This Week's Recap:

MONDAY - Civil War Test!
TUESDAY - Lincoln's Assassination, beginning of Reconstruction
WEDNESDAY - Johnson's Impeachment (GOT OBSERVED)
THURSDAY - Former Slaves in the Post-War South
FRIDAY - State Testing!


The week went generally fine, took until thursday to be fully recuperated from Sunday's half marathon. One of my classes found out (because I told them) about me running a half marathon and then winding up in the ER a few hours later for severe dehydration. By the end of the day, I had a student come up to me, "I heard you passed out halfway through a 5k." Glad to see my story was getting retold accurately.


In any case, yea Reconstruction! Last year I "taught" this chapter in a span of 2 days. I've extended it to a week and a half, still moving quickly though. Got observed wednesday and my program director loved the lesson! One the last page of the evaluation sheet he always fills out the sections that say Commendations and Recommendations. Under commendations, he wrote three comments, then crossed out recommendations, so he could write three more commendations. I thought the lesson was boring and dull, but he loved it. Also wednesday, I gave the kids a pop quiz on Lincoln's Assassination by making a fake trending topic Twitter page and the students had to fill out the real identities of the Twitter users based on their comments on the Lincoln Assassination.
ATTACHED:

On thursday, we talked about life of a former slave in the post-war South. We covered  Jim Crow Laws, Plessy v. Ferguson, Black Codes, 15th Amendment, voting rights, and so on. When we covered literacy tests as a way for southerners to restrict the black vote, I wanted to give the kids an understanding of what it might be like to be illiterate. So I took a handout one of my roommate got in his class on Special Education, of what a child with dyslexia sees when he/she tries to read something. I thought it was really cool, and I could also brag to the kids that I could read the whole thing without even trying. 


Here's a picture of it if you want to check it out, and the "translated" text is below it.

Children with particular
problems may reverse letters and
may not be able to make out what
they say. They may see some
letters for others, they may
pronounce letters so that they do
not form words that make sense to
them. If you study these w0-
-rds long enough you should be 
able to figure out what they ar-
-e saying because you have had
certain experience that allows
you to substitute some letters
for others and then to make
sense out of them. The child
with learning problems has not
had the same types of
experiences that you have had
and so cannot substitute in the
same manner as others.


But on friday I spent the day grading the tests from Monday since the kids were occupied taking the state standardized tests. Woohoo free work day! Ended up finishing all the tests and found 8 tests where the kids just didn't do the second essay question that was worth 15 points. One girl managed to get an 84 without the second essay, another student ended up with a 59. But 8 students! Ridiculous!


Also so far this year, I have written 17 letters of Recommendation and I still have 7 more to go. Who knows how many more kids will ask me for one, this is just what I get for teaching all juniors.