Received the call at 5:00 am that we had no school today due to the impending snow storm.
I'm sure it helped that I did the naked snow/must have a day off of school dance last night . . . . ha, ha, ha!!!! :-)
Not really much to report. Started the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution unit with my freshman last week. I'm looking forward to teaching the French Revolution (it's one of my favorite units to teach). My Honors will be starting a 3rd quarter research paper next week. Also have a new group of students for my local history class (it's an elective). I have 25 students in the class - mostly 11th and 12th graders. They seem to be a good group thus far.
So, what are my big plans for the snow day? Let's see . . . .
*Grocery shopping (I have NO food in the house).
*Catch up on reading blogs.
*Filing - the stack of papers in the to be filed pile is so high that Ellie the Cat can't see a thing over them.
*Periodically dig out car so plow guy can dig me out.
*Watch some movies.
*Probably should do some correcting but really just want to enjoy the day off. :-)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
MLK Jr. Day and Barack Obama
Tomorrow marks an historical event: the swearing in of the 1st African-American as President of the United States.Barack Obama wouldn't be where he is today if it went not for individuals like Martin Luther King, Jr. and the other civil rights folks. The Civil Rights Movement worked hard - blood, sweat, and tears - for the rights of African-Americans in our nation.
On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, we will be seeing the fruits of that labor with the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States.
In honor of MLK Day and the Inauguration, here are a few lesson plan/activities teachers can use in their classroom. I mixed it up with K-12 activities.
The city of Philadelphia provided this great site for their teachers (PDF files):
Jointly Produced by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) (PDF Files)
Education World does a nice job with some lessons on MLK.
Teachable Moments web site is amazing; they have some great stuff on here.
Source of Picture:
PS: My apologies for the messy appearance; blogger wasn't being nice to me. :-)
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Happy 2009!
Greetings and Happy New Year to all!
Just a few updates:
*Made it safe and sound to IL. Had a lovely time with my family. Stayed at my sister's new townhouse -it's gorgeous! My sister and I threw my parents a surprise retirement party and a great time was had by all that attended. My Mom, sister, and I shopped on one day at the outlets. Even spent an evening with some friends from high school. Overall, it was a nice break and felt awesome to just get away and relax.
*Mom, Dad, and Mia the Yorkie left IL on Jan 3rd for FL. They are taking their time getting down there with a stop in Alabama at a campground on the gulf coast. They are enjoying the warmer weather so far.
*Went back to school on Monday. We have midterm exams starting on Monday. 2nd quarter is shorter because of MCAS. My colleagues and I didn't get through all the World curriculum that needed to get taught for the midterm. We've been pushing our head teacher to talk to the Asst. Superintendent about changing the World curriculum (we teach two years worth of curriculum in one year due to the change in state testing). And, the state doesn't even test on World History - US History only. My dept (and I) are pushing that we eliminate the first part of World History (the kids are being taught this in the middle school anyway) and start with the Enlightenment and work our way to the present day.
*I'm debating on the direction of where this blog needs to go. It's time for a change. I've usually mixed it up with both. I either will keep it personal or keep it strictly professional. I'm leaning towards keeping it professional and talking only about teaching stuff. I'm feeling a bit burnt out after ten years of teaching and feel that maybe if I focus on positive teaching styles and activities and educational stuff that maybe I can get those creative juices flowing again. :-)
*The other main reason why I'm leaning towards keeping this blog professional is that I would like to keep the personal MDawg personal. I have a lot of issues (as does everyone else out there) and I find that I'm way too negative about my personal life.
So, I wish everyone a happy 2009!
Just a few updates:
*Made it safe and sound to IL. Had a lovely time with my family. Stayed at my sister's new townhouse -it's gorgeous! My sister and I threw my parents a surprise retirement party and a great time was had by all that attended. My Mom, sister, and I shopped on one day at the outlets. Even spent an evening with some friends from high school. Overall, it was a nice break and felt awesome to just get away and relax.
*Mom, Dad, and Mia the Yorkie left IL on Jan 3rd for FL. They are taking their time getting down there with a stop in Alabama at a campground on the gulf coast. They are enjoying the warmer weather so far.
*Went back to school on Monday. We have midterm exams starting on Monday. 2nd quarter is shorter because of MCAS. My colleagues and I didn't get through all the World curriculum that needed to get taught for the midterm. We've been pushing our head teacher to talk to the Asst. Superintendent about changing the World curriculum (we teach two years worth of curriculum in one year due to the change in state testing). And, the state doesn't even test on World History - US History only. My dept (and I) are pushing that we eliminate the first part of World History (the kids are being taught this in the middle school anyway) and start with the Enlightenment and work our way to the present day.
*I'm debating on the direction of where this blog needs to go. It's time for a change. I've usually mixed it up with both. I either will keep it personal or keep it strictly professional. I'm leaning towards keeping it professional and talking only about teaching stuff. I'm feeling a bit burnt out after ten years of teaching and feel that maybe if I focus on positive teaching styles and activities and educational stuff that maybe I can get those creative juices flowing again. :-)
*The other main reason why I'm leaning towards keeping this blog professional is that I would like to keep the personal MDawg personal. I have a lot of issues (as does everyone else out there) and I find that I'm way too negative about my personal life.
So, I wish everyone a happy 2009!
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