BEST SUB DAY EVER!!!

Today I had the best sub day I've ever had outside of my normal school district. This was my first day subbing outside of my normal school district in nearly ten months and I could not have asked for a better experience. The kids were in their seats listening and ready to work. This led me to wonder why were these students were so great for a substitute while other districts that I have been in are not. Is it because this school has a strong anti-being mean to a substitute policy or because the teacher had earned the respect of their students and her students knew that if they were bad they would lose the respect of their teacher. I could not have asked for a better experience and I look forward to working with this district again.

Was it Really My Worst Subbing Day Ever?

On Thursday my Facebook status was Worst Sub Day Ever. I was left no plans, the ninth grade buddies that were suppose to come had a half day and did not and to top it all off a new student arrived that day. Needless to say I was running around the building like a chicken with my head cut off. Then I realized it was probably my best sub day ever. I proved to myself that even though I was stressed, angry, and frantically running around I was able to maintain my classroom and keep my class running normally. I was blessed that I was in a building I was familiar with and knew the staff and the normal routine. Even though the stressed showed and I am sure my children noticed I kept going and complained every second of it but survived and isn't that what a teacher is suppose to do maintain the classroom and keep learning going even with everything falling apart? And even though my students saw my stress they still said I was their favorite sub, so at least I made an impact on them. However, I learned the most important thing about teaching, TEAMWORK!!!. I could not have done without all the help I recieved that day from the neighboring third grade teacher, a fourth grade teacher, and of course the most important person in the building the secretary. These women helped me and I cannot thank them enough. Without this team I would not have survived. This proved to me their is no I in teacher and this experience has forever taught me that I cannot do it alone.

I've been Inspired to Blog Again

It is that simple. I found inspiration to blog again thanks to the new batch of students that are taking this course this semester. So please look forward to more updates on Currin 480.

Last Mandatory Post

This is my last mandatory post for HST 480 while I'll probably continue I wanted to wrap up my experiences from the class. The most important thing I got was history does not matter unless it is shared. This can be through a museum or in a classroom, or grandmama passing down stories of her past. History must be shown if it is not it does not exist.

I'll never look at a museum the same way again. As our group prepared and designed our project I gained so much more respect for the workers. We dug and dug and dug and still did not dig enough. We found almost everything we could and it still did not seemed enough. Then to top all off I have to analyze everything differently at a museum. I kind of touched on this when I discussed my trip to Milwaukee but I had to judge everything. I had to analyze every little detail and determine what audience they were going for and does the exhibit talk to me.

Also, I want to thank all my classmates. I wouldn't have survived without you. There is no way I could have done everything we did in that class without you.

And finally, thank you Professor Knupfer. As much as I complained about everything it was rewarding. I developed new skills and new ways to analyze everything.

Hopefully, we can still all say hi to each other and hopefully we will work together one day.

Peace,
Brandon

Promotion

It's one of the few times I'll promote anything but here I go. The Mitten Mavens the Lansing Roller Derby League is having a fundraiser at Noodles and Company on May 5th from 4-9pm. By mentioning the Mitten Mavens 25% of the sale will go to the Mitten Mavens. Please support these women as they do what they love.

Heritage or History?

Grace Kelly's Gowns. You decide. I found this on Yahoo News.

London Museum Showcases Grace Kelly's Gowns

What is Worth Preserving?

Today I contacted WILX and WLNS to find video archives for our I-496 project and the response I got was "absolutely not". WILX mentioned how they could go back to 1989-1990 but no further. This led to the discussion what gets preserved and Akikwe one of the many and talented students in our class mentioned on the Library of Congress is going to preserve the Twitter Archives. It was funny she mentioned this because I just found the link on The Drudge Report that linked to a Wired article.

Twitter and the Library of Congress