So explain me this...

I'm trying to sell my condo so I can get a bigger place (too many books, natch). Yesterday someone came to see it and said they liked it, but it was too small. Um, hello? It's a one bedroom. That's the point. It's supposed to be small. What were you expecting, a palatial condo with a reading room and jacuzzi? Seriously, what exactly were they thinking they were going to see?

Celebration to excess

Yesterday was my birthday (hey! Where's my present??), and I had not one, not two, but THREE pieces of cake. It's a bit much, don't ya know?

Cake number one: Student made. She made it for me so we could have it during their final presentations yesterday. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Tasty. The other students in the class were much appreciative of it - they swarmed around it like moths to a lightbulb. Or whatever metaphor you wish. Sorry, simile. Mrs. Green would be so embarrassed. She was my 12th grade English teacher. She was awesome, by the way.

Cake number two: As part of department celebration. Birthdays here are not so much about the person whose birthday it is, as they are about the opportunity to eat cake. The fact that it was my birthday was just an excuse for incredibly rich chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Again, tasty. (Hard to go wrong with chocolate)

Cake number three: With my string quartet. At least that followed a good 2 hours of music playing, and Schubert too, which hopefully burned a bunch of calories. The Schubert was basically one hour of non-stop playing. So i don't really feel guilty about that last piece of cake, but I definitely feel decadent. No more cake for me for a while, I think.

The cool thing is with the three cakes, I got serenaded three times. No, I lie. Four times of "Happy birthday". How's that for a celebration???

By the way, if you were hoping for some kind of reflection now that I'm firmly entrenched in my 30s, you can forget it. I am not feeling very reflective at the moment (in fact, I think the Schubert may have done me in ... my arm is killing me. One shouldn't really take on Schubert like that without working one's way up to it).


China countdown - I leave a week from today. I have my shots, I have all my luggage (I think), and I'm collecting the toiletries I might need. I think. I've got a 1 gigabyte memory card for my camera, so I'll take tons of pictures, I promise.

Catch the fever!

I admit to being a victim of World Cup fever. Not one to really watch much in the way of sporting events (I've been known to go to a baseball game once or twice a year, and I think I've actually been to one NBA game, oh, and of course the Harlem Globetrotters, that's more theatre than sport, isn't it?), I will acknowledge that I enjoy watching (true) football, and I do enjoy World Cup. I don't know that I will spend my time sitting in my living room watching the games on my own, because that's just not fun (and frankly, a bit sad). But if there's a chance to, I'll watch a few games with friends. I'm also excited to see that the Czech Republic is ranked two, right behind the standard number one team, Brazil.

To that end, here's a fun video clip about football. It includes footage of Brazilian player Ronaldinho, who apparently has his own Wikepedia entry.

I have several students from Central and South America, El Salvador and Uruguay in particular, who have been "feeling ill" since about Monday ... the football flu, as it were. They're actually cute about it. My advice to them was to not overdo it - the doctor's office is worse than school if your aim is to watch the games!

Let me know...

What you think of the new template. I'm not sure I like it yet.

So much to do… Everyone keeps asking me if I’m all set to go. Well, the answer to that is a categorical HELL NO not yet!!

Here’s what’s on the agenda first:

1. Get my vaccinations. That’s today's fun. Right now, according to the CDC website, I should get the following vaccinations:

Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B – if having sexual contact with the local population…ummm…ok, no comment.
Japanese encephalitis – if visiting farms
Malaria – if traveling to a malaria-risky area. And there’s no vaccination, just get a prescription anti-malaria drug
Rabies – if extensive outdoor rural exposure
Typhoid
Tetanus, diphtheria, measles

I believe that this afternoon I will be getting three shots. I know I need tetanus, haven’t had one since college. I’m good on measles and diphtheria. I am not planning on having “extensive outdoor rural exposure”….In fact, those of you who know me know that I don’t really do rural. No, I’m a huge fan of indoor plumbing. Hooray for the flushing toilet! So no rabies needed. Not planning on farms, see above, so no Japanese encephalitis (there’s a specific Japanese one?), which leaves me with Hep A, typhoid and possibly malaria. I don’t know about that, but since it’s not a vaccination, that won’t be an issue shot-wise. I’m mostly worried about my reaction to the typhoid. Not sure why – I’ve never had any Hep shots, so not sure how my system will react to that either. Perhaps it’s the reactions I’ve been getting from my friends who have had these shots before when I say that I need a typhoid shot: “Oooh.” This is usually accompanied by a pained expression. One friend “got sick”. She didn’t say more than that.**

Now, if all goes well, maybe I’ll just show up at the travel clinic today and they’ll say “Oh, you only need this one”, and then I can go on my merry way. See, it’s not having a shot that I’m worried about. It’s all three at once that’s kind of freaking me out.

NOT ENCOURAGING!

2. Get the extra $1000. The guy who got the grant from Fulbright asked for $90,000, but only got $80,000, so there’s an extra bit that we need to pay for visa apps, entrance fees, etc. I have sent a letter of request to the PTSA. I understand they met last night to discuss my request. Let’s hope they thought kindly on me. And that whatever amount they come up with, my principal will find a way to cover the rest.***

3. I should probably see my doctor to get two things: antibiotics and sleeping pills. I don’t sleep on planes. I can sleep just fine in cars, but not planes. I also get very, very antsy and irritable towards the end of long flights. And by long, I’m talking flights to England. So now let’s just see…I believe that my last flight to England was 7.5 hours. I think my flight to China will be 14 hours. You see my dilemma? Anyway, I’m hoping that won’t necessitate a doctor’s visit, but I think it might.

Um, I’m leaving June 27. So there might not be time for number 3.

There’s more. Let’s get through number one first shall we?

**Update: got the skinny on the typhoid vaccination from a friend of mine who spent her stint in the Peace Corps in Lesotho. She has gotten vaccinations twice for typhoid, and she said both times she got ill from it – queasy and feverish, but that it wears off in a few hours. So I’m feeling a little bit less nervous about that shot. (just a little) Phew!

***Update: The PTSA came through! Well, on half, but awesome! Woohoo!!

Did I mention...

That I'm going to China this summer? For a month?

Ok, I was hoping to include a fab picture of the Great Wall (one of the many sites we will be going to see), but my computer is not cooperating.

I hope to have relatively frequent access to computers, so I can post often about our adventures.

More frequently than I post now. When I have access to a computer on a daily basis.

Really.

I promise.

The personality of a class

It's funny how one class can have such a different personality than another. This is never more apparent than it is with my two AP Psychology classes this year. My second period has 29 students, many of whom are bright, curious and funny. My sixth period has 24 students, many of whom are also bright, curious and funny. However, my 2nd period is a vastly different group of students as a whole than my sixth is. In my second period class it always takes much longer to complete a lesson. With my sixth period, I am frequently done early, whereas I'm always sneaking a little time from the announcements (shh! don't tell the principal!) to finish up the lesson. Why is that? Well, first of all, any class that has 29 students is going to take longer to do anything - presentations, handing out papers, attendence, etc. But what I've noticed is that the students are just genuinely more curious about the subject than my sixth period is. They ask more questions. They ask more thoughtful questions. They discuss the topic with each other more (and ok, yes, sometimes it just takes a bit longer to get them focused on the topic, but that's to be expected from any class of 29 students, really).

Here's an example:

I assigned debate topics to groups of four students. They were to present their topic, state their opinion, try to persuade the class, etc. The guidelines gave them 30 minutes to have the debate in front of the class, and then they were to take questions from the class, so all in all, they would probably go a little longer than 30 minutes if they followed the guidelines of the assignment.

In my sixth period, we got through four of the groups in about an hour. And while that averages 15 minutes a group, I can tell you right now, that only one group took about 20 minutes, while the other three groups took at most 10 minutes. At the end of each group's turn, when it came to ask questions, it was the typical cricket chirp response (that would be a great giant silence, in case you were wondering).

Today in my 2nd period, we got through three groups. And I had to cut off two of the groups and the question/answer period at the end because we were running out of time.

By the way, they had the same list of topics:

Should the insanity defense be used in criminal trials?
Should animals be used in medical testing/experimentation?
Are humans naturally good?
et cetera and so forth.

So why does this happen, one wonders? What magical grouping of children did I get in 2nd period that I don't have in 6th? I am quite convinced that i have some of the brightest students in the 11th grade class in my sixth period. I have some very bright students in my 2nd as well, but I think that I have something like 8-10 out of sixth, and 5 or 6 in my 2nd. That's nearly 40% of my 6th period and 20% of my 2nd. So what's the story? Here are some theories:

1. Time of day: I have my second period first thing in the morning: 7:30-9:05. Ok, this could actually be an argument for less of a stellar performance, especially given all the research on sleep and teenagers recently. But, I'm getting them first thing, they haven't gone to any other classes, and so maybe haven't had a chance to be exhausted by the rest of their day yet.

2. Number of lower performing students in the class. The percentage of students in my 6th period who have lower skill levels, and weren't prepared for an AP level course is higher than it is in my 2nd period. I also think that many of the students in my 6th period aren't really that interested in the course, and therefore just don't care to participate as much as in my 2nd period. I also think I have a higher number of "performers" in my 2nd period - they are more willing to talk, more willing to take chances than in my 6th period.

3. Time of day part II: By the time I get to my sixth period, it's already the third block of the day (it's 11am), and I'm tired, so perhaps I'm not conveying properly my ideas about how the assignment should go, or something like that.

So the question remains, as it does for any good teacher, how can one avoid this syndrome? How can one alter the personality of a particular class so that the lesson goes equally well in one class period as it does in another? Ah, the eternal question.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again

My dear AP Psychology students,

Please, please, for the love of all that is good and holy, do NOT prescribe a prefrontal lobotomy for anxiety!!!

Every year for the last five years that I have used this one essay that asks students to describe treatments for anxiety, my students have leapt right onto the lobotomy (or just as bad, electroconvulsive therapy) bandwagon. Why? Are they so quick to think that brain surgery is a great idea, and would really help some poor soul who feel anxious all the time? Brain surgery? Really? Something that is irreversible?

Really? And especially given that without fail every time we talk about drug therapy (the appropriate answer, just in case you were wondering), they all remember the commercial for the drug with the little bouncy ball thing:

See, and now you can see why I'm worried.

Maybe this would have helped...

In class today we asked our students: "What was Ronald Reagan's policy in the 1980s towards the USSR?" We were looking for something along the lines of "Massive military build up". One of our students replied "Coupons!"

Let the whipping begin…

I am beginning to understand the impulse behind the Flagellants. At their height during the incidences of the Black Death in the Middle Ages (1348 ish), they wandered from town to town, whipping themselves because they believed that the plague was a punishment from God. They would often beat or even kill those who opposed them. And of course, in the process of traveling around the countryside, whipping themselves eagerly, they probably brought the disease with them.

So, why do I say that I understand the impulse that drove these people? Well, I’ve begun a sort of mental flagellation as I watch my students prepare for the AP exam. I’m reading through their essays right now (well, obviously not RIGHT now, as I am typing this instead of actually reading their essays), and feeling that given that the AP exam is next week, and that we’ve been doing essays and talking about this content all year long, these essays should be much better than they actually are. And yes, I am aware that the previous sentence was probably a run-on, thus the irony of me saying that my students wrote bad essays. I never said I was perfect. Plus, the essays these students are supposed to write aren’t really about grammar and good writing, but about knowing content and being able to express that knowledge and apply concepts in a written format.

Get to the point, I hear you cry. What on earth does all of this have to do with the Flagellants? Or are you just trying to impress us with your knowledge of history??

Well, yes. Of course. But I digress.

Where do the Flagellants come in? They come in because as I read these essays and watch my students take their practice AP test, the thoughts that are running through my head are:

“Have I done enough to help these students? Probably not. I didn’t spend enough time on [insert topic here], and it’s my fault they don’t understand how to answer this essay. I didn’t have enough time during the year and I was distracted by all the things we had to do to get this department and school up and running (‘We’re a work in progress!’), and so therefore I have done these students a disservice. It’s entirely my fault that they are not going to do well on this exam.”

Why is it that teachers take so much of the blame on themselves for something like this? Rationally, logically, reasonably, I know that I did a decent enough job teaching this content. Decent enough. That's the rub, isn't it? Is decent enough ... enough? I did not do as well teaching them this year as I did last year, for instance. Or, at least, according to my subjective view, I did a pretty darn good job teaching AP Psych last year. However, the scores show that my students didn’t do any better last year than the students the year before. I do feel that I definitely did a lot worse teaching them this year, though, and I worry very, very, very much about how they are going to do on this exam next week.

So again, I ask, why is it that we shoulder so much of the blame? There are so very many factors that impact how students do in my classroom that have nothing whatever to do with me or with what goes on in my classroom. Home life. Extra curricular activities. Geo-political events (ok, well, I don’t know how much that impacts my students, but it looked good). Individual students. The skills they had when they came to my classroom. All I can do is impact them in the 95 minutes I have them every other day.

So yet again, I ask, why do we blame ourselves so much? Why do we whip ourselves the way the flagellants whipped themselves? How do we stop blaming ourselves, and by doing so, will we become worse teachers, or will it not impact our instruction at all?

What do you think, dear reader?

Spring break!!!

Pics from the Dominican Republic! Ahh, seven days of lazing on the beach.


You can check out http://flickr.com/photos/jesstchr/130196573/ for more pictures.

I demand a recount!

I don't get 57%! Ok, so I'm upset by this...why? Explain to me - I don't even know what the score even means. This would be what we in the ed biz call a "bad assessment."


The Completely Pointless Personality Quiz

Seven brides for seven brothers…

Seven Things to do before I die

1. Get a PhD in history
2. Travel to India and explore
3. See Machu Picchu
4. Perform a complete shoulder stand in yoga without breaking my neck
5. Go hiking on a portion of the Appalachian Trail – preferably not the incredibly dangerous bits. :)
6. Live in London
7. Find the man of my dreams


Seven Things I can’t do

1. Perform a shoulder stand in yoga without breaking my neck
2. Drive a car with a manual transmission
3. Sleep on airplanes
4. Turn down queso dip when offered
5. Speak fluent French – just “restaurant” French (I know enough not to order the cow brains)
6. Run
7. Focus on grading papers at home

Seven Things that attract me to Europe

1. My family living in England
2. My family connections in Austria and the Czech republic
3. History (natch)
4. The beautiful architecture
5. The beautiful landscape
6. The diversity of cultures
7. I feel at home there

Seven Good Books

1. Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
2. Harry Potter
3. Nearly everything by Steinbeck
4. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
5. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
6. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
7. Oxford Children's History: Earliest Times to the Stuarts

Seven Good Films

1. Singing in the Rain
2. Back to the Future
3. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
4. Ghostbusters ("Nobody steps on a church in my town!")
5. Arsenic and Old Lace
6. Charade
7. Sabrina (the one with Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn, not the remake, even though it did have Harrison Ford)

Seven Things I Say

1. “Ladies and Gentlemen…”
2. “Chill out, yo”
3. “Like, oh my gawd!” (in an ironic Valley Girl way, thank you)
4. “If we can focus, please”
5. “Sweet Georgia Brown!” (don’t ask me why, I just do)
6. “Right, so where was I?”
7. “Ooh! Shiny object!”

Seven Blogs to Tag

Gawd. Seven??

1. Sarcasmo’s Corner
2. dreams and bones
3. I’m a novelist
4. Denmother2525
5. Intellectuals Inc.
6. dietgirl
7. Pound

Tag! You're it!

After weeks of wondering what the heck “being tagged” was, or even what a “meme” was, I have been tagged not once, but twice! The first one is from Leslie, which I will tackle today. I’ll tackle the second one later this week.

And we’re off!

1. Name five of your favorite books

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

You realize of course, if you were to ask me this same question tomorrow, next week or in a month’s time, this list would be entirely different.

2. What was the last book you bought (or brought home from the library)?

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami

3. What was the last book you read?

A Wild Sheep Chase I finished it last night. An odd book, and I’m not quite certain what the heck was going on in the end. I was also very taken aback by the fact that very few characters had names, and those that did were named things like “The Boss” and “The Sheep Professor”. No women had names, they were all “she” and “her”. I’m trying to decide whether that’s hiding misogynist tendencies, or what.

4. List five books that have been particularly meaningful to you.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - This actually is not so much because of the book itself, the writing or the story, but the experience I had while reading it. I was the sponsor of the student book club at my old school, and last year the students chose to read Reading Lolita in Tehran, and then chose to read Lolita itself. I was impressed by the fact that they not only chose to read the book, but then actually stuck through it, and had thoughtful things to say about the book at the meeting. For me that was a great teaching moment. I was able to help guide the students into taking on a scary challenge, and they rose to it. I felt very proud of the students at that moment.

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley - Doesn’t everyone read this in high school? I know all of my friends did, in fact I remember several of us torturing our 11th grade English teacher with the relationship between Guinevere, Lancelot and Arthur. Zimmer Bradley’s particularly interesting take on it was quite the shock for Mrs. Douglas. By the way, Mrs. Douglas: Sorry!!! You were a good teacher; I didn’t mean to behave so badly in class. Although I really did hate reading The Scarlet Letter.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien – I read this in fourth grade. The teacher asked us to begin reading the first chapter, and she would let us know when to stop reading. I just read and read and read, and the next thing I knew, my teacher was telling us to stop reading, and I had completed almost four chapters. I loved this book, and it made me realize that I loved reading, too. I was quite sad when I saw the movie, because it was so different from the book (my first experience with bad film adaptations! I’ve yet to be fully satisfied by those…another reason this book is significant, I suppose!).


The Roosevelts: An American Saga by Peter Collier – This is one of the first books of history (ok, technically it’s biography) that I read for pleasure. Ironic that it’s American history, given that I actually don’t really enjoy much about American history, and really like European and Global history the best. I’ve always been fascinated by Teddy Roosevelt, partly because we used to live on Long Island, near his house on Sagamore Hill, and we’d visit pretty frequently. I have a great many happy childhood memories of wandering around his house and the beautiful grounds. This book also gave me a healthy respect for FDR as well. I put it here because it also began my foray into reading history JFF (just for fun, something we crazy history teachers do!).

Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne – Does this really need explanation? Winnie-the-Pooh is such a lovely, lovely character, and the writing is so appealing. Just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Besides, isn’t it time for elevenses?

5. Name three books you’ve been dying to read, but haven’t gotten around to.

Here’s what I have on hold at the library (I’m waiting for them to become available):

PostSecret : Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives by Frank Warren
Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie
The Cell by Stephen King

I shall tag Ann and Sheila.

If you can make it there...

Thanks to NPR for having an item about this site on Morning Edition (Bob Edwards, I miss you!). My new favorite blog is Overheard in New York. Each of these snippets of actual conversation brings me back to the city that never sleeps - and it is so typically New York, it's wonderful. Peruse, enjoy, some of them are not really suitable for work, but they're all wonderful.

Panda-monium!

In case you hadn't heard, DC is in the midst of panda-mania. Tai Shan was born this summer to great excitment (make sure you check out the slide show of photos). I'll admit I was one of those very excited people - not out of any particular panda love, but because baby animals are cute (although the baby porcupine (who was quite adorable, but not cuddly) born last week got considerably less press than Tai Shan). On Sunday, Tai Shan got to his enjoy his very first snow. After a reluctant beginning, he apparently enjoyed frolicking in the snow with his mom. All at once now: "Awwwwwwwwwwwww..."

Amateur meteorologist

Whenever there is snow in the forecast, most teachers become amateur meteorologists. We avidly watch the Weather Channel, or the local news, whichever is the preference, and make all kinds of proclamations that most of us are completely and totally unqualified to make.

"Oh, the snow will pass off to the west - we won't get much precipitation at all."
"It'll sock us in, we won't be in school for days. Better stock up on bread, toilet paper and milk."

One thing I have noticed: every school has a Weather Guy. Or at least, in my vast experience of two schools, they each have had the "Weather Guy". The Weather Guy is the one who makes weather his hobby. He talks about it with extensive background knowledge - he may even be a science teacher. He is the guy that people go to when there is the threat of impending snowy weather (because frankly, much as we love our jobs, teachers are often even more excited about snow days than students are), and he will hold forth on the subject.

The Weather Guy at my previous school was a really nice guy. He taught science, and actually taught something called "Geosystems", which actually teaches weather systems. I figure this actually qualifies him to make pronouncements about the weather. He was also a very calming presence, and always had a smile on his face when I went to the coffee club in the mornings, and as far as I know, despite the sometimes raucous nature of the morning coffee club, he never had a bad word to say about anyone, even people he didn't like. He loved students, and loved teaching. This was a Weather Guy you could go to with confidence. And he was frequently more correct than the official weathermen that the local networks hire.

The Weather Guy at this school is a social studies teacher, and he's also a nice guy, but I'm just not sure why he's the Weather Guy here. He is actually a self-appointed Weather Guy, whereas the Weather Guy at my previous school had Weather Guy-ness thrust upon him. The WG here is on some kind of e-mail list that sends him weather alerts from the National Weather Service - so we will open our e-mail in the mornings, and there in our inboxes will be an e-mail from WG saying "Fog alert for the county" or "strong wind alert" or something like that. For every single weather event WG has sent us some kind of alert or warning. Even weather events that were non-events. What's that all about?

My question is this: What is it that compels someone to become a WG? Is it truly an obsession with wind patterns and pressure change and precipitation? Is it a need to be desired as a source of knowledge? Is it a sense of self-importance? I am currently under the impression that with the WG at this school he just wants to help - he likes being able to inform people of the world around him, which is only natural - he's a teacher. We like to tell people stuff. We like to share interesting pieces of information, it's what we do. (In fact, at a social gathering last night, I brought out the teacher mode, much to my horror. I began to give a mini-lecture on the design of Washington, DC. Something in which I am not even remotely qualified, except that I think I read a book somewhere once. I watched, horrified, as I took up "teacher stance" and used "teacher voice" and began blathering away about L'Enfant and the diagonal streets. They may never ask me to come back. I did have the good sense to apologize, but the damage may already be done. Nobody likes a know-it-all, and teachers are the worst...and best!) Hey, is there such a thing as too long for a parenthesis? I may have pushed the boundaries on that one.

So with Weather Guy, I suppose one will never really know what drives one to become a WG, but suffice it to say that as long as there will be snow days, there will always be Weather Guys, and teachers who remain glued to the tv or the internet, watching the progress of a storm eagerly.

By the way, I heard this on the Weather Channel on Saturday while I was watching for the storm: "Today, periods of wet rain." Um, what? Is there another kind of rain I need to worry about? Is there dry rain? Should I worry about that? Will it damage my car's tires?

Enough babbling, I have lessons to plan.

I love it when a good plan comes together!

One of the cool things about starting a school from the ground up (ha ha! Literally! Whee I'm punchy today), is that you can make all sorts of wonderful grand statements about how you WANT it to be.

• "I want this to be the kind of place where all students are respectful to each other and to their teachers."
• "I want this to be the kind of place where academics take precedence, but we acknowledge that high school is also about a total curriculum, not just math, science and English."
• "Let's make English and Social Studies a partnership, so students are learning humanities, not just English and Social Studies in a vacuum."

It is this last one that I would like to address today. (Hmm, that was very speech-y. I don't mean it to sound that way, but since I've gone that direction, perhaps it's best to stay the course, what what?)

I truly believe that I am actually an English teacher in disguise. This drives my history students crazy. I love history, and I love teaching it, but I also think that I would love teaching English as well. It is as important to me that my students have good content knowledge when they leave my classroom as it is that they can express themselves through writing in a clear, concise and eloquent manner. They hate that. "But Ms. H, this isn't English class!!" is a popular complaint in my classroom. The idea of teaming with the English department to teach a humanities, or civilization course, as we're calling it (we will not be offering English 10 and World History 2 next year, it will be World Civilization 2), was a very exciting prospect for me, and frankly it was one of the (many) reasons that I decided to come to this school. We're not quite at the "Humanities" place yet, but we're definitely getting there.

This week I started teaching "The New Imperialism", and we started talking about "The White Man's Burden", a poem by Rudyard Kipling about one of the causes of Imperialism. And this is what I heard from many, many of my students in each class throughout the day. "Oh! We were talking about this in English!" Now seriously, how cool is that?!!?!?!?!?!!! Yay for the English teachers in our school! This, my little friends, is exactly what the whole civ program is all about - using English class to support content in history and using history class to support reading in English. I was so excited - SO excited!! - to hear the students make that connection. I think I may have scared the kids a little bit, but that's ok, they already think I'm completely nuts, so it's all good.

Boggles the mind...

A) the fact that someone took the time to do this
B) that there are so many interesting connections
C) that while they list Mahler, Shostakovich and Stravinsky, they have neglected Bartok and Prokoviev, and a host of other 20th century composers.
D) My aunt and uncle live near the Run-DMC stop. I'm sure they'd be thrilled beyond belief to know this.
However, that's not going to change the fact that it's WAY cool, and it's SO going up on my wall in my classroom.

You can read the full article by going here.

Yes, I am procrastinating, by the way. I have whiled away my planning period by not doing much of anything. But it's a Friday. And it's raining. And I was here until 5:30 last night. Did I mention that it's raining?

Ok, this is hilarious

Even though this requires listening to a Backstreet Boys song (although you can turn the sound off), it is worth the time. These guys crack me up!