My students were using the wireless lab yesterday to research the presidential candidates to see if they could come up with the policies on four big issues of the election: Iraq, education, the energy crisis, and the economy. I sent them in pairs to the candidates' websites to see if they could find some clear cut plans and specifics about each man's stance. I realized that for many of them, they were unaware of many of the key issues of the election, some didn't even know we were still in Iraq. We had to explain the term "economy," and talk about what a free market meant. Overall though, I think they learned a great deal about the candidates. Many of them associate with a political party or a candidate but when asked why they'd vote that way, they can't give you many specific reasons. It sounds like a lot of American voters. That, or they pick based on one hot issue, like abortion, or Iraq, but really don't know much about the party's ideology.
So about halfway through the day, my students start asking about the presence of this Tina Fey looking woman on John McCain's website. I tell them I have no idea who she is and we keep moving forward. Well my fourth hour think she might be his new VP. At that point I hadn't heard that he's announced the VP so we went to MSNBC and watched the whole thing on a video feed. I can't explain how cool it was to be the one who first learns this knowledge with my students, to be able to get breaking news right there in the middle of class. We talked about what this meant for the campaign, why McCain might have chose a female running mate, and that this was definitely a historically significant event, and here we were in my wood paneled trailer, hearing the news together. Great teaching moment!
So in the middle of our great political discussion our school was placed on lock down. Lock down means someone is a physical threat either in the building or in the near vicinity. The protocol for lock down is to close the blinds, lock your doors and have the students huddled together in a corner, out of sight. I sort of shrugged it off as a drill and had the students move into place. As we sat there in the dark, waiting for the "all clear," I realized that this was not a scheduled drill. I didn' have it on my calendar and that's when I thought this might be for real. It truns out that a local bank had been robbed and the assailant had fled the scene somewhere near my school. We were taking precautions but this was a real lock down situation.
My students quickly grew restless since it was a two hour lock down period. They started talking and giggling and throwing paper. I asked them to quiet down and even made them silently read their books in an effort to keep them quiet. They seemed to take the whole situation as a joke, making comments like, "I'm too young to die!" After it was all said and done and we'd been given the okay to dismiss them to buses I held my class for a minute. In a stern yet calm voice I explained my disappointment about how they'd behaved and how they'd failed to follow my instructions. This is one of my favorite classes, it is packed with some of my favorite students but when you get them all together, I think the lines a blurred a little. I told them I felt greatly disrespected by them and that was hurtful. I also told them that if this had been a serious emergency, their behavior could have cost us our lives. I wasn't trying to be dramatic. I just wanted them to know that we're not just playing around. Sickos shoot up schools. Scary stuff happens, and if you can't listen to me when it's not a big deal, what happens when it really is? They left is total silence, a few apologized as the walked out the door. Good kids, that I love, but I still need them to treat me as the authority in the room.
So about halfway through the day, my students start asking about the presence of this Tina Fey looking woman on John McCain's website. I tell them I have no idea who she is and we keep moving forward. Well my fourth hour think she might be his new VP. At that point I hadn't heard that he's announced the VP so we went to MSNBC and watched the whole thing on a video feed. I can't explain how cool it was to be the one who first learns this knowledge with my students, to be able to get breaking news right there in the middle of class. We talked about what this meant for the campaign, why McCain might have chose a female running mate, and that this was definitely a historically significant event, and here we were in my wood paneled trailer, hearing the news together. Great teaching moment!
So in the middle of our great political discussion our school was placed on lock down. Lock down means someone is a physical threat either in the building or in the near vicinity. The protocol for lock down is to close the blinds, lock your doors and have the students huddled together in a corner, out of sight. I sort of shrugged it off as a drill and had the students move into place. As we sat there in the dark, waiting for the "all clear," I realized that this was not a scheduled drill. I didn' have it on my calendar and that's when I thought this might be for real. It truns out that a local bank had been robbed and the assailant had fled the scene somewhere near my school. We were taking precautions but this was a real lock down situation.
My students quickly grew restless since it was a two hour lock down period. They started talking and giggling and throwing paper. I asked them to quiet down and even made them silently read their books in an effort to keep them quiet. They seemed to take the whole situation as a joke, making comments like, "I'm too young to die!" After it was all said and done and we'd been given the okay to dismiss them to buses I held my class for a minute. In a stern yet calm voice I explained my disappointment about how they'd behaved and how they'd failed to follow my instructions. This is one of my favorite classes, it is packed with some of my favorite students but when you get them all together, I think the lines a blurred a little. I told them I felt greatly disrespected by them and that was hurtful. I also told them that if this had been a serious emergency, their behavior could have cost us our lives. I wasn't trying to be dramatic. I just wanted them to know that we're not just playing around. Sickos shoot up schools. Scary stuff happens, and if you can't listen to me when it's not a big deal, what happens when it really is? They left is total silence, a few apologized as the walked out the door. Good kids, that I love, but I still need them to treat me as the authority in the room.
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