where do we live?

I am exhausted. I took a nap, woke up at 7, did some work, and am ready for bed again. To think that I rarely went to bed before midnight a year ago. My youth is quickly fading away.

I taught 3 classes today. I'm not teaching my own plans yet, it is a transition period. But it feels really good to be up in front of a class again, regardless. I can't imagine how exhausted I will be when I'm doing all of the lesson planning, but I'm excited to try some new things and teach some material that I haven't had an opportunity to teach before. This is the first 7th grade experience I have had and it is a World Cultures class. The first quarter is SW Asia and North Africa---better known to most of the world as the Middle East. So, yes, I will be teaching 7th graders about the Arab-Israeli conflict for their first district wide test that is required at the end of the quarter. Your best wishes are appreciated.

We had a team meeting this morning with the other teachers that are part of our team (cross-curriculum team). It is a chance for us to discuss what our plans are for that week, students that might be having behavior issues/homework issues/etc. My CT and I brought up the student that has been falling asleep in class already. I had become curious and checked to see where he lived (my CT had told me about this "Learning Community" where students from the 2 adjoining counties are free to enroll at any school and the transportation is provided by the district), and it turns out he lives a good distance away from the school. Traffic+distance=early morning=red flag.

It turns out one of the other teachers had had some issues with this student refusing to participate in class, and even the counselor had been bugged by this student about wanting to be placed in Algebra when he didn't score near high enough on his placement exam. Needless to say, when I was teaching fifth hour today I kept my eye on him. I was excited to see that he participated and offered up a great input into the conversation about the homework they had done for today. Patience, young grasshopper. (I am almost certain my students wouldn't get this reference either...)

SO that was the UP side to today. The not-so-UP side from today was seeing the results of the pre-test the 7th graders took. Someone labeled the USA in Africa. Oh, and did you know that Great Britain is actually the present day state of Saudi Arabia? Oh, and by the way big sis (if you're reading this), I'm not sure where you live. It could be India, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Australia, or maybe even Russia. Basic geography skills here we come! I guess the Israelis and Palestinians will have to wait until the 7th graders know that Israel is not, in fact, located in the country of Greece or Chad or Germany. One girl raised her hand and asked me what a hemisphere was.

On the plus side, it is a blank slate. There are no misconceptions to tear down. Heck, I'm sure there are people who graduated high school that wouldn't correctly label the 7 continents. Sad, but true. Seriously, think about some of the people that you know. The Real World is on TV in the background as I type, and I'm fairly certain at least 3 of the roommates are clueless as to which way is east.

Overall, I had a great day. Even though the pre tests were ugly, they were necessary. And it tells us that the place we had decided to start the quarter is exactly where we need to start. I know that some of these students probably do not have access to a map at home and are not mentally stimulated as they should be at home, either. That saddens me. What saddens me more is that social studies has become so neglected in the public education system that students can get to the 7th grade (not too long ago they only had one year of compulsory education left) without being able to at least correctly label 7 continents. Some of them couldn't even label the United States of America. The only excuse for that is if maybe they are brand new to this country (in which case they would be in a special class, not in mine full time). That is sad.

I truly believe that no matter what career or profession someone chooses to go into, a basic understanding of geography, government, and history is essential to functioning in an increasingly global society.

I will step off of my soapbox now. Mostly because it is close to bed time.

"Well behaved women rarely make history." ---Laurel Thatcher Ulrich