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Enthusiasm is Contagious
I’m sure that most of us remember the character of Ben Stein from his roles as a teacher in both the television show The Wonder Years and the hit movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. His characters in these works are best known for being monotone and lifeless, boring all of his students yet amusing us…
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Non-Fiction Reading Techniques
I find that my students do their best reading when given strategies that help them navigate through text book sections. Simply saying to a thirteen year old child (or any teenager for that matter) “Read pages 13-19 this evening for homework” doesn’t provide enough instruction. In order to get a student to think carefully and…
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Happening History- Welcome
Each year when a fresh-faced, bright-eyed group of 8th graders walks into my classroom on the first day, I try to get a single point across that I hope they’ll carry with them throughout the school year and beyond:History is more than dates and dead guys. That being said, the question becomes, what is history?…