"Mr. Caruthers are you wearing skinny pants?"

Seventh Day of student teaching? Pretty awesome. Yours truly taught a lesson! It was my first for this site. This was the lesson that I was supposed to teach last week but we had four snow days last week. The lesson was over the Causes of the Revolutionary war. So I began with a spiel over the French and Indian War and how it left Britain about as broke as MC Hammer (AGACK!). Stop. Pause. Rewind. We started out with my mini lesson over the History of “Black History Month”. I told the kids why the month of February was chosen. Dr. Carter G. Woodson picked February because both Frederick Douglass and Abe Lincoln’s birthdays were in the month of February. I assured my students that there was no conspiracy with Black History month being the shortest month in the year. The Black icon that I focused on today was Crispus Attucks. He was America’s first black rebel. I told the class that he was the first to die in the American Revolutionary War. I chose Attucks because he tied in with the lecture over the causes of the War. So after I talked to them about Black History I moved on to the causes of the American Revolution. I used a PowerPoint. Star Wars, Toy Story 3, and Avatar. No I didn’t just name three random movies. The first three slides of my PowerPoint featured pictures from those movies. I showed the kids a picture and asked them to tell me why the people in Star Wars were fighting. Next I showed the kids a picture from Toy Story 3 (asking them what made the gang want to break out of the Day Care) and after that one a picture from Avatar (I asked them to think about why the Na’vi tribes/clans banded together and what made them band and fight together). In piquing them interest I wanted them to understand that “causes” lead to “effects”. In the student’s textbook Chapter Five is titled: “The Road to the Revolution”. You know what I did? I also fit the Wizard of Oz into my lecture. I gave the students a yellow sheet of paper and had them draw seven bricks because for this lecture, the Yellow brick road was simply the causes/steps to the eventual war that pitted the Colonists against the British. The war was the final destination of Oz. They liked it although it was cheesy! So on this yellow piece of paper they numbered the bricks from 1-7. Each brick was a cause so at the end of my lecture the students had the following seven causes on their paper: The French and Indian War (1753-1763), The Proclamation of 1763, The Sugar Act (1764), The Quartering Act (1765), The Stamp Act (1765), The Townshend Acts (1767), and the Boston Massacre (1770). I know there are more but I only went over the first two sections of chapter five.
After the lecture the kiddos watched a short movie that further explained the Causes of the Revolutionary War. When that was over and done with they got to work on their favorite: a worksheet! I asked them, “Why aren’t you all excited you get a worksheet!” They weren’t excited. I decided to keep them in the practice because their cooperating teacher said that they would need them to study for their end of course test. So sorry kids! All in all today went pretty smooth. I expected the kids to be all rowdy and obnoxious but they weren’t! They were all attentive and respectful! I will say they enjoyed my PowerPoint because I included a ton of pictures and cartoons. I know these kids like to be entertained! Seriously I have secretly wanted to pursue an acting career, like be the next Denzel, Will Smith, or Sydney Poitier. I was really acting today! I would of gotten an Oscar or something! I worked to be really enthusiastic and it worked with these 8th graders they seemed to enjoy my voice changing and my movements and illustrations on the whiteboard. I’m looking forward to the next day of teaching! Dr. Miller (my supervisor) is coming to observe me! Yikes! Oh well…
The differences I noticed from class to class were that as the day went on the classes got more and more alive. First hour was mad quiet! Second Hour was a bit livelier. Third Hour was on point! I had dumb fun teaching them because they really got into it! In the beginning of Third hour one girl asked me, “Mr. Caruthers are you wearing skinny jeans?” My Khakis are slim fitting but I said, “No I don’t wear mine to school.” It was funny. The table laughed at me. I enjoyed teaching the kids. Today I taught a full day of classes! I have three hours (periods) all 90 minutes long so I pretty much got to experience a full day of teaching and managing a classroom.
Today I also had to watch (it was really babysitting) the advisory period that is the time when the kids are supposed to read for 25 minutes. The majority of the class came in and did what I asked them to, which was to take out their books and read. About 6 girls had other things they wanted to do. They wanted to talk and giggle. Everything I was telling them to do was funny. It was a mess. It was hard for me to be serious because I wanted to crack up so I just resorted to splitting them up. It got quiet and they read their books. Yay for me?!
Well that was my day. I will say that I am glad to be back in the classroom. Here of course is a quote:

“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.”-Abraham Lincoln.

This is a good quote for me. For a long while I have been disillusioned with the people around me. I am human. Big surprise I know, but there are times when I just look at people in disgust. I mean people cheat, lie, steal, and kill! I wish there was a place to put all the bad things we people do and burn them!! Joking?! Shaking my head. Being in a position where I can mold the future minds means that I should work my hardest in communicating history as an art and social science. If I teach my students well, also meaning that teach them the truth about what it means to be human then this world my have a hope. I have said before that we are a corrupt generation and that we continue to fall because we lack a foundation to stand on. The responsibility should be placed on the parents but with the constant deterioration of the family unit this is impossible. Today’s parents (some) can’t be trusted with parenting their kids. So Teachers are left with the daunting task of teaching students what it means to be a person of virtue and having good character. Often teachers feel as if they are babysitting. I don’t know what is going to happen over the next years but I’m pretty sure I can spark a change in my own future classroom. I will admit I got the idea from Tom Riddle (Lord Voldermort). In the “Half-blood Prince” he wanted to return to Hogwarts as a teacher. Of course he wanted to search for artifacts (to turn into Horcruxes) but he also wanted to recruit more for his cause, he wanted more Death Eaters. He wanted to change his world (in a bad way) but even he knew where to start. Education is the key for change. A history professor of mine told me: “If you want to change the world write something”. I will admit that I’m working on that but in the meantime my “Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne” will be my teaching my night of crime fighting will come one day (Be it the lord’s will). That’s all folks have a good night until we meet again.