Uneventful week

It was nice to have a regular 5 day week with no snow days or other unusual occurrences. During this week before vacation I spent my time helping my advisees register for classes for next year among a bunch of other things.

In U.S. history classes we discussed Imperialist thinking in The U.S. in the early 20th century. We also talked about working conditions an the plight of immigrants. We read an excerpt from The Jungle and looked at the Spanish-American War. We also started the Murder mystery simulation around Teddy Roosevelt and his influence.

(USS Maine- the sinking was one of the triggers of the war)

(Newspaper publishers Pulitzer and Hearst fight over readers using Yellow Journalism to stir up support for the war)

In Ethics we discussed how the pace of change and the level of change increases over time. We talked about how this increased timeline frame makes it difficult for society to contemplate the ethics of these changes. We used a few videos about the use of drones and robots to help support this discussion.

In Psychology we talked about early Psychologists such as Wilhelm Wundt and their theories on how to help people. We talked about focusing on empathy and how he judged empathy. We continued to listen to the Serial podcast and analyzed the psychology involved in it. All great stuff!

(Wilhelm Wundt)

The students in my Sacrifice for Freedom class made great strides in their research and have been in direct contact with German and American POW's from World War Two, as well as the son of a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade that fought in the Spanish Revolution. I am looking forward to the Spring when we post our findings to a web site we are creating.

Next week is vacation so two weeks until my next blog post. Next will involve a little bit of grading, and some other school planning. But it will also involve a couple of days getting away to rest up. Another big storm is coming, but at least we won't lose any more school days because of it. When we get back it will be Winter Carnival week which means I will will really only have their attention for one day during the week for each class. After that will be March and I hope some warmer weather.

Shortest month of the year

One more snow day on Monday, and we finally had a semi-normal week. I met with my Psychology class for the first time this week and we started our exploration of the brain and human behavior. We delved into inattentional blindness and its ramifications through the use of this video, The Invisible Gorilla. We also started listening to the Serial podcast as a way to connect issues around memory, lying, and bias to a real life problem. The famous podcast recounts the real life story of a man in prison for murder who claims his innocence. The students have become engaged by the way the story is presented and seem to enjoy discussing the issues.

We had an early release day on Tuesday, which means professional development for teachers in the afternoon. Our staff used this time to explore the Smarter Balanced assessment. Our 11th grade students will be taking this assessment for the first time in March. This is a test students do online that is aligned with the Common Core Standards for English and Math. Its a difficult test for 11th grade students, and we will have many who struggle. It served as a reminder for me that we are being asked to deal with a lot of changes and still have very little  time to deal with them. Most of the changes are mandates form the State or the Federal Government. We also are piloting a new teacher evaluation system this year. We were told by the State we had to have at least 10% of our evaluation based on student progress and that we could use commons assessment data to measure the growth. Yet it was announced by the State that the Federal government will pull Federal funding unless we modify our model to require at least 20% based on student growth and that must be measured by a standardized test.  I try not to let all of this stuff stress me out and just focus on what I'm doing in my classroom with my students, but sometimes its hard. I appreciate all the time and work folks in my district have put in to trying and prepare us for what outside forces are requiring us to do, I know its been hard for everyone. Unfortunately, it just feels like one more thing we have to do without the proper support to and training to do it.

I did an online webinar about World War Two this week. It was offered by America in Class and was titled "Popular Perceptions of World War Two". We read a few articles in advance and had some great discussions around topics like how the war effected women in America and Women in Europe and how the U.S. Army treated both groups of women differently in how they responded to soldiers actions and related their responses to the public. I found it very interesting and nice to relate to the Sacrifice for Freedom class I teach. The students are working hard and in addition to creating a web site, we are also planning a memorial service for Lewis Ferlan Goddard who died in the war and has been the focus of some of our research. The students are planning to build a permanent memorial for him on our campus and invite his brother to come for the dedication. It's all very exciting! Below are two screen shots form the online Webinar.

In U.S. history we did a simulation designed to help understand labor unions. I have done this for the last few years, and its a lot of fun. Students are assigned to be workers and a few are managers in fictitious factories producing works of art. They get paid for every piece of art they create and based on quality. The simulation forces them to compete, and creates tensions between the managers and workers. The idea is to show them how and why some workers feel the need to organize labor unions. It amuses me to see how naturally the idea of going on strike comes to them, and also how competitive they get over this task of creating the best works of art that, in reality, has no meaning! This is a great introduction into our discussion of the rise of big business and organized labor.

Next week is the last week before vacation and will be the start of the Teddy Roosevelt murder mystery simulation. This is one of my favorite activities and I really look forward to it. Hopefully we can keep the snow days away. With vacation, only 28 days, and Winter Carnival the last week of the month, February really is the shortest month of the year!

Snow days

This post will be really short as we only had two days of school this week thanks to the weather! Tuesday and Wednesday were lost due to a Blizzard that hit New England and brought close to two feet of snow to my area. Most schools in the State were closed both days. Then to add insult to injury, we had another storm come in on Friday dropping another 12 inches or so to my area. I'm not one to complain about no school calls, but I think we could have gotten in at least a half day of school as the snow did not really pick up until the afternoon. Either way, we only had two days of school.

In those two days, we saw the same 4 classes because of our schedule and how the snow days fell. So I haven't seen my AP class, or my Sacrifice for Freedom class in over a week and I still haven't met my new Psychology class yet. The snow days have allowed me to get caught up on my grading and put most of the first semester stuff to rest. However, it would be nice to see those classes!

I did have Honors U.S. History and we spent some time this week discussing the success and failure of Reconstruction after the Civil War and the fight to put Native Americans on Reservations. Both deal with issues connected to racism and we had some great discussions. I also met my new Ethics class and we started off talking about Ethics and talking about what students would do in hypothetical scenarios. Its a lively group ready to discuss and debate so it should be a lot of fun!

I hope that next week I actually get to see my other classes and maybe we can avoid anymore snow days for a few weeks at least!

Mid Terms and Semester Finals

So the way my mind works this week really annoys me. I will try to explain. I like every semester to be treated the same way. No one semester is more important than another. After all, students are awarded 1/2 a credit each semester. Some classes are only a semester long classes well. And yet, to save money on a bus run, we stopped requiring first semester "Finals" several years ago. Teachers are allowed to give them and maybe even encouraged to, but we are not allowed time to grade them nor are students allowed time to prepare or study. As a result, in the Spring students have half days which give them time to prepare and study and gives us time to grade them. Not so for semester one, we have regular classes as usual. I have mentally gotten over the idea that semester 1 is treated differently, even though I think we should have the half days in January (as many High Schools do), but I hate the idea that we can still offer Finals without the time and maybe are encouraged to do so. I believe the school should either say no semester one Finals or go back to having the half days and require them. I doubt very much either one will ever happen!

Now that my rant is over I can comment on the week of Finals. This included some tests and some projects.For my classes that are only one semester, students had to do project Finals. They had to make a documentary film in History v. Hollywood comparing 2 historical films. In Ethics they had to analyze a current ethical dilemma in a slide show. My other two classes are year long and those students had tests this week.

I like the end of the semester and winding things up, but its very busy. Without the half days we try and do the same things we always do, plus issue new schedules and handle schedule changes for the next semester, and make plans for the new semester. This makes things very difficult and stressful! I am greatly looking forward to starting new classes next semester. I already have some exciting plans for both Ethics and Psychology. I will miss the students who are leaving me now, but I also look forward to meeting some new students this semester. Plus some of the students are the same just taking a different class. Next week will be very exciting! For now, I am grading the Finals!

End of the Semester craziness

To start the week I and a Middle School teacher form another part of the state hosted our 2nd webinar. This series was sponsored by the Cross Discipline Literacy Network and our most recent webinar may be viewed here:  http://stateofmaine.adobeconnect.com/p34rissatg2/

For this webinar I shared another Historical Investigation from the book Reading, Thinking, and Writing About History: Teaching Argument Writing to Diverse Learners in the Common Core Classroom, Grades 6-12 (Common Core State Standards for Literacy) by Chauncey Monte-Sano , Susan De La Paz , and Mark Felton. This time around my students investigated which method was more effective for freeing slaves, moral persuasion or more aggressive action. We learned a great deal with this investigation and had a great conversation about nonviolence and violence. In tied in nicely to a discussion about recent protests in the news, and the release of the film Selma in theaters.

As usual for this time of year, I am just too busy to blog about much. I was sick this week and that didn't help. Students were working on their final projects or studying for a test so not much exciting happening on that front! Next week will be the semester finals and then new and exciting things will be happening at the start pf the new semester.

So more good stuff to come next semester!

A New Year Begins

Depression, its every where right now. I feel it, and so do the students. Negative temperatures, dark mornings, snow storms threatening and 8 weeks of winter ahead. It's a tough time of year to get going. Monday was very difficult, everyone was tired and cold. Unfortunately the semester is winding down, so after one day of just dragging, everyone has to start finding energy to do what needs to be done. This was not as hard for me because we are studying the Civil War which I just absolutely love!

We spent some time this week analyzing the Gettysburg Address. This is aligned with common core of course! We also talked about the genius of Abraham Lincoln and I showed two brief clips from the film Lincoln to help students understand his personality a bit more.

In our study of the Civil War, we analyzed the advantages of North and South as well as their characters during the War. We watched the first episode of Ken Burns' The Civil War which is a great introduction to help students understand the total impact of the war on American culture.

In History v. Hollywood we watched the film JFK and discussed the assassination. Students also spent a good deal of time working on their iMovie project. for the project they have to pick 2 historical films on a related topic and compare and contrast them in a 4 minute documentary they make.

In Ethics we have been discussing the origins of political philosophy as it pertains to ethics and justice. This includes looking at the online discussions from Michael Sandel's Justice from Harvard. Students are also working on their Final project. For their Final project, they have selected a current controversial ethical dilemma affecting society and analyzing the dilemma using our analysis protocol including possible resolutions or compromises.

What makes this time of year difficult is that we are trying to wrap up the semester while at the same time planning for scheduling for next school year, and making sure schedules and plans are ready for the second semester to start. Next week I will be delivering my last webinar of the year on a Historical Investigation we did connect to abolition. Also we have a professional development on Friday afternoon leading into the long weekend for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The new film Selma is coming out about Dr. King and I can't wait to see it. I hope someday to use it in my casses. I am looking forward to starting a new semester with a new section of ethics and a new section of psychology!

Holiday Vacation at last!

It doesn't matter when vacation starts, those school days leading up to the vacation tend to be the longest and most stressful! It doesn't help that there isn't much sun this time of year in our part of the world for weather reasons as well as the shorter day lights hours leading up to December 21st. I do my best to turn on my charm and stay positive!

The highlight of this week was our Abolitionist Simulation. What was the simulation? Well I will now explain! Students are assigned a famous abolitionist (like Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe or Wendell Phillips) and must research how that person felt about 4 proposals for the Abolitionists to consider. One advocates the inclusion of women in the movement, one advocates the use of violence, and one advocates secession form the Union. Students then use parliamentary procedure to debate these proposals and adopt them or not. It is designed to help them understand how complicated slavery and abolition really was and perhaps suggest why the Civil War happened. I always have a lot of fun with this playing the role of William Lloyd Garrison and running the meeting.

The Maine Council for the Social Studies Board had its annual meeting at Joyce's in Hallowell this week. We debriefed the National Conference and came up with some ideas for our annual Conference next Fall. We had dinner and a little celebration for our outgoing President who is taking some time away and may come back in a support role n some way down the line. It's a great group of people and I really enjoy the work! Exciting times to come I'm sure!

(MCSS Board with 4 members missing)

We also had the chance this week to start talking about the Civil War and I shared my pictures and videos form my Teaching American History Grant trip in 2009. I can show students Harper's Ferry where John Brown was captured and also the Battlefields at Antietam and Gettysburg. By showing them these images and videos, I can also explain the role the 20th Maine regiment played in the Battle of Gettysburg and their leader, Joshua Chamberlain. Students are always fascinated to hear the story of how the 20th Maine defended Little Round Top and won the Battle for the Union (and maybe the war?).

(20 Maine regiment at a reunion of the Battle of Gettysburg sitting on Little Round Top)

We ended up the week watching a fascinating film about the French Resistance during World War Two in Sacrifice for Freedom. The film is called "Army of Shadows" and was in French with English subtitles. The students have been hard at work with their research and we wanted to do something a little different just before break. We even provided popcorn and soda for the students.

(French Resistance fighters)

I'm too tired to blog about any of the other things that happened this week!! Time to rest.We now have 2 weeks off so I won't blog again until the end of the first full week in January. When I get back I will be preparing to deliver Webinar number 2 and we will be looking to wrap the semester up in all my classes.