I believe the government should have no regulation over anyone's personal behavior unless it is truly harming other people.
I believe in the free market.
I believe life is what you make it.
I believe in the value of hard work.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Crisis in Dairyland
I have a love/hate relationship with Jon Stewart. This is one of those times where I love him.
Had a pretty good day. I got to start teaching my absolute favorite thing in the world (World War II) today. I told my kids about the Miracle at Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain and Vichy France, stuff most of them have never heard of and know nothing about. I love it. I kind of love the way I teach World War II also. They color in a map of the ETO and Pacific theaters step by step while I narrate what is going on. When there are important moments/battles/events I have them stop, write a #1/2/3 etc..., and then we add it to our key on another page. We didn't get as far as I wanted to today, but they were so engaged. And it really was just me lecturing with my awesome PPT and them coloring the map and taking notes.
Government was kind of awesome too 'cos we did more with the Supreme Court. I'm so proud of my government kids. Sure, they fail a lot of my quizzes, but those kids know what a writ of certiorari is and they know all the Supreme Court justices and who appointed them and who is more liberal and who is conservative. My favorite moment of the day was when one my seniors walked in the door with a white t-shirt that said in magic marker, I <3 Sam Alito. I guess she saw on the update on my class Facebook page that Alito was the only one who dissented in the Phelps vs. Snyder case. Gotta love strong-willed and opinionated teenagers.
I'm still at school, in case anyone is wondering. Practice was done by about 5:15, buw We wave a meeting tonight with parents about AP next year so I've been hanging out grading papers and trying to get my desk a little more organized. I just came in from watching the girls tennis scrimmage, about 7 of my current students, 4 former students, and 1 girl I haven't taught, but coached in cross-country are on the team so I thought I'd cheer them on.
I'm missing a new episode of Bones tonight and can't remember if I set my DVR....
Had a pretty good day. I got to start teaching my absolute favorite thing in the world (World War II) today. I told my kids about the Miracle at Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain and Vichy France, stuff most of them have never heard of and know nothing about. I love it. I kind of love the way I teach World War II also. They color in a map of the ETO and Pacific theaters step by step while I narrate what is going on. When there are important moments/battles/events I have them stop, write a #1/2/3 etc..., and then we add it to our key on another page. We didn't get as far as I wanted to today, but they were so engaged. And it really was just me lecturing with my awesome PPT and them coloring the map and taking notes.
Government was kind of awesome too 'cos we did more with the Supreme Court. I'm so proud of my government kids. Sure, they fail a lot of my quizzes, but those kids know what a writ of certiorari is and they know all the Supreme Court justices and who appointed them and who is more liberal and who is conservative. My favorite moment of the day was when one my seniors walked in the door with a white t-shirt that said in magic marker, I <3 Sam Alito. I guess she saw on the update on my class Facebook page that Alito was the only one who dissented in the Phelps vs. Snyder case. Gotta love strong-willed and opinionated teenagers.
I'm still at school, in case anyone is wondering. Practice was done by about 5:15, buw We wave a meeting tonight with parents about AP next year so I've been hanging out grading papers and trying to get my desk a little more organized. I just came in from watching the girls tennis scrimmage, about 7 of my current students, 4 former students, and 1 girl I haven't taught, but coached in cross-country are on the team so I thought I'd cheer them on.
I'm missing a new episode of Bones tonight and can't remember if I set my DVR....
Friday, February 25, 2011
Feel Good Friday
I haven't done Feel Good Friday in a while, but I have a lot to be feel good about! For those that are new to the blog and don't know, Feel Good Friday is a great idea from Erika over at The Girl Next Door Grows Up. Every Friday you list five things that made you smile this week. This week I have LOTS to smile about, but sometimes it can be hard. That is the best part of Feel Good Friday to me! Looking for something to smile about, even those weeks where everything goes wrong and you don't even want to get out of bed. Thankfully, this was not one of those weeks. I have a ton of things to feel great about!
1) My niece, Claire, turned one month old this week! Claire was very tiny when she was born (5 lb and 12 oz) and while she is doing great, she is having some trouble gaining weight. I know we are all envious of her problems, but if you could keep her in your thoughts it would mean a lot! I want big plump baby cheeks to pinch when I go out to see her.
2) I'm going to the barn right after I finish this post to ride Trouble! It's a little windy, but that's certainly not going to stop me from going. It is the best way to end a week.
3) I have a date tonight! I'm doing dinner and a movie tonight with a guy I'm pretty excited about. I have high hopes for our date and hope you hear about him again in next week's Feel Good Friday.
4) I got to teach one of my favorite units this week in history, the rise of dictators after World War I. It definitely helps that the kids seem to love learning about it as much as I love teaching it.
5) This marking period is almost over, which means I only have 2 more marking periods until the end of school. I can't believe how fast this year is going!!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
30 Great Details: A Moment (In Great Detail)
This was October of 2001 and is the moment I decided I wanted to become a history major (and indirectly a history teacher). I was 18 years old and studying abroad in France for my first semester of college. My mother came out to visit me and she asked me if there was anything I wanted to do together with her. I'd already traveled to Paris and to the south of France and all around the Burgundy countryside, but there was one thing I wanted to see. I had seen pictures of Mont St. Michel and thought it would be neat. For those that don't know French geography, Dijon is on one side of the country and Mont St. Michel is on the other. My mother suggested if we were going to be on that side then maybe we should see Normandy. I didn't know anything about Normandy aside from it was the setting for the beginning of Saving Private Ryan. Despite making all As in my high school history classes, I didn't really have an understanding of what the context of that famous scene was. World War II, blah, blah, blah. I'm not proud to admit it, but I didn't really know much and didn't care.
My mom insisted we go, that it was something every American should see, so we went. First we stopped at a spectacular museum where we spent most of the morning. Then we traveled to Gold Beach, then Sword Beach where we saw a spectacular 360 video called The Price of Freedom, then we visited the American cemetery and lastly we journeyed down to Omaha Beach. I don't know how to describe what it was like being there. To stand there and look out into the water was so humbling. I didn't know much about the Normandy invasion, but thanks to Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg I knew those waves claimed a lot of lives. I didn't know 1/10th of what I know now - not who was involved or even the context of the invasions - but just thinking about standing there and looking into those waves makes me choke up.
Then when I looked back up the great expanse of beach, to the cliffs behind and the pillboxes still visible in the hillside...it was overwhelming. For a long time I just stood there and stared like I am in that first picture. All I could think about was how anybody could have possibly made it up that beach. We came at low tide and it was just this tremendous expanse of sand just to reach the seawall and then those cliffs...it seemed impossible. It was so awe inspiring and humbling and just completely overwhelming.
I had this weird realization
that the people who arrived at that beach, whether they made it to the seawall or even stepped onto the sand are the people who made World War II. And I had this larger understanding that the history I'd studied all through high school - presidents, kings, emperors - wasn't really history at all. Stepping on that beach made me realize that history is made by normal people like the people who landed that beach. And when I left it I bought as many books as I could on the Normandy landings and read as much as possible. To risk sounding cliche, the moment above changed my life. I developed a love of history that took me through 4 years of college, into graduate school, and now into my own classroom where I share the story of being on that beach.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)