Days 5 - 9 OR better known as Week 2

Week 2 or the first full week back at school was another adventure as freshmen are slowly learning their way around this enormous concrete cave and my seniors are facing the humbling reality of making BIG LIFE DECISIONS.  I am beaming with optimism that both our freshmen and seniors are ready to tackle the challenges of adaptation.

This week the focus was on preparing students for Historical Thinking Skills: My focus comes from the AP US History perspective that all students can effectively learn vital critical thinking skills to support the curriculum. My goal is to build good habits of mind and a toolbelt for the real world. These skills are difficult and will challenge many students, however if I can make them a living and breathing part of our daily/weekly routine, then students can adjust and succeed!

HISTORICAL THINKING SKILLS

1. Historical Causation 5. Historical Argument
2. Continuity or Change Over Time 6. Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
3. Comparison 7. Interpretation

4. Contextualization

Our micro-focus this week was on INTERPRETATION AND SOURCING. Students watched and discussed Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Ted Talk "The Danger of a Single Story."  She is the author of Americanah, one of the New York Times 10 best sellers of 2013 and they answered and discussed the question: How is your perception influenced by the world around you? 

Furthermore, I was very excited to meet parents for the first time, and some were even familiar faces as I had their older kids/siblings. Back to School Night will be Thursday, September 14th, from 6:30-8:30PM!!! Invite your parents PLEASE...I want to meet them all!!!

Day 4 - Happy First Friday and showing Grit.

Day 4 - Friday

US History I Classes, APUSH, and International Studies students finished taking The Grit Test and watching Angela Duckworth's Ted Talk today.  My approach was building a mindset that the power of passion and perseverance is a marathon and not a sprint.  Building character and intelligence takes a ton of practice and my lesson is designed to get all students thinking about the power treating the brain like a muscle. It needs to be worked, it needs practice, it needs challenges, it needs to go through trials and tribulations that encourages leaning into struggle as a means to building muscle memory and resiliency.

Students had to brainstorm, "What is Grit?" then they worked through their grit test and the Ted Talk to build clarity on grit. As an exit ticket, students had to answer the following two questions on Google Classroom with the understanding that the whole class can see their responses. I kindly reminded students about recognizing the norms of writing to a public audience and that PROOFREADING needs to be a point of emphasis when writing.

A. What does grit mean to you?

B. How will you use it in history class this year to succeed? 

AP History students also completed The Fixed Mindset versus Growth Mind, a theory greatly supported by Dr. Carol Dweck of Stanford University. We applied the Growth mindset to the power of Grit and how we can apply this to a challenging year of AP U.S. History. Finally, we finished our class today reviewing the AP Historical Thinking Skills through a visual approach I saw on Twitter @MrPereiraCA . We are building familiarity with Historical Thinking Skills and can't wait to introduce some of the key historical thinking concepts with my freshmen U.S. History Classes.

Day 3 - Quotes and celebrating diversity of thoughts

Day 3 - Thursday

Students will showcase a Quote that displays creativity and a historical or growth mindset theme to their classmates. I have been assigning my Quote Activity for the last thirteen years and display them all year long on our classroom walls. Thus resulting in positive and inspirational quotes motivating students who come into our classroom on a daily basis. We all have good days and struggles, so why not a little pick-me-up moment for students to find the resolve to push ahead!





Hall of Fame - Former Students


Current Students  - #AwesomeStart, #CreativityCounts, #Grit

We are putting up quotes today after school and any student volunteers would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!  EXTRA CREDIT IS AVAILABLE for those who stick around to help me post these quotes around our classroom today!!

Day 2 - Getting Familiar with Students

Day 2 - Wednesday

I reiterated the importance of Google Classroom and how it will be a routine in our class. Students have a few assignments due tomorrow and I just wanted our freshmen students to realize that using their new Google Chromebooks will have some challenges, but overall any device could be utilized and implemented in the classroom as a routine. Additionally, I think I was able to calm down student's fears by letting them know that WE as teachers are also adapting to the switch from Ipads to Google Chromebooks and having challenges figuring out the workflow reorganization.

Finally and most importantly I had students fill out 5x7 index cards asking them two important questions regarding their learning styles/academics:

1. What are things that are easy for you in a classroom?

2. What are the things that are difficult for you in a classroom?

The goal here was to gage how students reflect and articulate their successes and struggles in the classroom. Moreover, I want to be able to get an early snapshot of what my students greatest needs are for the 2017-2018 school year. 

Tomorrow will be finishing up Angela Duckworth's TedTalk and Grit Test!

Day 1 - Laying the Groundwork and Icebreakers

After 6 consecutive years of running my blog as a daily routine and posting assignments, videos, Ted Talks, primary/secondary sources of history, and many other resources for my students as we worked through the curriculum, I have decided to sadly end the student daily postings. This will no longer be the main resource center driving student work and outcomes. More importantly, I have embraced Google Classroom as the primary engine pushing resources and student work flow.  However, I plan to utilize Mr. Parkin's blog as a reflection of my teaching practices and a celebration of student work. Therefore, my blog is not finished completely, but rather a place to build and cultivate a remaking process in which I can ultimately become a more reflective and better teacher. 

Day 1 was a success in that I organized my classes on Google Classroom so that every one of them signed up for GC, put students in assigned seats, and began my icebreaker on Find Someone Who.... 

Rules and Outcomes: Many thanks to Dr. Amy Fast, Assistant Principal at Mcminnville High School in Oregon @fastcranny and Massachusetts own Ms. Beth Hughes @MsBethHughes from Wakefield High School for the great idea. 

Looking forward to getting to know my students and building relationships with them on Day 2.