Grateful

I have been reading your work and being reminded of what wonderful young people I have the privilege of teaching and collaborating with. I think of you all very often.

There looks like a decent series on the History Channel, if you get that, called Mankind: The Story of Us.

I hope you are getting out in the beautiful weather. I hope you are reading! I hope you are dancing, drawing, making music, writing, working on your stand-up comedy act. I hope you are cooking, gardening, and playing board games and card games - legal ones! I hope you are making crafts and helping out around the house.

Yesterday (11/19) was the 149th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, and Steven Spielberg, who directed Lincoln, spoke about Lincoln at Gettysburg. Also you know it's the 149th anniversary of the holiday of Thanksgiving, which was implemented during the Civil War, because I've told you perhaps a thousand times. What is there to be thankful for during a war? What do you think?

I look forward to seeing you all next week! Please feel free to email or call if you have questions.

(I've told some of you that I have exceptionally cute dogs. Lucky is my older son, at eight years old. He is my loyal macaroon, snickerdoodle, applesauce, toasted marshmallow, sea cucumber, study buddy. Little Bear, 5, is standing below, looking off into the distance. Why? Because he feels like it. Because if you want him to look at the camera, he'll look somewhere else. That's how he is.)

Where We're Going

Well, the election happened.  I hope we all continue to be good citizens and participate in our democracy.

Here are three maps to consider as we study more about the Civil War in 8th grade. (We now know Florida went to President Obama.) Are there reverberations of the Civil War in this most recent election? Is this the way we want it? If it needs to improve, how do we do that?

What is 'Common Core?'
When we are thinking about these maps, and whether or not there's a connection, or comparing texts of speeches, or thinking about the connections between science and history, or what kinds of jobs do people have who are/were working on the campaigns and on Hurricane Sandy, or when we are preparing resumés and making goals for ourselves, we are thinking 'critically.' We are communicating, evaluating, generating ideas, planning, solving problems, designing, taking risks. We are becoming contributors rather than comply-ers and test-takers.

This is the emphasis of the new 'Common Core' standards which our state has adopted and which focus on the really important stuff (- which I have always focused on anyhoo!) So, it will NOT be important that you remember what the Wilmot Proviso was (unless you become a historian) but it is important that you understand its significance in the context of what you are learning at the time. You need to be able to 'surf-think' and to do it well.

If you engage and let me help you become a good writer and good mathematician, you will never be in the fix this girl is, no matter what job you go for - or create!

Why We Need Common Core

Election Eve

Well I hope there will be some votin' goin' on tomorrow!

I'll be voting, for sure. I know some people don't, and I'm not sure why. Maybe people think their vote doesn't matter.  It does, though, otherwise there wouldn't be winners and losers. Even if your side loses, your voice was heard, and that matters!

Others don't vote because they feel it's too complicated, and they don't feel they can get a straight answer. I always do three things: 1) I read what a proposition says, 2) I see who's supporting it, and if I like them or not, that will influence me one way or the other, and 3) I see who is putting money in, either for or against. Again, I know my vote makes a difference.

Still some don't vote because they don't like that there are so many initiatives, or there's not candidate they like who's 'perfect,' and they want to 'send a message' that they are fed up with the whole process. Still, someone else will vote, and, in a way, the person who doesn't vote gives their vote to someone who does. A stranger. Maybe someone they totally disagree with.

When it comes to voting, I don't let the 'perfect' be the enemy of the 'good.' If something seems better, that's what I want to work toward.

What happens tomorrow will matter greatly to your education. Help your families get informed and vote your heart.

P.S. Did you know women were not allowed to vote until 1919? And, no, I was not alive! But my friend Venita was 12!