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Summer Projects

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  This summer has been busy. It started with a trip to the University of Maryland and the National History Day finals, professional development, and sightseeing. We even took in a Detroit Tigers game at Camden Yards, but unfortunately the game resulted in a loss. I participated in local professional development that helped me better understand the history of Detroit during WWII.  The information was fascinating and my students will benefit from my learning, especially when we create our NHD projects. We will also be able to interview historical experts as part of our research. My classroom has new furniture--or technically, new-to-me furniture. We will finally have student tables! Seating arrangements and maximizing space will begin in August. Finally, I've continued research and planning a project close to my heart--I'm trying my hand at writing a historical fiction novel. It's really exciting to learn about character development, story arcs, and how to build an authentic ...
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Worth the Very Long Wait...

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  Today was the first Advisory group of the school year. It was also the first official school-wide community-building endeavor I've been part of. This is my 29th year in the classroom. This has been a dream of mine for many years, having been School Improvement Co-Chair and the Character Group Chair for a while. It seemed Advisory would become reality several times in my tenure, only to see the timing was off. This will be an excellent way to live our our school Character Goals of Honesty, Empathy, Responsibility, and Determination! Advisory is meant to be a dedicated time period with a smaller group size than a typical class. It's also meant to strengthen ties within the school--the teachers that run Advisory groups may or may not have their own students in their groups.  Advisory is not a homework-help activity, but rather is meant for us to get to know one another in a setting without expectations of formal learning or grading. Today's activity started with the teachers...
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Class Agenda Slides

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It's important for students to know what they are learning at the start of class. Studying History is important and I strive to help my Historians appreciate what we do in class everyday. My Cooperating Teacher always had a place on her chalkboard to post daily activities. I continued this practice, and as a young teacher, was encouraged to not only state the "WHAT" of the lesson but also the "WHY" for the lesson.  I now create digital slides for my Agenda and reset my MacBook every hour to display this slide on the monitor as students are walking in to class. The slide is also available on Schoology for students to view. The Agenda lists the day/date, gives a bullet point list, daily schedule (which changes for Pep Assemblies, Half Days, etc.) the WHAT and WHY of the lesson, and an inspirational quote. It's always reassuring for me to see students look at the agenda as they're preparing themselves for the hour. I realize that my efforts are important an...
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Location: Troy, MI, USA
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Staying in the Groove

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 Spring seems to be here, and classroom routines are in place for the most part. I'm trying something new but also staying focused on emphasizing the ideas and concepts that I value in my classroom. Takeaways: Emphasize and reinforce what's important. For example, I often want my students to discuss our learning together. Whenever I see a student group want to default to working on a question independently I gently remind them that I learn from them everyday, and I've taught this subject for many years. I make it clear that if I can learn from them they can certainly learn from each other. I take the opportunity to reiterate the significance of academic discussions. I'm remembering to acknowledge student birthdays on or as close to the student's actual day as possible. Yes, it does take forethought and planning (I have 140 students) but it matters to me, and it seems to be appreciated by them. LEGACY . It's everything, especially in the spring as these 8th Grad...
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Teaching Regional Culture to Newcomers: the Power of Sports

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One of the most fun topics we've studied this year in Language Support-History is American Football. Teaching and playing flag football has been part of my LS 21st Century Michigan Thanksgiving unit every year since I've taught this class, but it's especially exciting this year because of the success of the Detroit Lions! There's no denying Michigan is sports-focused. We have one of the most dedicated fan bases around--whether it's football, basketball, hockey, or baseball. It's important for students new to America to feel part of the pulse of their new region, and in this case that definitely includes sports.  We spent time learning about some of the scoring involved in football, some of the positions, and understanding downs. We practiced vocabulary, watched a few clips, and set off to play! My students really enjoyed playing and we've talked a little bit about the historic nature of this year's season. Not every student watches football at home, and ...
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If You're Not Yet Using Canva in Your Classroom, You Should

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Canva is such a valuable tool for educators and it's unbelievable we receive "pro" resources within the site. I've used it in the classroom for students to create graphs and infographics for a few years now, and it's now become a go-to resource for any type of information I need to give students. Here are some examples I've created in the past few weeks:  I've started to use it for changes in daily bell schedules: Spirit Week Information: To-Do Lists (I model these, students will begin to create their own): and Due Dates: I now start to think, "Is this information something I can put into Canva"? Students are creatures of technology, and using tech to find a way to reach them where they're at is definitely working smarter, not harder. If you haven't used it, give it a try!
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When "I Don't Know" Becomes a Starting Point

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  I've always wanted to give my students the opportunity to learn about our National Parks and try podcasting with my students. Combining these two options has been proven successful, and the perfect antidote to end of the year motivational struggles. I researched and found a terrific podcasting resource from Spark Creativity . The author is has a Language Arts background, but so many of her resources, from blackout poetry, to one pagers, to hexagonal thinking, are very adaptable to our History curriculum. We began this unit on the last day of school before Winter Break but shelved it to create National History Day projects. A few Fridays ago it became evident we all needed a change. I decided from the next Friday forward we would bring back the National Parks podcast project to end our week. We started (again) by viewing a "See All of the National Parks in One Minute" clip. This built some excitement and curiosity for selecting a park. The next step was to think of a po...
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