Collaborative Work For the Win!

 AP World History class projects have recently reached a new level.  From dramatic reinterpretation biographies to "autopsy of empires" - the students are absolutely crushing it.  Creating more opportunities for student groups to work collaboratively has been my emphasis this last year of teaching, and though final results can be mixed - this particular group of students are consistently excellent.

Haywood Street Fresco

I was fortunate to work at UNCA, with some great local educators this last week on the Haywood Street Fresco Project.  We gathered for a week to create lessons and content around the (pretty amazing) fresco at the Haywood Street Congregation in downtown Asheville.  This fresco was created by Christopher Holt in September 2019 and is one of very few examples surviving of this Italian Renaissance technique of "painting with plaster."  Based on the beatitudes, but using local Asheville people and landmarks - this fresco was created to bring life to idea that a community must be judged by how it treats its most disadvantaged citizens.

Wake Forest University recently completed and excellent documentary on the fresco that you can watch here.

I am proud of our work and feel like we have created a fantastic framework for local educators to use in an effort to explore the history of Asheville and how art can help explain and push our community to new levels of understanding.  

In addition, I am always grateful for the chance to work with other teachers in any type of professional setting.  I always come away inspired and fired up to be a better teacher, and this experience was just what the doctor ordered.  If you get the chance, go by Haywood Street and see this fresco!

Former Student Globetrotters!

Teaching world history is one of my greatest passions.  Connecting with students and continuously being inspired has changed my life, but watching many of them go out and explore the world just makes my heart grow 40 times bigger.  Creating an Instagram account (@punkrockpedagogy) for my teaching has reaped benefits, but nothing has compared to catching up with my former students, especially when they travel all over the world!  

I am so proud of each of my students, but check out these recent travels by Abbey (Egypt), Sam (Spain), Adrien (Taiwan), Travis (Guatemala), Daphne (Greece), Isaac (Singapore), Molly (South Africa), and Stella (Scotland).  

There are so, so many more that I could add to this list, but this is awesome!  

Way to go globetrotters!

Sam A, in Spain

Adrien C, in Taiwan

Travis B, in Guatemala

Daphne C, in Greece

Isaac B, in Singapore

Molly A, in South Africa

Stella M, in Scotland

French Revolution Protest Posters

Just wrapped up the long term impacts of the French Revolution on global history in AP World this week.  In order to help students recall the causes and impacts, they designed their own posters of protest for the revolution.  

The project also required students to write a short essay (with timeline) about the long term impact of the revolution on the reverse side.  

As usual, these kids did an amazing job and exceeded my expectations (hence this blog post!).

New Flags for Diversity

For several years, NBHS has purchased a national flag for each country in which our students were born. These flags are displayed in the school cafeteria.  We started this back in 2016-2017 with my AP World History class and have just kept it going ever since.  I am super proud of it.

Anyways, with new additions to our student body for the 21-22 school year, our school recently celebrated the addition of five new flags this year, with students representing countries from Latin America, to Western Europe, to West Africa. (Colombia, Germany, Honduras, Liberia, and Spain).  

North Buncombe is so proud of our diverse student body and always appreciates the opportunity to display a new flag to honor our students and their family histories.

Can't wait to add more next year!

Autopsy of an Empire {Make art with history}

I LOVE to incorporate art into any and all things in my classroom, whenever possible.  The process of using historical knowledge to design and implement artistic ideas can be such an effective method to learn.  And it is also fun!

A few years ago, I stole a great idea from several other teachers that included the "Autopsy of an Empire" project.  The students are assigned a major empire from the period of 1450-1750, and are to create a life-sized history of the personified empire. Due to the pandemic, we were unable to tackle this project last year, so it was great to bring it back this month.  Per usual, the students worked really hard on this one and produced fantastic work.  

Back in the Saddle {I love teaching school}

Returning to the classroom after a year away has just been incredible.  Wearing masks and following various protocols has been challenging of course, but just being in the classroom with smart, curious kids still fills my cup like few other things.  Having conversations that teach us new ideas, dancing together, dressing up in class, learning how to do hard things, and making art to grow has just been so refreshing.

In addition, for the first time ever, I have my son in my own class this year.  I have been teaching this class much longer than he has been alive, so it is really cool to have him in there.  

Many of his childhood friends are in this class as well (whom I have also known since they were tiny), and it has made for a constant free-flowing conversation everyday.  It is just cool to be in a room with smart kids with whom I share a long history.  As a result, we are functioning more like a family now, with a long history.  With this year's familiar group of kids, we get more of each others' references and it is making me a better teacher.  

I'm also back in the building with many of my best friends (fellow teachers).  I am a social animal, so being around these great dudes in the hallway keep me laughing and on my toes.

Here's to family in the classroom, in more ways than one.

Noah's cereal box biography project

Extra Credit to see UNCA's School of Athens