October 31, 2022: "Shadowed by the Principal" & #NoOfficeDay Live Blog

Updated 2:45 PM

On Monday, October 31st, I am participating in a "Shadowed by the Principal" event. During the LNC "Boots, Bulls, and BBQ" event in March, a silent auction item was available for families to bid on the opportunity to have their high school student shadowed by the Principal for an entire school day.

The winning bidder was the Hinesley Family, so the receiving student is Ben Hinesley, an 11th Grader. I provided a list of dates and therefore, I suppose the spooky day of a HS Junior for Halloween was perfect.

Furthermore, I am utilizing this opportunity to double as a #noofficeday, which is a popular effort by school administrators to dedicate an entire school day out of their office.

This blog post is updated throughout the day to share my experiences:

Opening up this year’s edition of “Shadowed by the Principal” & #NoOfficeDay: My #Halloween2022 costume is an @LNCharter 11th Grader and I’ll be with Ben H. from 7:45 - 2:45 today!

Live-blog will be updated throughout the day in this 🧵 : https://t.co/3Mk9qW8kZV #LNCPride #nced pic.twitter.com/cg5tcisH50

— Craig S. Smith (@CSmithGoBlue) October 31, 2022

7:45 AM 1st Period - AP US History - Mr. Russell

[Laptop status: 100% battery currently]

We are arranged in collaborative groups and open up the morning by reviewing the Reading Guide 4.8; content includes, but is not limited to: Romanticism, Transcendentalism, 2nd Great Awakening, Individualism, and Utopians vs. Reformation. Mr. Russell was kind enough to share the Google Docs with me in-advance. 

Instruction continues with Reform Movements of the 1830's and transitions to Reform Movement #1 - Temperance, with the multimedia content Ken Burns' Prohibition film and the aligned questions, completed digitally. We reviewed the questions in our small-group.

After our quick discussion, media continues with more questions aligned to answer. We again have the opportunity to collaborate as a small-group to ensure we have correct responses to the aligned questions. After an appropriate amount of time, the media restarts and we continue answering questions. Mr. Russell often assists us by identifying the numbers of questions when the content is provided within the media.

We are able to close out the class period by reviewing the Reform Movement #1 (Temperance) content again in our small-groups, including a few questions that were not in the video. We are not required to submit our documents and students are expected to progress to Reform Movement #2 (Utopian Communities) for tomorrow.

8:36 AM 2nd Period - English III - Mrs. Cavicchia & Mrs. Scire

Upon entering, students are instructed to remove everything from their desk (I am allowed to keep my laptop for the sake of this blog post). Students receive a guided notes document and a multimedia content about Edgar Allan Poe. We all list 10 facts about Poe that we find the most interesting. At the conclusion, we were able to share some of our facts.

Instruction transitions to the introduction of "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe. Content includes, but is not limited to, The Seven Colored Rooms, the meaning of the colors, allegory, and the "number seven" (stages of life according to Shakespeare, The Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Holy Virtues).

Next, we view a multimedia on Black Plague vs. Red Death. At the conclusion, we learn about some of the symbolism within the short story, to be read tomorrow, such as the clock and the "Castellated Abbey." We also hear about themes and motifs. All of this content is aligned with the guided notes, which we are completing independently.

Today serves as a general overview and introduction, as the class is going to read "The Masque of the Red Death" in tomorrow's class.

Students gather their laptops to access their gothic romance short stories (self-written last week). One example "Soul Mates" is displayed and read aloud by a different student. This closes out the class period.

9:27 AM - Knight Time - Ms. Hartman

I am taking advantage of this time to catch up on some "Principal" items. I am thankful Ms. Hartman allows us to eat during her Knight Time (which is an independent Study Hall).

10:01 AM 4th Period - Turning Points in American History - Mr. Russell

We are continuing viewing The Revenant, which is loosely based on a true story of a frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fighting for survival (played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who received the Academy Award for his leading role in the film.)

[Disclaimer: students received parental permission to view this film.]

We conclude the film and students work independently on their research: historical accuracy, comparable reviews online, and schools of historiography. 

Students organize themselves in small groups and begin discussing their likes/dislikes of the movie. Mr. Russell recollects the whole group and shares some of the statistics of the film. Students then are given the opportunity to share their likes and dislikes. Student responses are aligned with specific components of cinematography, as well as the historical context. 

Students provide strong insight to support what they liked (or disliked), clearly utilizing prior knowledge from previous learning. This results in strong large-group discussion, facilitated by Mr. Russell, but driven by the students.

10:54 AM 5th Period - Physics - Mr. Patterson

Mr. Patterson immediately begins providing an overview of what we are going to be doing today, which is a continuation from last class.

We are utilizing a Concept Builder from PhysicsClassroom.com. We are provided a "Description of a Physical Situation" (ex. A skydiver with an unopened parachute is falling downward through the air at a constant speed) and then identify the matching Free-Body Diagram from a collection of options. Mr. Patterson allows me to join the classroom group as "Guest." Students are permitted to collaborate informally and many do, including yours truly. Mr. Patterson circulates to assist students, as necessary.

Other examples include: A rope is used to pull a bucket of water upward out of a well at a constant speed; A leftward-moving baseball player slows to a stop while sliding across the infield dirt.

The content includes, but is not limited to: Friction, force, acceleration, and gravity.

After a period of time, Mr. Patterson recollects the whole-group to provide instruction aligned with the activity. We identify a few specific scenarios that have been challenging and we review them collectively. 

Next, we transition to the similar scenarios only with values assigned and create the appropriate diagram. Mr. Patterson leads up through the examples with active student participation. Ex: A 2-kg box equipped with a parachute is falling at a terminal velocity after being dropped from a plane. Visual evidence of my notes:

Mr. Patterson communicates the class will be continuing with these types of examples tomorrow in class for additional practice.

11:41 AM Lunch in the Multipurpose Room with approximately 10 other guys at the table

Always remember to do your best pic.twitter.com/MsUI6Jce8C

— Ben Hinesley (@BenHinesley) October 31, 2022

12:15 PM 6th Period - French II - Mrs. Davis 

[Laptop status: 54% battery]

Mrs. Davis opens up class speaking to the comparison of Halloween within French culture. There is an extremely high-volume of French spoken by Mrs. Davis. We view "The ghosts of Pere Lachaise" by ChezEddy, which is an animated short, which contains many historical figures through a cemetery.

The primary instructional activity for the class period is a collaborative Digital Breakout. The scenario, "La Toussaint": You've finally come to Paris, the trip of a lifetime! Unfortunately, your trip hasn't been exactly what you had planned - your hotel room is haunted. The ghost of a past guest has some unfinished business in Paris - he was in an unfortunate accident before he could deliver a very important message - and until you help him complete his business, he is not going to leave you alone. You have found a locked box hidden under your bed, but you'll need to open the locks on the box if you want to help him. He's given you some clues to help find your way to helping him so he can finally move into the next world.

My group begins the breakout and they allow me to participate in a supportive role, yet still seeking out the clues for submission. Successfully, as a team - we digitally broke out!

1:00 PM Fire Drill!! 

1:10 PM 7th Period - Math III - Mrs. Hubrich & Ms. Zaino 

Warm-up consists of two factoring problems. Both teachers actively circulate as we complete the two problems. I am excited to have successfully factored both problems, which were worked out by two volunteering students on the front board.

Instructional activity transitions to students choosing between either Pixel Art or Digital Scavenger Hunt. The content within both activities is Imaginary Numbers, within the Quadratic Unit. I opted for the Digital Scavenger Hunt.

We all begin working immediately and both teachers circulate to assist, as necessary.

Visual proof of my work: 

[Laptop status: 32% battery]

1:58 PM 8th Period - Band (Advanced) - Mr. Reavis

This should be interesting...

Ben plays the French Horn, so this my seated section. In case you are wondering...no, I am not playing any instrument. No one needs that...although Ben was eager to offer me the "extra French Horn." I am remaining as engaged as I can, which is primarily just enjoying the music from within the musicians.

Practice transitions to "True Blue", which is a march-style song. The next song practiced is "The Red Covered Bridge."

Mr. Reavis continuously gives immediate feedback throughout the entire class period.

While I am not able to contribute at all, this is a fantastic way to close out the school day.

[Laptop status: 23% battery to conclude the school day]

A few additional notes:

Instructional time was definitely maximized in each class. This comes as no surprise from our routine/informal classroom visits, but it is truly a whole different experience when it's the full 47 minutes, in consecutive classes.

This is not a criticism - but I was seated...A LOT. In fact, outside of class changes and my asking for permission to use the restroom/refill my water bottle, I was pretty much sitting down the entire day. The challenging part is that I don't see a need to change a single lesson plan, structure, or design of any of the classes from today. It's so noticeable from a kinesthetic standpoint personally, given the normal movement of my daily school routine.

Seeing the wide-range of student reactions and acknowledgements throughout the day was definitely the overall highlight. 

Instead of the traditional "apple for the teacher", I offered each teacher a "K-Cup" at the end of class as a token of my appreciation as a student. A special thank you  to the aforementioned group above who allowed me to live the LNC life of an 11th Grader for the day.

The expectation for myself was no different than what is expected from anyone else: Be My Best. I believe I met these expectations with another successful Shadowed by the Principal and #NoOfficeDay experience. Thank you to the Hinesley Family for their trust and support.

#LNCPride

Thank you for viewing,

CS

The opinions shared in this blog belong to Craig Smith and do not represent the school or district in which he works.