End it...

As a U.S. and Texas history teacher, I spend a great deal of time talking about slavery.  The slavery I teach about happened in early America/Texas and was ruled illegal in the late 1800's.  Many abolutionists fought and some even died to free those trapped in slavery.  This seemed like a victory, and it was for the time period.  But now, some 152 years later slavery is still alive and thriving.

27,000,000

• 27 million people holding hands, is enough people to circle the entire globe one time.

• 27 million people could fill every professional football stadium 12 times.

• 27 million people is equal to the entire population of the state of Texas.

27,000,000

PEOPLE TRAPPED IN SLAVERY AROUND THE WORLD TODAY.

https://secure.enditmovement.com/learn

You are reading this correctly.  

There are currently 27 million people trapped in slavery RIGHT NOW.  

This reality is sickening to me.  How can a country that fought a terrible Civil War where over a million people were killed allow such a thing to exist?  I have a few thoughts of my own, but my best guess is money.  Slavery is the 2nd largest global organized crime, generating

https://secure.enditmovement.com/learn

Bonded labor, forced labor, human trafficking... Slavery is real.

But, together we can END it.

Check out the End it Movement Website to learn more about this movement and how you can help.

Source (for statistics and photos): 

"END IT :: Shine a Light on Slavery." END IT. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2015.

So Proud...

American pride, Texas pride, Lion pride, pride in myself...  Pride is something that I experience daily.  It is not always a positive thing (especially when I find myself being self righteous).  Yesterday, I sat through a one day Google Academy.  I found myself being very prideful that I already knew most everything that was being taught.  As I sit in a new class this morning, I once again already have experience with what is being taught.  I took a little time to read some of my student blog posts.  I realized that not only do I have pride in myself, but I am extremely proud of my students.  This pride is a bit different than what I experienced yesterday.  This is a positive type of pride.

I am blessed with students that quickly grab onto my ideas (and sometime experiments) when it comes to how we do things in our class.  For the most part, they get as excited as me.  This year alone, we have tackled Google Drive/Docs, Classroom, and most recently Blogger.  Blogger is where I sit in awe of my students.  Each week I give them a few writing prompts to choose from and they run with it.  Most of them do not enjoy writing, but have really done a great job on their posts.  Don't get me wrong, there are still a few that never submit, and a few more that submit posts that are full of grammatical errors. But, overall....

I am SO PROUD of my LJH GT Google students, especially my Bloggers!

McFarlain's Class Library

One of my favorite things about our class this year is our class library. With the help of some of my students and Google forms, we now have an inventory of books that students can check out. So this is how we did it... 

First, a group of students went through all our books and looked up AR level and points. As they found information they wrote it on the inside cover of the books. As the students looked up AR information, I created a Google form for our inventory. The form included blanks for things such as Book Title, Book Author, AR level, AR Points, etc. Once all the AR information was gathered, students used the form to create our library inventory. Next, I created a form for check out. The form asks for the student name, Odyssey teacher, date, and return date (2 weeks from current date). I also created a QR code and posted it near our bookshelf. Because I am somewhat of a neat freak, I took a picture of the shelf with the books neatly arranged and hung it near the shelf to remind students how our shelf should look. There is also a copy of our book inventory. Now, students can scan the QR code with our class iPads to check out books. 

For book return, I wrapped a paper box with contact paper and cut a whole in the top for books. When students are finished with borrowed books, they simply put them in the box. To check books in, I open the Checkout form responses and delete the row with their information. So far, students love that they can check out books. We use our Scholastic Book Club points to add new books each month. Some students have even donated books that they have finished. We currently have over 150 books!!!