Real World Connections and a Long Weekend

One of the buzz words (phrases) for Social Studies education these days is "real-world connections." Instead of just learning the facts, students are supposed to be able to relate the information to events in the world around them. For example, rather than just learning when and where Christianity and Islam began, they would also need to understand the conflicts between the two and draw connections to issues in the Middle East today. Well, we really haven't gotten there yet. I'm having trouble just getting through the "facts" part of the lessons. The closest we've gotten to real-world connections was Thursday, when several of my students observed that the 8th century trading kingdom of Ghana sounds like gonorrhea. Hmm.



Friday was a staff development day (a.k.a. teachers still work, but no kids). The faculty met at the Holiday Inn in Decatur for our sessions. This was not nearly as sketchy as it sounds. The break from the students was really nice, and I was encouraged as I finally got a chance to talk with some of the other teachers. The faculty has really been the best part of the school so far. Maybe the fact that it is such a tough school has made them all draw close and look out for one another. I am so thankful for the friendships there. It's also comforting to know that I am not the only one in a constant state of frustration at the actions of the administration and the overall climate of the student body.



The mini-victory of the week: We are officially halfway through with Fall semester! My Civics class wrapped up with a final exam and we're moving on to Geography after Columbus Day.