This past year my school district purchased several iPad and MacBook carts for our school and really pushed technology in the classroom. I wanted to create a way for students to complete current events products using this new technology that went beyond simply searching for an article and printing it off. What I found was a great website called Smore where you can create a variety of online flyers. Continue reading Technology and Current Events
Category Archives: Cassie Medley
Just because they look the same doesn’t mean they are . . .
When I started teaching last year I assumed that students would know how to read a map, use an atlas, and find locations on a globe. What I soon realized was that most of my students couldn’t even tell the difference between a map of South America and Africa at first glance, because they have almost the same shape. My goal for this year, spending the first several weeks practicing using all three of these resources until the students know that just because they look the same doesn’t mean that they are. Continue reading Just because they look the same doesn’t mean they are . . .
This Isn’t English Class (or computers for that matter)
Having just finished my first year of teaching I find myself looking back at all of this lessons I learned this year, and there were a lot, and how I can change my curriculum next year to incorporate what I have learned. One of the most surprising things that I learned about 7th graders (at least mine) was that they have no clue how to write.
It all started with what I assumed would be an easy and straightforward assignment, write a paragraph comparing and contrasting the Aztec, Inca, and Maya civilizations. The first response I got, “Mrs. Medley this isn’t English class.” Of course I had to be smart and retort with “WHAT?! They told me I was teaching English!” After my lame joke received a few giggles I told the students that they would have to write in all of their classes eventually, so we might as well start now. I got my first hint that they had no clue what they were doing when someone asked what compare and contrast meant, and I had to stop and think to myself “Do they really not know how to do this?” Continue reading This Isn’t English Class (or computers for that matter)
Got the whole world in my hands!
When it comes to social networking my generation left me in the dust in 2006 after I signed up for Facebook, so this will be my first experience as a blogger (makes me feel very techy). I say that I was spending all of my time coming up with creative and innovative ways to teach social studies and didn’t have time for the online social world!
I just finished my first year teaching on Friday and to say it was a learning experience is a huge understatement. One of my favorite lessons from the year was a simple, cheap, and easy idea that the students loved so much I did it twice! On the first and last day of school, I grouped the students up and gave them a blue balloon and a green marker and we made globes. Every 30 seconds they had to switch who was drawing so that everyone had a hand in the completion of the globe, and it gave them a chance to get to know each other at the beginning of the year.
The improvement Continue reading Got the whole world in my hands!
