So my grad school program has this initiative started about providing a “stress relief” for student teachers. I’m assuming a donor got the idea that we need a break…which we do…and that a good way to get it would be to give us a choice between taking a day off for yoga classes OR mindfulness classes. While very well intentioned, and sweet that they were concerned for us – if you really want to provide a stress relief, maybe make Thanksgiving break come sooner. Sleep > Yoga.
I woke up this morning, and jut going two days without planning, grading, or thinking about all the things I have to do in the upcoming days feels AMAZING. Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching – but I also love sleep. And catching up on my tv time. And hanging out with family and not making lists in my head of things to be copied/graded/read. If my grad school really wants to give us a stress free day, a random Friday off would be way more relaxing than any class.
My one plug from this week though – just finished teaching the kids a really cool lesson on the Media and Congress. In our previous unit on Elections, we spent a lot of time focusing on traditional media like newspapers, tv, radio, internet, etc. So for this lesson, I thought I’d take a different stance and focus on how Congress uses new social media like Facebook and Twitter to create their own publicity. I differentiated with Academic and AP, but in both I have to say it was one of the most interesting lessons yet. The kids LOVED it, and even in my lower level classes we had a really great discussion about social media and targeting voters. Essentially all I did was print out copies of two facebook pages – one was Nancy Pelosi’s and the other Senator Mark Warners; and then two twitter pages – Rep. Eric Cantor and Sen. John McCain. Combine the handouts with questions to accompany the lesson and you’re set!