Shaping the American Republic

I got the information for the summer institute from UTSA.

Looks exciting!

I've been looking forward to this ever since I got accepted. I'm hoping to learn a lot and to meet teachers I can network with. I have a few friends who are history teachers, but for 5 of the last 6 years my networking has been among English teachers.

I'm also excited because this is a period that I feel like I'm not as strong in and I'm hoping to become very well-rounded in the period.

In other news, I read The Scorch Trials by James Dashner yesterday. I actually enjoyed it a bit more than The Maze Runner, though it had some of the same flaws.

First day off of work

Yesterday the campus librarian checked out a bunch of books to me that I've been meaning to read. Yesterday afternoon I read Countdown by Deborah Wiles, which I had been meaning to read ever since a student reccomended it to me. I really enjoyed it; I though the main character was very well-developed and I ended up caring about what happened to her.

Today I read Maze Runner by James Dashner and didn't enjoy it as much. The subject matter was OK, though I've gotten a bit tired of the dystopian YA genre, but my main problem was with the way the narrator was handled. I understand that for the narrative to flow in a particular way, the author had to have the narrator keep secrets from the reader. However, that strategy made me feel like there was this huge gap in the narrator and thus he just didn't feel as vivid and real. That said, I've started The Scorch Trials (the 2nd book in the series).

Teacher Work Day

It seems odd to start a new blog as the school year is closing out. Yesterday was the students' last day, and today I'm just waiting in my packed up room until I'm able to leave for summer. However, this is the point in the year when I get serious about planning for next year, so in a way it does make sense to start blogging now.

Hard to believe this room was full of activity just yesterday.

This year was my first year back in Social Studies after a 6 year stint as an English teacher. It was so good to be back in History, but it took me a while to hit my stride. I'm looking forward to next year because I know I can start strong.

I'm also looking forward to next year because of some new technology I'm going to roll in to my classes. I'll be using Edmodo from day one and we will have iPads exclusively for our use in History.

I'm looking forward to the new batch of students. I've heard great things about the upcoming 8th graders, and I look forward to meeting them.

I'm looking forward to presenting again. It's been a couple of years since I've done a professional presentation, and this upcoming school year I plan to do at least two. Hopefully one will be at the TCEA (Texas Computer Educators Association) state conference with our campus librarian, Ms. Roussin.

Finally, I'm going to be attending some training this summer that I know will make me a better teacher: interactive notebooks, how to teach Supreme Court cases, and a multi-day workshop on the development of American government at UTSA. I'm really looking forward to all of this training.

So I guess it makes sense to start this blog today, as I wait to print grades and be released for the summer. Yesterday was an ending, made especially bittersweet because I had worked with the same group of students for 2 years, but today really is the start of something new. And new beginnings are exciting and invigorating.