Week One: September 2, 2022

Welcome! 

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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, people are dealing with challenges we can't necessarily see. 

American History & Honors American History 

This week both levels did the same things--the whole focus was on the students getting to know each other, the routines and procedures of the classroom, and me. Here's a brief rundown of what did each day in class: 

• Monday: Today was the first day of school and the whole period was spent getting to know each other and some of the basic expectations in the class. 
• Tuesday: The students took part in an activity called "Things that Rock" to practice getting up and moving orderly, sharing thoughts and ideas, and getting to know each other a little more. We also took some time to discuss an ethical dilemma in desk groups to help spur discussion and get comfortable with each other. 
• Wednesday: We had a great day literally building paper airplanes in class! The students worked in desk groups to develop plans and then make as many paper airplanes as possible in five minutes (the winning group all day build 112). The students discussed the importance of planning, keeping things simple, and communicating when we debriefed--all key ideas for the rest of the year. 
• Thursday: The students worked on the first "menu" of activities of sorts in class today. The students were given 6 tasks--3 of which were mandatory, 2 were ones they "should" complete and the last was one to try. The students used a Google Slide Deck to keep themselves on track and work on assignments that helps me get to know them as people and students. 
• Friday: Today was an important day for me in class--the students watched our first inspirational video, completed the tasks from yesterday to get used to guiding their own learning, and then finally discussed whether or not we should study history in schools. This is a key day because I try to sell why my class will be valuable and important for my students. 

This next week, while short, is another important week. The students will be working on their first Mastery Grid learning assignment. The idea behind these self-paced learning assignments is that the students can learn and demonstrate mastery on their time (within certain guidelines). Be sure to check out the Google Classroom with your student this upcoming week to see what it looks like.