Yesterday I took 85 world history students up to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. Each year I try and take my students some place they might not ordinarily go. In the past I've brought them to Norton-Simon Museum of Art, the Huntington Gardens and Libraries, and the Museum of Tolerance. Other then the hour it took to get from the museum to freeway to come hour (damn that LA traffic), the trip was nice.

While on the bus, I did enjoy talking to one of the parent chaperones about the sub-cultures at my school. With 125+ adults on campus, most of us know what is going on in our building or departments, but that's about it. Each group has its politics and drama. Most of it is contained, but is often disrupted by new additions, unforeseen events, and interventions by higher powers. The current labor situation is the epitome of this.

This morning I was looking at my fish tank and made the random connection between that conversation and my fish. I've had a fish tank for about 15 years now. I have been on the verge of getting rid of it numerous times. If it weren’t for the fact that my kids love it, it would be gone. During those 15 years I've had at least 100 different fish, the small cheap kind of course. Funny how some life is small and cheap. Anyway, fish have come and gone. There was the great fish exodus of '96. Within two days six or seven fish jumped out of the tank. It must have been really bad in there for them to jump. Then there was the time that the angel fish kept sending others to deep end of the tank in the middle of the night. Oh, and the time we took a particularly aggressive fish out of the tank and left him in a Tupperware on the coffee table. We came home a few hours later and found an empty Tupperware and a guilty-looking dog.

A few days ago one of the fish had 19 babies. Little tiny things. Unfortunately, they were all either born dead or deformed. The mommy fish even ate one the babies. I kept poking my finger in the water trying to stop it, but my efforts were for naught. We set up a little fish nursery - with the hope of stopping the other fish from feasting on the frys. The mesh netting did not stop the largest fish from literally sucking out the life from the remaining babies. In the end, all were dead. A couple days later the mommy fish died too.

So what did we do? We headed over to Petco and got a few more fish. We know it is the wrong lesson to teach the kids, but the tank just looked so empty.

We thought it was all over; peace had been restore to the kingdom. Then Swimmy the frog disappeared. I flashed on my college days when a similar frog disappeared, only to be found weeks later on the kitchen floor by my roommate in the biannual cleaning of the apartment. This aquatic drama ended happily, he had crawled under the castle and got trapped inside of it. No doubt the frenzy of the birthing and/or the entry of the new fish created some tension and he just needed some time alone.

I know the feeling.

I wish everyone would just let us do what we do best. We have enough to worry about, we don't need the fear of that big arm reaching into our tank and mucking with what is working just fine.

There is still three weeks until the end of the school year, but on Tuesday I finished up the term for my masters program. This semester proved to be the busiest of my life. Between teaching my classes, implementing the Holocaust Wiki Project (part of my coursework), taking care of my sick children, various contract work I do (creating and maintaining web pages), my big grad project (which I spent 75+ hours on), class until 10:00 on Thursdays, and the union-district tensions, I found little time for anything fun or relaxing.

Now I look forward to catching up on some yard work, hanging out with my family, see some friends, reading a couple books, and finishing some projects I started and never finished. It's nice to breath again. I might even blog more than once a week or so. Stay tuned.

I have always held the stance that high school students should take full loads while in school. Why not? It is the last time students will have access to free education. I did it. In fact, during my senior year in high school, I dropped a teachers aid position, which involved just sitting around most days, to take an academic class because it sounded interesting and I would rather learn something then just sit there.

Since my district began a school-to-work program that gave students units for holding a job and attending a classroom meeting once a month, I have gradually accepted this as a legitimate reason to only have five classes. Which, incidentally, wouldn't have affected my desire to take six classes when I was in high school - I worked 20 hours a week for almost all of my 11th and 12th grade years. As you might expect, I am very bothered by those seniors who are able to fulfill their four-year goal of taking only four classes.

So why the fuss today? Well, apparently, to prove a point that the district is cash strapped (which it isn't - it is budgeting to have $4-5 more in its reserve then is mandated by the state) and can't pay teachers the COLA given to them by the state, they have said that the junior and senior average for enrolled periods needs to be 5.25. That means that only one of four students can take six classes. We have moved into the business of denying students educational opportunities. This process has already meant cutting the web design class, the programming class, AP Art History, the sociology/current events class, and who knows how many sections of art, drama, choir, and foreign language. At time we should be expanding technology use, we are not only not letting it age, we are cutting handful of programs that will be helpful to students wish to pursue a career in that area. Plus "regular" classes will be bigger then normal. My world history classes this year are already 37-39 students, how much bigger can we get?



Now, I'm fired up about the teacher-district issues, but this is too much. My disillusionment with this district and public education as a whole has made me think harder about a career change. Or at least a change of venue, away from the district that I graduated from and currently live within. All I want to is teach in an environment where learning is primary focus, where the teachers and district look forward - not backwards.

The superintendent has directly put the students in the middle. I hope the parents of this community say enough is enough. Regardless of political affiliation, religious beliefs, or value of education, public schools are being attacked not only in my district, about across the state of California. While many will argue that the education system as a whole needs some retooling, this is not the way to do it.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I'm currently in the middle of a big project in my world history class. I thought I did a pretty good job "summing" it up there - especially considering the time of day. In addition to ranting and raving about various issues, I had hoped this blog would allow me to do some critical reflections on this and other lesson plans. When it is all said and done, I'll be co-writing an article with one of my SDSU Ed Tech profs, Bernie Dodge.

So I'm going to have a discussion with myself here, please don't be alarmed.

While the project isn’t officially due for a week, today was the last day I had the computer lab scheduled. The two classes doing the project spent eight one-hour periods in the lab. During that time they were to first create their background, research possible branches for their simulation, and then put their simulation into the Wiki. I tried to stick to the WebQuest model with a specific task and a process where all the needed links were provided.

Overall I am pleased with the progress. Some groups are doing great, some not so great, but that is to be expected. The classes have mixed abilities and, more importantly, mixed levels of motivation. I have seen a handful of kids who are usually not involved in the class or don’t do any work really get into the project. I have also seen other groups who I thought would do better waste their time in the lab. Only four of about thirty groups actually finished today, but after viewing their products I recommended a series of additions to increase their grade.

Hurdles

Complexity – One of the most difficult parts of the project has been trying to get the kids to wrap their head around it. I had them creating their branching simulation on paper (Inspiration would have been better) so they could visualize where they were and where they had been.

Historical Accuracy – Doing this project on the Holocaust is risky. This is a subject that cannot be taken lightly. I know that there are many out there who will criticize the topic. The project I did before this, the Children of the Holocaust WebQuest, stirred a spirited debate on a couple listservs a few years ago. However, I also believe that the students are more invested when they looking at the story of individuals, otherwise we get bogged down in facts and statistics. The students are being graded on historical accuracy so they are accountable.

Decisions vs. Results – Another core part of this project was having the decision points be about making choices. Many groups had a hard time differentiating between results and decisions. What I had to do is them to pretend they were going through their simulation, would they choose to be sent to a death camp? They might make a choice that results in their family being sent to a death camp, but who would choose that? Plus, many, if not most, did not know the true nature of those camps until it was too late.

Country Specific – One thing that is much different from my Children WebQuest (which is more generic) is that I wanted them to create the story from the perspective of a family from a specific country. I picked five countries, provided country specific topics and crossed my fingers. At this point in the project, I think this is probably the weakest link (no pun intended). What I am seeing thus far is not as specific as I had hoped.

The Wiki – After they finish laughing at the word Wiki – which occurs almost every time I say it, they get a confused look. When I equate it to Hotmail or MySpace or LiveJournal, then they perk up again. I provided them specific directions as to how to use the Wiki and how to link their pages together. Most groups got it and those who are having a hard time are also having a hard time with the project as a whole.

Enough for now. I blog about it again once it is done.