What Can $6,000 Buy You?

A whole lot of pizza, a stash of electronic and tech goodies, a day of training for a project, 35 satisfied (and stuffed!) AHS students, and one happy and pumped-up teacher! Yes, this is the World War II Interview Project. Right now!

The World War II Interview Project is a unique opportunity in which very few schools from IL are participating. Astoria is one of about 20 in the state who will be interviewing WWII veterans and home front citizens this year. We have received approximately $6,000 to buy video cameras, wireless microphones, one laptop, a couple scanners, and some external hard drives to store our data.

Using the video cameras, we will try to interview around 40-50 vets and upload their videos onto the Library of Congress website. Students have been arranged into interview teams and received training today on how to interview veterans, types of questions to ask, strategies, etc. We plan on doing the interviews in early November.

But that's not all. Casey, Auston, and Jacob accompanied me to Klide's to grab the grub for lunch. 19 pizzas, 6 cases of soda to be exact. We chowed down like there was no tomorrow and played some Ninja as we waited for the afternoon to start.

All in all, a very productive day with some great students who are truly motivated to make this project golden! Slideshow pictures are available on the right-hand side of the screen, and will be uploaded onto the school website later this week.

Project Home: http://wwii.ltc.k12.il.us/Portal/Default.aspx?alias=wwii.ltc.k12.il.us/portal/wwii

August/September Class of the Month

My 8th Hour US History I class won the "Class of the Month" award for August/September. Now just one clarification before explaining the award; the Class of the Month is extremely hard to pick sometimes because all of my classes have special qualities. However, some really stand out...some for a month, two months, maybe the whole year.

This past month, though, one class was above the rest when it came to homework return rates, participation in class, and a high average on tests and quizzes. The 8th hour history class was very well engaged during class, asking a ton of questions during discussion/lecture days and rising to the challenge in creating creative songs, poems, and other curveballs I have thrown their way.

Congratulations!

How Do You Live? Hopefully, Not in a Tenement

US History I: Revolution is in the air! This week, we take a look at the triggers for the Revolutionary War and develop our very own news show later in the week, 1770s style!

US History II: New York was NOT a good place to be in the late 1800s...as many immigrants found out. After hearing that the streets of the USA were paved with gold, many were shocked to find that they would be living in tenements in tight, dirty living conditions. There were 16,000 tenement buildings for 500,000 immigrants in New York in 1900!

So starting tomorrow, we read part of Jacob Riis' "How the Other Half Lives" and then role-play different families in a talk/news-show format in-class! We'll videotape it all and "interview" families that are only making $1,200/month for $1,300 in living expenses...all while living in tight quarters and disease. Later this week, we watch the hit Disney musical "Newsies" that shows the lives of many NYC boys delivering newspapers as they tried hard to make ends meet.

World Geography: Did you leave your heart in San Francisco? This week, we take a look at the Golden State and then follow it up with a study on Washington, Oregon, and the Pacific NW.

Economics: the Stock Market Game officially gets it start this week!! You can read more about the program at www.stockmarketgame.org. We'll be competing with other teams around the state!

IL History: We're finishing a slideshow on the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and then studying more about the Windy City. This includes the Union Stockyards, the Haymarket Tragedy, and many other golden nuggets!