My APGOV students tackled the second half of Brutus 1, the argument that a republican form of government cannot succeed in a country as large as the US, in the same way they’d tackled the first half o...

I had an IEP meeting this morning, so I left my APGOV students with a sub after about the first twenty-five minutes of the block, but I brought them donuts to make up for it. For their assignment, I’d...

“Bro, I brushed my teeth this morning and my mouth is still tingly.” -a random thing I heard a boy say before the morning bell And then I went to fill my water bottle and one of my students from la...

Originally posted by milanabx

I ran the local 5k yesterday morning. Some of the track kids were handing out medals at the finish line, and they cheered super loud for me when I finished. I made the masters podium, which was unexpe...

I had a bunch of stuff to do this morning during my prep time: make my copies, upload materials to Classroom, do my whiteboards, submit my emergency sub plans, mark my ninth graders’ first assignment...

This past week, my dad was admitted to the hospital and had fairly major surgery. I didn’t tell many people- The Principal, some of my friends, that’s all- and I kept pretty darn calm about the whole ...

Today my Global Studies students shared out the research they’d done last class about important days in Judaism- various holidays, Shabbat, bar/bat mitzvahs- and identified some common customs, simila...

My APGOV students have been studying a set of court cases and, in small groups, determining which of those cases is the most significant in a tournament-style debate. Today they had to explain how the...

My plan for the first part of Global Studies was to go over the article students had read and annotated yesterday, then have them pair up to share what they’d learned from researching particular Hindu...

I made the mistake of counting my Global Studies students aloud so that I knew how many copies of today’s assignments to give to each row, which meant I got a chorus of “Six seven!” from a handful of ...

The track team went to an invitational today, and we all got some combination of sunburned/windburned, and we had a ton of fun. The day did get off to an odd start, though. I parked my car as the ki...

The funeral was yesterday. The church was so packed that dozens of people were standing in the back. It’s not the way I wanted to see so many of my former students, but I was glad they were there. The...

I spent most of my prep time proofreading papers for my APGOV students, then writing the one remaining college rec I’d been asked to write (so far- I might get more requests). Then spent most of flex ...

My Global Studies students are in the middle of reading books, and they’re doing research projects about the time periods and issues those books deal with. But today, once they’d read for twenty minut...

My Global Studies students have learned that if I ask for something- a volunteer to read, an answer to a question, whatever- and they’re dead silent, it does not faze me. I will wait them out. I could...

There was a crazy thunderstorm overnight, and it caused a ton of flooding. It even washed out a chunk of one of the major state roads. So there were whole towns that were unable to get buses through, ...

We weren’t fully staffed at the start of this school year- short a couple teachers and I don’t know how many paras- but the board approved some new people last week, so now I think we are fully staffed or, if not, we’re close to it. We might still need paras (schools ALWAYS needs paras). I got a new one in my first section of Global Studies today, though. He had a pretty chill day because students were in the middle of essay outlining. They already knew what to do, they just had to come in and do it. I occasionally checked over work, redirected kids who got distracted, and reminded them to cite their sources. That’s it. Otherwise, I was getting my grading (of the first current event write-up they did, which they turned in yesterday) done and entered in PowerSchool. This is how I maintain my reputation for being quick: I utilize all the time I possibly can. Mr. O would tell you I also read freakishly quickly, which… probably accurate. I am a wizard, after all. Anyways. I did a lot more direct instruction in APGOV. First, we discussed the Articles of Confederation: how it structured the national government, what powers it gave the congress, what weaknesses were evident in the design. Then I lectured through the circumstances that led to the drafting of the Constitution. The ratification debate is the subject of my next several classes, and they’ll tackle some Antifederalist and Federalist writings on their own and in small groups because I try to balance the days when I talk a lot with ones when I don’t. Plus, I have an IEP meeting during that block on Friday and Mr. F’s going to cover, so intentional planning is doubly necessary. I spent my prep time getting materials ready for my next class, doing a bit of budgeting for my department, and other noninstructional duties. I also had a few minutes to pop down to the college fair our school counselors were hosting in the cafeteria because a representative from my alma mater was there, and I wanted to a) send students his way, and b) get a sticker. One can never have too many stickers in one’s classroom!

During our last review session before the APGOV exam, my students asked if we could throw a party after all their exams were over, and I obviously said yes. Finding time was a bit tricky, but today th...

I fully intended to get my grading done this morning. Then I had to go talk to Mr. CS about who we want to call in for interviews (I’m having Mr. CS in on the committee because the new teacher will be...

Did I go into the first day back from spring break with absolutely no plans? Yup. I joked with my friends that I’m teaching about the world, and if you’ve seen the world lately, you know I have option...

Today was one of those days that got more challenging as it went on. I don’t mean that anything bad happened, though. I just had more to do. My APGOV students spent the block putting the finishing ...

Mr. JL and Mr. F joined my APGOV class this morning for my students’ presentations, and it was awesome to have them there. Each group of students introduced themselves, read the policy memo they’d crafted, and then fielded questions from the three of us. Having them there was great because they asked questions I hadn’t thought to ask, their perspectives and thought processes are different, and their presence added a level of difficulty- but not an insurmountable one- to the project. Students often find it hard to present their work to one adult, so presenting to more than one is a big deal. I thought they did a really awesome job, though, and I’m happy with their written memos, too. They really showed their understanding of the issues they chose to write about as well as their ability to express liberal and conservative viewpoints accurately. I also think this set them up well for the rest of the course, which is great. Global Studies was also great. Students finished revising the current events write-ups they had been drafting. They added conclusions, put in transition words and stronger verbs where applicable, and proofread their work. I had to help a few students who’d skipped steps or just wanted to turn their work in without making any changes, but then everyone got on the right track. I tend to change the way I teach students how to do these write-ups from year to year, but this might have been some of my best teaching, so I’ll definitely be keeping this lesson as is for next time. So it was a good day, and it ended at the football stadium for the first home game of the season. I checked tickets, as I always do, then went and hung out with some of my colleagues in the bleachers. It wasn’t a very exciting game, at first, but it picked up and our team came away with the win!