-
Hamilton v. Jefferson
Ah, the first political parties in the United States. Had Hamilton and Jefferson not been at each other’s throats on every issue, how ever could I play with this in my lesson plans? This year, after comparing and contrasting Hamilton’s and Jefferson’s views on the economy, foreign policy, constitutional interpretation, and those they thought should…
-
Podcast Preparation
Ah the Podcast. This handy invention has innumerable uses in the classroom. Students can create or listen or do both! I’ve learned the usefulness of the Podcast because of an unwanted snow day that took much needed class time away from me. My class has been studying four Supreme Court cases for the past week.…
-
Checks & Balances
Any time my students are given the opportunity to “do” history they usually jump in head first and with great enthusiasm. This is why when my colleague Ken had an idea for the students to experience checks and balances by actually taking part in the system through scenarios created by us I climbed aboard. The…
-
The gatekeeper
I am struggling with time and material. As a student of history and a self-proclaimed scholar of the Constitution it is incredibly difficult for me to be able to pare down the information that I cover with my students. There are so many wonderful things to explore in American history, and as gatekeeper of students’…
-
The Constitutional Convention- 8th grade style
Hello faithful readers. I apologize for the long break between entries, however with the holidays upon me I had no time to write. Though it may seem otherwise, I do things other than teach. The last week has brought me to the point in the year that I enjoy most- the month long unit about…
-
The Power of Collaboration
I am an incredibly lucky educator in that my department is extraordinarily collegial. I am able to share ideas with not only the other 8th grade history teacher, but with 7th and 6th grade history teachers, as well. We learn quite a lot from one another, and the ability to talk to other experts in…
-
8th Graders are Self Centered
The title of this article may indicate that I am about to gripe about my 8th graders, however this is not the case. In fact, according to the stages of moral development theory by Lawrence Kohlberg, 8th graders are supposed to be self-centered. Developmentally, very few 8th graders can see beyond themselves and apply moral…
-
ISN Part II
In Part I of my post on Interactive Student Notebooks (ISN), I wrote about why the notebook is useful for personalizing history class for students and for preventing loss because of its unique cover made by the student. As most of you are well aware, a book is much more than its cover! The inside…
-
Quick Advice for the Day
Granted, this isn’t “ISN’s part II”, but it’s still good advice until I finish my next article. School is about your students. Whatever you do, do it for them.
-
The Interactive Student Notebook- Part I
Interactive Student Notebook- Part IA Brief Introduction Last year, my colleague, Ken, and I started using something called an Interactive Student Notebook (ISN) for all of our classes. We got the idea from a workshop at our school run by History Alive! The most basic definition of an ISN is this: A notebook in which…