Mr. Brilla's Musings

 Welcome:  This week marked the mid-point of the first quarter. I realize we only have two (or three) graded assignments submitted, so it may not seem like much, but the frequency of grades will pick up soon. We spend a good deal of time practicing procedures and protocols during the first part of the quarter and now we are "cooking with fire." I was planning on discussing the "re-do" policy and procedures with the students on Friday but I was at home with a sick kiddo--so I'll introduce it on Monday. The students will have the opportunity to resubmit nearly every assignment they do this year as I wholeheartedly believe in second-chance learning. The students will simply need to complete a "re-do" ticket and turn that in with the work they are resubmitting. As I was out on Friday, I once again did NOT get a chance to show a video--however, I will be showing one on Monday when we return. This week's video comes from a guy named Inky Johnson and is c

Welcome     Happy Fall! It sounds like a broken record a little bit but I can't believe that we're four weeks into school already! This past week the students had the opportunity to learn about the NJROTC course that our high school offers, select clubs for the year, and meet our amazing staff in the guidance office during our WIN periods. Needless to say, it was a busy week for the kids!      This week's video is a short one and comes from one of my favorite movies of all time-- The Pursuit of Happiness. The students were all working on graded assignments on Friday so I wanted to be sure they had as much time as possible to work. This segment is a 2-minute clip all about the importance of having dreams and goals--the whole movie is a "must-watch" but this clip is especially great in my mind. 

 Welcome:  Wow--week three in the books! It's finally starting to feel a little like fall and the kids are getting used to the routines and procedures of my class--this is one of my favorite times of the year. It was great to get to see many of the students outside of school when they attended the celebrity scoop night at Coventry Ice Cream Parlor. This week's video is a brief TED Talk from a guy named Ric Elias. Ric was on the plane made famous when it had to be landed in the Hudson River and he discusses three things he learned as his plane went down. I think you'll love this video!  This Past Week:  Monday:   We started this week with a brief discussion about the events that transpired on September 11, 2001. After a quick discussion and a Thin Slide (the students had to describe the events or emotions of the day with one word and one image), we moved on to our first unit of study--the American Revolution.  Tuesday:   Today was the first day the students had dedicated the

 Welcome!  Week two is in the books and it already feels like we've been here for a few months (and I mean that in a good way)! The students are doing a great job in picking up the routines and procedures in my class and school in general. We watched a great video about the true meaning of life and what we can be striving to achieve by Jay Shetty on Friday--give yourself a few minutes to watch it, I think you'll like it.  Social Studies Update:  Tuesday: Today was another day getting into routines and using new tools. We used Google Autodraw to create icons today to help the students get used to doing quick "Sketch & Tell" activities. We also completed a Frayer Organizer to better help the students understand Mastery-Based Learning since that will be the focus for the year.  Wednesday:  Today  was  the first day the students really directed their own learning. We spent the day working through #006-Unit Zero Mastery Grid. The students worked on the note-taking proc

Welcome!  Click Here to Listen to the Podcast Welcome to my blog I like to call "Mr. Brilla's Musings." I started this blog a few years ago for two reasons: to keep parents up to date on what we're doing in class, to keep myself up to date on what's going on in class, and finally because my students challenged me to live up to my own words and put my own thoughts out there for others to read--so here we go! The blog will follow the same basic format each week: An Introduction that discusses school-wide events and the video we watched in class.  An overview of what is going on in American History (Periods 1, 4 & 5)  An overview of what is going on in the Honors American History (Periods 2 & 8) This week's video is one of my favorites--it is long, but it's well worth the time it takes to watch. The attitudes of the two wrestlers in this video always amaze and inspire me. Furthermore, this video serves as a great reminder to us that quite often, peopl