There's nothing like college football and the return of the NFL to make a weekend full of grading, lesson planning, and document creation a whole hell of a lot more bearable. Plus, the Jayhawks just had one of the greatest one-week turnarounds in college football with their defeat of Georgia Tech, and Arkansas is still looking solid (plus I found out I'm going to both the Alabama-Arkansas game and the KU-Mizzou game this year!). But I digress...
While college football and the NFL are great I am also reminded of the sports writer David Zirin's books "What's My Name Fool?" and "A People's History of Sports in America". These two works are not only page turners that tell the story of how discrimination and exploitation has been the modus operandi of the athletic world, both profession and "amateur". I'm actually developing a unit on Sports in America based off of these texts and some others that I will read for the end of the year in my 8th grade class, it will hopefully show the students that history isn't always just the study of governments and wars, but also of anything you want!
I'm also trying out some new teaching methods that I was too timid to try out my first year. We just had a mock trial of Christopher Columbus, Columbus' Men, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the Tainos, and the System of Empire. I found the lesson plan on the Zinn Education Project's website (www.zinned.org). This project had the students researching their roles and creating their own opening statements and defense theories, and it went better than I could have ever imagined! We also wrote letters to our parents or siblings telling them what we had learned that day in class, something so simple but something I had never thought to use until a colleague mentioned it to me.
My 7th grade class is also going great. They're working on becoming "activists" for the world (for people, animals, and our environment). I'm having to go out and buy more "raffle tickets" that I use for students who get 'A's on their quizzes and students who improve from the previous week. We use these raffle tickets for a drawing at the end of each quarter for prizes, including books, class materials, and some big SECRET prizes!
The life of a teacher can get somewhat dull as we found out last year, the long hours at school, at home grading/planning, at coffee shops grading/planning, having friends who are teachers get together and having grading/planning parties, etc. Last year we all made a list of 25 things to do before summer. While we didn't accomplish all of them, we did accomplish a large majority, and now we are always looking for places to go and things to do. This weekend I got to go to Zoo Rendezvous, a big fundraiser where all of the restaurants have samples and there's free drinks everywhere you look...paradise. I got to go thanks to a friend who had an extra ticket. It was by far one of the coolest events I have been to since moving here.
Well, I shall bid you adieu. I'll be around in the comments from time to time while I grade/plan (and watch football!).