I noticed that my friend Alyssa finally updated her blog so I guess that means I should try my best to keep up.
It's a new semester here at Benedict's (well not so much anymore) and I have a new group of guys taking Civics class. My class this year is about 6 guys less than in the fall and you wouldn't believe what a difference that can make for a young teacher. It's kind of nice. Also my guys this semester are a bit older and more responsive to my methods, or lack thereof. They are mostly Juniors as opposed to the Sophomores I was dealt in the fall. So it's a cool change of pace. There are different questions and lessons that are meant to cover the rights of a person accused of a crime always seem to end up with me trying to explain the O.J. Simpson case... I haven't covered the difference between Civil court and Criminal court officially yet but I feel like when I get there they should have it down already.
I really like covering the Bill of Rights and the Constitution for some reason. It's surprisingly simple and easy to read for a government document that has somehow only been changed 27 times since 1787. I'd say that's pretty impressive and we should give a hardy pat on the back to the framers who did such a wonderful job. I had a screening of a very underrated film known as "Double Jeopardy" a few weeks ago. It has Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones so you know it's worth a look. And both times I showed it (each semester) the kids were hesitant because it's older and no teenager knows who those two people are anymore but they always settle into the flick once they find out the premise. The husband of Judd stages his own death and sets it up so it looks like she did it, she's convicted and then apparently can get out of jail on parole, find him and kill him. Well besides some obvious flaws in the writing it perks the kids interest in how if you know the law it was designed to work for us rather than against us.
I didn't have the heart to go over everything wrong in the film, she can't legally kill the guy again because she didn't kill him the first time. Double jeopardy say you can't be put on trial for the same offense twice. well she was convicted in Washington State and [Spoiler alert] she ends up killing him in a different state. So therefor it would be a brand new trail and a different act, and a different offense. I could go on. The movie wasn't Oscar worthy but it get's the point across and I like it and more importantly the kids ended up liking it. So maybe it wasn't a waste of 2 whole class days.. It probably was though.
Other than that, all is well here. I'm excited for Baseball season. I'm really looking forward to helping the tea out this year and I may even spend some time working on some baseball skills with junior high kids during their gym time. Baseball is only a varsity sport so this could be a great way to keep 7th and 8th graders interested and engaged to Baseball. Basically it might be my job to lay the foundation for the future of the baseball team. The future of the program is depending on me.. I better work on my fungo skills.
That's all for now. Try and stay warm!
No comments:
Post a Comment