More Songs!

[sorry in advance for the long post, but some of these songs were pretty good]

To the tune of "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO

Battling in the South tonight,

Everybody just grab your guns.

And we gonna make you lose your limbs,

North is just gonna have a good time.

Battling in the South tonight,

Everybody just grab your guns,

And we gonna make you lose your limbs.

We just wanna see ya … Shoot that.

In the north, bounty-ing, looking for your slave, ‘cause they ran away,

Nonstop when we start to fight, we gonna win ‘cause we’re organized.

Where the ammo? I gots to know beacuase I need to blow up some southerners, yo,

Half slave, half free, we don’t care, whatever word. Op-a-doe.

Ayo, I’m running through the south like a fugitive slave, 

shooting people up like we be playing Halo.

We battling! Yeah it’s my army I’m repping, 

I know we are real forward, hope were not overstepping.

Battling in the South tonight,

Everybody just grab your guns,

And we gonna make you lose your limbs.

North is just gonna have a good time.

Battling in the South tonight,

Everybody just grab your guns,

And we gonna make you lose your limbs.

We just wanna see ya … Shoot that.

Everyday I’m battling …

To the tune of "All-Star" by Smashmouth

Somebody once told me the war was gonna be short,

He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.

He was looking kind of dumb, with a musket as his gun,

And he doesn’t even know of a rifle.

Well, the war starts coming and it don’t stop coming,

Lincoln takes office and the south hit the ground running,

Didn’t make sense not to fight for freedom,

The south wants slaves and the north wants to free ‘em.

So much to take, so much to win,

So what’s wrong with General McClellan?

You’ll never know if you don’t go,

You’ll never shoot if you don’t reload.

Hey now, you’re a soldier,

Get your gun out, take aim.

Hey now you’re a hero,

Get the battle on, get fame.

And all the glitters is blood,

When you’re shooting bodies where is the love?

To the tune of "American Idiot" by Greenday

Don’t wanna be a confederate idiot,

Don’t wanna nation ruled by the southern states.

And do you hear the sound of the battlefield?

And who is really fighting for America?

Welcome to a new kind of tension,

All across this divided nation,

When everything isn’t meant to be slavery.

Victory will be ours for tomorrow,

We’re not the ones who’re meant to surrender,

For that’s enough to fight.

Well maybe I’m for freedom, America.

I’m not part of a redneck agenda.

Now everybody do the Anaconda,

And sing along to the war of America.

To the tune of "Don't Trust Me" by 3Oh!3

Blue coats with a white tee underneath

He has the least breath of a cigarette on his teeth,

He’s a general and he ain’t got no speed,

He’s got money from the President back up North.

Ga-ga-ga-guns,

Firing in your face,

While his gun is in his jacket.

Tell the confeds if they have speed that the

Union is still in training,

And you’re going to get a hold of them!

He likes to move real slow,

He’s diligent you know,

He will never leave you alone.

Don’t trust McClellan! Never trust McClellan!

Don’t trust McClellan!

McClellan only trusts textbooks,

Lee’s man dropped the plan and how it’s in McClellan’s hands.

Wash those plans out? He would have been the man,

The bodies they found on the ground

Have red and dark blood all over them.

Ba-ba-ba-bruises cover your arms,

Shaking in the fields with a cantine in your palm.

And the best is its all McClellans fault,

Just another general slower than all.

To the tune of "Our Song" by Taylor Swift

We were marching up North,

But got held up short,

Landed at the Battle of Bull Run.

Realized our ways were

A little off these days,

And this war was not going to be fun.

They turned around,

Took the spectators down,

Because they knew something had gone wrong.

We were stronger then they’d

Thought we were for them,

It must have been all a blur.

Our war is a battle for our lives.

Fighting to be free,

While the guys on the other side,

Trying to kill our slaves.

To get up and run away,

Now we have to defend our ways.

Some nursery rhymes and limericks:

I’m a little southerner short and stout,

These are my slaves, they like to pout.

If you take them from me hear me shout,

We’ll defeat the North without a doubt.

-

There once was a man from the South,

Who really knew how to run his mouth,

He got in a fight,

With a northerner one night,

And now there’s a war abouth.

To the tune of the theme song from Holes (apparently?)

You’ve got to go and free those slaves,

You’ve got to go and free those slaves,

Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah

Nah-nah-nah-nah-oh.

Two guns to a soldier in their hands,

Got to kill you if you’re a Southern man,

Got my freedom, the North’s full of rights,

Black people live free, man it mad tight.

N-O-R-T - to the H.

What’s that down South, for blacks that’s hate.

We don’t capture Africans and we don’t hurt them,

But we do have factories, while you torture them.

To the tune of "Last Friday Night" by Katy Perry

There’s a stranger in my trench,

There’s a pounding in my head.

Blood all over the field,

There’s a finger on my shield.

I smell like a bath of blood,

Soldiers passed out in the mud.

This war will never end,

That guy killed my best friend.

Results of last night,

Ended up in the paper.

We lost,

Oh well.

Last battle fight,

We went marching in the night,

And we put up a great fight,

Till the morning light.

Last battle fight,

Fired way too many shots,

Thought we’d win but we lost.

To the tune of "Tonight, Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae

It’s been a really really messed up week,

7 days of torture, 6 days of bitter.

McClellan went and lost it for me,

He’s a West Point graduate, but it’s time for him to quit.

La la la, whatever la la la it doesn’t matter,

La la la, oh well la la la.

We’re going at it tonight, tonight,

There’s a battle on the hill top top of the world.

Tonight, tonight, and we’re fighting on the edge of the DC line.

I don’t know if we’ll win it but watch how hard we’ll fight it,

It’s alright, alright, tonight, tonight.

I woke up with a strange battle wound,

Not sure how I got it, not a gun in my pocket.

And it kinda looks painful, too,

Mixed with the Battle of Antietam.

To the tune of "Beat It" by Michael Jackson

They told the slaves not to run up here,

We need to work you, don’t disappear.

‘Cause if you run and you hide, we’ll find your hide and,

Beat it, just beat it

Our bounty hunters will get you, better run while you can,

Lincoln got elected and started a slavery ban.

You wanna get your freedom, try all that you can,

So beat it, just beat it.

STATS!

So the new blogger allows you to see how many people have looked at your blog each day and other cool stalker-ish things like that.

I found out today that I can look into my audience is; like what operating system they use, what web service they use and what country they come from.

The results were surprising.

I have Russian and Filipino readers! Random!


-------------------------------- EDIT

I just realized, those were only from last week, check out the All-Time stats.

Greetings World!

A picture's worth a few words

In class this week, I tried to get across to the students how you can tell a lot about a person by looking a a picture of them. To do this, we looked at the two pictures above. On the left, Robert E. Lee, and on the right, George McClellan. I asked the students what they noticed about the character of the people from the pictures.

They said McClellan seemed very proper, somewhat arrogant, young, from a wealthy background (or at least wants to appear that way), cares about his appearance, very rigid, might be hard to work with. All of these were pretty much on point so I was impressed.

They said Lee looked relaxed, humble, old with experience, "a guy you can joke around with," not as rigid, and so on. One kid then made the comment that he didn't like Lee because you can't trust anyone with a beard. Then he looked up at me and stopped talking.

students can be very smart & creative too

This week in one of my classes (because they are a day ahead with all the different scheduling issues we've had) we had a fun activity where the students took the knowledge they have and used it in a creative way.

First the students read through the Battle Hymn of the Republic and we talked about the imagery of battle and war and what kind of emotions and everything the song was conveying. Next we listened to the song so they could understand the rhythm and beat of it.

Next the students broke off into groups and got to work on creating their own Civil War songs. I did this activity last year but the kids were not nearly as creative. I was actually really impressed with this class.

So I figured I would share some of their songs:

Sung to the tune of "Party in the U.S.A." by Miley Cyrus

Hopped off my horse at the battlefield,

With my gun and armor in hand.

Welcome to the land of violence, whoa

Am I gonna survive?

Jumped off my horse at my opponent for the first time,

Next I knew saw my life flash before my eyes.

This is all so crazy, everybody seems so angry.

My tummy's turning and I'm feeling kinda homesick,

Too much pressure and I'm nervous.

Then the marching band played their famous song,

And the Star Spangled Banner came on.

So we put our flags up,

They're playing my song,

The South starts running away.

Freeing the slaves like yeah.

Jumping in my trench like yeah.

So I put my gun up,

They're losing this war,

I know I'm gonna be okay.

Yeah! It's a battle of the Civil War.

Sung to the tune of Cee Lo Green's "Forget You"

I see you runnin up North,

With that slave I own,

And I'm like, I'll get you.

We be chasing you with guns,

All the way back home,

And I'm like I'll get you,

And I'll get him too.

We're really so sorry,

Didn't invent the Ferrari,

But that don't mean we won't catch you.

We got cotton,

But you've forgotten,

The way you wage this war ain't fair.

I pity the fool that sides along with you,

(Oh, you're a trench-digger).

Sung to the tune of The Token's "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"

On the railroad, the underground railroad,

the slaves are hiding tonight.

In Fort Sumter, quiet Fort Sumter

the soldiers sleep tonight.

Near the battle, the mighty battle,

the soldiers fight today.

Near the river, the mighty river,

the soldiers save the day.

One of the ones: sung to the tune of Ke$ha's "Tik Tok"

Wake up in the morning feeling like Rob E. Lee,

Grad my glasses, I'm out the door, I heard we lost Orleans.

Before I leave brush my teeth and kiss my son Jack,

'Cause when I leave for the war, I hope I'm coming back.

The North's keepin us on out toes, toes.

Slaves makin all our clothes, clothes.

Lincoln blowin up our railroads.

Bombs droppin',

Killin' our enemies, mies.

Pulling up the the battle scene, scene.

They're trying to let our slaves free.

Just stop.

Don't get caught,

Grant don't blow my friends up.

Tonight, I'm a fight,

Until I see the sunlight.

Tick tock on the clock,

But the slavery won't stop,

Oh, oh, oh-oh.

Pearls of Wisdom: PART TWO

And so it continues ...

1. The Romans are famous for developing inventions that disappeared with them until centuries later, after the Middle Ages. Concrete, Roman roads, and aqueducts, are some of the technologies.
2. The puritans were a group of “super Christians” that took Christianity to the next level.
3. {Salem Witch Trials} The reason I think this is so important is because it was the one time in history where as a society we gave into our fear. We were afraid of God’s wrath and the evil of Satin so much, that we actually killed 18 people.
4. In 1789, George Washington was elected as the first president of the US by the electoral college. This is important because he was he first of many presidents of this country.
5. George Washington believed in being a neutral country, he strongly warned against entanglements with other countries … he helped the United States gain alliances with other countries.
6. The constitution was and still is our form of government.
7. But that’s also the great part of the United States, we rise from the ashes and although we are not superhero strong, we are courageous and brave.
8. {The Civil War} It would leave the country in a state of destruction, railroads were derailed, farms were burnt, and streets were littered, all of these things in an effort to win the war on both sides.

And this is only the second of my five classes, can't wait to hear for the other three!

Seriously? I have no idea how to respond.

My classes had their first essays of the year due this week. Sadly, except not at all, I haven't been able to grade them until today.


In any case, on multiple occasions, I just had to stop and reread some of the comments the students made in their papers. I have decided to share many of their insights with you.


First off, here is the prompt:
Please write a fully developed essay that articulates your viewpoint as to what/who the most important and or pivotal event/person was in either World history or United States history. Although the essay is primarily opinion based, the grade you receive will be based on how well you support your argument. You must support your argument with concrete research. All research used or referenced must be cited in a bibliography.

Very much open ended. Some students wrote about September 11th, others the American Revolution or the Declaration of Independence, and some others were a little out there.

1. On July 20^th, 1969 everyone felt proud of where they came from and the fact that they live in a country that did something that no one else could. This makes this event [landing on the moon] even more important because there haven’t been that many events in world history that have caused feelings of nationwide pride.
2. Our science studies here on earth benefitted more from the moon landing that from any other event in US history. 
3. Leaders who initiated the attacks [on September 11^th] were Osama Bin Laden and Sudan Husain, both of which have been killed
4. I know Marbury vs. Madison is the most pivotal point in United States history. If I were to ask you what makes the United States the free, amazing and beautiful country it is today I am confident that your answer would include the freedoms and rights granted to us … The day judicial review was first implemented was the day our country was born.
5. Throughout world history and U.S history there have been both many important people, and events that have occurred.
6. I believe that attack on Pearl Harbor was one of the most important events in World War II and in the history of the world. 
7. From around 1900-1970 people of all different races and sexes were trying to gain rights. 
8. Although some people believe that Jesus Christ was fictional, I believe he was the most influential person in history. 
9. Whether you are a homeless person on the streets, or the President, everyone has rights.
10. The Constitution lets us say what we want, write what we want, sing what we want. 
11. I believe by giving African-Americans their freedom, most white people have realized that everyone is equal, where they be male, female, adult, child, white, black, yellow, orange or purple – we are all equal in every aspect of the world. 
12. So during these long days when the slaves were hard at work, where were the owners of these slaves? Honestly, what did they have to be doing when they had a slave to do it all for them? They didn’t cook, clean, or tend to the fields. So what did they do all day other than socialize? I can only imagine how they acted when slavery became illegal and they had to do their own work in the hot, steamy fields all day. I don’t think anyone really things about this part, but I believe this is when Americans stated developing a work ethic. 
13. Yes, they did hire the African-Americans to do the work, but what did the poor white people do? They did the work themselves. They learned to budget their time and gain some muscles. 
14. Dr. King's first major role in the Civil Rights Movement was in 1955. He led the Montgomery Bus Boycott planned by President Richard Nixon. 
15. Although Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, his legacy lives on today. There are numerous statues and memorials in honor of the man who created equality for all. 

How old are these students you ask? Juniors in Seniors in high school. Our country is going to be in so much trouble when they start leading it.

But, one of my roommates showed me this website, at least my students aren't this bad - although class would be a lot funnier

(SIDE NOTE: these 15 pearls of wisdom were only from one of my five classes ... can't wait to read more!)

A Real Person!

After the half day we had today our departments met for a professional development session on curriculum mapping.

that's beside the point.

After the day was over my department head (new for this year, not the guy from last year who still didn't know my name in may) called me over to talk. Rosie asked, "Tim, you're a software guy right? what is out there that will help students ..."

that's what started the conversation, it eventually morphed into a discussion about how to teach history outside of simply lecturing. Lecturing is boring for the teacher, and even more boring for the students. teachers try to spice it up with jokes, video clips, and things like that but as Rosie sort of pointed out in the discussion, "it gets to the point where you're entertaining more than you're teaching."

Rosie and I started to have a legitimate conversation about how to teach history what works, what doesn't, how to avoid simply giving busy work, how to integrate activities that actually have substance instead of the activities that miss the point and just slow you down pace wise.

We had a real, full out, colleague-to-colleague conversation where at points she was looking to me for advice and I looked to her. I was like, (in my head) "seriously, you're asking me about instructional strategies, I've been teaching for a total of a year and two weeks and you're the department head!" That may come off as if I was judging her for asking me (I wasn't), I was more just in awe of the fact that she respected me enough, even as a young teacher, to seek out to have this discussion.

I fully and completely felt (1) like a real teacher (2) like a real member of the department, and (3) like a true member o the school community I have been working in for the past year.

GREAT DAY!

PARENTS!

this week has been going by smoothly. so far no fire alarms in the rain, no students bah'ing like sheep (I had a lot of that last year) or any crazy stories along those lines.

Monday we had a normal school day I taught about a the Lincoln-Douglas debates (where I compare Lincoln to Sarah Palin), Harpers Ferry (where I compared John Brown to Obama and GW Bush) and the Dred Scott Case (where I compared Dred Scott to a cellphone). Some of them were somewhat odd connections, but they all worked in a way to help the students remember/understand the overall topic.

Tuesday was similar, teaching the same sorts of lessons, just to different class periods. But after school tuesday, we had "BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT!" where parents do a mini-schedule of their students classes (for only 7 minutes each), get to see the teachers and walk them halls just like when they were in high school.

Period 1 - had three parents show up to the wrong room so it was a little embarrassing for them. I had one parent of a student how told me to "Rock On!" as he was leaving at the end of the class.

Period 2 - Free!

Period 3 - Had a parent of a student show up late to class and jokingly pleaded not to have that reflect poorly for their student. At the end of class she came up to me and said, "now I have no excuse for yelling at her for being late to class"

Period 4 - when I was talking about some of the video projects we'll do in class, I turned to one of the fathers and said, "your son was actually in a few of the video projects from last year because he was friends with some of my former students, at one point in the video he ran through target with a penguin suit on but it surprisingly worked for video's purpose" He quickly responded he had no idea that happened and made a note to talk to his son later (didn't mean tot get him in trouble, wups).

Period 5 - I had one dad just blankly stare at me the whole time I gave my speech (the EXACT same expression on his face that his son gives me everyday).

Period 6 - Free!

Period 7 - Let my parents leave early so they could escape the parking lot before the big rush of eeryone trying to leave all at once (they seemed very excited to be done with the day)

All in all on tuesday, from teaching to parents night was at school from about 6:45am to 9:30pm


Gladly wednesday (today) is a half day and lucky for me I only had to actually teach one of my classes, the other periods that met today were all of my free periods.

Fi-ya Pow-ah

Today started normally. Got to school, settled in, got some work done. The school day started next with homeroom and then first period (my free) all going smoothly.

I started to look out the window and saw that it was absolutely down-pouring outside. Just then the fire alarms at the school started to go off. (Even with a friendly automated voice: ATTENTION ATTENTION A FIRE HAS BEEN REPORTED IN THE BUILDING). So I grabbed my jacket and began to walk down the stairs and out the building with the students.

We got outside and you could see a sea of the school's 1100+ students all soaked and dripping wet from the pouring rain. Teachers began to complain that this was the worst time for a fire drill, someone else noted that was lightning in the distance and so on. Soon the principal called everyone back into the building before the fire department was even able to show up.

Apparently there was actually a fire in the building, somewhere in the kitchen but it was handled and dealt with. But now, all the students are drenches head to toe as they head back into the building. After the teachers were able to settle their students back down, the principal came out the loud speaker and announced that the teachers should be lenient in terms of the school uniforms and gave students permission to where sweatshirts, t-shirts or any other dry clothes they may have with them.

At that announcement, the hallways filled up with students all headed for their lockers, lockerrooms, and some back outside to their cars to get some clothes to wear.

In any case, it's an interesting start to the third day of school (and I haven't even started teaching yet)

LOST

Today was relatively uneventful. I lectured all day about the Compromise of 1850, which is pretty boring but I think I managed to make it interesting.

While I was in the Main Office today, I random tiny little freshman came in carrying his books in his hands all the way up to his chin. He went over to one of the administrative assistants and just said, "I lost my schedule and I have no idea where I'm going."

She managed to print him off two new schedules, one to bring home and one that she taped inside his student handbook/assignment book/passbook. He looked to me and said, "I think I'm supposed to go to room 314 next period," so we looked at his schedule and he was supposed to be in 224. I ended up walking him to his next class because he was afraid he was going to be late (he wasn't). And he was all squared away.

One and Done

First day of school is officially over. Overall, I thought it went pretty well. With each of my classes I went through my syllabus, explained my expectations and classroom rules, pretended to be strict and serious (I don't think it worked). I tried to start a class discussion about what they thought were the most important things in history but with all my classes, hardly anyone spoke. Too bad for them, this is their first essay.

Today I also assigned all my students an essay due on monday about what they think is/was the most important event/person in World or US history. This way I get to see their perception on history, I start off the year with an example of their writing style, and I set the tone that I'm the teacher and they shouldn't mess with me.

Anyway, we also shared fun/unique facts today in order for me to learn names by affiliating them with random bit of information. Here are some of the highlights:

• I'm afraid of clowns
• I've never eaten a sandwich
• I can lick my elbow
• I have a scar on my right eyebrow from running into the corner of a shoe-rack
• I broke my front tooth by running into a pole
• I once got 87 stitches in my face
• I blew up my friend's mailbox
• I fractured my skull as in infant
• I once got stuck on a roller coaster for 7 hours
• I eat in my sleep
• I have two different colored eyes
• I once convinced my sister bugs were candy (my mom caught her eating ladybugs)
• I recite Disney's "Hunchback of Notre Dame" word for word
• My brother pushed my down the stairs when I was still in a stroller
• I've never lost a game of Monopoly

New Year!

So a new year has begun. I have the same five classes but a whole new group of students. Some students I knew from last year, some students I knew by reputation, and some students I had never seen or met before.

On Tuesday the teachers met and had an in-service day where we did a series of breakout sessions with our administrators. Over the past two days we had had our student orientation days. On Wednesday, the seniors and the freshmen came in for half a day consisting of assemblies and a mini-schedule run through.

This year I only have 9 seniors mixed into four of my classes. So during the mini-schedule, it was kind of awkward. I only had 2 seniors in each class and 3 in one of them. So doing my spiel about expectations and what the class was going to be like, while only 2 students sat in the desks in front of me.

In any case, Wednesday went well. Today went well too. I saw the rest of my students and gave them my expectations. In the first class today I just rambled for the 10 minutes I had, but by the fifth class I spoke to my timing was perfect.

But beyond all of that, there were no funny stories or students making animal noises. However, I have no doubt this will happen at some point. Also, I have given semi-administrative-ish responsibilities including watching the seniors in the cafeteria during the study period with the class deans, and being responsible for kicking the students out of the parking lot at the end of the day so they don’t loiter. FUN!