One of my APGOV students had to leave early for a ski jumping meet (because that's a thing kids do when they grow up in a mountain range north of sanity), so he came in during Block 1- which he has free- to do the FRQ section of his test. At one point, he went to get a drink of water, and returned with some of my sprinter boys, who'd just finished a trigonometry quiz and decided to come say hi.

Amusing.

Then, during flex time, I presided over a debate club meeting, which Dean 2 attended as a guest judge. The kids were debating the merits of the two-party system (their choice of topics) and they did really well. I don't write a lot about advising the debate club, but it has been a ton of fun to do it this year.

On a typical day, I'd have taught three sections of Global Studies after flex time, but today I had an IEP meeting to attend, so I had a sub cover my first two sections. My meeting didn't actually start until twenty minutes into the first section, so I used the time to do a walk-through observation in Ms. B's room. I'd wanted to observe Mr. X, who's had a rough go of it lately, but he's out sick. It's all good, though, because I hadn't observed Ms. B during that block before, and it's a joy to watch her teach.

After the IEP meeting, I returned to class and taught my third section of Global Studies. My students were learning about how colonialism connects with World War I, so they were reading and answering some questions, which we discussed when they finished. They also did a bit of vocab practice at the end of the block. And then, in APGOV, it was the aforementioned test. I know more than a few of my students were nervous about it, but they did so well. I'm super impressed with their scores.

Funny stuff: one of the boys swearing- and then immediately apologizing- because he couldn't believe how high his grade was. He really worked hard for it, and, while I should have scolded him for the language, all I could do was laugh because it was such a great reaction.

Like, I really like Jack’s hair for season 13 when it was long enough to fall over his face like so

The leadership team decided to meet one last time before the school year starts, so I went into work this morning. The Principal started the meeting with welcomes, and thanks, and then gave an update on the situation we're in because of the teacher shortage: having to cancel some courses or offer them online-only, having to increase enrollment in other courses... It's a tough situation to be in, and it's going to be challenging for all of us. But he's an optimistic guy, so he also expressed hope that we'll be able to hire teachers in the future, and then he went over the things we've got going for us: new courses, new supplies and technology, various awesome events and opportunities.

He also asked what we're looking forward to, and I obviously said, "Teaching APGOV during this election season!" Cue much banter about divisiveness and bounty money.

I should note that this was the first meeting our new Dean 2 was at, so that was her introduction to me.

We took one final look at the policies we'd drafted to present to the staff, made our last revisions, and adjourned. I had another meeting scheduled in the afternoon, so I spent the time I had in between getting my classroom set up. That afternoon meeting was a curriculum work meeting with Mr. I and our two new hires, Mr. X and Ms. B, who are all teaching American Studies. I helped them revise the unit calendar, and get started on detailed planning for the first unit, then I had to head to a dentist appointment.

The student council's holiday spirit week ended with pajama day today, which I thought was totally brilliant since it meant I got to go to work in flannel PJ bottoms and a hoodie. I was so comfortable and warm!

I spent the morning spreading holiday cheer (and candy canes) throughout the building, and receiving cards and gifts from various students, which was super sweet. I also sent a holiday email to my department, had a good chat with Mrs. T, and did some planning for after vacation. So that was fun and also rather productive.

And then I did my teaching!

My Global Studies students finished up the projects they started yesterday, and all four sections were great. Attendance was high, students were engaged, there was learning happening- and we still had fun chatting about holiday plans and eating candy canes while they worked! My APGOV students and I went over their most recent tests- I explained anything they wanted me to- and then, as a preview for what's coming after break, I showed the Crash Course Government episode on political ideologies, and had everyone re-take Pew Research's political typology quiz. They'd done it on the first day of class, too, and some of their results had changed since then, which was fascinating to discuss.

All classes were about ten minutes shorter than usual, and we had no flex block, in order to make time for everyone to attend a holiday concert put on by our band, drumline, and chorus. It's the first time we've had a holiday concert since before Covid (there was one planned last year, but we ended up having a snow day), so it's great to have that back, and give students the chance to support each other's talents and passions.

Here’s a thing that sometimes happens in teaching: you have a great rapport with a student, and then suddenly you don’t, and you have no idea what happened. And it could’ve been a lot of things: a miscommunication, a reaction to your class’ increasing difficulty, peer pressure to rebel, something unrelated to you entirely... I’m currently experiencing this with two of my ninth graders; one’s just stopped coming to class, the other has become disruptive in class. Both of these things suck, and it’s frustrating because I don’t know how to fix it. 

But I’ll keep trying!

Aside from that, things are good. It was another very serious day in APGOV: tackling Birth of a Nation and the revival of the KKK, the lynching of Leo Frank, the Red Summer of 1919, the Tulsa Massacre, the Johnson-Reed Act, Father Coughlin, the America First Committee, the Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden... It’s bleak, but it’s important for students to understand that white supremacy was violent and had a pretty broad impact on popular culture, politics, and policy during that time period. If they don’t understand that, they won’t understand how significant the Civil Rights Movement really was. 

I was covering some serious history in World, too- namely the aftermath of WWII (lots of questions about the UN and international law, which was cool) and the start of the Cold War. I focused in on some of the deadliest proxy wars that occurred: Congo, Angola, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia (lots of questions about each of those conflicts, too) and on their long-term impact. Specifically, I mentioned the proliferation of weapons. When I said that we and the Soviets didn’t reclaim all the weapons we supplied various armed groups, one student in my Block 2 class asked, “But wouldn’t they end up being used in other conflicts?”

I said, “Sure would.” And, since it was right before the bell rang, I added, “I’ll tell you more tomorrow.”

You all know I love a good cliffhanger ending to class sometimes. That was fun.

AND WE’RE BACK! I mean, The Principal’s stuck in Covid quarantine for one more day (oops), but details, details! The rest of us are back, and we’re ready to put the past three years behind us and kick some ass. Pretty much every meeting we had acknowledged the fact that we tried to do our best throughout the pandemic, but it was tough, it was traumatic, and we were all in survival mode, so we all experienced what Mr. G called “professional slippage.” Some things fell apart. Now it’s time to put them back together, rebuild our school culture, help everyone reach their full potential. 

The Superintendent welcomed back the faculty and staff of the entire district, which he was delighted to do because, obviously, we didn’t gather everyone in the auditorium like that last year or the year before. He always does this thing where he asks everyone to stand, and to sit back down when he calls out our years of experience in the district (as this is my 18th year, I was standing for quite a while- and quite a bit longer than many of my same-age colleagues, who worked elsewhere before coming here). It’s cheesy, but it’s also really cool, especially when he gets to the last few people remaining and asks why they’ve stayed. So, yeah, he did that, and then set the tone for the year: vision, goals, all that. 

After that, the middle and elementary school folks left, and we had a high school-specific meeting. Our admin team has been restructured so that there’s not a vice principal anymore, but two Deans of Students (9th/10th and 11th/12th), one of whom is brand new to the district (and fresh off a decade in South Korea, so he’s very amused that my brain is full of kpop). Our schedule has also been revised to build in a more formal advisory program, so that was discussed, and we got instructions for completing state-mandated suicide prevention training online. We were sent off to do that, work in our classrooms, etc, etc... 

If you’re a longtime reader, and you’re wondering if I was playing Bingo at those meetings: yes, I was, and, yes, I got Bingo. Ms. H and Mr. F both got it before me, though, so they win. Note: I got six or seven people to play, and more to look on, because I’m a terrible influence and also an excellent one. Heh. 

What else? It was good to see my cacophonous friends again, and to get excited about the year with them. And we are all excited because there’s a real determination to move forward in a positive way, lift morale, foster school pride, all the stuff that’s been so hard to do lately. And we all believe we can do it.