Unbelievable! Healthy Skepticism

I always try to teach my students to never believe something because someone tells you to. Skepticism is healthy, especially in a republic. All citizens need to have an instinct to seek out, inquire, and question to find the truth.

More practically, a certain level of discernment is particularly desirable while researching information on the internet. I'll never forget the Wikipedia article on Sparta I read a few years back that replaced all mentions of Leonidas with "King Poopypants."

To drive the point home, I recently threw together a quick lesson for my students, disguised as a refresher on the difference between primary and secondary sources.

I explained primary sources, documents or physical objects from the time we are studying. Things like letters, journals, etc. Then I gave them an example:

The dead numbered in the hundreds.  As we dug a trench for their bodies, Mangini hit a stone.  In the process of removing it, we discovered that it was not a stone, but a large bone.  Assuming it belonged to some ancient and large elephant, we carried on.  The smell of the bodies left us no time to delay….

 …when we found the skull , all dropped to their knees and crossed themselves.  Immediately Luigi ran for a priest, who when seeing the monstrosity, ran back to his abbey.”

-Lucardo del Finco, Italy, 1345

We had just finished studying the Black Death, so the students caught the connection between mass graves, decaying bodies, and Italy pretty quickly.

Then I showed them another primary document. A drawing I said came from the same place and time period

I added a strategically placed Spongebob over that weird leafy thing.

I asked the students to speculate what kind of skeleton they found. Common answers: giants and Sasquatch.

Next we went over secondary sources, books, articles, etc that use primary sources to summarize what we know or guess about a time period. I showed them this excerpt from an article called "The Giants of Florence"

Legends of giants living in the Apennines Mountains date back to the early Roman Republic.  When the Black Plague struck Italy, however, over a dozen enormously large skeletons were found as citizens hurriedly dug mass graves. Tales of the giant skeletons  spread like wildfire.  Fearing that the peasantry would begin to worship the bones and resurrect the religion of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, the Pope ordered all bones destroyed….

The tale of giants faded back into myth, until a peasant farmer in Tuscany, near Florence, uncovered a skeleton measuring nearly 15 feet tall.  Scientists speculate that these remains are of early Greek setters.

I then showed them this picture:

Clearly not a hoax.

The students gasped. They ooh-ed and ahh-ed. "Is that real?!" they asked. I just nodded and gave them a quick quiz on the difference between primary and secondary sources, and the readings. Two questions were.

1. How many feet long was the skeleton recently found?
2. What do scientists speculate is the origin of the skeleton?

The answers:

1. There was no skeleton
2. It's all a joke. Don't believe everything you read or hear, even from your teacher.

My students were surprised and relieved that no creepy giant skeletons existed. While I hate to sow any seeds of distrust, I think the bigger message is more important. This nation needs skeptics. We need people to question authority, doubt the message. The alternative looks a lot like Orwell's 1984. The NBC interview with Edward Snowden (which I showed to my 8th graders today), drove the point home.

Here's a picture of James Clapper, our Director of National Intelligence. Here's a man we can trust, right?

A true American hero.

Well, no. He lied, under oath, before a Senate Committee about the extent of our government's surveillance on American citizens. And surprise, surprise, he's not the first government official to lie. The good news is, as long as we do have people like Edward Snowden who aren't afraid to bring the truth to light, our Republic is going to be in good shape. 

Like Orwell said, "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." So while my government wants to arrest Snowden for telling us the truth about how much our government is watching us, I'd like to thank him for standing up as an example of courage to our nation. 


PS. If you want, I'll be happy to email the Powerpoint of the lesson to you. It only takes about 10 minutes!

Why Women Will Rule the World

If your only interaction with humanity was to observe middle schoolers, you'd be very surprised to learn that men, not women, are the historically dominant gender.

The girls in my school get better grades, write good papers and have impressive critical thinking skills. The boys struggle with school work, comparatively. Getting them to use any of the higher order thinking skills is like trying to squeeze milk out of a turnip. It's not just natural ability, its work ethic too. Females just work harder, they turn in their homework on time. They go above and beyond the requirements of assignments. They lead, volunteer and participate. Of course, there are exceptions on both sides, but overall girls are hands down the better students.

"Me. Love. Video Games!!!" -Typical middle school boy 

"But!" you say, eager to defend the honor of the male sex, "boys are at least stronger and faster!" Not in middle school. We just had a track meet and I timed the sprints. Girls run faster. Significantly. I helped with discuss. Girls throw farther. Significantly.

A close approximation of a middle school track meet.

At some point, obviously, boys turn to men and get muscles and all. And for most of human civilization that mattered. Power belonged to those who could kill their fellow man in hand to hand combat. But what made men strong and women weak in the past might now flip the table to favor the ladies.

To survive in a world dominated by brute strength, women honed their interpersonal skills. We've known this intuitively any time we mentioned "women's intuition, and science backs it up. Women are much better at recognizing faces and emotions than men. And any more, application of brute force much more likely to get us locked up than help climb the power structures of society.

We live in the most peaceful time in human history. Our society rewards creativity, innovation, communication and collaboration much more than brute strength. Recent studies have shown that women have some serious advantages. They learn quicker, posses higher IQ's, and have better personal skills. In today's world, it seems men are outgunned at every turn. Women even make better managers and investors than men. As more and more women throughout the world receive an education, I suspect  our society might look a little more like a middle school classroom.

Maybe that's a good thing. A world with more equal participation from women in government and business might have fewer wars and corporate scandals. No matter what happens in the future, at least men can take solace in knowing that unique pain and privilege that comes from passing a kidney stone.

You can never understand the bond we have!

Rubicon, the Best Book on Rome I've Ever Read

I'm sad to admit it, but until recently most of what I knew about the Roman Republic came from Gladiator, the HBO mini-series Rome, and my textbook. I knew they had a Senate and used the word veto. And I know that Julius Caesar put an end to it all and was stabbed a bunch for it.

A murder we recreate daily with a fork.

The Empire, by comparison, always seemed a little easier to grasp. Its Caesars alternate between fascinatingly horrible (Nero, Caligula) and fascinatingly grand (Augustus, Trajan).  Roads, aqueducts, battles against barbarians I understand. The intricacies of classical republican government? Less so.

The more I've dug into it the inner workings of the Roman republics government, the more confusing it became. The branches of government of the Roman Republic seem to compare to our own, but upon closer examination they devolve into a murky mess of praetors, quaestors and tribunes. Worse, half the time that don't even follow their own rules, exceptions abound. And why are there two Catos?!

Luckily, a trip to the ever amazing Powell's Bookstore in Portland led me to randomly select Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland. This book fascinated me endlessly, and finally gave me a better understanding of what the Roman Republic really was. Highlights:

• The Roman people expelled their cruel kings, and in their place created the position of consul.  The consul would have many of the powers of a king, but had to be elected by the people. He could only serve for one year.  And there were two of them!!

• The word Republic comes from the Latin Res Publica or "Public Business"

• Social class in Rome was determined by a censor, a guy who inventoried your wealth, and decided where you ranked.  The greatest achievement you could accomplish was to move your family up the class list. The greatest disgrace was to move down.

• Roman citizens were expected to strive for personal and political greatness.  The two were the same thing.  Ambition in the political and civic arena was encouraged, and rewarded.  But that greatness must only be for ultimate glory of the Republic. Strive to become to great, and be shunned for life.

• This system of government explains the aggressive nature of the Roman Republic conquered so much. Consuls, having climbed the highest highs of Rome's political ladder, were now expected to win honor and glory for Rome on the battlefield.  And they had only one year to do so.

• As Rome conquered more and more land, small farmers got displaced by unimaginably large estates that used slave labor.  Whereas early in the Republic, farmer citizen-soldiers fighting for Rome's honor comprised the backbone of its army, towards the end its legions were made of landless men, loyal to their general and not the Republic.

• As Rome grew richer and more powerful, so did its most eminent citizens. Battles for political office and power changed from debates between wealthy patricians into epic clashes between warlords with the treasure and strength of conquered empires behind them. 

After reading Rubicon, I'm convinced that the system of government that made Rome great was the same that doomed it to empire. Civil wars and Julius Caesars were an inevitable consequence of a system that rewarded ambition and daring. After so much infighting, the death of the Republic and reign of Augustus seemed blessedly peaceful. That's a weird thought for an American to have. 

Social studies teacher or not, I highly recommend Rubicon.

Election Day, When Shoveling Poop Matters

It's Oregon's primary election day. The day when citizens vote to elect leaders to represent them in government. In theory.

Oregon has closed primaries, which are the worst way possible to elect our someone that really represents his/her constituency. But that's a blog post for later.

I hate our closed primaries, because as a registered Democrat I can not vote for this man

Public service at its finest

This is Vic Gilliam, the state representative for my area. I like him for two reasons aside from his moderate voting record.

1.)  He shovels poop at the end of the Silverton Pet Parade, which shows he doesn't take himself too seriously.

2.)  He responds to every single letter my students have ever sent him.  Which shows he cares about what his constituents, even the youngest of them, have to say.   

Do you have a local politician this cool? If so, please share. 

Bad Teachers and Good Teachers

Bad teachers boil my blood.

I spoke with a student teacher today who had a horrific experience with his mentor teacher. This teacher didn't plan lessons, showed up after class had started, and had a horribly creepy habit of soliciting hugs from middle school girls as he walked down the hall. Yikes.

The number of truly bad teachers one comes across is small in my experience. Yet the damage they do to children, to learning, and to my profession can be immeasurable. Learning is awesome, and if it isn't, there is something wrong in the delivery. Teachers need to have something good for their students every day.  Something that challenges, engages, and excites them.  

What challenged, engaged, and excited you in school? You probably didn't think of filling out worksheet after worksheet, or coloring in countries on a map. You definitely didn't picture reading out of the textbook every day.

A typical day in my freshman geography class.

No, you probably thought of those teachers who made learning fun. Who taught you in a variety of ways. And that you knew cared about you.

What makes a bad teacher? Mostly someone who doesn't care. Someone who has the system figured out so they can collect a check every month with little sweat. People who care, but can't  handle a classroom or don't know their subject material are rarer, since the difficulty and frustration of the job usually wash them out quickly.

So why are there bad teachers? I'm not sure if this is the whole answer, but I do know it's damn hard to fire a teacher. Especially after our three years probationary period is up. Teaching can be a pretty easy job if I'm copy worksheets to give the kids every day. I'm not saying lets dismantle union protections, but if we want to demand better pay and more benefits, there needs to be a way to get rid of those teaches that don't do what they're supposed to and aren't working to get better. That's why I'm all for performance pay, teachers who care will have nothing to worry about.

If you're a teacher and reading this, you might be thinking "Am I a bad teacher?" The answer: probably not. Teaching takes a little bit of skill, a little bit of knowledge, and a whole bunch of caring. A struggling teacher is not a bad teacher. If you love working with kids and care about them learning and growing, then you're probably a good teacher.

That doesn't mean you won't make mistakes, have really bad days, or feel like a bad teacher on occasion. My first year was so tough I had to write "I am a good teacher" on my bathroom mirror. Even now, I look back and cringe at mistakes I made. Lessons that bombed, classroom discipline that went awry. I even ripped the crotch in my pants once right in front of the class stepping up on a chair. Seven years later, I still teach a lesson and think ,"well, that sucked."

I'd go so far as to say if you think, "I'm a bad teacher" and it makes you sad because you want to be a good teacher, then you are not a bad teacher. Because you care. A defining characteristic of the bad teacher: he/she does not care.

Good teachers learn from each experience, and work hard enough to fix their mistakes so they don't happen again.  One of the coolest things I've ever seen in my profession is the growth of a math teacher I know.  Starting out, he struggled with pretty much everything.  But I've never met a more self-reflective and hard working person.  He puts in countless hours planning better lessons and now he teaches the best middle school math class I've ever seen. He made math fun for them, and in doing so got them to care about it. Now not only do kids love going to his class, his test scores are shooting through the roof.

That's the kind of teacher our communities can be proud of. Why accept anything less?

Zombies are Great Teaching Tools, Ask the Pentagon

You will be glad to know that if a zombie apocalypse did break out, the United States military has a surprisingly thoughtful plan on how to respond.

Highlights include:

• Distinguishing between zombies made through black magic and those made from excessive radiation.
• Using robots to remotely operate critical infrastructure.
• Preparing nuclear weapons for use in the United States to eradicate the hordes.

Comfortingly, it does address how to restore civil authority after the threat is gone.

It's safe now!  I promise...

The Pentagon uses a zombie outbreak as a training tool to teach "basic concepts of military plans and order development through a fictional training scenario."  Which sounds like the coolest class ever.  Sign me up, please!

I'd love to fight zombie hordes.  It'd be nice to fight an enemy with no moral qualms about taking a human life.  The older I get, the harder it is to see black and white in our military conflicts.  Zombies would be a refreshing change.

Another thing I like about the zombie apocalypse; it provides an excellent parallel to the disintegration of the Roman Empire in Western Europe.  Central authority breaks down, trade screeches to a halt, regional warlords take control.  And while survivors in the Walking Dead always have to keep an eye out for roving zombie packs, survivors in Western Europe soon had something much worse to worry about.  Vikings.

The original apocalypse.

In truth, the Walking Dead with the prison and Mayberry does a remarkably accurate job of showing the logic behind and development of small feudal kingdoms.  These are the kind of connections that 7th graders love.  Them, and our military leaders.

Cliches Exist for a Reason

Cliches become cliches because we use them too much.  A quick Google search of common cliches gives me a few of the following

1. Actions speak louder than words
2. The grass is always greener on the other side
3. There's no time like the present

Gambit.  Not cliche.  Dude is original.

You hear them so often they lose their power  But there is truth to them, as I've recently found that out with this well-used motto/cliche "Just Do It."  I've been bombarded with this message since I could read.  I've paid a premium to wear it across my chest and on my feet.  Yet, in practice I rarely "Just Do It."

I plan it.  I write goals  I dream it.  But doing it?  Doing it is hard.  I suppose this proves the truth to "Actions speak louder than words."

Example: One goal of mine has always been to be more physically fit.  When I see pictures of myself in high school and college when I was an athlete I'm suprised at how fit I look and immediately look down to admire my figure.  It's then I find the belly I've grown.  Once clearly defined abs have turned into a little blob.  It makes for a depressing then-and-now juxtaposition.  Luckily, depending on how my stomach rolls on itself when I sit, sometimes the creases do appear like a six pack.

I intended to get in shape.  I have for years.  Nearly every day this school year I set my alarm 30 minutes early so I could work out.  And nearly every day this year I hit snooze.  I wanted it, just not enough to do anything about it.

A very unflattering mirror-lighting combo in a G.H. Bass changing room provided the catalyst I needed.  The mix of disgust and anger I felt looking at my pudgy self pushed me from wanting it to doing it.  I stopped hitting the snooze button, and got up early to run and lift.  I changed my diet, loading up on fruits and vegetables, and giving up processed sugar.  Same goes for fast food.  In a short two weeks I've slimmed down noticeably and have had way more energy. My mood has improved, my stamina has increased, and as my belly recedes I can almost make out an abdominal muscle or two.

More than anything, it feels great to accomplish something I've been wanting for so long.  And looking back, the part of this that seems so strange to me is this: the only thing getting in my way was me.  Our own inaction obstructs so many of our goals.  Nike knew what they were saying.