Catching Up

My travels from the previous two weeks made for an exhausting push up to Thanksgiving! After missing so many classes, it was catch-up time. Trying to manage makeup work for students who were absent (some 3 weeks ago but I couldn't connect with because of my own absences) is difficult. So the Thanksgiving break was well timed to help me get rested up!

In addition to playing catch-up, we moved forward in our curriculum. In U.S. History students are working on their Dollar Bill project in which they must select a person to put on a Dollar Bill and defend it to the class in a presentation. We also have been discussing slavery by reading from "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass". I first read this autobiography when I was in College and was blown away by it. A Substitute teacher in my school left me a copy a few years back that I re-read and I was struck by how relatable and readable it would be for High School students once they got hooked on the story. So through a combination of in-class and on-their-own reading, we read the 100 page book together (Bonus that the book is in the public domain and available as a free PDF they can download to their iPads).

In Ethics, we had our final guest speaker. James Lawley is a former, and now current, attorney for clients on Death Row. Mr. Lawley is now living in Pennsylvania, but he skyped into my classroom to discuss his work with clients on Death Row. The students were very interested in the anecdotes Mr. Lawley conveyed to them and had some really interesting questions.

(James Lawley via Skype)

In History v. Hollywood we finished viewing the film "Schindler's List". This true story of hope during the Holocaust never fails to move students. We have some awesome discussions around genocide and memory while watching the film. We also got into the human psyche and bystanders vs. upstanders. Fun stuff!

Sensation and perception dominated our psychology work. We had a lot of fun tasting candy and isolating where those tastes show up on the tongue. We also were able to make use of many optical illusions and Gestalt psychology. We went in to the break on a gratitude assignment. Some recent research into positive psychology and the work of Martin Seligman shows a correlation between expressing gratitude and increased happiness. So students had to compose a letter thanking someone who they have never properly thanked. It had to be specific, and though I didn't read them, they had to show me they had written something and submit it to me in a stamped, addressed, and sealed envelope. I then mailed them. We didn't record specific data about their happiness before doing this, so its not as scientific as the study. However, we will discuss afterwards whether or not they felt more happy after doing the assignment. Here is a great video we watched to set up the assignment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHv6vTKD6lg

(Classic example of Gestalt Psychology)

I have started work on Understanding Sacrifice. I will honor 4 soldiers (or Fallen Heroes as we are asked to call them) next summer while in Italy and France. I will record video of ceremonies there and bring home some things for those 4 families, all of which live locally to me, here in Maine. However, I will focus the project and lesson plans on one of the four soldiers. The folks at the ABMC want our work to be high quality and detailed and so would only allow to me to choose one for the project. They were very supportive in my wish to recognize and honor all 4 with ceremonies, so I feel this is a good compromise. I will be compiling the stories of all 4 families, but I am starting with the Fallen Hero I will be focusing on for the project. His name was Harvey J. Madore and he lived on Mt. Vernon Avenue in Augusta. His son contacted me after seeing the article about me in the local newspaper. His Dad is buried in Epinal American Cemetery near the German border in France. Here is some information I have gathered about Mr. Madore so far.

PFC US Army  Harvey J. Madore

·      #31460256

·      255^th Infantry Regiment, 63^rd Infantry Division

·      Epinal American Cemetery Plot B Row 32 Grave 29

·      Purple Heart

·      Enlisted: March 30, 1944 Ft. Devens, Massachusetts

·      From: Augusta, ME

·      Born: April 1 1917,  On Cyr Plantation Aroostook County, ME

·      Died: March 5 1945

·      Parents: Joseph E. and Annie Madore

·      Spouse: Marie R.

·      Children: Robert

·      Last residence: 79 Mt. Vernon Ave. Augusta, ME (1945)

I am meeting with his son in a few days to learn more!

 

And so we head into December and the 3 1/2 week push to Christmas break. No snow on the ground and the forecast is calling for warmer than usual temperatures. It would be nice to have a snow day before Christmas, but the extended forecast at this point doesn't point in that direction. Last year we had 6 inches of snow before Thanksgiving, and this year it was 57 degrees the day after Thanksgiving! December in Maine usually means snow or sleet, so I'm sure we will get some sort of storm at some point. Trying to cram what we need in before the almost 2 week break makes for a stressful 3 1/2 weeks. Here we go!