#interdisciplinary fabulousness

[187days]

Day One Hundred Sixty-Six

Fun fact: any time this one student joins the video conference I keep open during class, we will speak for approximately ten minutes; one minute will be me answering whatever questions he has, the other nine will be him telling me about video games. It’s a toss-up who’s actually learning more. 

I love the piece of writing he turned in today, though. It’s his first piece for the Spring Book Project, and he’s basically set up an encyclopedia article about the protagonist from Shooting Kabul. He’s even mimicking the Britannica layout. It’s so good. The question he had was about how to add detail, so I gave him a few suggestions, and he got right to it- even while he was still telling me about how one of his favorite games had been designed. That’s quite a multi-task!

I got to read some other really cool, creative work throughout the day, as did Mrs. T (because I read half, and she reads half). For this project, students can choose to write about the books they read in a variety of ways, so some are doing that encyclopedia format, some are writing as if they’re journalists covering a plot point in their books, some are doing more traditional essays... As long as it’s some form of informational writing, it’s good. Next week, it’ll be all about argument writing, so we’ll see what students come up with for that!

[187days]

Day One Hundred Seventy-Six

My day began with Mrs. Z sending memes to the department about it being Monday again. It was also 37 degrees when we started working this morning, so it was quite possibly the Monday-est Monday all year.

After joking about that, though, we got serious and talked about the protests that happened all around the country over the weekend. There was a large (for our area) local demonstration; it was completely peaceful, people wore masks and maintained social distance, and many of our former and current students were in attendance- as was I. It was the first time I’d seen some of my students since March. I remarked to my colleagues today that it was a surreal circumstance for a reunion. 

I spent some class time talking to students about the protests, too (at their request), but I spent most of it editing and providing feedback on Spring Book Projects. A bunch of students also video chatted with me to ask particular questions about their work because Mrs. T was busy all morning (setting up interviews for an open position in her department), so everyone had to come to me if they needed help. This is why I’ll never be a department head: too many meetings, not enough of the fun stuff.

What else? I had to field worried emails from a couple of my APUSGOV students, who have final projects due for presentation tomorrow, because they’ve been scheduled to work during class time. I’m still fairly annoyed at employers who have decided not to respect school hours during this period of remote learning.

But, obviously, I’m not going to penalize my students for it. And I get it; they’re working all the hours they can get because, in some cases, they’re the only ones in their families working, their parents may have been laid off... It’s a crappy situation. 

[187days]

Day One Hundred Eighty-Four

Today was a lot like yesterday: I held down the fort, answered questions, and edited late drafts of Spring Book Projects MRs. T while was busy doing department head things (like conducting interviews for an open position). She still owes me some grading, though, because I didn’t touch her half of the final drafts! 

What else? I sent a message to my incoming APUSGOV students to welcome them to the fun, give them course info, assign their summer work, etc... There are currently thirty-five students signed up, so I’ll get to teach two sections for the first time, and that’s incredible. 

I really hope I get to do it in my classroom.

And that’s really it for today. It was pretty uneventful, as the last few days sometimes are. 

[187days]

Day Sixty-Five

I didn’t get to write this entry sooner because I had to drive to my dad’s house after work today, but hi! Here I am! Happy break to everyone who’s got tomorrow off, too, and condolences to those of you who don’t.

Today was one of those days that was pretty chill in my world, but definitely not in other people’s worlds. Like, the SRO did not have a chill day. The Principal did not have a chill day. I don’t know what happened, but I know they were very busy with whatever it was. Meantime, I was in my Cavern of Learning with Mrs. T, editing rough drafts of Epic Book Papers. It was a very quiet cavern today- so much so that when Ms. N walked in, she asked what had happened! In fact, two things: rough drafts were due today (so some students were feeling the time crunch), and I’d pointed out that striking up conversations just because they’d been told not to wasn’t original, edgy, or impressive. I honestly wasn’t expecting that to be as effective as it was, but I’m not going to complain!

I spent a good chunk of time helping one of our highest needs students with her writing. She hasn’t mastered paragraph-building yet, so I just kept asking her questions and having her write down her answers until she had an appropriate amount of information on one of her book’s themes. Then I had her “enter key and tab” (the phrase many students, not just her, are more likely to know than “start a new paragraph”) and started the process over again. It was slow going, and we took lots of breaks so she wouldn’t get overwhelmed, but a full draft appeared one sentence at a time. Ultimately, when she saw that she had two pages of writing, she looked a bit awed. I’m counting that as a big win. 

The class’ attention held, really, until about the last ten minutes before Block 4 ended. After that, it was all giggles, silly noises, practicing basketball moves with crumpled paper, and other shenanigans. Mrs. T and I ended up just laughing and letting it happen. The students did so well for the majority of the day, so it’s all good. 

After school, the MfoL kids and I went to one of the hotels nearby to decorate a Christmas tree for an auction put on by a local charitable organization. There were students from other clubs there, too, so we were jokingly scoping out each other’s work, which was pretty funny. Each tree had to have a theme, so we decorated ours with ornaments in our school colors, and draped it with ribbons in the “cause colors” for mental health awareness, domestic violence prevention, and gun violence prevention. The club’s president, who is also one of our tallest members, put the star on the tree, we plugged the lights in, and it was perfect.

[187days]

Day Eighty-One

We’re baaaaaaack! Happy new year!

If you follow me on Twitter, then you know that I cut my hair a few days ago. And, I mean, it was waist-length and now it’s chin-length. So today, at least three dozen ninth graders, including some I don’t even teach, made sure to tell me that they thought it was pretty. 

So that’s nice.

Overall, it was a good day. It started with a PLC meeting, which my colleagues and I spent preparing for the early release day that’s coming up later in the month. Every PLC has to do a presentation on the work they’ve done, and we’re all super competitive, so obviously we have to out-do everyone else. We’re going all out. 

Then I had my prep time, which I spent grading the APUSGOV papers I’d collected before the break and printing off the materials I needed for World. It was an easy lesson today because my B day classes are ahead of my A day classes. I had some vocab to pre-teach, and then I gave students an assignment on daily life in the Middle East (because I always give an assignment on daily life in whatever region of the world we’re studying). And, in my Block 4 class, I also gave a mini-lesson on impeachments and presidential elections because those students like to talk while they work (it’s not affecting their ability to get the work done, and they talk about current events, so, obviously, this is fine with me). I wasn’t expecting that, but hey, it’s all good!

During the last block of the day, I had team time, which I spent with Mr. F because we’re about to start an interdisciplinary Geometry/World project, and we had a few details to hammer out regarding the grading. We’ll actually start laying the groundwork in our lessons tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Lastly, I had practice today. I spent the majority of the afternoon helping sprinters work on their block starts. We don’t have a ton of room- hallways where people walk- but we make do!

[187days]

Day Thirty-Seven

Me: *sees a student putting deodorant on in class* Can you not do that in my classroom? Student: Huh? Me: Put deodorant on in the bathroom, not at your desk. Student: ... You’re glad I’m putting it on, though, right? 

So today was a bit chaotic and ridiculous. For starters, I was late to work because I realized I’d forgotten my lunch when I was halfway there, and I drove back to my apartment and got it. I still would’ve made it on time, but I got stuck behind the slowest driver eeeeever. So, yeah, I got to the doors as the bell rang. Mrs. T was back- and she brought me chocolate!- but Mr. F was out, and will be out for the next three weeks because his wife’s having a baby (yaaaaay!), and there was a scramble to find his sub plans. Plus, it’s PSAT day, which means our schedule was wonky to accommodate the fact that all the juniors- and many of the sophomores- were testing, and anytime there’s a change in the schedule the kids get squirrely. 

But we managed! Actually, Mrs. T and I ended the day feeling pretty darn accomplished. The wonky schedule gave us more prep time than usual, and we both got way ahead on our work. Then, when our ninth graders came in for World/English, we went over what we expected students to do with their class time (draft, peer edit, and revise their narratives, then- if they’re ahead- study for their upcoming content quiz in my class) while we were conferencing. For the most part, students stayed on task and got a lot done, which enabled us to focus on the individual conferences we were having. 

After class, we both said that the work we’re reading is really cool. My moment of triumph was conferencing with a student who’s seldom been in a regular classroom setting before this year, and finds reading and writing very difficult. He’s worked really hard all week to do this assignment; everyday, he’s shown me his progress, gotten my feedback, then gone back to work- sometimes with an aide, sometimes independently. Today, he had a finished story to show me, and that was awesome. It’s simple, but it’s got descriptive details, dialogue, flashback... and it’s probably more than he’s ever written in his life. I am SO proud of him. Like, my teacher heart is bursting. 

It was good to go to a team meeting during Block 5 able to share that story. Unfortunately, Mrs. F came in bearing less fun news regarding some of our other students (truancy meetings, meetings with the SRO, that kind of thing...) Even so, this year’s so much better than last year; even the challenges seem like things we can handle easily, and it’s indescribably good to feel confident about that again.

[187days]

Day Eighty-Six

The social studies department at my school is a pack of show-offs and overachievers. Next Friday during in-service, every department has to give a presentation on the work that’s been done in PLCs, and our reaction to this has been “Let’s bury the competition.” The CTC teachers think they’re going to have us beat, but we spent our meeting today decking out a Prezi and getting shiny student work samples, and we’re pretty sure they’ve got nothing on us. Heh.

It’s a healthy rivalry, promise. 

What else happened today... I have a student in one of my classes who bows whenever he enters a classroom. I started to curtsey in response, to the delight of my whole class. Today, a student on one of the other ninth grade teams saw me do it because I was standing in the doorway, and was like, “OMG I need to learn how to do that!!!!” Who knew that skill was going to come in handy in a rural, northern school, right?

Oh, and my World lesson was cool. The students who are taking geometry this year spent my class time working on Mr. F’s spiral project. They have to draw pythagorean spirals, do some calculations that I admittedly didn’t look at too closely, and then decorate their spirals so that they incorporate elements of traditional Middle Eastern art (which they learned about and saw examples of in a previous class). They’re going to share their work in World next week. And what were all the students who take algebra doing? A mini-project on a different aspect of Middle Eastern culture: food, tourism, holidays, sports, music and dance, wedding customs, or styles of dress (their choice). They’ll also be sharing that next week. Stay tuned to read how it goes!

Stay tuned for fun in APUSGOV, too. I gave a “halfway” unit test today because this unit is so long, and it went pretty darn well. Up next: COURT MADNESS!