Time flies . . .

Hello All. Don't know who is even still reading this blog.

The past year has been a challenge personally and professionally.

Maybe because I'm turning 40 in Feb or maybe I'm just starting to realize that I need to stop sweating the small stuff. . . . life is too short.

For twelve years, my life has been education. Teaching. My students. I never put my needs before my students or even colleagues. As I approach the big 40 and being alone, I realized that as much as I love my job and love my students, I need to put myself first. I just don't know how to be the educator and personal human being that I need to be in my life.

My primary goal for 2011 is to start putting myself first and work on ME as a human. To be happy. Sounds so simple. But it's not simple. At least for me.

Stay tuned . . . . . . .

Goodness . . . is everyone else busy too???

It's been forever since I've blogged on here. Sorry. School has been VERY busy this year. Between volleyball, NEASC, Harvard Model Congress, and teaching the new AP course, I've been running around my building all day (and sometimes night) long. :-(

Updates:

* AP Euro is going well. A lot more work than what I thought but it's been good. I've been told that the first year is always tough to teach. Sources on the Internet have been a god-send. It's been nice to teach the upper-level student as well.

*Finished up my JV volleyball season 9-11. Last season we only had two wins so to go from 2 wins to 9 wins is a HUGE improvement! I'm so proud of my girls! :=) It probably helped that I coached Junior Olympic volleyball last winter (I will be doing it again starting on Dec 5th - every Sunday between now and the beginning of May).

*NEASC (accreditation for my school) has been very dramatic and A LOT of work! I am a co-chair of the curriculum strand. The visitation committee arrives in April so I will be happy when this process is over.

*Harvard Model Congress has been keeping me busy too. Added a few more fundraisers and a lot of the kids are not using the fundraising to their advantage. It sucks but I don't want to hear it when their parents have to pay the full $450 for the conference when I've offered numerous opportunities for their kids to fund raise to bring that cost down. The students that have taken advantage of the fundraising have made out like bandits. A few of them will only have to pay $100 for a $450 trip (which is a huge savings!).

*I'm also a mentor to a new teacher in our dept. It's been interesting to say the least. :=)

Good news:

*I will going to Poland over April break. The local university and Holocaust Center are doing a trip to Poland for teachers with the focus to be on the Holocaust. I am so excited about this opportunity! I also convinced three of my colleagues at my school to go on the trip. There will be three Saturday classes prior to the trip to learn about the history of what we will be seeing when we are over there. We will be going to Warsaw, Kielce, Aushcwitz, and Krakow (the heart of the Holocaust). In grad school, my research was the Holocaust namely Auschwitz so I'm very excited to be going on this trip. My students are even excited for me and told me to take a million pictures! :=) And, I'm Polish so I get to go visit my homeland! :=)

*I will be getting a student teacher for the spring semester. It's a first so I'm excited about it. It's something that I haven't really felt like I'm ready to do in my career but after 12 years of teaching, maybe it's time? The student teacher did a lot of observation hours with me the past year so he really likes my teaching style and really pushed to do his student teaching with me. Nothing like a little boost to the self-esteem!

*My sister flew out for Thanksgiving this year. Thought we would start a new tradition. We had a lovely visit. Took her to a Bruins game (a first for both of us). Ate lots of yummy seafood.

*Will be going to Phoenix, AZ again for Christmas to be with my family. Hoping it will be warmer than last Christmas.

So, what is new with you? :=)

1st drama for AP Euro History class . . . don't ya just LOVE drama???

Here's the scoop.

Last April after my new AP Euro History course was FINALLY approved by the school committee, I was asked to submit my request for new AP textbooks and whatever materials I needed to start up the course. So I completed the task by the first week in May. I submitted the paperwork into my head teacher who writes up a PO to the Principal who then submitted the PO to Asst. Super's office. Asst. Super's office signs off on the PO which then gets sent to the Business Office at City Hall. By the end of May, the PO is sent to the Business Office at City Hall. Are you all still with me? Good.

Fast forward to last week. I get a phone call from my head teacher. There has been a problem with the new textbooks. I ask what's the problem. He tells me that the PO for the new textbooks has been SITTING on somebodies desk at City Hall since the end of May so the order was never processed to the Publishing Company!!!!!!!! Lovely. The PO was sitting on a desk since the end of May over at City Hall????? Seriously people. What the $%*&#@?

Last week, my head teacher called the Publishing Company and asked where were the textbooks? Publishing company said they never received the PO. So, my head teacher makes a million phone calls to track down the PO. He discovers the PO is STILL at City Hall. The person at City Hall doesn't even apologize for it. No sorry I messed up. No oops . . . I just caused a major problem for your teachers. He signs off on the PO and faxes the PO to my head teacher and tells my head teacher to put the order into the Publishing Company!!! Like the business dept guy can't fax it himself? The info for the Publishing Company was on the PO so the guy could have faxed it himself.

And, it wasn't just my textbooks. The AP US History teacher isn't getting his new textbooks either. At least he can use his old textbooks. Since my course is brand spanking new, I have no old textbooks to rely on.

Sometimes . . . I hate people. Or should I just say I hate the city that I teach in bureaucracy :-(

So I have some options since I won't get my textbooks on time. Luckily I have one copy of the textbook already so I guess I get to waste tax payer money by photocopying the chapters until the textbooks arrive. I've already planned on giving my students a reading assignment in the textbook the first week of school. Since I'm planned all the way until November, I need to stay on my time schedule. Or I can just not give them any readings. I like my first option better. :=)

If there is an easy way or hard way (usually the least productive as well) to do things in my school system, they choose the hard way. Everything in the system is done this way. I just don't get it. I don't know if it's because it's a City. I don't know if it's because we hire incompetent people. I just don't get it. It's VERY frustrating. I don't want to waste paper and ink by photocopying materials. I'm very big on doing my job productively and efficiently.

On a more positive note: I am enjoying my last long weekend of freedom until school starts up on Tuesday. Teachers have professional days on Tuesday and Wednesday. Students arrive on Thursday.

Stay tuned for more drama . . . .

Knee deep in the land of planning for AP Euro History . . .

So. The AP Institute training went well. I learned a lot. The instructor hooked us up with a ton of materials for setting up a new AP course such as PowerPoints, activities, DBQ's, etc. This is all good, right?

I've spent the last few days weeding out what I want to use or at least try out with my students. Also spent the past few days planning out the curriculum. I'm all planned up to November. Now, I can see some problems with my planning this far ahead. I'm hoping I'm not setting myself up for failure. I figure the more planning that I have for this new course, the better prepared I will be for my students. Also, since I coach JV volleyball until the beginning of November, I want to make sure I have my ducks in a row for the next few months. Coaching takes up a lot of "free" time. Yes, I get paid a small stipend for coaching but it's still time taken away from planning and working on AP stuff.

I'm glad that I teach History. At least I can plan chronologically. I know where I need to start and end regarding curriculum.

I'm still a little stressed about teaching this new course but I feel that if I at least prepare myself, I will be better off getting everything that needs to be taught. Most of the students will know how to write a DBQ since they've come from AP US History (APUSH). I do have a few students that are making the jump from College Prep to AP (which is sorta scary).

Calculated that I have 72 days to teach all the content for AP Euro History before the exam. I lose 16 hours because of early release days and assemblies (this only includes already PLANNED assemblies).

Ughy.

On a positive note:

There are also some great resources on the Internet for AP Euro History.

Ms. Pojer's Course web site from Horace Greeley HS in New York

Mr. Oberacker's Course web site from Los Amigos HS in California

Any AP teachers out there that have some words of advice or wisdom for a "newbie"??? :=)

Survived AP boot camp :=)

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the AP Institute training at St. Johnsbury Academy in Vermont. It was intense! A lot of reading and processing. But, they also kept you busy with fun activities after classes such as hikes in the mountains, kayaking, tours of local wineries, etc. And the food . . . OH MY GOODNESS!!! Insanely good! They had a social hour every day before dinner and served free alcohol throughout the evening (whoever thought of an open bar for teachers was probably not a great idea!). :=)

The instructor rocked! Talk about a colleague that believes in sharing . . . he shared ALL of his Power Points, tests, quizzes, music, video clips, handouts, etc. We were given a 3 inch binder filled with materials plus a flash drive filled with stuff. He also passed out a pacing guide to help with the curriculum.

I also felt a little bit more confident in what I picked for the summer assignments. The reading I picked was a book that a lot of people use for AP Euro History. The instructor uses the same book. He also told me the map activity was good because it will take away from having to use class time to do a geography lesson. It was so difficult to come up with a summer assignment when I've never taught the course before. And, I was also told that the textbook I picked was a great choice as well. Yeah!!! I did something right. :-)

I'm feeling a little less stressed teaching this new course. Teaching AP students will be overwhelming but it will be a positive overwhelming. I'm a little concerned about the content and pacing but I'm sure the first year will be trial and error (at least this is what I'm telling myself). :-)

The fun part begins . . . I've started working on a calendar to work through the curriculum. Since we are on block scheduling (I will see my AP students every other day), I need to work through the pacing. As of the 1st day of school, I will have 72 days (84 minute block) to get the test taught before the AP exam in May.

I'm going to be using a new textbook for the 9th grade World History class. We are also starting a little bit later in the curriculum (we are going to start at the Enlightenment instead of the Middle Ages). The 8th grade teachers will be taking over the World History Part I curriculum this year so I won't have to teach two years of World History in one year anymore. Already started the process of going through the textbook materials and workbooks and figured out what I can use in the class.

This has been my excitement the past few weeks. I'm currently in Illinois visiting family and friends until the 13th of August. Once I get back to New England, I will have a week of "down time" but then volleyball starts up and the craziness of life begins again.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Some of my blog teacher friends that teach in other parts of the United States are already back in school. I'm thinking of ya's! :-)

Here is to an educational, fun, and exciting school year!!! :-)

AP Institute Training in Vermont

Starting on Sunday, I will be attending a five day AP Institute Training at St. Johnsbury Academy in Vermont for my AP Euro History class. I have heard positive feedback from other teachers that have done the AP training in Vermont so I'm looking forward to a great experience.

I'm very excited about the training but also a little nervous too. As a student in high school, I never took an AP course. I wasn't even in Honors classes. I was that student that probably should've been in higher level courses but I never took high school serious enough to excel in my classes. Yes, I was a educators nightmare! :-)

Based on the intro letter that was sent by the instructor, it looks like there will be 16 teachers taking the training with me. We were even given a homework assignment: bring 16 copies of a teaching unit or teaching activity that we think would be useful with AP students. If we don't teach AP yet, we could bring an activity from our World History class. I photocopied an activity that I do with my freshman to introduce to them to Primary documents. It's a document based question (DBQ) about the causes of the French Revolution. Basically, I break the class into five groups and give each group a primary document to analyze. I give them a worksheet that helps them to analyze the document. I teach them APPARTS (The acronym APPARTS (Author, Place and Time, Prior Knowledge, Audience, Reason, The Main Idea, and Significance) provides prompts that assists students in gaining a fuller understanding of primary sources.). Each group then shares their document with the class. After Q & A, students individually will then respond to the DBQ using the documents and prior knowledge as support for their thesis.

We are also being asked to bring an extra flash drive with a lot of memory. The instructor will be sharing a lot of PowerPoints and helping us to start building our own AP program. Yeah! PowerPoints!!! :=) And, the instructor will be giving us free AP textbooks!!!

When I started this process a year ago of getting the AP course approved, I knew it would be a lot of reading, research, and work. Once the class goes "live" on September 9th (this is our 1st day of school), there is no turning back. I've never taught the "higher level" student before so professionally this is going to be a challenge. The students are excited - they've been emailing me over the summer with tons of questions about the summer assignments - so I hope that I make the class challenging, fun, yet an enriching experience for them.

I will try and post during the week (we will have access to WiFi) but I don't know how much downtime will be given to us. I've been told that the training is a lot of work and they keep you pretty busy with work and assignments.

I come home Friday evening, have the weekend to wash clothes and somewhat relax, and then I have to pack for IL (I leave on that Monday @ 6:00 am for Chicago). Visiting family and friends until August 13th.

So . . . let's go AP Euro History training!!!!!! :=)

Spring cleaning in July????

Source of clip art:

http://www.picturesof.net/_images_300/Woman_Cleaning_Her_House_Royalty_Free_Clipart_Picture_090529-013874-489053.jpg

Over the weekend I decided to do a little cleaning of my curriculum binders. It amazed me of how much material I have accumulated over 11 years of teaching! You are constantly either "stealing" material from colleagues or sharing with colleagues so you tend to gain A LOT of worksheets, activities, or reading material on various topics of interest that MAY pertain to your unit on the Industrial Revolution or Imperialism. But, it gets to the point when a decision has to be made: to keep it or recycle it.

I have to admit that I am a pack rat by nature. I never throw anything away. Never. But, as I went through each binder, I realized that some of the material I've NEVER used nor will I EVER use it. So, out to the recycle bin!

I was also on the hunt for some material for my new AP European History class as well. Since I'm starting this program from the ground up, I figured that I could possibly use some stuff from my World History binders. I was able to find a few things that might work for AP level students.

Another thought: as I was looking through all the binders, I began to reflect and remember some of the activities I did with my students (I usually keep student samples with most activities I do in class so I have a lot of great student work) over the years. I remembered the positive lessons but also the negative lessons and questioned why the negative lessons didn't work. I have some wonderful memories of students having a lot of fun working on the Sistine Chapel activity or creating a modern day manor or going to war in the trenches (my stuffed animals represented the "dead" in No Man's Land).

I feel as educators we should have the time to reflect on what we did great and what we did not so great in the classroom. Unfortunately, we are not given that time during the school year. This school year was insanely busy with the transition program, freshman house dramas, NEASC accreditation, getting the new AP class approved, and just everyday craziness. How can we improve our teaching if we are not given that reflection time?

I still have more cleaning to do (I have A LOT of binders). :-) Plus, I need to go through my electronic stuff on my flash drive to see what is there that could be used.

But, I have to say that I feel cleaner and more organized to start out this new school year.

Happy late spring cleaning. :=)

Doing some SERIOUS reading this summer . . .

I'd like to call this post: The Summer of Reading. Why? Because I'm reading a lot of AP European History materials. I'm also trying to get some "relaxing" reading thrown in as well. There wasn't much downtime this past school year for me to read for leisure and I missed it. Reading for me is the best feeling in the world. Relaxing. Serene. Peaceful.

A brand new spanking textbook for the AP Euro History Class (I'm talkin' a textbook with a copyright of 2011)! For History teacher geeks: You all know what I'm talking about . . . a new textbook is like Christmas! :-) I ended up choosing the Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, and Frank Turner text: The Western Heritage Since 1300. I've been spending the last few days reading through the textbook and getting familiar with it.

I'm also trying to read the book I gave out to students for the summer assignment: The World Lit Only by Fire (William Manchester). Manchester definitely portrays the Middle Ages in a realistic way: corruption of the Catholic Church and the violence of the survival of people (famous and everyday folks). I'll be curious to hear from my students if they enjoyed the book. If not, I may have to pick another book for next summer.

For a leisure read, I've been reading (and really enjoying) Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I highly recommend this book! The movie starring Julia Roberts is coming out in August but I would recommend reading the book first.

What are you reading this summer?

Survival of the Fittest - gotta love the Darwin theory!

The above title pretty much sums up my school year. What can I say? It's been stressful, emotional, scary, insane, unpredictable, and crazy all rolled into one school year. An emotional roller coaster ride is the best way to describe it.

Being apart of the transition program has pretty much burned me out. Working with 30 at risk 9th grade students had been anything but easy this year. There were some success. But mostly failure. I still can't believe that I survived this year and lived to tell the tale. :-)

It was decided that instead of placing all the at risk students in one class (and have them feed off of each other), they would be mixed again with the regular student population for next school year. In a sense, this program was a trial program. Everyone figured that this might be a way to educate these students. The major problem that we (the transition team) saw with these students was that there were no positive role models (behavior, good grades, etc) and the students basically didn't progress the way they should have in the classroom. For example, I spent the first three months teaching social and behavior skills (I was told my administration to not focus on curriculum) to these students. Add to it: the administration provided no support to the teachers. It was a program that was doomed to fail from the start. All four core education teachers (including myself) felt that we couldn't do this program on our own. We were given no training in dealing with this type of student population. So a few of these students will move on to 10th grade with hardly any skills they should've developed this past school year. I'm not saying that I didn't do some great stuff with these kids because I did. However, as a whole, the program was not a success.

Other news . . . this will be the last year that I teach the local history course. No one in my department wanted to teach it so they dumped the class on a colleague that really didn't want it or have the passion to teach it. I feel bad for the students because I've been building up that course and a lot of students sign up for it because I teach it. Plus, I had started doing some interdisciplinary field trips this past year. I can guarantee those field trips won't happen. I'm sadden that I won't be able to teach this course but I'm moving on to something bigger . . .

I will be teaching a new course - AP European History. The course is a 12th grade elective and I have 37 students signed up (enough for two sections). I'm very excited about it but also a little scared. I will now have to be held accountable and responsible for teaching to a test. It's time to be professionally challenged and I think this may be the course to allow me to become a stronger educator in the classroom. And, I've never taught the higher end students before. This will be a nice change.

So to go back to my original title of this post: only the strong survive. That would be MDawg the survivor (start singing the Destiny's Child song if you like)! :-)

ALMOST the end of the school year - can I do it?

Yes. MDawg is still in school. We are in school until June 23rd (we had one snow day to make up). Ahhhh . . . the joy of living in New England and starting school after Labor Day. :=)

This school year has been one of the most exhausting and overwhelming to date. With all the Freshman House drama, transition program drama, and just plain every day kind of drama, I think everyone is ready for the year to end. I don't like wishing my life away but this school year really truly just needs to be officially O-V-E-R!

It probably doesn't help that it's been VERY hot and humid here. I have a classroom on the 3rd floor of our building (we call it the Penthouse) and it's an inside classroom (no windows) so there is supposed to be AC in the inside classrooms. The AC is broken so the classrooms have been reaching temps of 86-90 degrees. Even with my 2 fans strategically placed in room - it's not helping cool off the classroom. Even when it cools off outside the building, the heat stays trapped inside the building until at least October. Makes me feel real grateful after the school district spend millions and millions of dollars in a 3 year renovation project of the school and the AC doesn't work (the AC units are only two years old). Under warranty?????? Who knows since everything was done so cheap. Ugh. :-(

The class of 2010 is officially gone. Their first year was my first year at the high school. I was their class advisor freshman and sophomore years. I was invited to chaperon their Prom. They wanted their pictures taken with me. They invited me to all their Senior week activities: Six Flags (the roller coasters and I bonded), Improv Comedy Night, and the Senior Picnic. Graduation was on Friday. Again, a lot of pictures taken. There were a lot of tears and hugs and best wishes for the future. I will miss them but they are moving on to bigger and better things in the world. :=)

The big summer plans are quite simple: 1) Rest and relax, 2) do a lot of walking and exercising 3) get ready to teach AP European History in September (I have AP training in Vermont for a week), 4) Jury duty, and 5) Go to IL to visit family and friends.

I really need to recharge my creative battery this summer regarding my teaching. I think teaching in that Transition Program really messed me up creatively and professionally. The Program will not exist next school year (the administration FINALLY heard our cries of "it's not working") but these at-risk students will be mixed in again within the regular school population. I think if the administration provided our team with support and proper training to begin with it might have worked. But they didn't see the "bigger" picture with these kids and what the teachers had to work with in terms of social and behavior skills. No one else in the Freshman House wants (actually they all REFUSED) to teach those kids.

I'm looking forward to the AP training in July. I've heard wonderful things about the training but also it's a lot of work too. I've had to come up with a summer assignment for students that signed up for my course (which is hard to do since I've never taught the course or had the training yet) but I went online to see what other AP Euro teachers give their students for summer work and went by their requirements. But the way, I have enough students that signed up for TWO sections of AP Euro History! Not bad considering it's an elective course for 12th graders. Right now it looks like my schedule for next school year will consist of 3 sections of 9th grade World History and two sections of AP Euro History.

And, I'm looking forward to going to IL to see my family and friends. My parents are back in IL for the summer. They are staying at a campground near my sister. I haven't seen my family since Christmas out in Arizona. And, it's always great to see friends too. Thank goodness for email and Facebook! Both allow me to keep in touch with everyone. :=)

Volleyball season will start up the end of August and my life will go back to craziness once again.

For now, I just want to breath. Work on me physically and spiritually. And just smile. :=)

Updates: the life of a HS History teacher

Let's see . . . . where to start with everything???

*The Holocaust unit with the transition students was a HUGE hit! They enjoyed the Maus books. The English teacher and I took the kids to hear survivors of the Holocaust and Sundanese genocide at a local synagogue. The kids asked some great questions and were so respectful. It was great!

*I had the students create a Museum of Tolerance for their final assessment for the Holocaust/Genocide unit. Overall, they did OK. They had to create a visual about one of the genocides that have occurred since the Holocaust (Cambodia, Rwanda, etc). The visual had to educate people about their genocide and to also make connections back to the Holocaust.

*The biology teacher on our team is doing a DNA project related to Holocaust survivors so the Holocaust unit has truly become interdisciplinary on every level.

*The behavior of MOST of the transition kids has improved. Some of the students have NOT improved at all. So, we are at the point of just removing them from our classes. It's at the point where the other kids now tell the misbehaving kids to knock it off. It's actually sorta cool to see the kids advocating for themselves.

*My AP European History course was FINALLY approved for next school year. After all the drama with the school committee, they approved it. I had to go into the meeting and defend it . . . can you imagine? I get trained over the summer. I'm excited and scared at the same time. Excited because of the professional challenge of teaching an AP course. Scared because what if I suck? :-)

*Because I will be teaching the AP course, I have to give up the local history course. There is a colleague in my department that wants to teach it so I will pass the torch to her. Our teaching styles are very similar so the kids will still gain the same experience.

*My school is in the middle of the accreditation process. I'm a co-chair of the curriculum committee. Of course the administration waited until the last minute to organize itself. I have some dingbat colleagues on my committee so it makes it hard to be productive. Our committee is supposed to be working with the HS curriculum coordinator during the process. We are really getting some insight of how she doesn't do her job. No one seems to know her job description as it is so the fact that she is in charge of curriculum and won't let our committee access it is ridiculous. For example, she is supposed to print out every single curriculum of every course taught in our building. In three different conservations, she made up three different excuses of why it wasn't printed out or deadlines of when she would print it out for us. We then asked if the curriculum was electronic and to either email it or put it in the shared folder on the server. She won't do it. I emailed her some curriculum I wrote last summer and she NEVER even opened the file (our school email has the ability to not only see when and if the person read the email but when they downloaded the attachment to that email). And, she is not familiar with any of the curriculum in the building. She's a former science teacher so she knows the science stuff. The district created this job for her three years ago since they were cutting dept heads. She makes $87,000 a year and no one knows what this woman does. . . ugh.

*Coaching Junior Olympic volleyball on Sundays. It's been a great experience. I'm learning a lot that will help out our vball program at my school next season.

*Since the new year, I've been trying to lose weight. Eating healthier. More exercise. So far it's working! I turn 40 next year and I would like to be healthy again regarding my weight.

So, there is so much going on right now at school and in my personal life (don't want to write about it on here).

Overall, things are good and busy.

Only a few more months until the summer break. We can do it teacher peeps!!! :=)

I've been a bad blogger :=)

Goodness . . . where has the time gone? It's 2010 and I haven't posted once on this blog.

I went out to Arizona to be with my family over the Winter break. Mom and Dad are early retired and traveling around the country in a 5th wheel camper full-time. They are spending the winter in the Phoenix area and are LOVING it! :-) My sister and I flew out there to be with them for Christmas. We had a nice visit with them and seeing the sites around the Phoenix area. I also got to see some high school friends that settled out there and we had a mini-reunion one evening. :=)

The school year is VERY busy. I feel like I don't have time for anything anymore. The transition program is eating up whatever time I have in and out of the classroom. I'm somewhat ignoring my other classes because of the transition program. The behavior has improved tremendously in those classes (which is great for my mental health) but the emotional stuff these kids deal with on a daily basis is tough to deal with from a teacher side. I get too emotionally involved with these kids (I care too much). You may be saying that's a good thing but it can be a bad thing too. I take a lot of this emotion home with me at night. :=(

As mentioned above, I'm ignoring my other classes. I feel like I'm not doing a good job teaching my other classes. Luckily, the local history class sorta runs itself now. But my other World History courses including the Honors class, seem to be struggling. My midterm exam scores for the college prep class were bad. Only two out of 24 students passed the midterm exam. I gave them a study guide, reviewed with games prior to the exam day, and told them to study. I even went over ways to study for tests. When I asked them if any of them studied for the exam, only a few kids raised their hands. If they don't study and put the effort into the class, how are they going to pass for the year? I've tried to step up more the past week to put more energy and time into teaching better lessons.

The Freshman House teachers seem to be more divided and cliquey this year. We now have mostly young teachers (under the age of 30) in the house and there is a lot of immature behavior that happens during common planning meetings. I'm the oldest member in the House at 38 years old. I don't have the patience for the behavior anymore. Add to it, that some of the teachers are dating each other and bring their personal business to the meetings. I find it unprofessional and annoying. Those of us that are older find the behavior inappropriate. We are trying to figure out a way of confronting the behavior without having to go to the administration about it.

My school is starting up the accreditation process with NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges). I'm a co-chair for the curriculum committee. Didn't realize how much work running this committee entails. Wow! And, we have a few complainers and whiners that like to make it a "bitch session" every time we meet which is SO counter-productive. Luckily, my co-chair and I nip the behavior in the butt right away but it still makes for a stressful meeting.

I'm helping out with a Junior Olympic volleyball program on Sundays so this also takes up some time. I'm enjoying it and getting a lot out it in terms of learning new drills and tricks of how to break the game down to help the girls understand the game. The league is going to pay for me to get IMPACT trained too (it's a good thing to have on your resume).

Harvard Model Congress is coming up so I have to get the kids ready. My co-advisor isn't very helpful so it falls on me to do everything.

So, as you all can see (for those of you still reading this blog), it's been a very stressful and insanely busy time for me.

Positives:
*Transition kids LOVED the Holocaust unit! We are started a unit on Genocide in the 20th century. Kids are really getting into it. The final assessment will be with the students to create a Museum of Tolerance.
*The teachers on the transition team have been great! Very supportive! We all work together as a team. We've all been going through a lot together with this program but we've helped each other out and stood by each other the whole time.
*Looking forward to a Feb break with no HMC (this year, Harvard Model Congress is the week after Feb break so I will get an entire one off from school). :=)
*Hoping for my AP European History proposal to go through the School Committee on Wednesday (I have to present my proposal on Wed night). If I get the green light, I can sign up for AP training this summer. Yahoo!!!! :=)
*The Assistant Superintendent is finally forcing the Middle Schools to teach World History Part 1 in the 8th grade year so now we won't have to teach two years of World History in one year. I've been attending numerous meetings to help with the transition of this scope and sequence. The Middle School teachers want us to hand over all of our lessons, activities, and projects. I don't mind giving them some of our stuff but we had to take the time to create all of this work too. No one handed us all the work. I guess they are all "stressed" about having to teach new curriculum. Welcome to our world is all I have to say. I get so tired of the high school teachers being held accountable and responsible for teaching curriculum and not the middle school folks in my district. Why is that they get to teach whatever they want and we can't????? I'm thrilled that the district is finally holding them to a higher standard.

We are at the half way point of the school year. Hope all is well with all my teacher peeps out there! :=)