Fun Times as the Trimester Winds Down... With Stress Mixed In...

Well, the first trimester is winding down, which is bittersweet.  I have to admit that I'm happy the school year is starting to fly by.  It's not that I don't love teaching, but this school year is already SO stressful!!  Before I tell about the stressful stuff, let me tell you about some fun things.


Last week my government classes did mock trials.  SO MUCH FUN!!  They were absolutely amazing.  The kids dressed up as lawyers, a judge, witnesses, etc.  We had a blast, and they did such a phenomenal time analyzing and synthesizing all their case information.  They had great opening and closing statements and played excellent plaintiffs and defendants.  What a blast!  Now, we're working on classroom timelines. The students are making timelines of the American Government for all three branches.  How great and such fun!!


Now a few stressful things:
Big Brother is still hanging over our heads.  The new policy?  We need to do lesson plans using the same templates and and turn them in for points.  Micro-managing to the fullest.
District tests are coming back again, which means I will be nice and stressed making sure I do everything correctly and worrying that I haven't taught my students everything they need for the tests.
School has been so bad one of our teachers almost fainted today.  She is already in a weakened state, as she has brain cancer, but the fact that things are so stressed her blood pressure plummeted in the middle of the day is not okay.  That means something is wrong.  Very wrong.
Here's the problem... our district is taking the art out of teaching.  It's attempting to turn us into robotic machines.  We do what we do because we are creative and we love finding fun ways to teach students.  I work at an alternative school so I don't have to always be told the "right" way to do things.  I want to be able to try new and fun things and not always be told I have to do things according to a formula.


Yet to come... Parent-Teacher Conferences this Thursday and Friday...

Classroom discussion

My government class and I had a great time today discussing the current Supreme Court oral arguments for the Snyder v. Phelps case.  It's amazing how passionate and concerned my students get.  We're alternative, and a lot of people wrongfully assume that my students are selfish and violent and delinquents.  To be honest, they often are more expressive and emotional than most people.  The problem is that they often can't filter their emotions.  They were SO passionate about how immoral it is to allow people to protest at funerals, but still concerned to have our Freedom of Speech limited.


So here's the question...
How do you protect mourners at a funeral (any funeral) without over-limiting speech?  Sadly, this is not a moral question.  Although I strongly believe that it is WRONG to protest at funerals, America has been built on our civil liberties.  Our forefathers STRONGLY believed that we have the right to say whatever we want... no matter if others like it or not.  It brings up and old, yet famous, quote from Voltaire that I will close with...


"I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."