Student-created podcasts are a fun, creative way for students to learn and for teachers to assess content knowledge. In my experience, students have been completely engaged while they learned and reviewed information, practiced collaboration, conducted research, and presented their work to others. Continue reading Strategy Share: Creating Podcasts in the Classroom
On January 1, I subjected myself to the horror of reading edu-Twitter, where people were coming up with the #oneword for 2018. So many were great words—mindfulness, belief, commitment. But then there were the ones that made me roll my eyes—”technology”, “1to1learning” (which isn’t even one word, it’s four!), and “paperless”. Technology is great. But it isn’t a cure-all in education. Technology can enhance a … Continue reading Make a Great Old-School Lesson Better with Technology
Leslie Hamilton set out to help her students learn about life beyond their hometown of Plymouth, MA. Using a Giant Map, she guided her students in an exploration of their state. Continue reading Educator Spotlight: Becoming an Explorer of Your Own State
When teaching geography (and every subject) we need diverse voices. We need to push back against dominant narratives that amplify some perspectives (usually of those in power) and erase or ignore others. With this in mind, my co-teacher and I created a new activity to shed light on who we focus on and where they tend to be from. We hoped to encourage students to … Continue reading What Continent Do You Think They Are From? Drawing Humans to Reveal Internalized Bias
When someone asks me about my junior high social studies classes, I can tell them very little. I just turned 40 this year, so junior high was quite some time ago. Also, most of my social studies classes consisted of lecture, reading the textbook, and answering the questions at the end of the section. Or worksheets.There was one lesson though that I can recall … Continue reading The One Lesson I Remember From Jr. High
