The first quarter of the 2018-2019 school year has just ended. Students have finished their quarter exams and all grades are posted: some students are cheering, some are crying…
How has this Quarter gone? Well, it has been interesting. I started off with 4 Humanities I honors classes and 2 AP World History classes, a super sweet schedule, but 2 weeks into the year a Humanities class was deleted and I was given a new prep: World History honors. Overall the transition went well, although some students (& myself) were understandably VERY grumpy. What is done is done. As a silver lining, I get to do some fun activities that I don’t have time for in AP and that my standard students could never manage, so that’s a plus to teaching World History honors for the first time!
My AP World History kids are great and I feel a lot better this year about teaching this course. I’ve had none of the *ahem* interesting conferences I had last year. Score! We have finished Periods 1 & 2 (for those of you who speak World History College Board lingo); for the rest of you that means we have covered Prehistory (~30,000 BCE) to the end of the Classical Era (~500 BCE – 500 CE). On target for where I want to be and no major hurricanes to screw with my plans. Yes!
Read more: The Great Classroom Unveiling
Humanities is (as always) a blast, however the first quarter can sometimes be a bit of a fight with some students because they walk in thinking “sweet this is an elective, meaning I don’t have to do ANYTHING to get an A.” Which unfortunately, is how some teachers run their classes. I don’t. So although there is zero homework in Humanities, I do except you to do good work when in class. At this point in the year though, even my must stubborn child has jumped on my bandwagon. 🙂 Resistance is futile (any other Star Trek lovers out there???)
Read more: 2018-2019 Humanities I Plan
Overall, year 5 is going well even with the bumps along the way. I feel confident in my teaching and I am actually really enjoying seeing some of my old students everyday, that’s a luxury I never had teaching mostly seniors. Let’s see what Quarter 2 brings!!!
JMF
