Friday, September 16, 2011

There's certain unit I teach this time of year each year that really pleases me. The unit is a Heroes vs. Celebrities unit wrapped around a 9-11 theme. It always seems to really hit the kids exactly as I mean it to. I don't know if it's because I lived through 9-11 that my emotion conveys through the message or what, but it always has such an impact on the kids.

We start with the definition of a hero being a man or woman of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his or her brave deeds and noble qualities. They then draw a picture of a hero in action with a sentence explaining the picture. The next day, after a short 9-11 tribute video, we discuss the many different things that will need to be done in their lifetime that would be considered heroic. They come up with such answers as curing cancer, serving in the military, donating money for charities, etc. They then create the cover of Time Magazine's Person of the Year Issue. Here's a picture of some of those: The final day I bring in a special guest. A good friend of mine from Syracuse City Fire Department has been coming to my class since I taught his daughter two years ago. He gives a firefighters perspective on 9-11 telling the students how firefighters are a close knit family and how traumatic it was losing 343 of their brothers and sisters on that day. I then present to the firemen a bound book of the pictures we drew on the first day with a letter in it signed by all the kids thanking them for their service and honoring them as our hometown heroes. Thanks again Brad for coming in and delivering this message. It really teaches these kids in a way that I couldn't without you! Beyond that, the classroom is moving along as normal. I believe they took their first quiz in science class this week and their first social studies quiz is Monday. Mrs. McGuire also handed out a packet in Arts and Tech. Cultural Fair is their first larger project of the year. The directions should have come home in a note that you had to sign. I also have assigned our first of four book reports this year. The presentations of those will be the week of October 10-14.

Be sure to keep an eye on grades: https://syracuse.usoe-dcs.org/Login/Default.aspx. It might seem early, but with as quick paced as everything is going, Term 1 will be over before we know it!

"The hero is commonly the simplest and obscurest of men." ~Henry David Thoreau