When life is crazy, you are still a teacher...

I haven't posted in over two weeks because the life of a teacher is hectic and crazy. There are meetings to attend, paperwork to complete, papers to grade, dinners to cook, games to attend, and on top of all that, housework still exists. There should be vitamins specifically martketed for teachers. They would need to be the strongest vitamins available. Having said all that, I love my job. Teaching is the most gratifying job on the planet. Where else do you get paid to talk about what you love every day to a captive audience? The captive audience is the tricky part. The students must be there but they do not have to be engaged... that's my job.
I reverted to a notes teacher in the last posted lesson. I was angry with myself for failing my students. The purpose of this blog is to find the best lessons for US History and a boring, here are your notes, just copy and be quiet lesson is certainly not a good lesson much less a great lesson. The next class I changed tactics. I was angry that I taken the easy way out and that's not who I want to be, so I sat down and let the laundry go unfolded. I planned. I needed the students to understand the differences between the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. I could do that without boring the students to sleep. I decided to split the material into three parts. First, the class as a whole created a graphic organizer (thinking map - call them what you will) comparing the two political parties based upon what was in their textbooks and previous notes. When we had established a thorough list, the students were given a piece of legal sized computer paper and told to fold it in half hotdog style and cut it on the line. The students were then to create a bumper sticker for each political party. For example, a bumber sticker for Hamilton and the Federalist could say "Hamilton: You can bank on it" to signify his desire to create a National Bank. The students were engaged and thinking. Isn't that the goal? Plus, when they were finished I had great wall art because the students are so creative. I had several do a take on Jefferson - Power to the People showing his belief that the power should lie in the states, not the federal government. The students focused on all the areas that they needed to concentrate on and without a doubt will remember because they created something, laughed while doing it, and had some displayed. We weren't finished though. Next, I divided the students into groups by numbers so that the groups were not cliques. Each group was asked to create a campaign commercial for either the Federalists or Democratic Republicans. Because the students only had 30 seconds to get their message across, they had to think of a catchy way to sell the party. The students then performed their commercials while I filmed them with a Flip video camera. Teenagers are so creative! The commercials were hilarious and again, right on point. One group focused on the Whiskey Tax; another on whether or not just the wealthy and educated should be in charge. Each group involved all members and I was surpirsed to see one of the lower-level disengaged student participate in the Hoe-down as part of teh Whiskey Tax commercial. The boring note day and the fun creative day covered the same material, but this is the binder lesson. My students learned and will retain the information. I'm going to fold some laundry now and then, get back to planning so I can have the binder of perfect US History lessons.