Current Events / Future of History
by Sarah Cooper · Published 11/04/2020 · Last modified 01/05/2021
Here’s how Sarah Cooper taught her 8th grade social studies class today, as the nation went about determining a presidential winner. Unlike the day after the 2016 election, “I’m feeling not so much shock as the need to shore up my teaching and once again dig into difficult topics.”
In social studies we want students to visualize the relationships between historical events and be able to think chronologically. Megan Kelly has 6th graders begin with personal timelines. Other teaching tools include videos, a history card game, memes and manipulatives.
It took the pandemic to convince Lauren Brown to finally check out Edpuzzle as a teaching tool. She’s quickly become a fan. Whether you are teaching live, online or in a hybrid model, Edpuzzle can be a helpful way to engage students in video content that you select or create.
When we find time in our busy school day to introduce a current event text, like a magazine cover, we’re actually helping students understand how images are used to communicate and even manipulate. Frank Baker shares a resource-rich pandemic media literacy lesson.
STEM kids need to ratchet up their know-how about the real-world problem of plastics pollution and work together on sensible solutions. As they tackle this impending global crisis, they’ll grow problem-solving competencies for a lifetime, writes STEM educator Anne Jolly.
Recognizing that we are all new to the process of teaching and learning this year, teaching coach and NBCT Elizabeth Stein considers three keys for success as we move forward on our co-teaching journeys: flexibility, communication, and blending academics with SEL.
Positive phone calls and texts to students’ families are powerful, writes principal and NBCT Rita Platt. Parents and caregivers enjoy hearing good things and will be more responsive when you get in touch with less happy news. Rita includes several starter scripts and scheduling ideas.
Kids need the opportunity to make choices about what they learn and how they learn it, writes Alex Valencic. This doesn’t mean education becomes a free-for-all. It’s a call to action for us to know our students and help spark a love of learning that will last a lifetime.
Media Literacy is a new elective course at Jeremy Hyler’s middle school this year, and he’s excited to be teaching it. “Could there be a more urgent time?” Hyler shares some of his 7th grade course design, includes his key resources, and reports on the first five weeks.
Class Apps / Teaching during Pandemic
by Curtis Chandler · Published 09/29/2020 · Last modified 01/31/2024
With the stressors of COVID-19 teaching likely to be around for some time to come, educator Curtis Chandler suggests ways he and others can use research-based strategies to reduce teaching stress, hold pandemic angst at bay and bolster our capacity to serve kids well.
