Routines are awesome!

One of the things I look forward to about the start of a new school year is routine. It takes a while, but once we start to feel like we are in a routine, its amazing how comforting that feels to me! As this last week finished, i was starting to feel like a routine was developing.

This is my first year teaching AP Psychology and I have really enjoyed, though it has caused me some stress and a few late nights. I really want the class to be enjoyable and engaging, and I also feel a lot of pressure to adhere to the AP curriculum. My students have the added bonus of receiving College credit from Thomas College, and so I feel that as well. Lucky for me I have joined the AP Psychology online community and it has really helped. Not only have I found countless units and activities that align with the AP curriculum, but I have heard what teaching is like in other parts of the country. I find teaching is busier than ever, but I think I would quit if I worked in another part of the country. I consistently hear in this online community about classes of 35-40 students, class loads of 200-250 students, and pay being docked for students who didn't get a 3 or higher on the AP exam. To me, all of those are just unreasonable and I wouldn't do it. I have a great deal of respect for those who are enduring these conditions. I tried to keep this in mind as I stared out at my 17 Seniors and Juniors in this class and confessed my math skills were poor but I was going to attempt to learn about Standard Deviation with them anyway. No surprise, considering how bright they are, that I think they got it despite my shortcomings in the area of math. Their first quiz is coming up on vocabulary and I hope they are up to the challenge! I'm looking forward to the statistical analysis of chocolate chip cookie brands myself!

My AP US History students have been applying the 9 Historical Thinking Skills to their analysis of the events that led to the American Revolution. We have had a good time questioning the Boston Massacre painting by Paul Revere, among other iconic images from the period. We also watched my favorite music video of all time, Too Late to Apologize, that depicts the anger from the rebels toward the British Government. What a great video!

The students I teach in Honors U.S. History have put Columbus on Trial, analyzed how Democratic the Puritans were, and are just about to try and figure out who fired the first shot at Lexington Green. All fun stuff with great conversations and essays from the students!

(Historic House located near Lexington Green)

I also teach History v. Hollywood and Ethics and both classes are also going very well. The only complaint I have at this point is the heat. I love the weather we have had in general, but my classroom gets killed by direct sunlight all day long and we have no air conditioning. Each day my class hits about 86-88 by lunch time. I have a small fan that provides little relief.  If not for this, I think it would have been a truly fabulous start to the school year! My personal focus this year is to get my dual enrollment classes aligned with the Thomas College curricula and assessments. In addition, we need to participate in the Robert Marzano version of Teacher evaluation. This is a whole new process that requires much from each of us. We all are also working on moving toward a proficiency-based diploma, which also means we are adjusting our curriculum. Related to this is a greater emphasis on student test scores in general and adherence to the Response to Intervention procedure required by law. There are more things we must do, but I'm starting to feel a little negative so I will refrain from rehashing it all. I try to approach each day focused on my students and our learning and make progress on the things I have to do. To try and think more gets overwhelming.

Looking ahead, I am looking forward to two conferences. I am now Vice- President of the Maine Council for the Social Studies and we are hosting a Conference on October 30th in Hermon, ME. Our keynote speaker is a woman named Jenny Buccos who has created Geography videos for educational purposes and given TED Talks around the country. We feel very lucky to have her. We also have some snazzy sessions throughout the day. It should be a wonderful learning experience for all! In my new role as VP, I will also be helping to represent Maine at the National Conference in New Orleans in November. This means participating in the House of Delegates along with our President. I am excited about seeing some of the French Quarter for the first time as well as attending a session on World War Two at the National World War Two Museum, as well as other sessions. I look forward to learning and seeing New Orleans for the first time. In the meantime, studying the Constitution and keeping up with AP Psychology are at the top of my agenda!

Year 18 has begun!

The Staff came together for our annual Advisor Training at Camp Androscoggin on a Thursday. It was a great opportunity to do some planning for the year ahead and also to get to bond a bit as  group. We have many new folks on Staff this year inlcuding two new Advisors at my grade level. One of the thintgs we did was to make a Junior mascot. Ours is below!

Friday was a "nuts and bolts" day. I always try to not let these days overwhelm and annoy me but its tough. We get reminded of the multitude of things we have to learn and be responsible for. Unfortunately some of these are outside mandates with very little support. Not a one of them is bad for kids, except that it takes time away from students for teachers to be able to do them. I'm convinced that the only way we can do the things for students we need to be doing to serve them well is to only teach one class a day of about 10 students. That would give us the time to do the things we need to do for those students. Some of these things include: RTI programming, IEP adherence, Marzano Standards for teachers, proficiency-based education, technology expectations, etc. I won't rant any more, but it was a long day. By the end I was thinking, just send us the kids!

This year may have been my best start out of the previous 18! I and my students were enthusiastic and had a great time talking about collaboration and leadership by participating in the Marshmallow Challenge. This requires them to create a freestanding tower with limited supplies in 18 minutes. I have a few pics from their work below.

The weather was rough this week. Maine has such a short summer in most respects, that almost no schools have Air Conditioning. My classroom hit the upper 80's with high humidity each day during the week. The kids whined a little, but they did what I asked of them. I enjoy warm weather, but it is sure tough to get students to think and work after they have done so for 4 hours in the heat and humidity.

We kicked off my AP Psychology class with an experiment to measure reaction time. In U.S. History classes we debated the merits of Columbus and his holiday. In Ethics we evaluated eating a cat and whether or not morality was involved. In History v. Hollywood we looked at historical film clips and discussed the message. Great fun!

My LCD projector died on Monday, but the tech folks provided me with a loaner and I am told a new one will be installed soon. Aside from that and the weather, it was a fun week! The students were engaged and positive and I can't wait to get into some fun activities next week! I will blog more about our start to the school year and what we are doing in two weeks. It should be a bit cooler by then!