Okay. Not an actual pie. Though that would be awesome!
But I did learn this very easy but very cool Pie Chart strategy from Nathan McAlister, 2010 Gilder Lehrman Teacher of the Year. It’s a great hook activity that’s awesome for either starting a conversation about a specific topic or as an assessment at the end of learning.
To use as a hook activity: Continue reading Using a pie to teach historical thinking
We’ve always asked our kids to read. Informational text. Primary sources. Non-fiction. Fiction. Poetry. We’ve always asked our kids to write. Summaries. Research. Reviews. Reaction papers.
At least, that’s been the theory. Good social studies and history instruction has always included these things but I think that sometimes we can forget how critical reading and writing skills are to what we do. The Common Core, for better or worse, has been a good reminder for us. We need to have our kids read, write, and communicate much more.
The problem for many of us?
Uh . . . what does that look like again?
Continue reading Trading Cards, ReadWriteThink, and the Common Core
Zach Wimmer is a high school teacher in Sublette, Kansas where he teaches Geography, Government, Debate, and Economics. In this guest post, Zach highlights his use of Edmodo in a Chromebook learning environment.
As schools implement a one-to-one technology initiative, it is easy for educators, novice and veteran alike, to feel overwhelmed by how they should employ them in the classroom. When my high school in western Kansas adopted Chromebooks, there were questions among the faculty about how these new devices would actually enhance student engagement.
One site in particular eased these concerns. Edmodo, in myriad ways, has improved the learning process in my Social Studies classroom immensely. As the website explains, Edmodo is “a free and safe way for students and teachers to connect and collaborate.” Continue reading Using Edmodo and Chromebooks
As we move into a social studies world that is asking kids to collect evidence, organize evidence, create products, and communicate results, writing skills are becoming more and more important.
But for the last ten years or so, at least in the state of Kansas, we’ve asked kids to focus instead on memorizing content. So now when we’re asking our middle school and high school students to not just write more but to use evidence while proving assertions, we get a lot of blank stares.
My suggestion?
Steal a practice used by a lot of elementary teachers and start training your secondary kids to use evidence-based terms while writing.
Evidence-based terms are simple phrases that support the use of, well . . . evidence. So if we ask kids to look a couple of primary source documents and develop a thesis from their analysis, they have some scaffolding to help them do that.
Examples of evidence-based terms? Continue reading Using elementary Evidence-Based Terms in social studies classrooms
Are you looking for some sweet Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic instructional goodies? Here’s what I’ve got:
Start with the basics
News
Social Media
Mobile Apps
(I’m part of Team Apple so . . . these are iPhone / iPad apps. I did some checking – Google Play and Android also have tons.)
Lesson Plans / Instructional Materials
Have fun!
