3rd Period spent a full 50 minutes the first day of congress (when they only really had 140 minutes total…) debating an amendment to the constitution to abolish capital punishment. The debate raged on until the kids were parliamentary procedure pros (seriously, they looked so professional!) and finally someone called to table the bill until the next day so that the sponsor of the bill and the minority leader (who was determined to defeat the bill on ideological grounds) could have more time to dig up research to clarify their positions! Never before have I had kids so concerned about the legislation that they are willing to go home and do MORE RESEARCH to pass a bill. The other bill that became their baby was the “Alternative Energy Act” that was worked on so much in committee that the committee amended the bill to include provisions from another student’s bill in the hopes that they both filled in each other’s gaps and would make it more likely to pass – not to mention that both students would be working for a single bill’s passage and their classmates would feel guilty for killing a bill that would give extra credit to 2 constituencies.

5th period didn’t spend as long on 1 bill. They were incredibly efficient. Their Majority Leader picked up parliamentary procedure quickly and the class was so engaged by the simulation that students who I would normally have to pull teeth to have them participate in class, were taking leadership roles and holding their classmates accountable to the parly-pro. I was so proud. I tried to take a video but it has since disappeared somewhere. If I can find it, I will post it. I was practically beaming in the back. One of the bills that I had to keep from laughing out loud was a bill entitled: “Wartime Marine Animals Act of 2008.”

Background: The last time I wanted to post was to mention one of my more memorable students this year. His name is Taemin, and whether he’s faking it or not, he adores me and my class. In First Amendment Friday a few weeks back Taemin brought up research for discussion that he had found when writing an English paper. Apparently the US Military spends $8 million a year training dolphins to seek out mines and carry bombs. They’re called kamikaze dolphins. My students were horrified and it dominated discussion in 3 out of 4 of my classes. It wasn’t so bad until the kids realized that the dolphins don’t just drop the bomb off and swim away…when Paulina realized this her eyes popped open in shock and she cried out, “Oh! Those poor dolphins!”

Much has happened in the last couple of months. Classes have been going well, quite a bit rushed and crunched, so I don’t feel totally confident about their knowledge. However, I still adore them! They have reached the whiny-complaining stage, but I don’t blame them. They’re tired, my tests are hard, and we have all been diligent and therefore just need a break. Even with all their whinyness and my stress because of their whining (and me beginning to think that sometimes they might be right…) I still really enjoy my classes this year and have enjoyed being a more organized teacher.

Because I am more organized, I have been using my free time to relax, and because free time now means I get to relax, I don’t feel like blogging. However, this cannot be put off any longer and since: my landlords are gone, Thanksgiving Break has begun, I’m waiting for bread baking and cooking dinner, it is high time I told you about one of the best simulations my class has ever had. It was definitely memorable and I don’t think my kids have ever learned so much through our Mock Congress simulation.

My first year teaching, to buy time for me to catch up, and because I needed something fun for the kids since they were having to put up with my horrible first-year lessons, I created a mock congress simulation. I took ideas from other simulations, but over the years it has really developed into something more and more my own.

The kids pick a major issue they would like to see addressed by Congress. They write a bill, and then work to get it passed into law. They serve on committees, they select their leadership (Speaker of the House, President Pro Tem, Majority and Minority Leaders for both houses), they hold caucuses, they write committee reports, they track the bills, they keep them updated on a bill-tracking board, etc. So that I don’t bore you with all of the details, I’ll just say that this year I added an element of competition, to make it more realistic. I had a BillBoard for each class. On it was a seating chart breakdown (labeled by party), a list of the committees (and committee members, by party), and a list of the bills so that the kids can keep track of their own bills, what committee it got sent to, what the action was in the committee, and where it was now. Just by posting that information, the kids now had the ability to see where their bill was, track down the chairman of the committee it was sent to (to argue for passage) and appeal to the members of their party in the other house (i.e: the other period) to ensure their bill’s passage. Let me tell you, there was a whole lot of Conference Committee texting going on in my class despite the fact that cell phones are banned. It’s amazing how they can hide those things.

Anyway, I also added a piece for the leaders. Normally the leaders sortof putter around. But they never really did what real leadership in Congress would do. So this time I told them that they needed to set an agenda. They had to pick 3 bills that had been written by their party members in their own house. I then told them, use your powers to get those bills passed. The kids get Extra Credit if their bill gets signed into law but the Leaders don’t write bills so this was their extra credit opportunity. They had to do whatever they could to get those bills passed and then they write a reflection at the end of the simulation explaining what they did to get them passed (highlighting what they did well and what they should have done, after the fact).
I don’t even know where to begin to tell you how awesome it went. 3rd period (the House of Representatives) and 5th period (the US Senate) did an incredible job. The leaders did an incredible job. They picked their “agenda,” and then the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate (along with assistance by the minority party) assigned their classmates to committees and assigned bills to committees. The leaders strategized in order to get a majority of majority-party members on each committee (which resulted in a throw-away committee in 5th because the Senate was 11, 11 and 1 independent which meant it was hard for them to have a majority on each committee. When that committee of all-Republicans realized that none of the good bills came to them they were quite offended.), they used their influence with the members in the committees, they assigned bills they wanted to committees that had a strong majority of their party, and the minority traded favors with the Majority to ensure that at least one of their bills was brought up on the floor of Congress within the first day. Needless to say, the leaders really used their influence.

However, the genius of what they were really learning was not evident until the second day of congress. It all started with miscommunication between the houses. Each period had their ‘pet bill.’

MORE LATER

Wow...Here is a ranking of US presidents from the Times, London. Bush is ranked worse than Herbert Hoover...sad!!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5029204.ece

I'm all wrapped up under my covers right now, trying to get some sleep, but my eyes just won't shut. I've been working pretty hard lately. It's been good, though. Finally I feel like a good teacher. I know more about what I'm doing, I don't have to make many lessons from scratch anymore, and I'm caught up with the little things. It's amazing how being on top of the little things can make me feel so much more prepared. For instance, I no longer have stacks of unfiled lessons and worksheets piled high on my desk (because I have time to put them away!), I am relatively on top of my grading, and (this is incredible actually) I have been able to email students or assign tutorials for students who are having problems with assignments. I know...I should have been doing that for the last two years, but I didn't have time! Anyway, school is going incredibly well.

My students are wonderful. It's only been 3 weeks and I already feel like my classes have bonded. They come in chattering, wanting to talk to each other and to me, and sometimes it takes my classes months to get to that spot. They're interested, they do their homework (actually, this shouldn't be out of the ordinary, but it is...), and they're hilarious!

I already have some fun stories.
--I have rearranged the kids by ideology. It's so fun because the kids really like being able to bond with the people they're near. There are three boys in my 6th period class that just crack me up. They are my three conservatives in that class, and they're very strong conservatives, so they ended up in the back row. Every day, at the beginning of class, they shout out a Conservative chant they made up. I don't remember the words, but basically, the first one will punch his right fist in the air and say something like, "Moral Strength." The second one will punch his fist in the air and yell, "......(I can't remember)" and the third will do the same and shout, "Fiscal Responsibility." Then they all shout, "Conservative Power!" and grunt really loud. It's absolutely hilarious. It's especially hilarious when the liberals scowl at them and start poking fun at them. Ok...so it's sortof encouraging negative communication between the groups, but they all like each other so they all end up just laughing a lot. I think it shows that my class is bonding.

--I now have 3 groupies. I have a tutorial-bug, a student who is perpetually in my tutorial. She asks questions, does homework, borrows books, etc. She's very self-motivated. But one day another of my students came in to tell her something about a club they were starting. I took this as an opportunity to get to know them and asked them about this club they were starting....oh boy...I opened up a can of worms. Over the next hour I was introduced to "Fan Fiction," the topic of the club they are creating. It sounded interesting to me and we ended up talking fiction and characters for quite a long time and they suggested some fan fiction I might be interested in. The next day, another one of my students, the leader of this new club, came in because she had heard the other two had talked to me about it (and because she's obsessed). We talked a long time and they are now making me a list of Harry Potter based fan fiction for me to read and the only way I could actually get out of my room to go get lunch was by walking down to lunch and having Amy come with me until she could go no farther. I felt kinda bad...but I wanted food. Anyway, I think it's funny. I am actually interested in some of the stories, have managed to get 3 groupies who are determined to throw me head-first into fan fiction as soon as they can get their hands on me, and have bonded with a few more kids.

--the last funny story has to do with learning about Egyptian values, which we do through the lens of "The Negative Confession," which the Egyptians would recite as their heart was being weighed in the afterlife. My freshmen are so cute. I mean, seriously, this year they are sickeningly cute. So...oh man, I'm laughing just thinking about this...so, the kids were supposed to read the negative confession out loud to each other. One of my freshman boys raises his hand and asks, "Ms. Burdick, what does 'copulated' mean?" Now, if this was my seniors, I would know they were just asking to be a nuisance. However, this poor kid was looking up at me with these big, innocent eyes. I just told him to look at the context, and he figured it out, and then blushed pretty red. I just about burst out laughing right there...not because he was embarrassed, but because...well, it was just funny. Good ol' Bellevue curriculum web...when I got into our department prep room after that class I burst out laughing...and then I felt bad for the kid so I stopped...

Anyway, school is going well. Now I have been working all day and just want to rest some before I watch a TV show. But I find myself really wishing I was back at college in the fall. I was trying to sleep, but the chill and the smell of leaves and the lovely colors just remind me of wonderful times back at Fox that I miss. I got a little homesick, which was probably why I couldn't sleep. I had this vision of our cozy little home in Weezner, with Nora Jones singing softly in the background; Kathy making coffee in the kitchen; Cassie clacking away at her laptop in the study room, headphones on, chair tipped back and head a-bobbin' to her music. Liz and I are sitting in the living room reading. I'm on the couch and Liz is wrapped up in a blanket in the chair, and the tall windows are reflecting the glow of my red and white lanterns hanging above us and the peaceful scene within our apartment. I can feel the relaxation of just getting to read, even if it is homework, and the comfort of special friends surrounding me in the home we've made for ourselves and our friends. I really miss those days, especially on a day like today, where I can escape out of the cold into a warm, cozy home...but it's just not the same without those people around and with the cares of knowing that I can't just receive knowledge anymore, but have to deliver it. There's so much less responsibility with receiving.

I'm glad Cassie is coming up next weekend. This always happens to me in the fall and then I make a trip down to Fox, but so many have moved away now and others have spread. Amy and Mark, Pat and Kathy, Walker, Cassie and Liz are still in the area; it's just a matter of getting them all in one spot or seeing them one in smaller groups. But everyone is busy now. We all have our own lives and we have good lives. I guess in the fall I'm just a little sad that those days where we all lived together, ate meals together, and practically lived in each others floors and lobbies are gone and I think back with fondness of those good times.

Reflection: There are so many things in my life that I am so thankful for. I've not been the happiest person in the world...but I am so thankful. God has brought me through the first two years of teaching and made me a good teacher. He gives me the strength to work at being a better teacher and blesses me with wonderful students who I already love so much. And I don't think I could ever thank Him enough for the time and the friends he gave me at Fox. There's just something special about being a part of the family of God and I truly feel like I was a part of a family back at Fox. The family changed and merged and got larger, but I love those people, and I miss them.

Go about 4 minutes into this clip!

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=186776&title=clusterf#@k-to-the-poor-house

Ok, so here I am at school, scanning the news like the good-little-government-teacher that I am, and Drudgereport has this headline: "Oregon school says 4 confessed to Obama effigy."

I find this: NEWBERG, Ore. (AP)--I'm thinking, uh oh... - A Christian university in Oregon said Tuesday it has punished four students who confessed to hanging a likeness of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama from a tree on campus.

hehehe...oh man. Finally, George Fox is finally in the national news...