History Day 2011, Treaty of Paris

March 20, 2011

The theme of History Day is year focused on diplomacy successes and failures in history. Nicholas' project was an exhibit on the Treaty of Paris. It wasn't quite as interesting a topic to him as last year's was (an important invention in history), but still, the experience has him already looking forward to finding out what next year's topic is so that he can get a jump start on it.

Giving Credit Where It's Due: History Day Post Part II

March 21, 2010

I've always believed in giving credit where it's due. When a waitress has done a great job, I like to let her manager know. When I get good customer service in a store, I seek out the owner of the establishment to acknowledge the strengths of their employee. In a world of cookie cutter businesses, what stands out most is the individual people who make a difference one-on-one. Too often, those managers and bosses hear only the complaints when things go wrong.

The same is true in education. We read in the newspapers about the teachers who shouldn't be in the classroom due to poor moral character. We see on the news teachers who have made bad judgments with unfortunate outcomes. Those are the few salacious stories that seem to speak for the profession all too often. We don't hear often enough about the hard-working teachers who give of themselves in a way that really makes a difference to kids in a one-on-one, everyday sort of way. They do it not just because it's their job, but because it's their passion. So when I encounter a teacher who has made an impact beyond what is expected, I think it is important to share my appreciation not just with them, but with their principals and district administrators as well. Nicholas' History Day coach and Academic Block teacher is one of those who has made such an impression on me, so yesterday I sent the following email to both her and her principal:

Betsy,

I want to thank you again for all of the hard work and dedication that you put into helping Nicholas and all of the History Day kids be successful in their entries. Though the whole process can be, at times, a bit overwhelming, especially for a kid whose organizational skills aren't always his strong suit, you helped him follow through and recognize that he could, in fact, not only handle it but that he could create something that was interesting and something he could really be proud of. I am very proud of his final product and all of his hard work.

Nicholas has struggled off and on throughout his academic career with both social and organizational skills. He's a very intelligent young man and is very much a people-pleaser, and like almost any kid you meet, thrives most when he knows he's valued, accepted, and liked for who he is. I feel very blessed that Nicholas hit your class at a transitional period in his life--the transition to middle school--that can be either a traumatic change or a new and exciting open door. With your help, as well as other fantastic adults such as Mr. Blizzard who have encouraged him on your campus, Nicholas has blossomed. His love for history has only solidified not only through History Day but through your class itself, and he's a much more confident learner. He believes in himself because he knows he's got people (besides his parents) who believe in him and recognize and celebrate the strengths he brings to the table.

I was a little worried that Nicholas might be discouraged by the fact that so many of his schoolmates came home from the competition with medals when he did not, but although he was truthfully a little down, he loved that he got such positive feedback from both you and Mr. Blizzard after the event. As a matter of fact, after a few moments of silence on our car ride home he turned to me and said, "So, I wonder what next year's topic is going to be?" and then he asked if he might talk to you about presenting his board to his classmates to share what he had learned. Medal or no, that is success.

So thank you, thank you again. Nicholas is truly lucky to have you as a teacher this year, and I certainly hope that he is fortunate enough to have other influential people like yourself in his future, who recognize the power that they have to touch kids in an important and meaningful way.

P.S.--Please thank your daughter for me as well, who offered Nicholas some very kind and encouraging words after the awards. It's one thing to hear your parents tell you they're proud of you, or even your teacher, but to hear it from another adult who doesn't have the same kind of vested interest in you--that's pretty cool.

Sincerely,
Donna

She wrote me back, and told me I made her cry. That's okay; we're even. Her response made me cry, too.

Boys Will Be Boys

March 21, 2010

When kids are young, they engage in a lot of imaginative play, creating worlds and scenarios to explore. They try on personas and personalities and adventures and learn about who they are, who they can be. I always loved watching my kids play pretend when they were little, but there was one line of role-play that I tended to steer them from. Gun-play, cops and robbers, cowboys and indians--I could just never get behind seeing my kids pointing guns, even pretend ones, at each other in the name of fun. There were so many other avenues to explore that I never felt they'd feel deprived if they didn't have guns to play with.

Flash forward several years. Nicholas is now in 7th grade, and as fortune would have it, his Academic Block teacher is the History Day advisor. As an avid watcher of the History Channel, Nicholas' interest was piqued when she talked to the class about the County History Day competition. The kids could choose to put together an exhibit, or create a website, or film a documentary, write a paper, or perform a dramatization. The theme for this day's competition was "An Innovation that Made an Impact in History." After brainstorming and looking at several possible topics, Nicholas committed to developing an exhibit that would showcase his findings. His innovation of choice to study? The Gatling Gun.

I wrestled briefly with this, honestly. Yes, it's an innovation, and yes, it modernized warfare, but I still wasn't thrilled with him spending weeks being drawn into the world of war and weaponry. To be frank, it wasn't just about him, either. Knowing what I know about the extent of the requirements of the History Day project, including guiding research and citations and annotated bibliographies, I knew that I myself would have to be sucked into that world as well, as I helped him through the process, a prospect I was not particularly interested in. (No joke, I actually had a nightmare about annotated bibliographies while I was trying to teach him correct MLA formatting for the information he'd gathered. There were angry historians and books that came to life involved.) Ultimately, though, if he was going to invest that much of his time and energy into a months-long project, I knew it had to be something that he really wanted to study. The Gatlin gun it was.

I won't go too much into the details of the project, but I will say there were some long nights, some procrastination issues, and a little bit of frustration on Nicholas' part that his mom is an English teacher who actually wants him to accurately cite his research sources. I think he must have been envisioning reading a little bit, surfing the web, and gluing a handful of Gatlin gun pictures up on a foam board when he first signed on to this project. Needless to say, it was slightly more involved. In the end, though, he came up with a project he could be really proud of. I was very proud of him, too, for his perseverance and hard work. He learned quite a bit, and as a matter of fact, so did I.

The actual competition was a great experience for him, too. He was interviewed about his project and his research process, which I think is wonderful experience for the kids. His coach and his principal were there to support all of their History Day kids, cheering them on and offering encouragement. We also got to see all kinds of fascinating projects and presentations, some of which were truly amazing. Since this was his first History Day, it was an opportunity for us to really see the potential for what these projects could be. Although he didn't win any kind of a prize, he is already wondering what the theme is going to be for next year, and what else he'd like to learn about. That, my friends, is what I consider success.

Nicholas' project:
Some of the other projects we saw:

A Little of This, A Little of That

March 3, 2010

I'm feeling some love over here on my blog this week. I received this "You're Going Places, Baby" award from Valerie over at Next to Heaven, which is very cool. Thanks, Valerie! I love Valerie's blog, because she has such a positive outlook--it always makes me smile to read her posts. Head over there and check it out, if you're not already a regular reader.

To pay it forward, I'm supposed to post where I'd like to be in 10 years and then award this to ten other bloggers who are Goin' Places.

So where do I see myself in 10 years? Weird to say, but in another 10 years I could see myself looking forward to my first grandchild from the oldest and college graduation from the youngest. I would love to see all three of my kids happy, healthy, and settling into careers that they love. I see myself still working at my current school, maybe having had a thing or two published on the side. Most of all, I see myself still crazy in love with the man by my side, spending our summers traveling and enjoying adventurous road trips.

Below you'll find links to some on-line friends I love to 'visit' on a regular basis. Check out the following blogs, which are definitely destined for bright futures:

Mama-Face at Blog Ignoramous

Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin' Time

Brainella the Librarian

...for a different kind of girl

Kim at Under the Influence

Christy at Cakerwakers

Kim at Thinking Out Loud

JennyKate at JennyKate's Spot

Caroline...Online

Just Making Our Way

While I'm on the subject of blog love, let me tell you how excited I am about having stumbled onto Brainella the Librarian's blog. I found her by blog-hopping, as I am occasionally known to do. I love her blog, and found that we have a lot in common. And the bonus? She happened to be doing a giveaway when I found her, and on a whim, I entered. Now I know people say, "I never win anything!" all the time, but seriously, I NEVER do. But I DID! And this wasn't just any giveaway--it was a bonanza, as you can see below. It felt like Christmas in March when this package arrived on my doorstop yesterday! Thank you so much for such a great giveaway, Julia--you made my day: ) If you get a chance to stop by and check out her blog, too.

In other news, this is a crazy week for me. So much so that I really shouldn't be taking the time to write this, but I am skilled in the ways of procrastination, so here I am. It's the end of a grading period for me, so I've got papers to grade and enter and stressed out parents and students. Bigwigs from the School Accreditation team are scoping out our campus early next week, so we've got to make sure our classrooms are spiffy and sparkly for our guests, we've got to be dramatic and entertaining and terribly insightful when they step into our worlds for a five minute snapshot that will tell them everything they need to know about education at our school, and we are to make ourselves available for additional meetings both before and after school. Oh yeah--we're supposed to wear our badges, too. (Now where did I put my badge? Seriously. I hate wearing a nametag around my neck that says "If found, please return to CUSD District Office at such and such address. As if someone might find ME, cold and lifeless, or wandering around aimlessly, babbling incoherently, and return me safe and sound to my home at the district office. I know they're really just talking about finding the tag, but still. It's so Big Brother-sounding.)

We are also in crunch time for Nicholas' History Day project, and both girls have stepped up their drama rehearsal schedules, since we are nearing production dates. Danielle also has softball practice (when she doesn't get rained out), which adds to the taxi schedule. Oh--and a birthday party this Saturday (for which I have yet to get a present), and a package to mail out that should have gone out, oh, say, two months ago.

On top of that, this weekend is the Academy Awards, so we're gearing up for our annual Oscar party. I'm really looking forward to that, but I'd be even more excited if some cleaning fairy were to show up and make the house more presentable before Sunday. I'm not holding my breath, though, so I've got to add housecleaning to my list of things to do.

Not that I'm complaining, though. I think I just needed to take a minute to detail what all I needed to do, so that I could prioritize. Thinking out loud, as it were. I'm good now, and I've got to go. I've got things to do!