School News

For the last few years when I am teaching about the Vietnam War, I like to drive the point home about the draft system and the sacrifice that people make to serve their country. I actually hold a draft for my classes--"The Republic of Centaurus", and I draw 120 dates randomly to select my draftees. If a student's birthday is on my list, then they are drafted and must write a paper that all non-draftees don't have to write. Drafted students are REALLY upset--and many resort to protesting this unfair system where they must write a paper and their friends don't have to. Here is some documentation of this year's draft--and the BUSY protesting that has been going on outside of my classroom for the past week!

Here is the Draft Notification board posted outside my classroom. I procrastinated posting it on purpose just to make students wait. :) A couple days after this was posted, someone wrote "is stupid" next to the title. Silly protesters!!

This peace sign showed up outside my door on Wednesday.

These annoying signs of a scary clown were posted all along the hallway. It says "Down with the Clown, Down with the Draft". After studying this to figure out the message, it was explained to me that being "down" with the clown is good ("I'm down with that, dude"), but the draft is bad.

It was a bad, bad idea many years ago to reveal my fear of clowns to my students. This information seems to be passed down from generation to generation, and in this case clowns are used to intimidate the Government (ME) in draft protests. Some students even stuffed some trash bags and made a clown dummy that they taped to my classroom window when I was teaching on Thursday. It really startled me, actually!!

This might be my favorite protest poster of the year: This draft really cheeses me off--now that is funny!!

The Peace Panda is saddened by the draft. Good attempt at pulling the heartstrings of the Government (ME) who likes animals.

Stop with the clowns already!! Ronald McDonald is one of the scariest out there. And apparently he thinks the draft is super lame. :)

This sign is on my classroom door. It is direct and to the point--except this Government is a WOMAN!!!

Once again--not a bad attempt to pull at some heartstrings with baby seals. This propaganda is alarming, because of course writing papers doesn't harm baby seals. Good try.

What I love about an assignment like this one is how learning occurs when you aren't even expecting it. By experiencing the unfairness of having to write a paper because you were drafted, students begin to really think about the big picture, and what they would do in that situation. The protesting just naturally occurs when the lightbulb goes on--I do not encourage it at all! It is not a bad thing for high school students to mobilize and stand up for something... I just play the role of the Government until these papers get turned in.

On Thursday, the Senior Senate suprised me with some really cool news. I have been chosen to by the senior class to receive the CHS Spirit Award at Graduation this year. I have never gotten this award before--so it is always nice to be recognized for something new :). Anyway, the seniors decorated my classroom to tell me that I got the award. How cute!

They made a big "L" with balloons on my floor. It was really cute.

School is over in 2 weeks. I am only teaching part-time next year, because Carson and I want to hang out more. I do enjoy teaching "the big kids" in high school, though. It is a great job!!