Busy Busy Busy

Well, I understand that it has been a long time since I last wrote a new blog entry, but that is due to only one reason... teaching has been taking up nearly all of my freetime!

It has been (what I've been told by the school veterans) the most hectic two weeks for social studies teachers for the entire year. This is because last week we held our annual student council convention. This project is described by some as "cooperative learning at it's best."

The convention was first held exactly 44 years ago and has been a school tradition every year since. It is an event that people in the town are very proud of because it has been held for such a long time.

To describe this monumental project in a short statement, I would say this: the entire student body crams into the gym for the morning and elects their student council president. However, because there is so much more to this event than just that one statement, I will describe everything that happens leading up to the event.

The convention kicks off in social studies classes where 8th grade students are asked in early September if they would be interested in running for student council president (this year, we had nearly 26 students decide to run). These twenty-six students spend the entire week hanging signs, handing out stickers, wearing t-shirts, and campaigning during recess in an effort to obtain votes.

After a few days of campaigning, the entire school meets in the gym during homeroom to hold a Primary election. All twenty-six students give a one minute speech in front of every single one of their peers about what they will do if elected president. Platforms range from "getting iPods into study halls" to "repainting the school lockers."

The next day, students vote in their social studies classes for the top three candidates. Once the top three candidates have been announced, preparations begin for the "Party Convention."

In the week leading up to the convention, students are assigned a state to represent and are asked to research some background information about that state. The students are assigned to states based upon the number of electoral votes each state receives in our national election (for instance, this year our school assigned 3 students to Delaware, and 55 to California).

Traditionally, all social studies students meet in the gym and paint huge state posters that hang in the gym during the Convention. However, this year we tried something new in which only the 7th grade spent time hanging posters while the 8th grade made campaign videos and web sites (it was a very trying few weeks in which I had 30 eighth graders running around the school with video cameras... largely unsupervised!).

When the day of the convention arrives, it is a huge party. The school band plays pep songs, the students do the conga line, and dress in appropriate attire for their state (one student, from Utah, dressed as a honey bee because he researched the fact that Utah is the Beehive State). The entire convention is run by students; complete with a party chair person who possesses a gavel and rings a bell when its time to "get down to business."

One by one, a state representative comes to the front of the gym and says a prepared speech such as the following:

"My name is George from the great state of North Carolina, famous for our Civil War history, the Tar Heels, and the birthplace of flight. North Carolina is proud to announce 4 votes for Joe, 6 votes for John, and 12 votes for Tiffany!"

The entire crowd cheers and holds up signs until all the states have been announced. The winning candidate then gives a victory speech and shakes hands as the crowd leaves to their 4th hour class.

The whole project has completely drained me of all energy...but it was worth it! Politics is a subject that does not gain much interest from teenagers, or Americans in general (case in point: the reelection of our current President). However, the students had an absolute blast with the video recording, web page designing, and energetic activity leading up to the event that I now understand why it has been a 43 year tradition! What a fun project!

We are now starting a unit on the Pilgrims and early colonists. Today, we learned what a primary and secondary source document is, and analyzed the story of Pocahontas by watching a clip from the Disney film and comparing it with a journal entry from a Powhatan Indian. The kids were really engaged in the activity and I'm excited to be learning new things every day, not only about history, but about teaching and improving myself.