Summer Vacation

Today was the official last day of school. Grades were handed in, textbooks, classroom keys, and handbooks too. We had our last faculty meeting where they announced the "Veteran of the Year" (a veteran is someone -faculty/staff- at the school who has been there for more than 3 years) and also the "Rookie of the Year" (three years or less) and based off of feedback from colleagues I was selected as the Rookie of the Year - it was pretty great to get the unexpected recognition.

So now we're on summer vacation and all I have to do is goof around with my iPad because I got selected to be in a pilot program group that will be implementing iPads into their classrooms. I've already got a list of great apps and can't wait to keep finding new ones.


Oh yeah - and I get my own classroom next year. Boom!

Batman

A student put this at the end of her test, it's pretty self explanatory but she does this every test.

I also have another student who draws a scene from a different Disney movie on every test and I have to guess which movie it's from. In response, I usually draw another scene from another Disney movie and leave it up for him to guess. So far - we've both stumped each other once

this day in history (well, yesterday)

"Does anyone know what happened on this day (6/5) in 1968 in history?"
"OH! THE HOLOCAUST ENDED!"


Sadly, that was over twenty years before. Shockingly, this is the same person who thought Iwo Jima was the Moon



- Correct Answer: RFK assassination

The 1960s

For the past few weeks we've been covering the 1960s. Typically it's a really difficult unit to teach because so much happens in such a little amount of time none of it is really concentrated in the same area. So in order to make the most sense of the 1960s, I made a Prezi that takes you through a timeline. First through the Domestic Issues (Election of 1960, JFK assassination, March on Washington, Great Society, etc), then through Foreign Affairs (Berlin Wall, Vietnam War, Alliance for Progress, etc) and finally through the Counterculture (Hippies & Protesters). Each one of the sections goes through chronologically and builds on top of the previous section.
When I showed my students the notes for the first day they got ridiculously overwhelmed  - but I explained that these notes were taking us three weeks not just one day so it's not as daunting.
Here's what the first slide of the Prezi looks like -

85 slides right there, so obviously the students were a bit concerned.

But in any case, we've since finished all those notes and recently we talked about Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Altamont, as well as famous 60s bands and musicians. For homework my students had to create concert posters that would be appealing to the hippie crowd of the 1960s and here are a few of the good ones from this year:

College

At tennis, one the kids - a typically loud, cocky, doesn't listen to anyone but is a very talented kid - came up to me because he wanted to ask me a question. This kid and I barely spoke to each other at all during last year's season, and this year we have talked here and there but in no way would I see myself as someone he would approach with a question.

For the next half hour we had a full-on discussion on his college plans for next year and how picked one school, sent in his deposit, but now is having second thoughts. We talked about what he liked about his two top schools, what he hated about them, what he thinks, what I thought (but I made sure not to force my opinion on him - it was more important for him to figure this out, I was just going to help him get there), and so on.

At the end of it, he decided to switch schools, had the biggest smile on his face, and now knows that he can come to me if he has an issue.

Made me feel good as a coach

Plagiarism

Over the month of April - since we only had 11 days of actual school (Easter, vacation, professional days for teachers) my students had to either watch Remember the Titans or The Help. Then write a page and a half essay explaining how the movie portrays the Civil Rights Movement and which characters best represent desegregation, and which represent segregation. 


I assigned the essay April 3rd - it was due April 30th.


On May 1st, two students hand in their papers (already a day late) and after reading through one and then the first four words of the other, I realize they are the exact same. Within the first few words they both spell "movie" without the "i" even. I will say, the essays aren't the EXACT same, one student said "blacks and whites" and the other wrote "African-Americans and Caucasians."


In any case - brought that to the Vice Principal of Academics and they both got zeros for the assignment. Also, both students have already come to see me to apologize (not something they are told they have to do)

On a plane!

I class earlier this week we were talking about the JFK assassination and went through the entire ordeal. The next day we started talking about Robert F. Kennedy and a student asked if he got assassinated too. I explained that he did, but that we would talk about that later on.

“On a plane! He died on a plane right?”

“No, he died in a hotel kitchen.”

“Well which one was assassinated on a plane?”

I had to stop and think, but I realized he was talking about John F. Kennedy Jr.

“JFK Jr. died in a plane crash, he wasn’t assassinated – but that’s how he died”

“Wait? JFK Jr.? Wait, whose son was he? ……… Ooh, that was bad”

(same girl who thought Iwo Jima was the Moon landing)

Coming Soon!

• JFK Jr.
• College decisions
• Plagiarism (again)

Review Game

Question: What was the name of the speech Martin Luther King Jr. Gave at the March on Washington?
Answer: (student yelling) I GIVE A SPEECH!

Schedule

Just found out my schedule for next year. Sadly, I no longer have only one prep (US History II). I'll only have two sections of juniors, and now I will also have three sections of the highest level freshmen.

Fun.

Blank

Oh school.


No update

Top 10 Places to Built a Fallout Shelter

- as explained by my student's projects

10. Underwater in the Bermuda Triangle

9. On the Moon

8. In a Chuck E Cheese ballpit

7. Under the Bat-Cave

6. In a treehouse

5. Backyard

4. Underwater in the Great Barrier Reef

3. In the middle of a dormant volcano

2. 1,800 miles below the Earth's surface

1. Canada

10 Ten Items to Build a Fallout Shelter out of:

10. Cement

9. Steel

8. Brick

7. Glass

6. Lead

5. Titanium

4. Melted ballpit balls

3. Dinosaur hides

2. Adamantium 

1. Kryptonite 

Fallout Shelters

This week we have been learning about the Cold War and the nuclear arms race and all that fun stuff. For a mini-project, my students had to create their own fallout shelters to get in the mindset of a person of the 1950s in a way.

Most students have made their under their houses, or in Canada (because no one would bomb Canada) and a lot made theirs entirely out of glass in the middle of the ocean - so they can look at fish for fun.

One student begins his explanation of his fallout shelter like this:
"Deep in the heart of Chuck E. Cheese, through the depths of the ball pit, there is a door. Under the door there is a ladder to my fallout shelter. It is made out of melted balls from the ball pit because it is easy to obtain. I'd also have a window so I don't look like Edward Cullen."

He goes on to talk about his race-car bed and, "I'd live by myself so that I could get a good start on my one-man band. Also, I don't want to have to resort to cannibalism."

States

A student runs up to me today; "Quick, how many states are there? 51 right? Because James swears there are 52. How ridiculous is that!?"

Iwo Jima

Today we were learning about the Battle of Iwo Jima. On the slide projected on the board, I had put the famous picture of the flag raising from the battle. One student right away says, "Wait!? That's what that picture is from? I always thought it was from something else!" When asked where she thought it came from, she refused to say because she said it was stupid.

As class went on a different student, who had been talking to the first student, yells, "Seriously, you thought that picture was from the moon landing!"

Very confusing.

Oh kids.

Overheard in a Department Meeting

"I never dated a guy in a leisure suit. Weirdos. If I saw a guy in a leisure suit - I went the other way. Never dated them, never."

overheard

Student 1: "what's a provision?"
Student 2: "it's the ban of alcohol - no more moonshine!"

LOST

I sit in the back of a fellow PACT teacher's class during one of my free period. The class is hilarious and different everyday.

Today they were learning about Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War. The teacher was lecturing about how the winter was really rough, there was little food, the American soldiers were running out of supplies and so on.

Student: "Wait so they weren't even dying because of someone else? They were starving? Jeez, that's why we lost."

The rest of the class then had to explain that we won the American Revolution - it took a solid 5 minutes to convince the kid.

overheard in the cafeteria

One freshman girl to another:

"Do you like fat guys? I went to a bar once and an old fat guy took my picture."




What kind of conversation has to happen for this to make sense in context? Or is that impossible?

Milgram

In 1961 a social psychologist, Dr. Milgram, conducted a study on people's obedience to authority and how far someone will go inflicting damage/pain on another person just because an authority told them to do so. He was studying things like how Hitler was able to led and direct Germans do carry out his plan without much dissent (much of it was fear, but Milgram thought and obedience to authority was the rest).

He had 40 people in the study, these 40 had to teach a list of word-pairs (yellow flower, strong coffee, etc) to a "learner" (actually an actor) and then later on test the learner's memory. If the learner got a question wrong, the teacher had to administer an electric shock (starting at 15 volts and going to a lethal 450 volts) because the authority had told them the experiment required them to do so.

Of the 40 participants, 26 went all the way to giving the fatal 450 volt shock (the learner wasn't actually hooked up to the electric shock machine - but the teacher thought they were), 14 quit before that point.

Today I discussed Milgram and dedicated the day's lesson to his study on obedience. I told my students it was a memory study and lied to them just like Milgram lied to his participants. In the process, without them realizing they were blindly following an authority figure, I got them to change seats, move all their backpacks to the back of the room, write nonsense words on an index card, and I even got about 5 in each class to go to their lockers and get their World Languages textbook - all without anyone questioning or challenging my directions.

After I revealed the true nature of the lesson, most kids couldn't believe it, one kid said, "wait, uhhh, umm, wait, so, uhh, you just like uhh messed with our heads. my mind is like blown." Very eloquent.

I did make a point to explain that in no way, shape or form am I advising my students to disrespect and ignore authority. I told them they had to listen to their teachers and parents, follow orders from the police, and generally avoid any form of anarchist revolution.

But overall, fun day.

studying

"Ok guys, today we are going to be studying the Holocaust."
"Oh my God, I love the Holocaust! ... I mean, umm, I love STUDYING the Holocaust, that's it."

Sharks

As we are watching a five minute clip of "Saving Private Ryan" and the invasion of Normandy Beach scene, a girl turns to me an asks. "Wait, so has a shark ever attacked a boat before?"

No idea where this came from, but it is the same girl who asked if the Great Depression really happened.

Retreat but no Surrender

Friday, directly after school, I left to help out with a school retreat. We didn't get back until Sunday night at about 10. So I went to bed shortly after, woke up the next morning, went to school, taught, had cafeteria duty until 5, came home, did work, and then went to bed.

This morning was a struggle and I have been exhausted all day so far. However, the weekend retreat was totally worth it. Here's hoping I get to help out next year too.

Delegate

"So they have 56 delegates at this conference, what's a delegate?"
"Something that is easily broken."
"Delegate - not delicate."


kids.

Parent Teacher Night #3

We had our third round of parent teacher conferences tonight. It went really well, I saw about 15 sets of parents - not to bad but a good amount.

During the first parent teacher night, I had a pretty difficult conference with a parent about her son who was failing the class simply because he didn't hand stuff in. He has been able to turn it around, currently has a 73 and things are looking good.

The entire conference went really well. It validated me in a way and made me know I was doing something right.

Overall, great night. Also - I got to school an hour and forty-five minutes before the first bell, and after conferences were over I had stayed four and a half hours past the last bell.

Baby picture

Yesterday I started my pre-WWII unit with a focus on the rise of Hitler and how he came to power and all that. To begin the lesson, I showed yong Adolf's baby picture to kind of throw off the kids as to what we were studying.

Right away, I got two very different sorts of reactions. All the guys said it was the ugliest baby they've ever seen and all the girls collectively said "awwww". After I told them it was Hitler, everyone switched to the more negative reaction except one girl - who still insisted it was a "wicked cute baby"

Little known fact

Did you know that people from the United States of America are called "United Statesians?" According to my student's essay on the Great Depression, the United Statesians had a great amount of faith in FDR.

Videos

This week, my class' video projects were due. Some highlights:

• a PSA by Brian Scalabrine
• a PSA by Billy Cundiff
• The Real Housewives of Hooverville
• FDR's Brain Trust made up of Steven Hawking, Dr. Sheldon Cooper, Dr. Leonard Hoffstatter, and Batman

Some lowpoints:

• "Thirty Thursday" comment
• End of Prohibition celebratory shots of Apple Juice

Otherwise, Valentine's Day in a coed highschool is craziness.

Apparently, February 14th is the day to ask people to go to Prom

• Flashmob in the third floor
• a ten foot span of lockers on the first floor spelled out "PROM?"
• at least a dozen bouquets of roses

MAIDS!

While talking about escapism in the 1930s, we started to talk about the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, so I asked the students what they knew about Snow White and the basic plot already? Then, I kept asking other questions:

Me: What do you know the Queen from the movie?
Student 1: She has maids!
Student 2: Wait! What? The Queen had AIDS?
Student 1: Who said she had AIDS? Did she really have AIDS?
Student 3: Hold up, is that why she was so angry?
Student 4: Was Disney trying to make some political statement?
Student 2: How did I not know about this before?

23

Somehow a clue about my age came out in class the other day. Right away one kid's hand shoots up, "Wait! You said you were 48 that totally goes against what you just said."

So I figured I should just tell them the truth, I've lied to my classes enough this year, "Yeah, I lied. I'm 23."

This caused the class to go into shock. Some kids looked absolutely confused, some were trying to figure out math in their heads, and others just starred at me asking if I was lying again.

Eventually, one kid raises his hand. "You should date Joe's sister. You two are the same age!" Right then, a different kid yells, "Everyone knows that Mr. [my last name] is taken!" I told the kid he needed to stop and to not go down that road about my personal life, and he just responds, "No. You're just so good looking, you obviously have a girlfriend. Duh."

Escapism

Today we began talking about escapism during the Great Depression - mentally removing yourself from reality into an imaginative state. We talked about a bunch of different forms of escapism but focused mostly on famous movies of the 1930s.

To help organize their thoughts on the movies, I made a handout/worksheet that had columns for setting, characters, plot, year released and so on. We talked about Gone with the Wind, It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Wizard of Oz, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Before we started talking about escapism, I passed out the worksheet with "Escapism of the Great Depression" written on the top.

Right away:
Student: You spelled escapade wrong.
Me: No, it says escapism.
S: I see that, but you spelled escapade wrong - it's supposed to say escapade.
M: Sorry, but no. It says escapism for a reason. It's supposed to.
S: Escapade and escapism are the same thing. You should have written escapade. Escapade is like escape - getting whisked away somewhere. So that's supposed to say escapade. You did it wrong.
M: The two aren't the same thing. We're going to be talking about escapism today and what that really means.
S: Escapism isn't a word - it sounds like something that you made up. It should say escapade.
M: Escapism is different from escapade, and it is a real word.
S: Oh, then what is escapism? Why was it part of the Great Depression?
M: That's what we're doing today.
-- then the class started.

it really happened

All week, we've been watching "Cinderella Man" in class - a movie about the Great Depression based on a true story.

In class today, one girl turned to me and asked, "is this a real story?" I told her it was and that the movie was based on a true story. Actually, one of the actresses in the movie is the granddaughter of the real Jim Braddock (the main character). She responds, "no but it is true?" I explained it was. "So that just makes it all so much sadder. It's true? That's so sad." I didn't know what to say to her comment, just as her classmate turned to her, "Gen, the Great Depression really happened." She thought for a second then said, "wait, really? Oh, right. Ok then - that's fine."

Glad to see it took a movie based on a true story for my students to realize the Great Depression really happened after we've spent a week learning about it in class before we started the movie.

Pop Quiz

Over the weekend, I gave my students a handout on New Deal Agencies and 15 questions to answer about the  agencies listed. At the start of class today (in each of my classes), I asked if there were any questions whatsoever on the homework. If anything needed clarifying, or anything else along those lines. Then all the students (who did their homework) passed it in.
Next I asked everyone to clear their desks and I gave them a pop quiz - 10 questions as they appeared on the homework. So far, the class average for all of my classes has been about 4/10.


well done kids.

more solutions:

• write screenplay to Titanic
• write screenplay to Annie Hall
• write a letter to Salvador Dali asking for money for a personal art studio (lie)
• get a roommate, and convince them the bill is higher to get a profit
• entertaining children at birthday parties because the industry is probably virtually nothing
• invent something revolutionary - like the slap-chop

Scenario

In order to learn about the Great Depression. I created scenarios for the students to get a sort of "in their shoes" type experience. After doing a few different scenario activities in class, I gave them one more to do for homework.

The Scenario:
You live by yourself in an apartment in New York City in 1930. Last month you couldn’t pay the electric bill, so you’ve been struggling to get by without power for the past few weeks. The heating bill is due soon and you only have $2.30 for the bill that costs $10.50. You’re nervous about what will happen if you don’t pay the bill because it’s now the beginning of winter and it’s only going to get colder over the next few weeks/months. What are you going to do in order to pay the bill? You have no family to turn to, no car to leave with, you just got laid off from your job, and you’re running out of options. What is the best and most feasible/realistic solution to your predicament?

The Solution:

• Let your heat shut off to save money
• build an illegal firepit in your apartment (solves lighting issue)
• go to charities for blankets (you'll use them to cover your doors and windows so the smoke doesn't escape)
• need food money? lonely? - find a dashing young man and ask him to live a life of crime with you robbing banks and mugging apple sellers. You'll also be famous and people will come up with some catching crime team name for you and post it in the paper (or get a dog if the dashing young man rejects you)

Another Solution:

• First I would think back to the high school that I attended. I would contact the man who had the best way with the ladies. I would have him give me lessons; almost like we were in the movie "Hitch" and I was Kevin James and he was Will Smith. I would have him help me char a rich, beautiful woman, such as Eva Mendez, and she would marry me. We would move into a handsome, heat-filled home, have a myriad of children, and live happily ever after. I don't think there is any other solution more reasonable than this one.

overheard in the cafeteria

As a girl is petting a guy's head. "I wish every guy's hair was this soft. It's just so soft? How do you get it so soft? It's the perfect texture, with a rich color, and great consistency. It's just so soft. I wish every guy's hair was like this."

Then she curtsied and said "goodbye" in a horrible British accent.



What is wrong with these kids?

how to: fail a midterm

How do you fail your US History midterm? Easy. Don't answer half of the multiple choice questions.

I love when kids don't read directions! Kidding, I'm actually pretty upset with this kid know because he was doing generally well on the test and he was on track to get a B+, but when you don't answer 5 short answer questions, it really messes with the whole "passing" thing.

seriously.

vocab!

Midterms started today, and I used a test generator for part of my test. All the questions are on point, but the test generator uses some vocabulary words. So over the course of the hour and a half test period, I've had many students ask questions about what words mean. I guess this is just a running total, for future reference for myself - also, I assume this list will be added to as the week goes on.

• upheld
• malice (x2)
• statutes
• bipartisan (x2)
• reactionary
• curtailed (x5)
• typifies
• regression
• diplomacy
• subjugation (x6)
• amnesty
• high ground
• civil liberties
• inferior (x2)
• reparations
• abolitionists

Found it!

Over the weekend, I decided know is as good a time as ever to start to try to understand and tackle student loans. Since signing up for them about five years ago, I haven't paid attention (or money) at all. I'm still a full-time student until June, and payments wouldn't start until November/December so I'm good there.

But when I checked over the weekend. I found out I owed $18,000 less than I thought it did. Awesome right? Sadly no. I found all the money I owed this morning, so everything is now back to normal.



yay.

closure

Ended up finding technically 9 cases of plagiarism in those research papers. Some were a very minor degree (forget bibliography & no quotes were used in paper), used one definition from the dictionary, took something from the internet word for word without quotes although there was a proper citation in the bibliography, etc.

One case, a girl took direct lines (phrases up to multiple sentences) from 5 different websites. After meeting with the academic vice principal, we decided to only pursue 1 of the cases (the egregious one) in terms of an "academic integrity" issue.

The girl got a zero on the assignment (worth 45 points total), has to serve multiple detention hours, and cannot be inducted into an honor society (NHS or subject honor societies) in the next round of inductions (April).

Her class was first period yesterday, I had to explain what plagiarism was (by order of the VP) and go over proper citations. I didn't look in her direction the entire time. After that we started reviewing for the midterms coming up. I asked the class a series of questions, called on people randomly (including her) and the class went smoothly. I think she appreciated I was in no way making a scene or calling attention to her.

So here's to a smooth rest the year.

plagiarism

Yay plagiarism!

In these research papers, so far (one class left to go over) I've found one girl who massively plagiarized and six other students who plagiarized in a smaller degree.

Why are kids to dumb?

Research Papers

On December 15th, I assigned a 3-4 page research paper about WWI on a topic of the students' choosing. The assignment was due January 5th. I've graded one full class so far and generally they've been good until I came to the last student of the class's paper.

Requirements: 3-4 pages, 12 point Times New Roman font, 1" margins, etc.
First off, he handed in his paper a day late (the penalty is that 10% of the total points is subtracted from your grade). Secondly, if you are ever going to email a teacher your paper - send it as a PDF so that all those little tricks you used to make your paper longer can't all be fixed back to what they should have been originally.

This future leader extended the margins and used justified alignment. But the paper still looked weird, the font was TNR like it was supposed to be and was 12 point the whole paper. I talked to one of my roommates and we discovered you can change the spacing between each word too. This kid had set it to "extended spacing" so that his paper was that much longer.

First is a picture of how his paper was formatted when he submitted it. Second is his paper with proper formating.

kids are great.

Odd

A group of students during study hall, called me over to ask a question about calculus. Most times, I can manage to figure out how to help the kids with what they're working on whether it's history, math, spanish, or science. Other times, when I have no idea I have one of two options that I turn to depending on my mood:

1. Tell them I have no idea and I can't help them
2. Make it up and sound convincing

The group asked me what a specific term in their Calculus textbook came from. I felt like making stuff up ... so I did. I explained an elaborate story of an Italian mathematician in the mid 1600s and the hatred of an ex-girlfriend who he wanted to shame for the rest of history. The kids believed me and I walked away.

About 10 minutes later, two of the students came up to me in awe in the fact that I knew the term. I told them I was joking and in actuality I had no clue whatsoever. They then had a look of even more shock and awe on their faces. Apparently they googled the term and my made up fictional story was actually correct (to some degree). 

Pretty awesome, huh?

Debate Team

Yesterday (from 3:30pm to 8:30pm) I help judge a match/meet (whatever it is) for the Debate Team. The debaters had to argue for and against space exploration. Here are some of the pearls of wisdom I learned while listening to the debates:

1. North Korea doesn't have any long range missiles but they can hit target in Israel, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.
2. The leader of North Korea is Jim Kunill
3. The capital of North Korea (Pyongyang) is pronounced [PIE-GONE-YAY!]
4. Iran can shoot a missile 3 kilometers, which can hit Israel
5. It is cheaper to explore the oceans rather than space because all you need is scuba gear.

our future lawyers and politicians everyone.

NEW YEAR - NEW SEATS!

All of my classes got brand new assigned seats today - they hated it. It was awesome.

Beyond that, the new year started out smoothly. We covered Harding's "Return to Normalcy" and all that fun stuff that goes along with it. It was a dry lecture, but I was able to joke around with the students and make it a little more interesting.

After school, I had 8 students in my room to see me. First off, 1 student after school to see me never happens, let alone 8. A teacher across the hall actually stopped and starred when she saw so many kids in the room.

-------

On the friday before vacation, a student came into one of my classes that was apparently during his free period. He felt he had the right to sit in the back of the room in the teacher's chair and comment on the class. I politely asked the student to leave the room because it wasn't his class, he brushed me off. I told him to leave, he jokingly replied. Then he made a comment about another teacher in the school and I "yelled" (more so talked sternly) at him to leave and slammed the door behind him.
This morning, I handed a detention slip to his class dean because I felt his actions before break were disrespectful to me, disrespectful to the teacher he commented about, and disrespectful to to the teacher whose desk he was sitting in the back of the room without asking (a teacher whose been at this school for 50+ years).
He met with his dean and she gave him an hour of detention and told him he had to come talk to me about what happened as well. Today, with a minute before the bell rang to start one of my classes, this kid walks into my room (again not during his class period) and said:
Kid: Miss [class dean] told me I had to talk to you
Me: Ok
Kid: Does that work then? Can I leave? Are we good?
Me: Now's not the time, my class is about to start
Kid: Fine (rolls eyes and leaves)
He came to my room later in the day to talk to me. He sat down, and simply said again he needed to talk to me, I said OK. After a brief awkward silence, he said "I'm sorry." And then, I politely and casually asked "for what?" The total conversation lasted no more than two minutes but I feel like I definitely got my point across and that student should never show that amount of disrespect again. Hopefully.

lame sauce

school starts back up tomorrow.


boo.