Writing to comprehend, rather than to express

You Step

2012-03-06T12:23:00.000-08:00

I hope you all enjoyed your breakfast. You should tell your parents about it. Answers: elephant and McDonald's.

I hope you all took your time answering the questions on the ISTEP. I'm not going to ask you to discuss that with your parents - as we're not supposed to discuss the ISTEP. But I will say get another good night's sleep tonight. Seriously, go to bed early.

We're back in The Hunger Games. It's been a LONG time. We're reading it through now. Seriously, no stopping.

If you want extra credit for reading and discussing today's blog, just write down the words "McDonald's and Elephants" on a piece of paper and have the person you read/discussed it with sign the paper. It's as easy as that. I'll give you more in depth questions tomorrow. ...Or the next day...

Crazier Days

2012-03-05T15:53:00.000-08:00

Today was one of the craziest days I've had in a while... it was interesting...

Once again, I'm bummed out about missing Gandhi, but excited to get back into The Hunger Games tomorrow.

It was nice to see what all the kids got out of Gandhi. We talked a little about civil disobedience and cell phones, questions they had from the movie, and grades, grades, grades...

ISTEP Tomorrow! Get a good night's sleep!

To get the extra credit today, discuss instances of civil disobedience found in the film Gandhi. Also, Gandhi cared most about nonviolence. He cared about it more than gaining independence. Given all the violence that the Indians went through to get their independence, Gandhi thought his life was a failure. Do you agree with him or not? Was his life a failure? Why or why not?

To prove you read this blog entry, write the following sentences: "Maybe India should make iodized salt... I read and discussed the blog with ___________________." Then, have the adult you read and discussed the blog with sign on the line.

Goodbye Gandhi

2012-03-02T15:13:00.000-08:00

So, I was at the school today and a student from my first hour class came up to me - really sad and dejected-looking and said, "Well Mr. Habecker..."

"Yeah?"

He kindof stammered around a little before tearing up a bit. "Well... Gandhi died today."

"Well, he actually died in 1948."

The kid gave me one of those, 'you're an idiot' looks. "I know that Mr. Habecker... uggg... you know what I mean."

Yeah, I do.

So today, discuss with your parents/ an adult what you thought about Gandhi. Why was he killed? What do you know about the Indian Independence Movement? Gandhi had called for three things to happen in order to gain a successful, peaceful independence: 1- get rid of the caste system/ untouchability; 2-there needed to be Hindu/Muslim unity; 3-defy the British. Which of these were the Indians able to accomplish? Which didn't they accomplish as well as Gandhi would have liked?

In order to get the extra credit on Monday, read and discuss the blog with a parent or adult (preferably one that lives in your home.) When you are done, write the following sentences on a scrap piece of paper: "The odd thing about assassins, Dr. King, is that they think they've killed you. I read and discussed the blog with__________________." Then have the person you read and discussed it with sign on the line.

(Image credit: Asia Society)

Missing Gandhi

2012-03-01T11:18:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I'm missing Gandhi. It's one of the high points of the year.

I'm not posting much today, but I want to make sure you have the opportunity to get some extra credit if you want it.

For today, just discuss with an adult what happened in the film. What's going on between the Hindus and Muslims? The British and the Indians? How are Jinnah, Nehru, and Gandhi all interacting? Gandhi said that there were 3 main things that would have to happen in order for Indian to have a successful independence. Do you remember what those three things were?

After you discuss that with an adult, write the following on a piece of paper: "Tunisian fruit-vendor/ Katniss Everdeen. I discussed the questions about Gandhi with_______________" Then, have the adult you discussed the question with sign the line.

P.R.

2012-02-29T12:38:00.002-08:00

Well, progress reports came out today. Overall, grades were good - though there were a couple bad grades in the mix. It's interesting that I'm offering more extra credit than ever, and I still have some students with low grades...

At any rate, you can get some extra credit today by discussing the following with an adult - preferably one that you live with, like a parent, or auntie, etc...

Tell what happened in today's segment of Gandhi. What points did Mr. Cowells stop it? Why?

Compare what's happening/ what happened to the Indians to the Burmese in "Shooting an Elephant" or the Banananovians, or the various continents in the colonization simulation.

Make a prediction: if the British leave India, what's going to happen?

To get the extra credit today, write the following on a sheet of scrap paper: "Nice beard, Mr. Frantz. I read and discussed this leap-blog with ___________." Then, have the adult you discussed it with sign on the line.

Image Credit: TheSayGi

Amritsar Massacre

2012-02-27T17:34:00.002-08:00

I understand that the students got to the Amritsar Massacre today. (You can watch the clip below. Fair warning, it's probably the most intense scene in the movie.)

The Indian Independence Movement is interesting. It's interesting because it mainly manifested itself nonviolently. Now, that's not to say there wasn't a loss of blood. There was much blood lost - as this clip shows. But it's different than the U.S. route to independence - through war. Or, Australia - which gained its independence gradually over the course of many years without any bloodshed at all.

To get the extra credit for today's blog entry discuss what has happened so far in Gandhi with an adult in your household. Make sure to mention the Amritsar Massacre and what happened to General Dyer (if you know.) Talk about what Gandhi wants, and why. Discuss what is meant by civil disobedience and nonviolent, noncooperation.

Then, to prove you read and discussed the blog, write down the following sentences: "All hail Cowells-ji! I read and discussed the blog with _____________________." Have the adult you discussed the blog with sign the paper.

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

2012-02-26T17:33:00.000-08:00

I'll have more extra credit up tomorrow. I promise.

In the meantime, enjoy your evening, or morning, or wherever/whenever you are.

¡Gandhi!

2012-02-22T16:52:00.000-08:00

It seems as though Mr. Cowells, Mr. Swanson, and Mr. Frantz watch Gandhi the way I read The Hunger Games. ...You know... stopping every few seconds or minutes to talk about how it ties in with social studies.

I'm sure it's super-annoying, but no doubt also super helpful. There is SO much in that movie. It's one of the top 3 things I'm asked every year by former students: have you started Gandhi yet? And generally, it's followed by some accolade or another... My point is the interruptions enhance the film rather than detract from it.

To get the extra credit tonight, discuss what you watched in class with an adult that you live with. I want you to mention 3 different places the film was stopped and discussed. Tell why Mr. Cowells (or whoever stopped the film) stopped it and what they were pointing out.

Finally, write down the following quote on a piece of paper, and have the adult sign it. "I discussed three times the movie Gandhi stopped with the person who signed this paper."

One last thing. I had some people ask about pictures of my new baby. Here are a couple. I'll add Mr. Frantz too. I hope he doesn't mind. He seems like a nice guy.

No E.C. today

2012-02-21T19:46:00.000-08:00

Sorry all of you point-savvy people out there. There's no extra credit today. Word on the street is class went well though.

Baby number three (Penelope Jane) is adorable. I'll try not to inundate the blog with pictures.

Shooting an Elephant - Homework

2012-02-16T04:52:00.000-08:00

Today in class we read George Orwell’s essay, “Shooting an Elephant.” It’s a very good essay. It depicts the British Empire as it’s reaching its end, and shows the outcomes of colonization. If you’ve never read the essay and want to, click HERE. (I highly recommend it. It’s not very long.)

Every other year we’ve discussed the essay in class. Most classes got a little discussion in today, but not to the extent I wanted to discuss it. Your homework, student, is to discuss the essay with a parent, adult that you live with, or someone over 18. You don’t have to take more than 10-15 minutes discussing it, but you can discuss it in greater detail if you want.

First, summarize the story. Tell the person you’re discussing it with what happened. Parents/adults, feel free to ask questions if you don’t understand something about the story.

Once the summary is done, discuss some of the following questions. You can choose the amount you want to answer, but I would suggest answering at least two questions.

1. The British had made Burma (Myanmar), India, and the rest of the “British Raj” part of the British Empire. What does this mean?

2. Why did Orwell feel conflicted about his job?

3. Can you give any examples of ethnocentrism found in the essay? Can you find an example from the other side?

4. Orwell says, “When the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys.” What does he mean?

5. Have you ever been faced with a situation where you felt pressured into doing something you knew was wrong? How did that make you feel? Explain your answer if you feel comfortable.

6. Compare what happened to the Burmese in the essay to what happened to the Banananovians.

7. How do you think the elephant’s owner felt? Why couldn’t he do anything about the situation? What does that say about the rights of certain groups of people in the empire?

8. Did Orwell REALLY have to shoot the elephant? And what makes you come to that conclusion?

9. Did the elephant symbolize/represent something more? If so, what? (Symbolism reminds us of something else.) ***If you’re having trouble with this one, compare what happened to the elephant to what happened to the Burmese people. Compare who shot the elephant to the British Empire.

In order to get credit for the homework, on a scrap piece of paper, write down the numbers of the questions you answered, along with a brief (one or two sentence) response to each. Then have the adult you discussed it with sign the paper. (Make sure the name of the student is on it as well.)

China's Oil Imports

2012-02-15T12:02:00.000-08:00

So... honestly, I didn't like my lesson today as much as I thought I would. It was rather boring. Sorry about that. I promise you'll like it tomorrow. Well... I'd better not promise... but you'll probably like it.

Today we continued discussing GDP, and we looked at China's oil imports.

I don't want to take up more of your time today, so I'll just get to the E.C.

Find out if your kid knows what an import is. Ask them the opposite of import. Ask them how GDP and standard of living are similar. How are they different? Why does China need to import more oil this year than they did in 2005?

Finally, ask them what currency means. I was shocked, shocked, when I saw how many students didn't know what currency means. In one class, I didn't have a single student who could answer it. (Most classes it was about 50-50...) My definition of "pounds" was "British currency." Unfortunately, the students didn't know what currency meant. Oh well, it's not like it's that common of a word. Besides, they know it now. (Hopefully.)

If you want the extra credit today, write the following phrase on a scrap of paper: "Riba ribi grize rep." Then, have the parent or adult you discussed the blog with sign the paper. Make sure you include your name.

GDP

2012-02-14T13:01:00.000-08:00

We had a nice discussion about GDP today.

I had a District Technology Committee meeting today in the afternoon, and the meeting just ended - so I don't have time to type up a blog right now.

Extra credit if you discuss what we talked about in class:

What does GDP stand for?
What is GDP?
How is it measured?
Why can't it be measured in number of products?
What happened to China's GDP between 1949 and 2000?
What are some reasons that happened?

If you discuss those questions with an adult, write the following phrase on a scrap piece of paper: I never knew gross meant total. I discussed GDP with __________________________.

Then, have the adult you discussed the blog with sign the the line. (Make sure you have your name on it as well.)

A Couple Games

2012-02-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

To get the extra credit today, play the Middle East Geography Games found HERE.

We spent a little time today discussing similarities between the three monotheistic religions - Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. One of the similarities we mentioned is that they all originated in the Middle East.

Some of the students were unsure of what/where the Middle East is, so I talked about the term a little bit - and how it's Eurocentric - and therefore, one could argue - ethnocentric. (Basically, the term comes from the European point of view.)

Here's a nice picture:

To get the extra credit today, students have to play the game (play the "country" column - in the middle) 5 times, and show an adult that they've played it 5 times. Once they're done, have the adult sign a piece of scrap paper, along with the scores.

Colonization Simulation Breakdown II

2012-02-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

The students have homework over the weekend, though most of them finished it in class. If they haven't finished their Colonization Simulation Breakdown papers, they need to. (I'll attach a link in case anybody was absent or lost it.)

If you were in class, it should be easy, as we discussed a lot of the questions today. Some of the questions were pretty straight-forward, such as: "What did your flag look like?" Or, "What was your chant?" Other questions were more difficult though, like, "What did the flag and chant represent?" We discussed the different aspects of culture that they represented.

I think it's fairly important to stay informed, so before the 2008 elections, I read both of Barack Obama's autobiographies/memoirs as well as John McCain's book Faith of My Fathers. In the book, McCain tells of when he was a POW in Vietnam. He told the story of Mike Christian making a flag out of his POW uniform. We discussed what the flag represents, and why. We compared that to the flags students made for the activity.

I searched out the story on youtube. It differs slightly than how I remember it from the book. It's embedded here if you care to take 3 minutes to watch it.

We discussed whether what happened was fair or unfair, and why students felt that way. We discussed sporting events, reffing, and how things always seem unfair if you're on the team that loses.

We discussed ethnocentrism, and whether or not the Europeans were truly ethnocentric. I had a student one time ask me if they were really ethnocentric, since my definition was, "thinking your culture is superior to other cultures." The student told me that means the colonizers weren't ethnocentric. Since they defeated everybody else, they really were the better culture. If two basketball teams played one another, we'd all agree that the winning team was the better team - especially if it was a landslide victory. ...Like I said, we had some great discussion today.

Congratulations. It's Friday. I am a real human being typing this. If you want the extra credit on Monday, have the adult you discussed the blog with sign a piece of paper and write something witty on it.

Here's the link to the paper: Colonization Simulation Breakdown Paper

Debriefing Colonization Simulation

2012-02-09T07:01:00.000-08:00

That's right, it's time for the weekly social studies blog homework. In case you're still wondering why I do this, the more a student discusses what goes on in the classroom, the better chance she'll have at retaining the information. Furthermore, multiple choice testing can only assess so much. One-on-one discussion truly shows understanding and comprehension. Unfortunately, I can only have a limited number of one-on-one discussions in the classroom. Finally, I'm trying to help you guys out. I believe it is important to keep families in the loop. This is what we are studying in my class.

Yesterday we had the colonization simulation. Today we started debriefing the activity. The bellwork question was, "If you were in a group that was conquered, how did you feel? Why? If you were part of the conquering group, how did you feel? Why?" So far, I've received some really good responses. Most students bought into yesterday's activity, and felt like it was unfair that one person could defeat seven or eight. They thought it was unfair when their land was taken.

We looked at a couple maps of The British Empire:

Image Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_British_Empire.png

Then we went back to the "Reasons Explorers Explored the World" paper from Tuesday. Class was cut short today because of the writing prompt, so we'll have to leave the rest of the debriefing until tomorrow. To get credit for the blog homework, discuss yesterday's activity. Adults, ask questions about what happened. Students, be as descriptive as possible. Explain how the desire for natural resources was the driving force behind exploration and colonization.

After you've discussed the blog, write the following sentences on a piece of scrap paper: "I read and discussed the blog with ___________________________________." Then have that person sign on the line. Finally, write 3 things you told them about yesterday's simulation. (Make sure your name is on the paper as well.)

Colonization Simulation

2012-02-08T12:15:00.000-08:00

Today we did one of my favorite activities of the year, the Colonization Simulation. I wish I was allowed to post pictures of students on here. Most of them really got into it.

The room was covered in blue butcher paper, with spaces of carpet representing the continents. Students take time developing their own cultures. They're supposed to make a chant/cheer, design a flag, and alter their style of dress somehow - cuffing their pants or rolling up their sleeve...

Then, the smallest of the continents sails across the sea and tries to colonize the others. If they succeed, they tear up the flag, and force the people to dress the way they dress. They always succeed. (At least in the simulation... I guess we're having another Great Britain/Falklands flare-up...)

We're going to debrief the activity at length tomorrow. There may be a little bit of homework as well. (Shock and sadness from all students involved.)

In order to get the extra credit for reading this, students must discuss this blog with a parent or adult that lives in their home. Students, tell your parents about the activity. What continent were you on? What continent do you think it represented? What did your flag look like? What happened to it?

After you've discussed the blog and the questions in bold above, write the following quote and sentence on a scrap of paper. "'What were the political ramifications of the 1986 quarter-final World Cup game?' I read and discussed the blog with ___________________________." Then have the parent/adult from your home that you discussed it with sign the scrap paper on the line.

9:10:11

2012-02-07T06:28:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I'm posting in the morning. This is great! Maybe I'll be able to set up the Colonization Simulation during prep today, and then I won't have to put in another 14 hour day, like yesterday.

My second hour class is at a job fair, in case you're wondering what I'm doing. I could be up with them, but as I'm already gainfully employed I think this is a better use of my time. Mrs. K. Dutton is up there with them as well, so they're not just roaming the halls.

Natural resources, natural resources, natural resources. If there's one thing I want students to get out of this lesson, other than a review over karma, the caste system, and Hinduism in general, it's natural resources.

I gave the students a handout on exploration that Mr. Cowells gave me. It's basically a cut and paste from thinkquest. How I long for the day when we have paperless classes, and I can just send students to that link to get the information. There is Sooooo much we could do if every student had his own computer. The future continues to impress me.

If you want some extra credit points, go to the THINKQUEST site and discuss the reasons for exploration with an adult that lives in the same house as you. THOUGHTS: Were some reasons better than others? What are the implications of the sentence under Gold, Silver and Precious Stones, "They believed that Asia was loaded with gold, silver, and precious stones, so they decided to find it and bring it back." What about the section, Larger Empires? Any thoughts on that one?

If you want credit for discussing this blog, write down the headings from each of those sections from the thinkquest website. Then, write the sentence, "I discussed the thinkquest website with_________________________." on a piece of scrap paper. Finally, have the person you discussed the blog and website with sign on the line.

Shhhhhh!

2012-02-06T12:22:00.000-08:00

Be very, very quiet. I'm coaching chess right now. We're treating the games like a tournament today, since we have the team qualifier coming up in a week... Which means I can't play, and I can't give hints - not that my hints are that helpful. I'm more a chess "sponsor" than "coach," if you know what I mean... Coaching chess is a humbling job indeed...

We read The Hunger Games for five minutes, one day last week. If we keep up that pace we should get through it somewhere around the spring of 2045. So, today we read all day. But this will be the only day this week that we get to read, so that's only bumping us up to finishing the book around spring 2044.

It looks like we have the green light to see the movie though. (Assuming we finish the book...) We'll work out the logistics later.

Today, if you want the extra credit, discuss what's happening in the book with some adult that you live with. (If the adult you're discussing this with plans on reading the books, maybe you should find a different adult to discuss these questions with...) Answer the following questions: How does the theme of trust play into the book? Who does Katniss trust? Who does she distrust? Why? How does being constantly watched affect the different levels of trust in the book? For instance, would you act any differently if you were at a birthday party and you knew someone was videotaping you? Why? How does that relate to the "trust" issue in the book?

(Thanks, Dekalb for letting us use your Tracker Jacker...)

After you've discussed these questions, write the following quote on a piece of scrap paper to prove that you've read today's blog: I'm a tracker jacker attacker. Then, have the adult you read the blog with sign the paper. Adults, by signing that scrap paper, you are signifying that you read and discussed the blog with whoever it is in my class wants the extra credit. Please don't sign it unless you really did discuss it.

Grading

2012-02-03T14:16:00.000-08:00

I just finished up putting in grades. You may want to check them and see if you're missing anything. It's 5:05 and my family is probably wondering where I am.

Speaking of grading, we graded the India Maps in class today. Grading during class is a great way for students to take in the information a second time. They get to see where they made mistakes, and correct them right away - which reinforces their learning.

I make the students take everything off their desks except for the red pen they are using, and the map they are grading. This cuts down on cheating. (Believe it or not, I've had students try to cheat in my class before... Sad, I know... What has the world come to?)

We also discussed the caste system a little bit more. The bellwork for the day asked whether or not there was a caste system or social structure here at CJHS. We had some pretty interesting responses. Personally, I'm putting the Chess Team at the top. We've got a tournament tomorrow. 8:00 AM until about 3:00 or 4:00 PM. I'm pretty sure we'll smoke the competition.

To get the extra credit Monday, students need to discuss the following with an adult in their home: is there a social structure at CJHS? What does it look like? Are there any other ways to make the social structure pyramid? Where would you put yourself? (Don't worry, I won't ask that one in class...) How much of social structure at CJHS is perception? I mean, some people might think one group is on the top, other people might thing a different group belongs there...

Once you've read and discussed the blog, write the following quote on a piece of paper and have the adult you discussed it with sign it. (Don't forget to put your name on it as well.) Quote: "Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one." - Bill Gates.

Plenty to Discuss

2012-02-02T11:37:00.000-08:00

I love this curriculum. I love my classes this year. We took notes today - which we hardly ever do. In spite of this, most classes had some really great discussions going on.

We started out by discussing the various ways to view a person. I stated that there are at least three. There's the way you view yourself, the way others view you, and the "true view" of you... We discussed these in depth. I generally ask the students how many agree with the statement, "I know myself better anybody else knows me. I know my thoughts and motives. I'm the only person that's with me 24-7. I know myself best." The majority of students agree with this. Then I ask them, "how many of you know someone who thinks they're really cool - but they're actually not maybe as cool as they think?"

Again, the majority of hands go up. "Interesting," I say. "Can you have it both ways? I mean, you're saying that you know yourself better than anybody else knows you - but you're also saying that you know others better than they know themselves. Somewhere somebody's mistaken."

It makes for some pretty interesting discussion.

We discuss what makes up a person:

Once again, we had some great discussion. (Is that all there is? Is there a such thing as a soul? Is all of this stuff for real?...)

This is one of my reasons for having the blog... I'm teaching about Hinduism, but these questions come up naturally. I want to make sure you know what I'm teaching, and I want you to know the questions that your kid, or nephew, etc... has.

Hinduism teaches that there is a soul. So we continued talking about the Hindu view, the caste system, and reincarnation:

I was encouraged by the students today. They were very respectful throughout the lesson. Obviously, being a public school there are a variety of faiths and ideas that are brought into my classroom. Throughout the day, students listened appropriately to what others had to say and asked insightful questions.

In order to get the credit for the homework tonight, students are required to discuss this blog post with the adult they read it with. After you've read and discussed the post, write two complete sentences in response to it. Then, students, have the adult you discussed the post with sign the paper. (Make sure your name is on the paper as well.)

Why Does Everything Take Longer Than I Think It Should?

2012-02-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

Perhaps you can guess from today's heading how I think class went today... I think I gave the students too long to finish their maps. So we didn't get to the discussion... which means we'll push that back to tomorrow or Friday. Tomorrow doesn't work so well because we'll be grading the maps... which leaves Friday. Of course that means we won't be reading The Hunger Games this week. I HATE going that long without reading. It really breaks up the flow of the book. Though, I guess I have to wait a week between episodes of The Office and I can still follow what's going on...

We did talk a little about the caste system pyramid:

Some classes even got a pretty good discussion going. We compared the social structure in the U.S. to the caste system. We also looked at similarities between racism and the treatment of the untouchables.

However, it was still a very surface-y discussion.

I was impressed by a couple classes bringing up The Hunger Games. We were going to get to that once I started going over the notes in earnest. Some students brought up how the top tier of society is The Capitol, and the higher the district number, the lower standard of living, and the lower you were in the social structure pyramid. Very perceptive. One student even mentioned that the Avoxes were like the untouchables.

I love connections.

To my class: make sure you have your map tomorrow. We're grading it.

If you want the extra credit, make sure you discuss the blog with an adult at your house. Then, on a scrap of paper, write down three points that came up in the discussion. Have the adult sign the paper.

Welcome to India

2012-01-31T12:08:00.000-08:00

India is a fascinating place to study. It's so diverse. The country has hundreds of languages, with 18 official languages. (Check it out.) Granted, it depends how you define "official" to get this number. But with hundreds of languages and dialects, it would be difficult to debate the linguistic diversity of the country.

We'll get into that later though. Today we worked on the map during the bellwork time, then we watched a video about Hinduism. The students get a lot of the video - but they won't realize what all they've picked up until we discuss it tomorrow. It is a fascinating topic to discuss.

Yesterday for bellwork, they worked on their new religions chart. (It can be found HERE if you need a copy.) The chart has the three monotheistic religions, along with Hinduism. All four religions have a lot of similarities, but Hinduism - being pantheistic/polytheistic - is very distinct.

The students need to bring four things with them to class tomorrow:

Their map (it should be almost finished)
Their colored pencils
Their Hinduism Video Viewing Guide
Their Religions Chart

Here's the map, with instructions. (They won't have a blue book, so they should look up the countries and cities online.)

Instructions

Map

Tomorrow's blog entry will be much more discussion heavy than today's or yesterday's. Really, I'm just hoping you kids bring everything you need tomorrow. You might want to read that list again. Also again. And again. One more time. Ok... that was all a big joke. Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Seriously, *wipes tears from eyes* seriously, don't forget that stuff.

To get the extra credit, you should have read the blog entry with a adult that lives with you. If you (collective) did read it, write the following quote on a piece of paper and have the adult sign it.

Quote: "No wonder you rise in the middle of the night/ to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war." -Billy Collins (Extra extra credit to the person who gives me the name of the poem that came from. I can't recollect what it is...) Remember your stuff tomorrow.

A New Day

2012-01-30T14:41:00.000-08:00

Can we be this far into the school year? I refuse to accept it. REFUSE.

The students cleaned out their binders today. I love binder clean-out day. A fresh start. New promise. ...etc...

I also hate it. Sometimes when I look at all that work going into the recycling box, I think, "My word. All that work... gone..." Of course, I realize it's not what's on the paper that's important. What they've taken with them in their minds - that's where it's at.

We're starting India, Hinduism, and colonization today. We'll pepper in The Hunger Games as well, but we won't have nearly as much time as we had this past week.

We'll see how it goes.

In order to start the marking period off with some extra credit, discuss these questions with an adult you live with: How did you do during the first half of the school year? What subject do you need to work on the most? How is your attitude toward your peers? Your teachers? How can you be an even better student and person during the second half of the school year? (I know, some of you are so close to perfection that this is going to be tough. That's not tongue in cheek, either... We've got some really great students this year.)

To get the extra credit, write the following quote on a sheet of scrap paper. Then, have the adult you discussed it with sign the paper. Here's the quote: "One knows so little. When one knows more it is too late." -Agatha Christie

Don't forget to put your name on there too.

Still No Extra Credit

2012-01-29T17:18:00.000-08:00

Like I said, it's the end of the marking period, so I'm not offering extra credit right now. But I thought I'd share a little shell with you:

I mean, why not?

No E.C. Today

2012-01-27T11:15:00.000-08:00

It's the end of the marking period today and I have to put in a couple grades, so this post isn't going to be for extra credit. If you want extra credit to start off the next marking period, you'll have to get it some other way.

I should post an entry on the various ways students can get extra credit. ...But not today.

See you Monday.

Romulus, Romulus

2012-01-26T16:32:00.000-08:00

When I lived in Croatia, I had the opportunity to visit much of Italy, including Rome. Some students were asking about the Colosseum. So, I thought I'd post some pictures from when I was there. Unfortunately, when I was at the Colosseum, I was there by myself, so the pictures are of the stadium itself - without me in it. So, I threw on this last one to prove I was there. ...Because I know you care.

A couple lines from today's reading:

"...The arenas are historic sites, preserved after the Games. Popular destinations for Capitol residents to visit, to vacation. Go for a month, rewatch the games, tour the catacombs, visit the sites where the deaths took place. You can even take place in reenactments.
They say the food is excellent." (p. 145)

Wow. Geez, Suzanne Collins what are you trying to say? A little bit of spoiling context here, (my students have all read this far - parents, I encourage you to read it if you haven't already... don't want to ruin anything for you): Our protagonist, Katniss has just arrived at the arena where she's going to have to combat 23 other children in a fight to the death. Yowzer.

When we got to this part, I stopped for a moment and discussed the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta:

(Thanks: Destination360)

I mentioned how the '96 Olympic games were held there, and that a lot of tourists visit the park today.

But visiting the arena in The Hunger Games is different - and Katniss's mocking tone lets us know that she does not approve - because people are going to be dehumanizing her, and giddily embracing her death - which is disgusting... So, it's not that kind of park at all...

Then I talked about Gettysburg:

(Thanks again Destination360)

Maybe it's more like this. Thousands of people died at Gettysburg. More Americans died in the Civil War than in WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam combined... (Check it out...) There are Gettysburg reenactments, and people (myself included) go to the battlefield during vacations and such. That's still not the same as reveling in the glory of a Hunger Games Arena. It's still not the same. Who can imagine what would have happened if Lee got into the North? We would be living in a much different world. It's not the same.

So, I brought up the Colosseum. (Those pictures are at the top... I'm not adding more...) : ) People were killed in there, fought to the death, and it's still a tourist destination. The killings were for sport - unlike Gettysburg. The crowd was there to watch it all. But, today when people visit, we're visiting another historical place - so although the comparison here works out if we were living in Ancient Rome, it stops once we get to Rome's collapse.

But we still go, and we're enthralled by what went on at both Gettysburg and Rome. More than that, I asked how many of the kids played violent video games. The number of hands would not surprise you. And I made sure to point out that I wasn't pointing fingers - that I've lost my share of Halo tournaments... (I've never, not once won...) And how many of us enjoyed playing them? A lot. All of the hands.

I'm just here asking questions, trying to get the students to make connections between Social Studies, Language Arts, and their own lives. I'm in no way criticizing. But it makes me wonder about my own life as well. It's easy in the story to look at the lives of the citizens of the Capitol and see how repulsive it is that they embrace The Hunger Games. It's easy to tell that THEY are the bad guys. But seriously, what does that say about us?

In order to get the extra credit for today's blog, students have to read and discuss it with an adult. If they do that, they should turn in a scrap piece of paper with the following phrase on it: "Remus, I think you need a better rock."

Life and Death

2012-01-25T11:35:00.000-08:00

The bellwork today dealt with a story we read about in our book. Ibn Battuta was a Muslim traveler, trader, and historian who crossed the Sahara. He wrote about his travels, much like Marco Polo. While in the Sahara, Battuta couldn't find water, so they killed some camels and drank the water from their stomachs. I asked the students if they would have drank the water or not. It was about 50-50 throughout the day - with two classes coming out to an exact tie at 14-14 and 13-13. (As the deciding vote, I voted in favor of keeping my life and drinking the water...)

We also read about the Wangarans. These people knew where the gold mines were, and they kept the locations a secret. Every once in a while, someone would kidnap a Wangaran miner and try to get him to talk. The book says, "The miners would give their lives rather than reveal the secret." (page 150) I asked the students what they would do in this case. Most everyone said they would choose death as well, as their families would face certain doom if they caved. Besides, the other Wangarans might kill them for telling anyway. Lets face it, it'd be a bad situation all around. (I'm working on a screen play...)

There were several words that were tripping up students. I thought I'd throw in some pictures to help them out. Here's a caravan:

Photo Credit: Click Here

A lot of students didn't understand about ivory, so here are some carved tusks:

Photo Credit: Click Here

I showed them cowrie shells yesterday - which were used as money, but here they are again:

Photo credit: Click Here ...I think you can buy these...

At any rate, we had some interesting discussions going on... We talked about the differences between the game and what actually happened.

In order to get the extra credit today, adults at home and students discuss the blog. Maybe you could ask what you would each do in those life or death situations mentioned above. You could explain how the game differed from the trans-Saharan trade. (It didn't take two months to cross the carpet, for instance...) Or you could discuss other stuff from class today.

When you're done discussing, have the adult sign a piece of paper with the following quote: "Rats, not 101 again..." Make sure your name is on that paper as well.

Tihs Deosn't Mkae Snese

2012-01-24T11:54:00.000-08:00

We read from the textbook today, and discussed the trans-Saharan trade - continuing on from the gold/salt trade activity we did the other day.

We don't read from the books too often, but I enjoy it every once in a while. The students don't like it as much as The Hunger Games or the gold/salt activity, but if we're preparing students for the future, they'll probably have to continue doing somethings they don't enjoy there as well.

While reading we discussed some reading strategies: sub-vocalizing, sounding out tough names and practicing them, slowing down, timing, etc...

We also discussed some reading theory today. We discussed phonics and whole word, we discussed "sounding it out..." I tyepd a lttile on the baord lkie tihs. I thnik msot poeple are albe to raed this. It's because once you can read, your brain doesn't recognize individual letters anymore, it recognizes whole words.

The class went well. We're going to finish up the trans-Saharan trade tomorrow, then move into colonization, India, and Hinduism.

In order to get the extra credit, read the blog and discuss it with an adult in your home. Then, write the following word on a piece of scrap paper and have the adult sign it: Ivory. Make sure you have your name on the scrap paper as well.

A Case of the Mondays

2012-01-23T11:52:00.000-08:00

Ok, parents and students sitting around reading this. I know you think that I have mountains of time where I just sit around thinking up witty things to say on the computer, but that's not the case. Mondays are crazy for me. I've got chess in less than 10 minutes, and I just sent out half a dozen emails. (Including one to Mr. Zook... you know the email I'm talking about...) I put in a couple grades, and talked to Mr. Ogle about the CAP Reading Group...

Five minutes left to come up with some meaningful extra credit. (I almost cancelled the blog extra credit today, but I didn't want to deal with the glares of the students who ended up with a 79.43999 come report card...)

So, it's short. Today for bellwork, we discussed economics and tied it into The Hunger Games. (I actually wrote about it before in THIS POST (CLICK HERE) but never taught about it in class...)

To get the extra credit points, read and discuss this blog with a parent, grandparent, auntie, step-parent, or other adult at your home. Here are some things I want you to talk about: how does the economy deals with jobs? What are some other words for production, distribution, and consumption? Can you tell me how The Hunger Games shows examples of command, market, and traditional economies? What is happening right now in The Hunger Games?

When you're done with discussing it, write the following quote on a piece of scrap paper: "Turns out I was a vampire myself." Then, have the adult you read and discussed the blog with sign the paper.

Adults, by signing the paper you are stating you really did DISCUSS its content. Please don't sign it unless that happened. *Emoticon Smiley Face*

Stuff About This Stuff

2012-01-20T12:05:00.000-08:00

My apologies.

(Back story: Teachers at Concord exceed expectations, and offer students opportunities for success in a variety of ways. For instance, a couple of the paths H Block takes to raise the academic bar: Mr. Schlegel sends out an email with daily homework and the day's content, I offer the blog for further enrichment and extra credit, H Block has a selective tutoring session (if you're interested, but not yet involved feel free to send me an email and let me know), multiple classes offer extra credit, or test retakes...

I was helping with tutoring last night when a colleague mentioned the blog. I had printed out several copies for students without computer or internet access. At the bottom of the page it read, "After you've finished reading this stuff, adults please sign the bottom of the paper..."

My colleague was lamenting the fact that I'd used the word "stuff" in my blog. "Yeah, but couldn't you have used a better word?" she asked. "We're constantly prodding students to improve their vocabulary," she continued lightheartedly, "and even mentioning that word in particular."

Too true. In fact, I think there were a couple power points I just graded that contained that dirty word. I believe I made comments that it should be changed. Ouch. End of back story.)

Hence the apology above. I can give you lots of excuses. I'm typing this out hastily during my prep period - trying to get it out before students get home... That allows for basically Zero edits/ re-writes... I want the tone of the writing to be conversational and inviting... Whatevs. I think she's right. Stuff has been banished from this blog, and I hope the same stuff gets banished from your kid's writing as well. ISTEP is looming, after all.

Ok... I may not banish stuff, but I will try harder to avoid such a dirty word.

In class today we had acuity, so there's not much to talk about.

When you're done reading ~~this stuff~~ the content of this blog, please discuss it with your parent, grandma, auntie, or other adult in your household. Try to find 3 challenging vocabulary words in my the writing above. If you can't find any, how could you spice it up? When you are finished, write the following quote on a scrap of paper, and have them sign it. (Make sure your name is on it as well if you want the extra credit...) Quote: "We are such stuff as blogs are made of..."

Ghana's Gold/Salt Trade

2012-01-19T11:51:00.000-08:00

We played the trading game in earnest today. Before you read any further, I'd like the students to explain the game to whoever they're reading this with.

Key points of the game:

Salt traders in the north of Africa crossed the Sahara into Ghana and traded their salt for gold found to the south of Ghana.

Salt traders had to pay a tax upon entering Ghana - one piece of gold for three bags of salt.

They used a silent trading system.

Whenever they made a trade, they clapped their hands.

Once their mine ran out of salt, they were done.

The game went really, REALLY well today. I think everybody liked it. (You'll have to check with them to be sure...) Ok... I don't think anybody liked crossing the Sahara, but other than that everybody liked it.

(Image taken from Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies.)

So, here are some questions to ask them:

How did you like the activity?
How did Ghana get gold?
Why were the traders willing to pay a tax? (Yes, astute students, I did just answer the previous question...)

Why did the traders trade silently?

We didn't discuss the hand-clapping in class. In class, crossing the Sahara involved crossing the room. Hundreds of pounds of salt was depicted on a one-inch square of paper... It was fun to trade, but it wasn't a big deal like the actual trading. We'll learn about that on Tuesday...

Students, once you've read the blog and discussed it with a parent, aunt, uncle, or other adult in your house - write the following statement on a piece of paper and have them sign it: I will remember my planner tomorrow.

Adults, by signing the paper your stating that you read and discussed the blog with the student in my class. Please make sure you include the student name as well as the parent signature.

Dogs With Gold Collars

2012-01-18T12:14:00.000-08:00

First off, to all the parents and students who read this blog and discuss social studies - a huge thank you! It's nice to see your grades going up, but it's also nice to believe you're thinking about this stuff outside of the classroom.

If you are turning this in for credit, make sure that you put your (student) name on it as well as the parent signature. I've had quite a few turned in recently with no name or hour.

A beautiful chaos of learning: that's what class was today. We played a game from the History Alive curriculum. It was based on Ghana's salt-gold trade. We spent a little more time reading about Ghana first - how rich and powerful it was... yeah, the king even had guard dogs with gold collars. The students all drew and labeled three quick pictures depicting this after the reading. Then discussed them and went to play the game. The game took a little bit of time to explain - which I knew it would - so we're playing again tomorrow. HOORAY FOR SOCIAL STUDIES GAMES! We won't get to play the whole time - we'll have to debrief. I'll tell you tomorrow how it goes.

In order to get the extra credit for the blog today, students have to read it and discuss it with an adult in their household. Students, today I want you to discuss how the game was played. Explain the different groups - salt miners, salt traders, Ghana's taxation officials, and the gold traders. Give the rules of the game, and the group you were in. Explain why you had to crawl... You get the idea...

When you're finished, write the following phrase on a piece of paper: "The king's nephew is heir to the throne."

Finally, have the adult that you read and discussed the blog with sign the scrap paper with the quote.

Parents/Adults: Don't forget that by signing the paper you're saying you discussed this stuff with whoever is turning in the paper. ...Please don't sign unless you discuss this stuff. Also, make sure it has your kid's name on it too.

Happy Birthday to Me

2012-01-17T11:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I got to the school at 5:50 this morning... they weren't lying to you. It was pretty foggy. I was planning on setting up for a game we're going to play dealing with the salt/gold trade of West Africa during Ghana's empire. Unfortunately, the two hour delay put the kibosh to that. Siempre tenemos manana...

We did read and discuss the trade for a little bit. I haven't read from the textbooks all year, so that went well. (If you haven't covered your book yet, make sure you do tonight...)

Today's bellwork question asked whether or not students agreed with the statement: "Salt is worth its weight in gold." We discussed that question at length as an introduction to Ghana's empire.

You can get extra credit points tonight if you read and discussed the blog with an adult at home. If you're wondering what to talk about, ask the following questions:

Where is Ghana anyway? Is salt worth its weight in gold? Why is gold worth more than salt today? Is your book covered?

If you've discussed (you know, like a real discussion) those questions, write the following quote on a piece of paper and have the adult from home that you discussed this with sign the paper.

Quote: "I know a story of a woman turned to salt. I know a story of a woman turned to gold."

A Mad Rush

2012-01-12T12:57:00.000-08:00

Today we read. If you'll allow me to be candid for a moment, I'm getting a little nervous. We're about a third to half-way through The Hunger Games. The kids love it. It's helping their reading skills, grammar, linguistic, etc... AND it ties in with Social Studies.

The problem is there's so much we're supposed to cover in class. And, even though I believe this may be more beneficial in the long run, I feel this self-imposed pressure to move on to a new topic.

Even so, I keep coming up with more and more ways it ties into the curriculum. I was just thinking about economic systems - which we studied about a LONG time ago... the book contains all 4: The Capitol is a Command System - telling each district what they must produce. (12 produces coal, 11 agriculture, etc...) But, inside each District, they use the Market System - people have money and prices are set by supply and demand... BUT, in The Seam (part of District 12) the people don't have money. Katniss has to poach her food and trade for other food and goods - which is a Traditional System... And of course, because none of these economic systems is pure, they're all examples of Mixed Systems. Maybe I should bring that up to my classes tomorrow...

At any rate, we're reading again tomorrow, assuming we're in school... WHICH WE WILL BE. Don't bank on a delay people, that's always dangerous...

I wish I could have a copy of The Hunger Games for every student. Then we'd be able to get through with time to spare.

After reading today's uber-short blog, discuss the following: what's going on right now in the book? On a scale of 1-10, how do you enjoy it? Who is your favorite character, and why?

After discussing the questions, write the following phrase on a piece of paper, and have the adult that you read the blog with sign it: "If this is only a test, I hope that I'm passing..."

Access Denied - WAIT - LAST SECOND EDIT - ACCESS GRANTED!

2012-01-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have been reading these posts and receiving the extra credit: good work. I'm sorry about yesterday's post. (Yesterday, I posted instructions on how to access files from home. Unfortunately, there is some sort of glitch that prevented this from happening. The good news is I contacted our technology coordinator and they're working through the issue. Thank you to the family that sent in the screen shot of the problem. -You know who you are.)

Today, I want you to access something else. Look up your grades on STI. See what you're missing. Students know how to do this, we've done it from school before.

We only have 12 more days in this marking period. Right now is the time to make up missing assignments, or turn in extra credit. If you put it off any longer, it will be too late.

Granted, most of you will have good grades. If you have good grades, I suggest you get a pat on the back right now from the person you're reading this with.

*My word people, you'll never believe what just happened. I just got a call from Mrs. Paulus. She told me that Stoneware was down last night (corporation-wide), which is why files couldn't be accessed. But it's working again. I told you she's good. Also, be aware that Stoneware has some issues if you're using it with Firefox 8 or 9. So, for the second part of the homework - after checking grades - read yesterday's blog entry. If you can't access your files, try using a different web browser - such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Google Chrome. Open up the graded copy of your Hammurabi presentation and discuss it as per yesterday's instructions.

To get the points today, after you've finished the above, write the following quote on a piece of paper: "All three monotheistic religions trace their roots back to Abraham." Then have the adult that went over your grades saw your powerpoint sign the piece of paper.

(Don't forget to cover those books too.)

*If you're kid says 7th hour didn't get them yet... tis true... Lucky kids getting out of more homework.*

Access Granted

2012-01-10T11:25:00.000-08:00

I think most people know this, but students can access their digital school work from home. In case you're wondering how to do this, here's how:

Student File Access From Home

1. Type in https://stoneware.concord.k12.in.us

2. Type in your user name (entire first and last name no spaces.)

3. The password is your lunch code number

4. Click on My Files

5. Click on the little + sign by the yellow folder. This should give you access to all your

folders.

For the sake of speed and the security of your file, when modifying existing files on our network, it’s a good idea to save the file to your local hard drive first. To do this, right click on the file name, choose Save Target As and put it on the desktop of your home computer. You can continue to save to this location throughout the time you work on your file.

6. When you are ready to put your work back on our network, use the Upload Files button near the top right of the screen to browse to the modified file. Highlight the file and click Open. It will then display the path to the modified file in the File Upload Utility window. Click Upload to put it back on our network in the folder being displayed when you clicked on Upload Files.

7. It is very important to Sign Out of the portal when finished to avoid problems logging into the network when back at school.

So there you have it... piece of cake, right? I'm am continually amazed at the level of technology utilized by this school district. They really have it together around here. I'll have to email Mrs. Paulus (our school's technology coordinator) and let her know she's doing a good job.

Yesterday we discussed 'restating the question' and 'pronouns.' Today I had the students respond to the comments I left on their finished projects. After that we discussed citing sources and the outcome of the assignment.

A lot of student wrote "www.google.com" as their source. When citing sources, you have to be specific. www.google.com doesn't cut it, even if that's where you got the picture.

We also discussed whether or not it's fair to judge Hammurabi's code based on the laws we have today. Many, MANY students said, "We shouldn't judge him, because it's the past." It made me think of this:

We watched the clip in class and then discussed it.

Extra credit: In order to get the extra credit today read and discuss the post. Then, students, access your graded powerpoint and show it to your parents. Ask if you parents agree with the conclusions you came to regarding judging Hammurabi according to today. In order to get the extra credit for today's blog have the adult that looked at your powerpoint write a two sentence response to your presentation, then have them sign the paper.

Back to the Grind

2012-01-09T11:48:00.000-08:00

This will be a short post: I have to go coach chess. (That should be good news for those of you who just want the extra credit points...)

I gave back the powerpoints today. It was a great project. At this level, we don't do too much research. I was surprised how well they all did. They were supposed to save it to their network drives - which means you should be able to access them from home. (I know many of you had trouble with this last time. I'm going to find out why by tomorrow night. That's my promise to you.)

Because the scoring was so much more objective than usual, many of the grades weren't as high. For instance, even though a student had a 17 slide presentation, he still received an F because 16 of the 17 slides were background information on Hammurabi.

It took me an average of 7 hours a class to grade these. ...I'm glad we had a 17 day break. I put a lot of notes on them.

Here's how you can get the extra credit for today. See if you can open up the graded powerpoint. If you can open it, read the notes I left and discuss them.

If you can't, tell your parents your score and what we discussed in class. Mention pronouns, and restating the question.

In order to get the extra credit, write a paragraph mentioning what we discussed in regard to pronouns and why it's important to restate the question. Then have that signed by the adult you discussed it with.

Why I Love/Teach Social Studies

2011-12-28T12:04:00.000-08:00

To all of my students: I hope you are all enjoying your time off.

To all of the people that live with my students: I hope it's enjoyable for you as well.

I've had a couple people email me and ask if there would be extra credit given over break. Yes, there will be, but I'll probably only post once or twice.

Here's a quote by Rudyard Kipling: "How can you do anything until you have seen everything, or as much as you can?"

Sometimes I think my students (and students in general) have a hard time grasping the purpose of "non-essential" lessons. I'm sure at one point or another most of us have either heard, or said: "when am I ever going to use that?"

Who knows?

In making decisions, you want to be informed. And how many decisions do you have to make in life? How do you even know what decisions will be presented?

What are the essentials? What do we need to know to get by in life?

I'm guessing basic math facts and enough of a common language to be understood.

But what kind of life is that?

I love, LOVE Social Studies because it is all about the richness of life - the essential non-essentials. Diversity of language, history, culture. Conflict and conflict resolution. Politics and religion and relationships. Countries that are in petty arguments that mirror the arguments I hear in the hallway everyday.

It's about authority and corruption. Greed and sacrifice.

The way I see it, people have one of three reasons for not loving social studies:

They don't understand it/ can't see how it relates (or)
They're boring
They do like it, but they just don't realize it

(Correct me if I'm wrong on that...)

Here are some lyrics from a song I like (All I Can See, by Brendan James):

"I want to learn a completely new language,/ one I don't understand./ I want to help someone lost, someone helpless,/ with the strength of my hand."

Here are some more:

"Those who journey can easily understand,/ the more they see the more they'll learn,/ the more that they will be./ So this I swear to you, and this I swear to me,/ I'll never rest till I've seen all I can see./ No, I'll never rest till I've seen all I can see."

Here's the song, it's pretty good:

To get the extra credit from this blog, discuss it with an adult. Discuss some of the following questions:

Do you agree with the three reasons Mr. Habecker gives for people not loving social studies?
What would you say are the essential things you need to learn?
Is it important to learn more than that? If so, what's important? If not, why not?
Do you agree or disagree with the Kipling quote at the beginning? Why?
If you could travel anywhere in the world that you've never been, where would you go? Why?

Then, write down at least 5 sentences giving your thoughts on this post. Have the person you discussed it with sign the paper.

Happy Extra Credit. I'll probably post one more before break's over.

Humans Hunger Hammurabi

2011-12-21T12:08:00.000-08:00

Here's a quote from a book I'm reading:

“...when children’s families are involved in school, the children earn higher grades, attend school more regularly, complete more homework, demonstrate more positive attitudes and behaviors, graduate from high school at higher rates, and are more likely to enroll in higher education than students with less involved families.”

It comes from the book: Bridging Multiple Worlds: Case Studies in Diverse Educational Communities. (page 47)

I give that quote because I had a couple students who said to me today, "Geez, Mr. Habecker... my mom was wondering why you keep that blog in the first place. It's basically what we did in class."

You're right. And I want to say "THANK YOU" to all the moms and dads and step-moms and step-dads, grandparents, and uncles and aunts that are reading this thing. It is what we're talking about in class. The more we partner together, and talk about what we're doing in class - the better. This way, too, you get to see what we're talking about - and if you disagree with what I'm saying you can say, "man, you're teacher is wrong on this account!" As a social studies teacher, I teach some pretty controversial topics. I work hard to keep bias out of my presentation, as well as my writing on here. But even then, it might creep in a little bit. This way, you can read it and continue to instill your beliefs and values into your child. I don't want to hide behind a classroom door. I want to work with you to give your child the best education possible. I know that's what you want too, so again I say thanks for reading.

That said, two hour delays REALLY shorten classes. We did a paper today for bellwork comparing the Capitol of The Hunger Games to Pyongyang in North Korea. We compared their governments, standard of living, the fear they used to stay in power. ... I'm going to see if I can attach it for the students that weren't in school today...

For the bellwork, they read an excerpt from a CNN article. You can read it by clicking THIS LINK.

We also looked a picture that was posted on NPR's website. Here's the picture:

Article found HERE

Then (in some classes... stupid two hour delay...) we tied it all together by comparing Hammurabi, The Hunger Games, North Korea, and The USA... (I'm not going to have you discuss this with your kid though because we didn't get to it in every class...)

To get the extra credit, discuss the following questions with your family:
1. What type of government do they have in both North Korea and The Hunger Games?
2. How else are North Korea and The Hunger Games similar?
3. What is the picture I posted on the blog depicting or showing?
4. Why might North Korea want to limit the contact that their citizens have with other countries?

To get the extra credit for reading the blog, write the following quote on a piece of scrap paper: "I am no bird, and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will." Students: have the adult you read this with sign the piece of scrap paper. Adults: by signing the paper you are stating that you really did read the blog and discuss this stuff.

An interesting side note: a student asked me, how do you know that the students really are reading and discussing the blog? I said because there's a different code word or phrase at the bottom of it every day. He asked if the parents could just write that down and sign off on it. I said, I supposed that they could. Ultimately though, I believe that people want what's best for their kid. Maybe there are a couple parents out there that are teaching your kids that cheating pays off, but I don't believe it. I believe the majority of you are hard-working, dedicated people who want their kids (and step-kids, and grand kids, and nephews and nieces...) to succeed. Again, I say thanks for all you do.

IF YOU WERE ABSENT, HERE IS THE WORKSHEET:

http://www.mediafire.com/?q6448hypidft347

Is the Capitol Actually North Korea?

2011-12-19T12:10:00.000-08:00

First off all, I’d like to remind everyone that I post what we do every day. Students can receive extra credit by reading the blog and discussing it with the adult they live with. (Or in some cases some other adult.) It’s five points a day… I think it’s worth it.

Please notice the polls at the top of the blog. If you haven’t yet voted on them, do so now. We’re going to discuss them in class tomorrow. You will also have time to finish up your Hammurabi power point while we read The Hunger Games.

We compared Islam and Judaism at the beginning of class, and then we spent the rest of the day in the book.

An excerpt from page 80:

“Electricity in District 12 comes and goes, usually we only have it a few hours a day. Often the evenings are spent in candlelight. The only time we can count on it is when they’re airing the Games or some important government message on television that it’s mandatory to watch. But here there would be no shortage. Ever.”

An excerpt from page 83-4:

“’I’d leave here,’ Peeta blurts out. Then he looks around nervously. It was loud enough to hear above the chimes. He laughs. ‘I’d go home now if they let me. But you have to admit, the food’s prime.’
He’s covered again. If that’s all you heard it would just sound like the words of a scared tribute, not someone contemplating the unquestionable goodness of the Capitol.” (Emphasis mine.)

We’ve discussed standard-of-living multiple times because of this book, but here it comes up again. This time, though, it’s a little bit different. We see that the people in District 12 have a low standard of living because the money gets funneled into the government. We also see examples of government propaganda.

One of the countries we study in this class is North Korea. The Capitol and North Korea share some striking similarities: dictator, food shortages, and government sponsored propaganda. In the first quote above Katniss mentions important government TV messages that are mandatory to watch. North Korea has state sponsored radio in every house. You can turn it down, but you can’t turn it off. (I learned that from THIS MOVIE, by the way. It’s pretty good.)

In the second quote, Peeta is scared to speak out against (or even appear to speak out against) the Capitol. Kim Jong Il just died. (If you haven’t seen this on the news, go ahead and check for yourself…) Here’s aline from one of the CNN articles: “There will be the compulsory large crowds of mourners in the streets of Pyongyang to honor Kim Jong Il.” (article by Scott Snyder) Of course there will be. Will there be people who refuse to go? Will there be North Koreans who “contemplate the unquestionable goodness of Our Dear Leader?”

So, today we hit standards 7.1.2 – dealing with theocracy - Kim Jong Il is revered as a deity and his dead father Kim Il Sung even more so. He actually maintained the role of President after his death… his position according to their constitution is “Eternal President of the Republic.”

7.1.18 – deals with recent political conflicts. The state gives North and South Korea as an example.

7.2.2 – identify and compare contemporary governments in Japan, Korea, China, etc…

I’m hoping to discuss this more in depth tomorrow, but we’ll see. We also have to discuss historical context, and Hammurabi…

In order to get the credit for the homework, vote on the polls at the top. Then, read the blog and discuss it with an adult. Discuss the following questions: what were the similarities between Islam and Judaism that I gave at the beginning of class today? Will people attend Kim Jong Il’s funeral because they want to, or because they were coerced? Will there be any exceptions? Why? What makes you think that? What’s happening right now in The Hunger Games?

Like usual, it’s not enough to read and discuss the blog. Write the following on a piece of scrap paper: “I wish we could learn B about chess P during social studies.” Have the adult you read this with sign the piece of paper. Adults, by signing the paper you are signifying that you did indeed read the blog and discuss the questions with whoever is in my class. Please don’t sign it unless this is true.

Judge and Jury

2011-12-17T07:46:00.000-08:00

Hopefully you noticed the polls I put up at the top of the blog. As a class, we finished up the webquest and powerpoint about Hammurabi yesterday. Most of them looked really good. There were a couple kids who didn't get done, but the majority did.

I don't know if you can access them from home or not. The students that read the blog Thursday said they couldn't get them to open up from home. I'm going to look into that because... I mean... what's the point of having all this technology if you can't access it?

The project reviewed a lot of what we covered in class - reasons ancient civilizations were found near rivers, what it took to be an ancient civilization, ethnocentrism, as well as some of the specifics about Mesopotamia.

It really introduced historical context though. We haven't had discussions about this before. Good teachers are always trying to include higher level questioning and Bloom's Taxonomy into their lessons:

(Image courtesy of: dkuropatwa)

This lesson, and the question of historical context really nails the upper levels of Bloom's.

Oftentimes social studies is memorizing facts: ancient civilizations are found near rivers for silt, transportation, drinking water, and irrigation... But to answer the questions of which legal system is more just, and whether or not it's even fair to ask that question take critical thinking skills like analyzing and evaluating both sets of laws and coming to a personal conclusion.

And, lets face it... the question of historical context and justification of the past is tough. Maybe we say we shouldn't judge Hammurabi according to today. Being beat 60 times with an ox whip for hitting someone of a higher rank seemed like a just punishment at the time... But then can we apply that to other areas of history? Slavery? Nazism/Fascism? Child sacrifice to Moloch? If we went back in time, would we say... "well... when in Rome...?"

The opposite, to me seems equally distasteful. If we come down too hard against the past, how will we be judged based on the lives we're leading? What if in the future, the world is overpopulated and people are upset at the "selfishness" of families in the past that had more than one child?

We'll be wrapping up this discussion on Monday in class. We'll see what everyone thinks.

Like I mentioned at the top of the blog, I hope you noticed the polls. In order to get the extra credit, first have your kid vote on them. Then, discuss why they voted the way they did. Ask them about the two laws we looked at as a class. What were the punishments doled out under each legal system? Ask them if there are ever any exceptions to their views.

In order to get the extra credit, vote on the polls and discuss those questions directly above the bold text. Once you have done that, write the following phrase on a scrap of paper: "Four more days until a little break." Finally, adult: sign your name. By signing, you're saying that you really did read the blog and discuss it with whoever is turning in that paper.

Later

2011-12-16T11:25:00.000-08:00

There will be an extra credit post for the weekend. I just won't have time to put it up until later on tonight or tomorrow. I'm going to try to get the "Five Pillars of Faith" papers graded.

Plagiarism

2011-12-15T13:44:00.000-08:00

Since we use the blog as a jumping off point to get to the webquest, here it is: CLICK ON THIS.

To my class: Please work hard. You need to be finished with the power point presentation by the end of the day.

We're still looking at Hammurabi and comparing his legal system to our own. Overall, this has gone very well. The biggest problem has been with cutting and pasting. I don't think 7th graders fully understand what "in your own words" means. A list of clever loopholes:

Cut and paste, and ignore the rule
Cut and paste full paragraphs, but put "Information taken from:____________" at the bottom of the slide
Instead of cutting and pasting, type the individual words from the source, changing nothing
Cut and paste, and change 3 to 5 words in the paragraph, therefore making it "your own."

Well, plagiarism is a lot like stealing... When a two year old does it, it's cute... cookies smeared all over his face, claiming he didn't take any... at three and four he should know better - maybe he gets a time out. Stealing gum from a convenience store prompts mom to drag his butt back in there, apologize, pay for it, and offer to landscape the place for the next two weeks... the 19 year old who holds up the same convenience store gets carted away with his name in the paper.

These kids aren't going to get kicked out of school for plagiarism. Most of the time, they just don't know what they're doing. But they need to learn. If they've copied and pasted huge swaths of text for this assignment, they're going to fail it. They won't receive a zero, but they'll most likely fail.

Well, sorry to turn the blog into a soap box, but that's how my day went... going around from desk to desk looking at students work, and pointing out how I knew they copied and pasted:

hyperlinks still in text
contained words they couldn't pronounce, let alone define
contained exact wording of phrases

We are getting better. Most students realized what I was looking for about half-way through the period. Read the passage, and then without looking at it, write down what was important. If you had to explain it to someone who was in third grade, what would you say to them?

(It seems like the soap box is still underneath me... sorry... sorry. For real this time: I'm done.)

If you want your kid/step-kid/grand kid/ foster kid/ whoever to get extra credit for this, access her school work folder from home and see how far she is on the power point. Have her explain the slides to you. To get the extra credit, write me a note that contains at least 10 words on the 3rd slide of their presentation. Then, ask her if she put everything in her own words - and how she went about doing this. If you can't access their presentation for some reason or another, write me a note that lets me know that you tried, that you really did seriously try to look at it - but alas to no avail. (Please at least discuss it for me...) Then, adult-ish person sign the slip. By signing it you're saying you really did read this thing, and discuss it with said student. Please don't sell your soul for 5 extra credit points. *emoticon smiley*

In case you're wondering where Mesopotamia is/was... I made a map this afternoon. Here it is:

Not bad, huh?

High Schoolers Are Scary

2011-12-14T12:59:00.000-08:00

I'm just getting back from the high school. I went over because there were a couple of kids who have brothers or sisters over there, and I thought maybe they could help out with some stuff. (Reading...) I was really encouraged by how it went, but man the high schoolers have changed so much since junior high! Parents, get ready.

Over here, when they're in the classroom they're generally well behaved. I almost see them as high schoolers instead of junior highers - I'm not just blowing smoke. I think of these kids as young adults - but going to the high school? *Phwew* Those kids aren't kids. They're monsters. They're huge. They're scary. And quite nice. A lot of them said hi.

Sorry if you're reading this and thinking, "geez... what does that have to do with social studies?" The answer is: nothing. Although, it might point out that I care. A lot. About reading, and making sure that every kid has every opportunity to succeed. Also, thinking outside the box...

As for social studies, we're still working on that webquest. We'll be doing that until Friday - it's a big deal, a lot of points. We also worked on the three monotheistic religions, and.... AND... we had a little time to read The Hunger Games.

We labeled a chart on the three monotheistic religions... here it is.

I wish I could figure out a way to attach documents to this blog. If I could do that, then anytime a student was absent, they could get the work right away. How awesome would that be? ("Uggg... not very awesome," come the collective groans of the students used to not making up their work from absences...)

If anybody knows how to attach documents to this thing, comment on the blog and let me know. Or you could send in how to do it with your kids extra credit slip.

Speaking of extra credit, if you want it discuss the following nonsense:
How far are you on the webquest? Did you compare any of the laws yet? What happened in today's reading of The Hunger Games? How well do you know the basics about the three monotheistic religions? Quiz each other using the chart - you can click on it to make it bigger.

To receive extra credit, write the following phrase on a scrap of paper: "What impact did the potential energy have on the kinetic energy of the sleigh?" Whichever adult read and discussed the blog, sign that piece of paper. ONLY SIGN THIS IF YOU DISCUSSED THE QUESTIONS AT THE END OF THE BLOG! Sorry for all CAPs. I'm not shouting at you, but when I've already bolded and italicized this whole thing, I didn't know what else I could do to draw attention to it. For a bonus high five tell who came up with the code/phrase/question of the day and why it's today's question.

Time and Tutoring

2011-12-13T11:45:00.000-08:00

I don't have a lot of time to write today, since I am going to help with tutoring after school. Our school really does offer a lot of opportunities to help our students succeed.

We worked on our Five Pillars of Faith drawings today. We also watched a little video of the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site. Here's the video:

We compared it to the Ark of the Covenant for Judaism.

THE PICTURES ARE HOMEWORK. IF THEY'RE NOT FINISHED, FINISH THEM NOW!

After that we worked on the webquest. I think it went pretty well. We'll see how they turn out.

To get the extra credit for reading the blog, discuss the following questions:

Are your pictures finished? (Ask to take a look at them, ask what they each mean...)

How did the webquest about Hammurabi go? How far did you get?

In order to get the extra credit for reading today's blog, write the following phrase on a scrap of paper: "If I go to China, I'm not going to go to the Nike store." Have the adult that you read the blog with sign the paper. Adult, by signing the paper you are signifying that you really did read the blog and discuss the questions with the kid from my class...

Online Maps

2011-12-12T11:38:00.000-08:00

We've basically finished up the 3 monotheistic religions. We'll come back to it next week to see how they all relate, but for the most part we're finished.

Today we looked at the Middle East. The Middle East is predominately Islamic, so it fits right in. (And of course it ties in with multiple standards. Because of the continuing Reading and Math Push my students are frightfully behind on basic map skills. The online games we played in class are a great way to help them with spacial recognition. Don't forget, I give extra credit for every five games they play. They can play the Middle East game right here.
Tomorrow we're going to review Mesopotamia and Hammurabi. I'm pretty excited about that. I've been waiting to try out this webquest I made up. You can take a sneak peak by clicking on Mesopotamia and Hammurabi. ...Either one.

If you didn't do the homework over the weekend - which was to visit this blog and discuss the questions, make sure you do that. (Friday's blog entry...) Turn in the sheet before 8:00 AM if you want to get credit for it on your progress report.

If you want to get extra credit for reading and discussing todays blog here's what you have to do:
Click on the Middle East game link. Challenge whoever you're reading/discussing this with to a best 2 out of three games Middle East Countries (middle column) level one. Student goes first.

When you're finished, write the following on a piece of scrap paper: Computers are our friends. Have the adult that played the game with you sign the paper. Adult, by signing the paper you are stating that you really did play at least the best 2 out of 3 games. If you got smoked and played more - bravo.

Love this one... ...so where's the Middle East? And Where's the Mid-West?

If you like this comic, and want to see more of this type of humor, feel free to check out xkcd here. Enter at your own risk. I haven't read all of the comics.

Progress Reports - This Blog is Homework

2011-12-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

Progress reports will be coming out soon. In fact, half of the reason for this blog entry is to bring this to your attention.

With that said, it’d probably be a good idea to check if you’re missing any assignments. So, go do that right now. When you’re finished, come back and read this post.

The students here at Concord Junior High are great. They’re respectful and hard working. They’re intelligent – my class averages range from a low of 80% to 91%. The students have developed a sense of empathy towards the plights of others. I love it here. All day running through my mind is, “I have the best job in the world.”

The problem is, sometimes teachers and kids don’t see eye-to-eye. (I bet this happens with some of you out there as well…) Case in point – the other day when we took the test there were some kids that were talking – good kids, mind you… I shushed the entire class and reminded them that it was, after all, a test and that the rule is if you talk you receive a zero. A couple seconds later, I reminded the class again. At the third reminder I went over and took ten points off their scores. Honestly, I don’t think these kids were cheating. Apparently, one kid needed a pencil and was asking the other – which sparked the conversation.

At the end of the test, they asked if they could have their points back, and I declined. It was tough; I’m not a stickler for the rules – but if you need a pencil ask me – not the person sitting close to you. If I get sidetracked and start helping someone else, ask me again. Your job during a test is to work on the test. (At any rate, since then both of these students have done tons of extra credit – making up that 10 points and quite a bit more… also one loaned me his Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Cabin Fever… Greg Heffly’s a riot.)

I’m telling you this story because inevitably right before progress reports, a bunch of students will check their grades, notice a missing assignment, and claim that they turned it in – be it my class, Mr. Ogle’s, Mrs. Gowdy’s, etc… They may have, but before anybody gets too upset, let me suggest a couple things that may have happened:

-It was turned in with no name – most common cause

-It was turned in incorrectly – wrong tray, wrong spot, etc…

-The wrong assignment was turned in

-It was thought to be turned in, but is actually still in your binder/locker/floor under your bed…

If it was an assignment from a long time ago, it may be gone. If it is a more recent no-name, it may still be around. Whatever the case, I suggest you look into it and quickly - grades are due Tues. morning. More than that, though, I would ask you to look into it respectfully. ALL of your teachers here want you to succeed.

Normally, you can get extra credit by looking at this blog. Today, I assigned it as homework because I want you all to look at your grades. The stakes are a little higher this year with the Student Accountability Plan, and you need to make sure you’re keeping up. (Most of you are. Kudos to you!)

To get credit for doing this homework assignment, discuss the following question with the adult that read this blog:

How are you keeping up with your school work? Is there anything you’re struggling in?

Are you missing any assignments? What are you going to do to make up the points you lost?

How do you feel about the Student Accountability Plan?

Was this a fair homework assignment? (Adults this is directed more at you… I know everybody’s busy, but I wanted to try it out once to see how it goes.)

After you’ve discussed those questions, write the following phrase down on a scrap of paper: “I’m glad I don’t have any missing assignments.” Have the adult you discussed this with sign the paper. Adults, by signing the paper, you are signifying that you really did read the blog and discuss it with your child.

Natural Barriers II

2011-12-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

We had shortened classes today because of the writing prompt: "Instant Riches."

Yesterday we discussed natural barriers a little bit. It's interesting to me because most of the class was actually dominated by a discussion of Islam and reading The Hunger Games, yet when I wrote the blog I only really discussed natural barriers. (That's not that interesting, you say...) What I mean is, I spent the majority of yesterday's blog discussing something that was discussed for maybe... 10 minutes. I just figure, we do SO much in class it'd bore you all half-to-death (or closer) to get my full lesson in text form. Or maybe it wouldn't bore you, but who has time to read all that?

So, today we went more in depth on the whole "natural barrier" thing. Students had to circle four of China's natural barriers, and one (I bet you can guess what it is) of China's man-made barriers. Then they went to the board and showed us where those barriers were. (You'll notice this ties in much nicer with the actual standard: 7.3.10: Describe the limitations that climate and land forms place on land or people in regions of Africa, Asia and the Southwest Pacific. China, being in Asia... Panem, of course, is in a fictional dystopic North America...

Last year I emailed a website and received permission to use a map I found online. I'm not sure if that includes posting it to my blog, so I emailed them again this year. If they ask me to take it down, I will... but I can't imagine them doing that. They seemed so nice. *EDIT: They emailed and said I could post it on here. Thanks worldatlas.com.*END EDIT* Anyway, here is what it looked like when the students finished showing the natural barriers:

The map came from THIS website. It wouldn't hurt to check them out. In case you want to see this map without all the writing on it, you can find it HERE.

Officially, we're still studying religions, but everything overlaps so much, it made sense to do this now. Tomorrow, back to Islam.

If you want extra credit, discuss the following questions with an adult: How did you do on the writing prompt? What did you write about? So, natural barriers, huh? Those are pretty crazy. That's not a question. I know... ummm... can you make it into one? Some question about China and natural barriers, and how it affects the people and surrounding cultures. BAM! In order to get the extra credit points, write the following phrase on a scrap of paper: If I get murdered in the city, don't go revenging in my name. One person dead from such is plenty, no need to go get locked away. Adults, by signing the paper, you're saying that you really did discuss those ummm... "questions" with whoever's in my class. ...I realize they're not all questions today... sorry about that. : )

Natural Barriers

2011-12-07T12:12:00.000-08:00

Oh, Katniss Everdeen, how you tie in to social studies - let me count the ways:
Governments, standard of living, culture, customs, civil disobedience, economic systems, ... Today, in most classes, we got to the part where... (dang it... I don't want to give away what's happening in the book...) Ok, some people have to travel through some mountains. This is what is said:

"I realize we must be in the tunnel that runs up through the mountains into the Capitol. The mountains form a natural barrier between the Capitol and the eastern districts. It's almost impossible to enter from the east except through the tunnels. This geographical advantage was a major factor in the districts losing the war..."

Man, that hits so many standards. (Granted, the standards apply to Asia, Africa and Australia - but I'm more concerned with the concepts they're teaching rather than the facts about places themselves...)

For instance: "7.3.10: Describe the limitations that climate and land forms place on land or people in regions of Africa, Asia and the Southwest Pacific.

Example: Deserts in Africa, Saudi Arabia and China; the islands of Japan; mountains of Iran and Afghanistan; northern regions of China."

Yes, that deals with those specific places, but the concepts are the same for all of them. I took a break from reading to discuss this with the kids - the difference between natural and man-made barriers. My hands were the cow people and the lettuce people, separated by the Adidas Mountain range. ...

It looked something like this:

We talked about why having a mountain range between these two groups of people might be beneficial - if the lettuce people try to attack the cow people, they have to cross the natural barrier - the Adidas Mountains. That would make it more difficult. Of course, if the lettuce people wanted to trade with the cow people, that would be more difficult as well. ... I kept mixing up my voices... I couldn't keep them straight - which voice went with cow, which one went with lettuce...

Anyway, we then discussed other forms of natural barriers, and types of man-made barriers as well. Every class came up with the Great Wall of China as a man-made barrier.

Of course, we're still studying religions. (You remember, standard 7.1.4 - which I mentioned in an earlier post. I can't see how you can adequately teach a religion in a meaningful way - a way the kids will remember it, connect it with other religions, understand it in a way that is relevant to them and their world - in less than a week. (Classes are 45 minutes...) The idealist in me says 3 days per religion...

We did go a little cross-curricular in one class today and use some algebra to figure out what year we're in on the Muslim calendar...

At any rate, it was a good day today. If you're in my class and want extra credit - or if you're reading this and you want your kid (the one that's in my class) to receive extra credit, discuss the following questions:

1. What is a natural barrier? What might be some positives and negatives from natural barriers?

2. What does "standard of living" mean? Can you give any examples from today's reading that Katniss had a relatively low standard of living in district 12?

3. What is Islam? What do you know about it so far? Is there anything you don't understand about it?

When you're done discussing those, write the following phrase on a slip of paper: "It looks like you were ready for a flood in that picture Mr. Habecker..." In order to get the extra credit points, the paper must be signed by the adult that discussed this stuff with you. Adults, by signing it, you're saying that yes, so-and-so really did discuss those questions with you last night.

Video Days

2011-12-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think social studies classes are misrepresented, or at least common perception of them is off. I think people picture us setting up a DVD player (some parents probably imagine us setting up a film strip projector...) on day one, pressing play, then kicking our feet up the rest of the year while getting paid a modest salary for relatively little work.

Hopefully this blog will help dispel some of those rumors. We watch very few movies in here. We do usually hit a couple big ones - Gandhi and Promises - but other than that they are rare. (Even the big ones we usually trim down to fit into a week or two...)

Well, today was an exception - and I may add an exception that didn't take up the entire period. We watched the last of the monotheistic religions videos today. Each one lasts about 20 minutes and gives some insight into the religions we're studying. Obviously, at 20 minutes there's only so much that can get covered, but they're a nice way to introduce the religion.

I don't think students get a whole lot of the video itself. They get far more from the discussions that follow. Tomorrow we'll go over the sheets that they were to fill out during the movie. Honestly, it's a way for them to get some free points. It helps them stay focused and follow along, but it's not a big deal if they miss an answer because we go over it together in class later.

The beginning of class was taken up with a discussion of religious extremism. I thought it went pretty well. I would love to show a 2 minute summary video about that to all my classes, but there are no good ones out there. Go ahead and search youtube for yourself. They either have an anti-religion bias, or they have an anti-religion-that-isn't-Christian bias. I don't really feel comfortable showing either of those in class. (If you do find one, please attach it to this blog as a comment.)

For today, discuss the following questions after reading the blog: what is religious extremism? Do you think Islam gets a bad rap? Give some instances of religious extremism other than Islamic Extremism? We talked about people willing to kill or die for their faith. Is there anything you're willing to die for? If so, what? Would that make you an extremist? Why or why not?

To get the extra credit, write the following on a piece of paper: I'm an extremist when it comes to skateboarding. Backside 50/50 baby. Parents/Adult signing paper... (oh yeah, kids... you still have to get it signed...) by signing that scrap of paper you're saying your kid really did read and discuss the blog and questions with you.)

On to Islam

2011-12-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

Today we took our pop quiz. I think most students did pretty well on it.

We're moving into Islam over the next couple of days. The students have now finished filling out their chart. By the end of the week they should be able to explain everything that's on it. They usually have some trouble with the founders. Because all three monotheistic religions trace their roots back to Abraham, they often list him as the founder of the religion on the test. They are not the same thing... I gave the example today of a billionaire grandfather who started a car business. If he gave some money to two of his grandchildren to start their own businesses, he would still only be the founder of his business. His grandchildren would be the founders of their respective businesses, even though we could trace the money back to the grandfather.

Here's the chart in case your kid forgot it, lost it, or loaned it out to a friend.

We wait until this week to study extremism. Students often associate extremism with Islam, so that's a separate lesson as well. We take the time to define religious extremism, and point out that there are extremists in every religion.

For the extra credit, discuss the following questions:

How did you do on the pop quiz?

How much of the chart do you think you'll be able to explain?

In order to get the extra credit today, write a question you have about the blog or about class in general. The question can come from student or adult. The paper must be signed. Adults, by signing the paper, you are signifying that you really did discuss those two questions with the student in my class.

Pop Quiz

2011-12-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

I was planning on giving the kids a pop quiz today... I didn't go through with it. So sue me. ...They were happy. I told them to count on having a pop quiz on Monday. I realize that takes a little bit of the "pop" out of it. I told them what it would cover... less and less like a "pop" quiz, right? More and more like a regular, old, boring quiz.

In case you're wondering, here's some stuff that will be on it:

Hopefully they can explain that... If not, well... good luck on the pop quiz. There'll also be this:

Today for bellwork, we discussed The Hunger Games. I can't stress enough how much I care about reading comprehension. It's one thing to read the book. It's another to make sure they're getting what we're reading. I understand that this isn't a language arts class, but the book ties in so well with the curriculum. I'm only worried that it's taking too much time away from the fact memorization we need to do for testing...

Here's the thing though, if this helps increase reading comprehension, it's going to help all areas of testing anyway. All parts of the test require reading skills.

So, to get the extra credit today (well, Monday...) ask your kid what's going on in the book. Ask them who their favorite characters are, and why. Ask them if they would have taken Prim's place, or is there someone whose place they would have taken. Ask them if they'd be courageous or fearful if they were in Katniss's place. Ask them how they feel about the hunger games in general - the games themselves, not the book. There's plenty more you could ask... and actually, as I'm reading over this, that might be a lot. Maybe just pick a couple of those.

You know, every time I write this, I picture a loving parent with their child at home reading over the blog together, laughing, reminiscing about a scene from The Hunger Games, politely discussing politics, religion, or whatever topic we're studying... Sometimes I snap out of my reverie though, picturing a mother glaring: "SO-AND-SO! YOU GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW! YOU WILL READ THIS BLOG ENTRY!" The daughter rolling her eyes, wishing she could be texting her bff about some cute boy three lockers down. Uggg... social studies is such a drag. "O.M.W.," she'll cry, texting her friend "ttyl, brb" at the exact same moment. Apologies if your life mirrors the latter rather than the former.

Also, you could study for the quiz. One more question that will be on it is: define monotheism.

So, if you want the extra credit make sure you bring in a piece of paper that has the following phrase: Thanks for reading and discussing the blog with me. It's been so much fun.

In order to get the extra credit, it must be signed by the adult you discussed it with. If you didn't have a heart-warming chat about social studies with some adult in your life, don't tell me. Let me live in my imagination.

Books Are In

2011-12-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

The Hunger Games were dropped off this afternoon. I'm so excited! We've been reading a little bit here, a little bit there, but we haven't had enough for every kid. Needless to say, sharing is not the forte of every student... I think tomorrow will be a Hunger Games day. I want to be done by break so the other teachers can get to it before the movie comes out.

Class today went well. We're still comparing Judaism and Christianity. Next week we'll start on Islam.

One thing that came up in class today was the benefits of television. We talked about strength in unity, and the importance of having a homogeneous culture. This came up both in studying Judaism/Christianity, as well as today's reading in The Hunger Games.

It's late, and I have to put in a bunch of grades (video viewing guide)... so I'll save you from reading and discussing a ton.

Question of the day: Why did I say TV is a good thing? We talked about Sponge Bob in most classes. Do you remember?

One more question: In studying religion, I asked the question: "Have you ever played a game with the kid, only to have the kid change the rules on you in the middle? (I think I used the example of a kid making a "new base" in the middle of a game of tag...) What did that question have to do with the religions we're studying?

In order to get the extra credit, discuss those two questions and bring in a sheet of paper signed by the adult you discussed them with. Include the phrase: Bakers bake bread for Prim. Adults, by signing the paper, you're saying you really did discuss this with your kid. : )

I've been enjoying getting the extra credit slips of paper.

SYCNYSBYTHDWNSRLYLGHT

2011-11-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I mentioned we discussed the development of written language. I taught the kids that language was originally a mnemonic device - meant to help them remember something already knew, rather than to impart new information. Many ancient languages didn't have a strict grammar, spaces, capitalization or punctuation rules. When the students asked how they would read it, I gave them some examples. For yesterday's extra credit, they were to show you the examples and bring in the paper signed... Well, some of my students showed some great examples, others forgot how to do it, so I'll post some examples here. (I know that Y is sometimes a vowel, and often is in here... I'm keeping it in to make these a little easier...)

SYCNYSBYTHDWNSRLYLGHTWHTSPRDLYWHLDTTHTWLGHTSLSTGLMNG

or

MRYHDLTTLLMBLTTLLMBLTTLLMBMRYHDLTTLLMBTSFLCWSWHTSSNW

or

PLDGLGNCTTHFLGFTHNTDSTTSFMRCNDTTHRPBLCFRWHCHTSTNDSNNTNNDRGDNDVSBLWTHLBRTYNDJSTCFRLL

I'm sure you can come up with a lot more. The point is, you wouldn't be able to read those if you didn't already have some idea of what they said. Once you know what it says, you can pick out individual words - this is what made going from an oral history to a written history possible.

Today, we finished up the Christianity video. We started comparing Judaism and Christianity. Since Christianity came out of Judaism, there are a number of ways they overlap, and some good comparisons that can be made.

In order to get the extra credit today, discuss the following questions with your parent/whoever's in charge at your place. (If it's a parent reading the blog, discuss them with whoever's in my class...)

-What are some similarities between Judaism and Christianity?
-Why do they both trace their roots back to Abraham? Why is this a big deal?
-They both have a holy scripture, but how is it that the scripture between Judaism and Christianity are so similar?

After you've discussed this, extra credit can be awarded if you write the following on a piece of paper and have the adult in the discussion sign it: I wish we could learn about roller coasters in every class. Parents, don't forget that by signing this you're confirming that you really did talk about this stuff...

P.S. In case you didn't figure out that top stuff, it's The National Anthem, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and The Pledge of Allegiance.

Judaism to Christianity

2011-11-29T11:26:00.000-08:00

I am exhausted. My seventh hour class certainly enjoys talking.

We'll be spending the next several days on monotheistic religions. Today I incorporated some language development into the lesson. I gave a brief overview of pictograms and idiograms without going into too much detail or defining those words. (I linked some wiki definitions if you're so inclined...)

We talked about how written language was not originally meant to be read, but developed from a mnemonic device (proto-writing), and that Ancient Hebrew was written in a later developmental stage... (I didn't use all those words, so parents... if you're kid says I didn't teach them that stuff, I did... but not in that way...)

I gave them an example or two of how that would work. Ancient Hebrew was written without vowels, spaces, lower case, or punctuation. Some students asked how this worked, so I wrote something on the board for them. (Most every class had something different, that way they couldn't cheat.) You could have them write it down for you right now to see if you can figure it out.

We then talked about the Hebrew name of God, YHWH - and the reason some people won't say the name. This all hit a number of standards, including language development and religions. And I thought it was very fun.

We started into Christianity by watching 15-20 minutes of the video that the department uses. Honestly, I don't think any of us (teachers) really love these videos, but they're the best ones we've found. Every year we talk about making our own. Maybe this is the year...

To get the extra credit: Ask whoever is in my class to show you what mnemonic language would look like... have them write something without spaces, vowels, lower case, or punctuation and see if you can figure it out. Then discuss some of the similarities between Judaism and Christianity.

Sign the piece of paper that they wrote on, and have them turn it in for 5 extra credit points.

God

2011-11-28T11:17:00.000-08:00

Religion is tricky when it comes to the classroom... especially when it comes to social studies. Indiana Standard 7.1.4 states: Describe the historical origins, central beliefs, and spread of major religions. (Individuals, Society and Culture) Example: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

I'd like to point out that is one standard. ...For 7th grade. One standard out of 52 such standards... Isn't that like, 6 undergrad credits right there?

Most years I teach the facts, dates, and names - but I've found there's no real connection with the students. So today, I asked a personal question: "Do you believe there is a God? If so, how does He (or She) want you to live your life? If not, how do you determine how to live your life? Please answer using at least 5 complete sentences."

We talked (at length in some classes) about the rights and privileges of living in the United States. We talked about religious freedom and religious persecution. We talked about respecting the rights of others while maintaining the integrity of our own beliefs. Overall, I thought it went really well, especially given the fact that we also reviewed the test and read a little bit of The Hunger Games.

I would also like to add that I didn't answer questions about my personal beliefs inside the classroom. While it's no big secret, I want the classroom to be as free as possible.

If you're reading this for extra credit, discuss the following questions:

How important is religious freedom in the United States?
Is it important to learn about other world religions?
How does religion impact our lives here in Indiana?

In order to get the extra credit, students have to bring in a piece of scrap paper signed by the adult they discussed this with. Grandparents/Parents/Step-Parent/Etc... by signing the paper, you're saying that you did read the blog and discuss it with the student that's bringing it to me.

Testing Testing 1...2...

2011-11-21T11:30:00.000-08:00

Well, today we continued reading The Hunger Games and then we continued on with the test.

We will finish up the test tomorrow, and we'll grade it. Then, if there's time we'll read some more.

Admittedly, this test is taking longer than I thought it would. I think this is a problem all teachers run into. At what point should you say, "Alright! Enough! We've got to move on!"

Tomorrow is the day. Tomorrow we finish the test and continue on with the curriculum.

Incidently, I had some (2) students ask me now if I was getting paid to write the blog - if I had ads over to the sides that gave me .02% of a penny every time someone clicked on the link... or however that works.

If you're wondering the same thing, the answer is no. I don't... but it's a great idea. I'm just doing this to keep you all up to date with what's going on in my classroom.

If your kid wants extra credit for reading this blog, discuss with them the following questions:

Do you like Concord Junior High? Is it important to like school? Why or why not? In order to get the extra credit for reading this, parents (or other adult) must sign a piece of scrap paper along with the statement: "Please end the testing." (Parents, by signing your name, you're saying that yes, you did read and discuss this blog with your kid, and you're not just giving them free extra credit points.)

Defiance

2011-11-18T12:36:00.000-08:00

We had the test today. I think it went pretty well. I had a number of kids tell me that it was easy, and a number tell me that it was difficult.

I tried something new. During the last five minutes of the test, I gave students a sheet of loose-leaf paper and let them write any questions they had. They were allowed to take that paper home to study. I hope it helps.

I gave everybody a little time to study before the test as well.

Before that, I read a couple pages of The Hunger Games. There was an act of defiance in the reading today, and it was a subtle, yet aggressive act. In discussing dissent in unlimited governments, I asked if it was ever ok to defy authority.

What do you think? To get the extra credit on Monday discuss the following questions with your parent:

What was the act of defiance that occurred in The Hunger Games? (You don't have to answer that one if your parents are planning on reading the book... We wouldn't want to give anything away.

Is it ever ok to defy authority? If so when? If not, why not?

Did you write anything on your loose-leaf paper from the test? What didn't you understand? You may want to figure those answers out somehow...

In order to get the extra credit Monday, bring in a piece of scrap paper that is signed by your parent (or whatever adult you discussed it with...) Include the phrase "Defiance is wasted by the young." Parents - by signing this paper you are stating that you really did discuss it with your kid.

A Test, By Any Other Name

2011-11-17T11:14:00.000-08:00

We just finished up Day 2 of The Hunger Games. It's been a blast thus far. If you're wondering why I'm reading it to my class, please read yesterday's post.

We spent the rest of the time reviewing for the test. I'm a little worried. I'm not sure about the study habits of all of my students. I know some have studied quite a bit, others... Well, we'll see how prepared they are.

Here are a few questions from the test. (I gave these out in class too, so if you're worried that I'm giving an advantage to those with internet, don't be.)

An unelected group rules in this type of government, and rarely follows the rule of law.

Is it: Direct Democracy? Oligarchy? Dictatorship? Republic?

List the four reasons I gave that ancient civilizations were found near rivers.

What are the ingredients of culture, and give me an example of each.

We've been reviewing all week, so hopefully it pays off.

Seriously though, I'm most excited for The Hunger Games. I think that's true for all the kids too. Nobody gets excited about taking a test.

Students in my class can get extra credit by reading this blog. In order to do so, parents have to read the blog and ask them a couple questions.

Today's questions:

What's going to be on the test tomorrow? Did you study for it? Are you prepared? What's an oligarchy?

What happened in todays part of The Hunger Games? Tell me about it. Do you like the book? How did it tie in with social studies today?

If you want the extra credit, bring in a piece of scrap paper that's signed by your parent (or whatever adult you've discussed this with) along with the phrase: "I'm going to ace this test." Parents, by signing your name you're saying that yes, your kid really did discuss this stuff with you.

Social Studies Through Literature

2011-11-16T11:19:00.000-08:00

I have wanted to teach The Hunger Games to my kids ever since I read it back in 2008/2009. (I was actually a little annoyed that they didn't warn you ahead of time that it was going to be a series... other than that I loved it...)

Last year our block bought 20 copies of the book, and I bought 5 copies with my own money. We read it in my CAP class. It was a blast.

A couple copies are now missing, so we don't have enough to make a classroom collection, but in the spirit of promoting reading, and given the fact that it ties in so well with my curriculum, I've decided to take 10 minutes a day to read it.

The kids, for the most part love it.

We're only on page 10, and already multiple topics that I teach have crept up: unlimited government, social structure, standard of living, censorship...

I'm so excited.

If you're a student, and you read this, (or a parent/guardian and you read it with your child) you can get extra credit by discussing the following questions:

How does The Hunger Games tie into social studies?
What happened in the sections we read today?
Are you ready for Friday's test?
What do you think will be on it?

You can get extra credit by bringing in a piece of scrap paper signed by your parent (or whoever you discussed this with) along with the words: Hunger Games. (Parents, by signing this paper you're saying you really did talk about this stuff with your kid.)

Here's the trailer for the movie, in case you want to watch it again:

Gains Gains Gains

2011-11-11T16:32:00.000-08:00

Sup bloggies?

I'm really pleased with the way the class I'm in has been going. (To all you out there reading this, that aren't yet aware, I'm taking a class on technology in education...)

I saw the greatest growth in learning about the opportunities to expand technology use. There's so much I hadn't heard about until this class, and there's quite a bit I had heard about, but couldn't picture utilizing.

Let me give you some examples... check out pbworks to get started on an educational wiki.

If you're on this blog, you can probably already know the value of edu-blogging.

If you haven't heard of edmodo, check out this video:

I made my first WebQuest at QuestGarden. (You can see the one I created here... it's pretty good)

This is all new stuff too... such gains.

I'm going to use this blog to offer extra extra credit from here on out. Go me.

That's not even mentioning stuff I knew about, but wasn't proficient in, such as Excel. (I know, how did I get this far without knowing Excel? ... One of the great mysteries of the world...)

The next real question is, "how will my teaching not change based on what I've learned." I'm offering students more opportunities to use technology in their presentations, I'm planning on creating both wiki and edmodo pages. I'm hoping to use this blog for extra credit. I've sent them on their first WebQuest, and I'm planning on sending them on many more.

Technology is constantly changing though... I've got a good pace going, I'm not worried about keeping up.

Chaistic Structure - the important stuff is in the middle

2011-10-28T16:16:00.000-07:00

And first, a funny story:

I took my kids downtown today to give my wife a break. We were gonna chill at Better World Books for a while, then I was going to take them down to Olympia Candy Kitchen for a piece of pre-lunch candy - a treat they never get. Well, as we're walking into BWB I see this kid wearing a Spiderman costume. "Huh..." I thought... "Must be getting an early start..." And nothing clicked as I walked into BWB and the staff were all wearing costumes as well. Turns out I was taking my costume-less kids on a walk through downtown Goshen during the designated "Downtown Trick-or-Treat" time. I had just told them I was taking them to Olympia, so they were really excited to go. But we had to walk past all these other stores with candy to buy a piece of candy. Not only that, but we were getting tons of disapproving looks from store owners and parents who took the time to dress up their kids. Looks like, "what'd you dress your kids up as this year? Kids?"

"Yep buddy, I did. Now back off."

Actually, the store owners were really nice about it, but I felt like I had to explain to each one, "No, we're not actually trick-or-treating... we just want to go buy a piece of candy... Yes I know it sounds dumb, but... well, ok... thank you... don't mind if I do..." *glares from other parents as the three of us reach our hands in the bowl.*

Speaking of candy, in discussing the intellectually worded question, "How can you encourage your professional colleagues to engage in ongoing development in terms of technology integration?" Teacher Talk With a Thompson mentioned bribing teachers with candy in order to get them hooked on technology. Not a bad idea, says I.

Before reading her blog, I could only think of emailing the entire school my ideas or using some passive aggressive/ guilt-tripping tactics... "Ohhhh.... you don't use technology in your classroom? ... ... Huh..." *raises eyebrows*

I'll say that most of my idea sharing between colleagues happens either at block lunch, or social studies lunch. Social studies lunches are the best. We all help each other out. We all received SMARTboards this year and we'll tell each other new tricks we've learned. Man, one guy made a version of Settlers of Catan for the SMARTboard. It utilized all sorts of features that I could only bring forth in dreams. His kids were learning about civilizations, trading/economics, etc... Awesome.

So, I'll share stuff in there as well. I'm excited to learn more about Edmodo. That will be my next techno-lunch-share.

As for being a teacher leader, that shouldn't be too difficult since I don't see anybody else paving the way. What I mean is, we've got a lot of teachers sharing a lot of great ideas, but nobody has really come forward and said, "You guys got a question about something techy - come see me." Of course, now that I see that in writing I'm not sure I want to be any more of a teacher leader than I already am. I could be our team leader again, but I dropped that so I could focus on my master's work. I like the system we have now. We've got many leaders, blazing different technological paths.

Lets make this a little chaistic here, beginning and ending with something off topic:

If you haven't watched this yet, watch it. If you have, watch it again. It's pretty funny. October Light's a bunch of Christian Croatians who formed a band. It's a nice little tribute to their country.

And it's 10:14 PM

2011-10-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy day/ week. (Granted, I'm counting Monday-Monday...)

I just wanted to say that I switched browsers and blogger no longer freezes my computer. So now, maybe I can do my blogging from home.

It was really frustrating to have to power down anytime I'd click a link to a blog - which is like... 75% of my supplemental reading for my class. I took down pictures and backgrounds and links and things from my blog as well, thinking they were the cause.

Curse you Internet Explorer. Curse you to ... (And may I never be tempted to retrieve you from there.)

Technophobia

2011-10-20T12:22:00.000-07:00

Here’s a nice bulleted list for you, detailing various reasons I might be afraid of incorporating internet technology into the classroom:

Ø Looking incompetent

Ø Students accessing inappropriate sites (other than porn)

Ø Students accessing inappropriate sites (including porn)

Ø Server goes down

Ø Firewall prevents students from accessing appropriate sites, yet somehow allows them to visit www.thisisinappropriate.com (not a real website… probably)

Ø School laptops include cameras… I’m not really sure why I fear this, but I do

Ø Students break computers, pull off keys, or hit control+alt+up arrow and I get blamed for it

Ø Students use computers as weapons (not an actual fear, but it should be)

Ø How much time is it going to take me to come up with a lesson plan that isn’t the one I’ve been relying on for the past thousand years? Fear of time commitment should definitely go to the top of the list. Seriously, that’s the biggy for me.

Ø Also, looking incompetent

The biggest thing I can do to alleviate these fears is just jump in – or get pushed in, which is essentially what happened by taking a class entitled “Technology in Education.” (*WOOT! WOOT! SHOUT OUT COHORT 222! HOLLA!!!*)

Granted, the fears listed above aren’t actually fears per se, so much as apprehensions. I’ve never really worried about students accessing porn, or students breaking the computers. There’ve been a couple instances of student vandalism, but really, they’re just doing their work.

I do worry about looking incompetent, but I worry about that (and basically awkward situations in general) with every aspect of my life.

Technology will fail, but that’s a risk worth taking. It’s working most of the time – and the payoff seems worth it.

As for the time… geez… Nothing comes to mind to help me alleviate that fear. I’m worried that I won’t be able to access the WebQuest I made for my class after my 30 day free trial is over. You should check it out. It’s pretty good. You can find it HERE. (If you can’t click on that link, it’s because I’ve decided to put some more finishing touches on the WebQuest… or because my 30 day free trial is over and they took it down.) I don’t know where I’m going to come up with more time…

Oh well. In the words of H. Jackson Brown Jr., “Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”

That’s not alleviating much though…

Of Funerals, Volleyball, and Software

2011-10-06T06:15:00.000-07:00

What a week. I’m writing this from school because blogspot has been crashing my home computer… I can’t even get to the troubleshooting/helps page from home because… Yeah, you get it.

My wife’s grandfather died yesterday (not suddenly, but thank you for your condolences, etc… etc…) He was as decent and godly a man as any. We’re leaving tomorrow (silence the pianos and with muffled drum). Funerals can be ghastly occasions, but I’m anticipating this one will be quite nice. My college roommate introduced me to his cousin Liz – my future wife. We moved to the hometown of her best friend and cousin Mary Rose, though she has married and moved to some far off land… So, although funerals are somber, it will be nice to see everyone and catch up.

Death is fantastic and stupid. I coach volleyball. We’ve been winning here at the end of the season. If we win tonight, we go to the championship game on Saturday. It’s been a LONG season. There have been several days that I left home before my kids were awake, and returned after they were asleep. As teachers (and likely as human beings) we all make sacrifices for the betterment of ourselves and society. The young ladies on my team have worked hard, and developed not just as athletes but also as compassionate, dedicated, thoughtful and insightful people. I hope that my absence from the game isn’t detrimental to their season, but it can be an encouragement as well. Ultimately volleyball is just volleyball, and family should come first. Hopefully they take that lesson the right way.

I’ll tell ya… give a guy a soap box…

What software applications do I use regularly? I guess you’d have to define “software applications” and “regularly.” I use MSWord, the internet, and my SMARTboard every day. Sometimes I break out power point, but these days I’m relying on SMART notebook more and more… (essentially ppt for the SMARTboard.) I use my iPod quite a bit. We listen to songs and poems. We haven’t done much with podcasts, but I’m not opposed to it.

I’ve wanted to learn Excel for years. I’ve felt pretty incompetent for not knowing it… Apparently, there are quite a few people out there who aren’t using Excel to its full potential. I just learned some basics for this class – and man I’ve exploded out of the gates. I created a spread sheet tracking student test scores for several years. I showed it to the other teachers in my block, and now they want me to make them for their bubble kids as well. There’s so much I could potentially do with Excel – chart earthquake occurrences, religious populations and percentages, ethnic growth and conflict… I’m not a math-y person. Looking at numbers is one thing, see the numbers on a clear chart is another. (And since I’m the one making the chart, I can be assured that it’s not propaganda…

I’m planning on spending at least two hours a week working on improving my Excel knowledge through web-tutorials and simply messing with the program. After some basic instructions to get me started, just looking around and exploring the program has helped me out the most. It’s a big world out there… there’s a lot to look at.

I am copyrighting every single word in this post. Please see me for permission to say any one of these words in the future.

2011-09-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

Another great day getting pushed to the limit… I’ve been working on my copyright presentation – any of the rest of you in the same boat? Seriously, I don’t know who made the time chart on the full course syllabus, but I think they should re-examine that… 120 minutes of research? Really? The first link had an hour webinar embedded into it. There’s the first hour of research right there… the webinar had multiple videos embedded into it that were not part of that hour. It was great stuff, but 120 minutes was quite the conservative estimate.

Also, there was some conflicting information in the webinar too. The guy (Wes Fryer) was really pushing Creative Commons – which I’ve been pushing as well. But when talking about copyright, he mentioned how the law changed in the 80s so that created works are automatically copyrighted, even if you don’t take it and make it official. So, essentially you need permission for anything – which is why on Flickr he suggest you use the attribution license when choosing pictures to use in presentations, etc… But someone at the end of the session asked if teachers could print out pictures they found on the web, or if they would have to be a 1:1 school and let all the students look at them online. He said they’d be on safe legal ground to print them out and distribute them. Sound conflicting to you? It did to me. If anybody wants to comment on thoughts about that, I’d love to hear what you think. I’M TALKING TO YOU CLIX! I just hope I get an A on the assignment. (He muses aloud, aware that his prof may or may not be reading this...)

Thanks for letting me rant. Mwahahahahahah… you (collective) have so little control over what I say. (But, I’m going to address the prompt right... now…)

Am I prepared for 21st century learning? Sheesh… maybe the question should be “Is the 21st century prepared for 21st century learning?” I’m as prepared as the next guy without being Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or some TED presenter. I use various tech media when presenting material to students. I’m excited about the prospect of becoming a 1:1 school. (Probably not this year, or the next… but I’m sure it will happen while I’m a teacher here.) I’m continually learning and exploring ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. I’m prepared, but definitely not over-prepared.

Do my students leave my classroom equipped for success using 21st century skills? My students leave my classroom as 7th graders, so probably not. Although, I believe they’re leaving with more skills than when they came in. We use problem identification/solving skills, and critical thinking skills every day. We are constantly creating and evaluating. Are they prepared? Probably not. Like so many of the videos we watched for this course said: we’re training them for jobs that don’t even exist yet. Are they more prepared than when they entered? Indubitably.

My strengths are exploring and getting students to look at issues critically from varied perspectives. I’m good at using the technology I’m comfortable with, and exploring new technologies. My weakness lies in incorporating technology I’m uncomfortable with into the classroom. With limited time, it’s easy to rely on what has worked as long as it’s still working. We all know the old maxim: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Yet, just because something’s not broken doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.

Fear And Introduction

2011-09-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

Can the world sustain its current number of bloggers, or will the world implode? I fear. I fear for us all. Personally, I’m just following orders. I was ordered to create this thing. And maybe it’s senseless to create an introduction to something no one (go ahead, check out how many followers I have) will read, but I’m hoping to gain a sense of progress with this Frankenstienian beast I’m creating.

Of course, there’s the first question of anonymity. Should people know who I am, or should I hide behind a cloak of hypertext markups, onion routers, and wikileaks protections as I daftly expose all the hidden evils of our current education system? (Or the evils *evil font* THE STATE *evil font* is perpetrating on our teachers?) I mean, I’ve heard our State Superintendent is up to no good, but he’s not going after bloggers the way these guys are. So, you know my name.

I’m starting this blog for a technology class. I bet they’re hoping I get all tech schnavvy and all. Oh I will be. I’ll be incorporating many of the NET standards NET standards for teachers that I read about in activity 1.3. (I hope my professor notices that flawless transition into topics I’m actually supposed to write about… flawless…) Truth be told, I think I already meet them all at some capacity. I “use technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, etc…” I “incorporate digital tools and resources” in my lessons. I use technology to communicate to parents and the community. I model respectful and appropriate ways to use technology – including copyright laws… laws that I’ve seen teachers take a more or less cavalier approach to following in the past. (My scholastic experience was filled with copied papers marked, “Do Not Copy.”)

I guess the NETS fall into the category of “Practicing, But Could Be Doing More.” There’s plenty that falls into that category… studying for tests, prayer and Bible reading, calling Great-Aunt Ethel…

My school does a good job of encouraging and supporting teachers when it comes to technology. That’s not to say there are no barriers. I’m typing this during prep using MS Word because the internet is down. (Apparently it’s a “state problem.” I’m not sure what the means, but I think it means I’ll be in trouble next class…) As is pointed out numerous other places – technology can let you down, especially if you don’t understand it. Furthermore, we’ve got a ton of academic standards to cover before the standardized test. I don’t know if I’ll have time to teach students to use movie making software, then film and edit, and finally present with the increased pressure coming from the state to focus on tests. We’ll cross that bridge eventually, social studies hasn’t seen the testing pressure that math and LA has.

So, we’ve got this Biblical command to “Fear Not.” I don’t fear technology, not even after reading Isaac Asimov. Robot uprising, yes. Technology no. I may get annoyed by it, but I won’t fear it. The Bible also has many commands about worrying, and I think that might be a better interpretation of some of the “Fear Not” commands. Don’t worry about it, let God handle it. I’m not going to worry about the technology failing, or my own personal ignorance about a program. As long as I’m not using fear as a pretext for inaction, it’s out of my hands.

I’m looking forward to this class. I’m looking forward to keeping this blog. Maybe I’ll get some ideas about incorporating technology into my classroom more efficiently. That’s what I’m hoping for at least. If not, maybe it will allow me to clarify my own muddied thoughts. Like Anna Kamienska said, “I write in order to comprehend, not express myself.”