I was thinking as I was walking in this morning about where the students are drawing positive, academic energy from.  They can get energy from me.  They can get energy from the group.  They can get energy from themselves.

In a perfect world, there’s a balance.  Not one source gets overdrawn or overused.   You have reserves in each, too, so that sometimes when you need it, you can pull on those. And positive energy creates more positive energy.

But it breaks down.  A few kids wear me out and then I can’t give any positive energy to anyone.  Or the entire group is having a crap day and it feels like you have nowhere to turn.  Or one student has such negative energy that they’re looking to bring everybody down.

I want to think about this more. How can I create more positive group energy so that students can count on that instead of always relying on themselves or me?

We spent today deconstructing the format of the National Issues Forum’s booklet on the Opioid Epidemic.   This brilliant six-page document is replacing a research brief as the precursor to filmmaking.   We’ll be writing these and then leading forums with our ninth graders.

We read it together and then we did three things:

• What are the different parts of this document?
• What is the purpose of each section?
• How will the section help us make a short film?

Answering these questions:

• What do you want people to know?
• What do I like?
• Knowing what counts as a deliverable?
• Trying not to wait until the last minute?
• With a group thing, knowing who’s doing what and figuring out how we help each other.

Opening question:   Why do we have a president? Why do we have an executive branch, especially given yesterday’s conversation about the legislative branch?

Good conversation, culminating in this awesome bit of wisdom:

“If you don’t know how to bring all the people together than you’ve already lost.”

We began by talking about why we have government.  I tried to make a distinction between the philosophical issues that humans deal with in trying to form a government and the more practical issues.  My directions weren’t that clear, I guess, as kids struggled to separate the two positions, but we had a rich conversation nonetheless:

Philosophical : Why we do have a government?
KH:   We have a government because people are so power-hungry…VG:    Decisions can be made more efficiently.
AG:   Solve problems for communities…
JM:   I don’t know.
JY:   Making sure that they know their laws  (and what laws should there be?)  

Practical:  Why do we have a government? 
CG:   The government should solve problems.
How is government made?  How is government organized?
What makes government good?   Bad government?
Are some systems better than others?
CG:  How should government redistribute money?  Wealth?
How does government take care of everyone?
Who should benefit?
DW:  Redefine who receives benefits… and what benefits?
JY:  People aren’t taking the laws into their own hands.
How do we help people understand the laws?
How do people know the laws?
Who do the laws apply to?
JC: How do we share power?  People don’t want to be controlled?
KH: Where do taxes go? Powerhungry people…
How do we make a government that represents us?  Our interests?  MH:   How do we deal with corruption?   Inefficiency?
Rich people
GW:  Limited government —
How do we make sure people have rights?
MH:  How do we make and maintain a good government?
TN:   National disasters !! Puerto Rico…
KH:  What makes a good life?   How do we make the world better for everyone
AG:  Roads, lights, electricity, utility, upkeep… (Infrastructure)
MH:  Re-evaluation of Bill of Rights.
SJ:   Why can’t the US manage guns?
JC:   Should the government make our laws?   Should we make our own?  How should laws be made?
JY:  How should laws be changed?  (How are laws changed?  How should laws be changed?)
VG:  Should the government help with education?   

We’ve started this project. We began with a trip to the National Constitution Center. I really like the photo below but it also inspired a plan for next week: as we begin reading the Constitution, I’ll have them generate topics based on each of the clauses in the preamble. I’d like to make my short film about this notion of “promote the general welfare” because that term resonates so differently and because it would allow me to wax philosophical about how and why a government should ensure that all people have access to a good life.

One of my goals for second quarter was to help students develop the habit of working on projects at home. Actually, trying to get students regularly doing work at home in a way that it becomes automatic and then easy. There’s a portion who do work when stuff is due and there’s a smaller portion who regularly do stuff.

I didn’t want to read anything too deep so read the press release from Duke based on the work of Harris Cooper. Before we looked at it, I had the students write down how much time they think an eleventh or twelfth grader ought to spend each night.

I think the students felt as though I was trying to get them or convince them to own the homework, or claim it. And I get it — I was — but what matters more is that they understand the need for it. You can do it or not do it, but the only impact will be on the quality of your final project. I know this is an annoying adult thing and they probably didn’t believe me, but it was what I was trying to do.

Crap day: first day of second quarter when it’s a three day week (no school Tuesday, no school Friday). I wanted to start thinking about what it means to do an individual project, mostly because I want to make sure these projects are viable.

I was thrilled because several key things I learned from last year came up:

One, there has to be an external mentor who they are regularly working with to ensure that there’s something real there. As a teacher, the work of the student in building and maintaining this relationship is not only necessary for the project’s success, it’s one of the more valuable things they’ll do.

Two, “impact” shows up on three of the posters and it allowed us to talk about how one measures a project, both while it’s going and once it’s complete.

These are lines directly from JYs presentation. One of the top-five presentations I’ve seen.

You won’t always get justice but at least you’ll be heard.
Making honest money.
I don’t only have to help the place I come from, I can help people everywhere.
I gotta work extra hard to get these things down pat, things I shoulda got in middle school.
Building ideas on a prototype will get my brain working.
Making a model will help me actually engage, make my brain more engaged.
I try my best, my best, my best, to be apart of the community.
This was me motivating them.
Work ethic of an African.
He died this summer.