class. Former student, Emma Burke, now works for the Maine Ethics Commission. Her job is to make sure that candidates running for office and accepting tax payer money for their campaigns follow the rules set forth in the Maine Clean Election Act. She explained how it works to run for office in the State and what happens when people bend the rules. She also talked about specific examples of things that have happened in the past and the role money plays in elections in general. It was very interesting! Its always nice to see former students doing neat things, but even better when they are somewhat connected to Social Studies!

In my AP class, the Exam is looming. On May 8, 22 students in my AP U.S. History class will be taking the AP Exam through the College Board. We have been working hard to prepare. We missed half a class on Tuesday as almost all of them were pulled for projects in Physics. The Physics projects happen around this time every year and I knew it would happen at some point but I hadn't seen it in the calendar. It was tough to miss the half class, but once I found out they were missing class I thought it would be the entire period so I was pleased to get them for half the class. I wish they would consider doing these projects after the AP exam as the Juniors are really stressed right now!

A news reporter from the local newspaper The Kennebec Journal came to my Sacrifice for Freedom class on Tuesday along with a photographer. They talked with the students about the project they have been working on to commemorate the stories of people who lived through World War Two. But they were especially interested in the story of Lewis Frelan Goddard and our planned memorial.  I look forward to the media coverage of our project.

On Wednesday I was pleased to accompany a bunch of Juniors to Boston for the day to tour Boston University and Suffolk University. I know our Guidance Department gets a MELMAC grant that pays for the trip. I really enjoyed getting to see the programs offered at both schools and walking around Boston a little bit on a nice day. Both schools did a tremendous job giving students good information about College. I also know our Guidance Department does a great job providing these experiences for students. Overall, it was a very nice day.

We've been studying the end of World War Two and my students are reflecting on the tragedy and destruction of the war. Each of them are composing a Haiku related to one aspect of the war and drawing an image to go with the Haiku. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of poems they come up with.

In Psychology we are discussing sleep issues and dreams. The students are very interested in this topic and research around the role sleep plays in the brain and in human behavior. They will be keeping a dream journal to monitor what they are dreaming about over the next week and then we can reflect on what we speculate our dreams mean. Its always interesting to think about this very mysterious part of the brain.

Next week my students take the AP Exam and I will be out the same day at the follow up workshop for the DBQ Project workshop I did in March. We will also spend a good deal of time planning the Assembly for World War Two Soldier Lewis Frelan Goddard who died in the war. I always enjoy May, good stuff coming up!