​My APSI came to an end today with a half day session that focused on the Short Answer Questions of the exam as well as additional resources and strategies (as per usual). This three and a half day course has been entirely worthwhile! I not only have a strategy (with plenty of resources) ready for teaching this new course this school year, it’s made me start to mentally restructure some of my other classes as well. I’m a little worried that I won’t have the time to get everything set up before the school year starts, so I might be building these courses while I am teaching them (like building an airplane while flying it, this is not an ideal situation).

I picked up a late lunch from the wonderful International Hot Dog House and brought plenty over to Katrina and Peter’s house. Thus I was able to see (and feed) them and the older two grandchildren (Julian was soundly sleeping). They were a little busy, but I wanted to see them before I left, as I’m heading to Chicago tomorrow. Similarly, I met up with friends for dinner. They, too, are packing up tonight for a trip away (the Galapagos).

As I said before, I’m leaving Michigan tomorrow morning. The goal is to meet up with family in Oak Park at the New Star Chinese Restaurant (one of my all time favorite places to eat). We are attending a baptism on Saturday, and I am flying out on Sunday. When planning this trip, it seemed like I would have plenty of time, but it’s almost over already and I missed getting to see quite a few people whom I care about. Hopefully, I’ll have the chance to come down and see them relatively soon. Better yet, they could come up to Alaska and visit me!

Today’s session focused on teaching document sourcing (which is examining a document’s historical context, intended audience, purpose, or point of view), continuity and change over time, and writing strategies for the document based question (DBQ) on the exam. Once again a wide variety of strategies and resources was provided. I’m excited to put this to use!

I was again stuck in traffic for over half an hour longer than Google maps had indicated. For all that people in Soldotna complain about traffic during fishing season, it is nothing compared to these logjams. I will be quite happy to return to the traffic on the Kenai. 

I also had the chance to reconnect with one of my high school friends. It’s amazing how much life has changed in the past few years since I last saw him. I keep forgetting to take pictures, too.

The drive to my seminar is stressful. I’m currently in a love/hate relationship with Google Maps (and the Apple version). In general, it they have been great about getting me to destinations with which I am unfamiliar. In the morning, Google even switched my route to one that saved me almost 15 minutes. However, the opposite happened on the way to dinner with my friends—with its chosen route adding over forty minutes to my drive by picking a drive that took me closer to Detroit during rush hour(s). It was only at a full stop (on a 70 mph highway) that I saw how out of the way the route was and plotted my own way out (which was also stressful). 

Thankfully, the seminar went smoothly with again a large number of resources given to us—especially on the historical reasoning skills of comparison and causation. For the latter, we ran through a great review lesson that I fully intend on using in my own class—once I get that planned out. We also had many interesting conversations regarding the multiple interpretations of historical events. So we are clear: not all interpretations are valid, but understanding the basis behind even those can be a helpful skill to practice. Much of the second half was focused on developing students’ writing skills and examine the Long Essay Question portion of the exam. 

As I mentioned above, I met a group of friends from my time teaching at Lincoln. They are a great group of people whom I have missed. However, their recent experiences have reinforced my gratefulness for the amazing administrators at SoHi. 

Speaking of, we received the welcome back email that the schedule for next week’s work days. They start a week from today. It will be great!