My incredible blog streak, yes for me that means 2 blogs, was broken last week. But I promise I have a great excuse. You guys, our classroom was presenting water contamination crises to a panel of community partners, scanning our classroom with our LiDAR scanner, and putting Christopher Columbus (and a few other key players) on trial for the genocide against the indigenous population. We were B.U.S.Y! I have so much to share about the last two weeks; my heart is filled with such pride in and awe of what our students have already accomplished.
I will begin by tooting my Historical Preservation horn. My classroom of juniors and seniors spent all of last week mapping our classroom, learning about the LiDAR scanner, and scanning our room. For those of you that are not familiar with the LiDAR scanner, check out CyArk's website. They have been an incredible community parter of ours and have really allowed our students to technologically grow. You can even see some of our fellow Mid Pacific students' projects! After a week of scanning fun, we began our editing process. We spent Monday, Wednesday, and today uploading and editing our scans. It is quite a technical and meticulous skill. Most of our students got to see their scans in a 3D format firsthand. It was so cool to watch them view and fly through their first scan draft. I know I can expect big things from this group.
I will continue tooting my horn while talking about MPX's panel and debate! Last Friday our brave and brand new 10th graders stood up in front of their peers and some community partners to present their solution proposal for a water contamination crisis. The students had less than a week to prepare before they were center stage. They blew me away. As I sat and watched them deliver persuasive presentations and field hard-hitting questions from our guests, I learned even more about what makes our kids so special. But wait, it didn't stop there. This week in Humanities, we focused on the exploration and "discovery" of North America. We did this through a trial of Christopher Columbus, Colubmus' Men, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the Tainos, and the System of the Empire. All 5 parties were guilty until proven innocent in Judge Zawalski's courtroom. Students researched primary documents to back up their arguments and poured over the arguments of other parties to solidify their own plea. We had our court case today and, sadly, most groups were charged with murder, theft, and corruption. I loved this activity and it seems like the students did as well. We have a few kinks to work out as this was a new protocol I was trying, but with some feedback from the students I know it will only get better.
I will toot my horn for the last time now by exclaiming WE MADE IT THROUGH WEEK, and life is starting to feel normal! I am getting to know my students more and more every day. We have a few inside jokes (sorry Schuyler), and we are starting to feel comfortable around each other. My mind is constantly running with new ideas for engaging students with our material; every time a student shares his/her thoughts I think to myself, "we could do a project on this!" At this point, I think I've written down enough project ideas to fill the next 4 years. Alas, I must remind my Type A, over-planning mind to take it one day and one project at a time.
Here's to a great week and a hopefully restful weekend for us all. I know student's hearts and souls around the world may cringe to read this, but I already cannot wait for Monday.
