Reflecting & Storytelling About Teaching
It has taken me a year to write this post, and I still feel inadequate. I’m writing about this experience because I want to take something from it – to understand better how I can prepare to teach, and then lean into, difficult topics… Continue reading
The most effective civic education in my eighth-grade classroom is often the simplest. On Fridays, each student brings in an annotated newspaper article on any topic except sports or entertainment, and then three or four students present and field questions on their pieces. During the rest of the week… Continue reading
When I walked into a one-hour session at the most recent National Council for the Social Studies annual conference – a mega-gathering with ideas and fellow teachers spilling from every corner, not to mention a celebrity sighting of Constitution USA guru Peter Sagal – I didn’t expect to walk out ready to transform… Continue reading
For two days last spring, my 8th grade U.S. history class had been studying the challenges of refugees, in history and in the present. In class discussions, I had been trying to balance the difficulties governments encounter… Continue reading
When I browse the new books shelf at the library, usually I’ll look for titles on history, cooking or biography – such as the brief yet profound… Continue reading
As a history teacher who covers current events daily with eighth graders, I’m all too accustomed to the hard classroom conversations that follow an unfathomable act of violence. Bomb threats, attacks at concerts, white supremacist rallies – my students and I have discussed them all… Continue reading
I was way late to the podcast party. For a long time I had what I thought were good reasons: I don’t commute far. I like to listen to music, not words, while I exercise. I had a wonky old phone without enough memory… Continue reading
This year I’ve been more careful when choosing the news items I bring into my 8th grade U.S. history classroom daily for our 5-minute current events discussions. Why? … Continue reading
I loved Sarah Cooper’s first book, Making History Mine: Meaningful Connections for Grades 5-9. It was the first book I bought when I became a middle school social studies teacher, and I found it filled with great ideas and connections. So I was absolutely thrilled to be able to review her new book… Continue reading
As we start the school year, I’m just not feeling the debating spirit. Last November, I wrote about an electoral college debate gone awry in my eighth-grade history classes. The topic felt too stale and too political… Continue reading
