So excited! Check out my new book, 50 Things to Know About Being A Middle School Social Studies Teacher. It is a collection of my thoughts, philosophies and stories about being a middle school social studies teacher.
|
use_this_to_spread_the_word_about_certification_.pdf | |
File Size: | 3502 kb |
File Type: |
Please consider donating or sharing the information with someone who is able to help. Thanks!
This year the White House Historical Association brought together about 60 teachers from around the country to learn about the History of the White House over the course of 2 weeks. I attended week one where I met an array of amazing and talented teachers. We were housed at George Washington University and met each day in the Decatur House. Each day was a nice blend of knowledgeable speakers, tours and practical activities that we could take back to our own classes. The facilitators of the Summer Institute, Joanna and Whitney, were awesome!
On Monday we:
Had a brief overview of White House History
Toured the Decatur House and the White House Neighborhood
Learned about the Digital Library and White House Experience App (Wanna tour the White House, but won't be going to DC anytime soon? There's an app for that!)
Had a guest speaker from Amazon Web Services
Played a Kahoot
and finally a Happy Hour inside the Decatur House.
On Tuesday we:
Listened to a Historian on Lincoln's White House
Curated an "museum exhibit" on Lincoln- this will be a great lesson in class
Learned about National History Day
Played a Kahoot
Traveled to Lincoln's cottage ( NO, not his log cabin!)
On Wednesday we:
Went to the Diplomacy Center at the US Department of State where we toured the Diplomatic Reception rooms and participated in a simulation that can be used with or students.
Listened to a historian from the Diplomacy Center
Participated in an activity that can be applied in our own classes
Had a guest speaker from Dreamwakers
Played a Kahoot
On Thursday we:
Visited the White House Visitor Center
Toured the White House (I almost did not get in...more on that later!)
Listened to a Historian discuss White House Renovations
Created an activity relating to the app from earlier in the week
Participated in a mini lesson on workers in the White House
Played a Kahoot
Finally on Friday we:
Toured the National Portrait Gallery
Participated in an activity on First Ladies
Had a panel discussion with Chief of Staff for Laura Bush
Reflected on the week
Played a Kahoot
The week was so interesting it flew by. Now a week later, I have had some time to decompress and absorb the information in a way that I will be able to make meaningful for the 8th graders I will be seeing in a few weeks. I am excited about the friendships I made, the information I gained and the skills I acquired and will bring to my students.
In the evenings, I got to see the sights around DC with the incredible group of teachers. We even saw Hamilton at the JFK Center for the Performing Arts. So exciting!!!!!!! I took a segway tour, found Mary Surratt's house ( it is now a Wok and Roll- a Chinese Restaurant in the heart of Chinatown), saw a Burning Man exhibit at the Renwick Gallery and saw the Marine Corps Band just to name a few.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot! About the White House tour and me almost not getting in. When you enter the White House you need to pass through 4 security checkpoints before you enter the house. I got stopped at the first checkpoint because my birthdate did not match what was on the guest list. I was escorted to an area that was cordoned off by a Secret Service Agent. There I waited for about 15 minutes while my information was vetted. I watched teacher after teacher head to the next checkpoint. I was not the only one though. There were about 15 or so people ahead of me and one other teacher from my group. Thankfully Joanna, one of the facilitators, waited for us as the others moved on with Whitney. After the Secret Service was sure I was not a threat to national security, I was given my id and a card that said I was checked at the first checkpoint. I had to give that card at the second checkpoint with my id to another Secret Service Agent who immediately called the first checkpoint to verify that I was indeed who I said I was. The third checkpoint consisted of sniffing dogs and the fourth was a metal detector and x-ray (much like airport security). While I was waiting for my phone to come through the x-ray the person behind me set off the metal detector. The Secret Service Agent gave me a gentle shove to get out of the way quickly. As my son put it to me later, he was doing his job making sure there was no danger or threat. Finally, I was able to catch up with the rest of the group to tour the White House!
Check out the story the local news did on the White House History Teacher Institute!
We began a new unit on Ancient Greece today. Early on in my teaching career I would have started the lesson with a KWL. I would have created a lovely KWL on chart paper and posted it in class. During the class I would have asked the students to raise their hand if they "knew" anything about Ancient Greece. I would have looked at their blank stares and wonder why no one was raising their hand. (Insert cricket sound here.) After a few years, with a little more experience I would have added a partner talk into the mix to try and generate a discussion. ( Insert cricket sound again.) I would then have started to prompt the children or model my thinking to start the chart.
About ten years ago, when I left teaching elementary school and returned to middle school, I was given a book by Janet Allen from the school's instructional specialist. In the book, More Tools for Teaching Literacy Content by Janet Allen I discovered the Content Pass. I have been using it ever since.
What I do is I break the kids up into small groups and provide each group with a text set and a graphic organizer. The text set could include any or all of the following: Textbook chapter - clearly marked, internet site, article or non fiction texts. I encourage the children to use the text features ( index, table of contents, headings etc.) to help them find important information such as the geography and religion, or something that is interesting to them. They are given 4-5 minutes to peruse the text and complete the chart by finding 3-5 facts and coming up with 2-3 questions. After 4-5 minutes the students pass the text to the person on the right and start the process over.
Once this is done, no more crickets when you ask what you do you know about ... Instead, you get a room full of engaged students who can't wait to answer, a great discussion and a filled out KWL chart if you so desire.

content_pass.pdf | |
File Size: | 14 kb |
File Type: |
Here is some Back to School Humor to make things easier!
I resolve to:
1. Stay Organized
- Normally by the end of the day my desk is a mess. As the day goes on I just dump things on my desk and continue teaching. By the end of the day it looks like a tornado hit. Often at the end of the day instead of cleaning it up and organizing my desktop, I ignore it. There is no excuse for this. I can take five minutes to organize my desk.
- Another thing that I need to work on is getting papers passed back in a timely manner. I have a bin labeled for each class. After I correct a set of papers I throw them in the bin. The papers are corrected in a timely manner, but I often forget to hand back the papers. Once again, there is no excuse for this. I can take 5 minutes every couple of days to have students hand out papers.
2. Add Movement Into Lessons
- I am a fidgety person. I have a hard time sitting still. I am always wiggling, moving, tapping and stretching. I am an adult and I need to move frequently. If I need this, then my seventh and eighth graders need this too. At the beginning of the school year I started adding brainbreaks to my classes. They take two to three minutes and are meant to reenergize and refocus the students. I love them and the students do too. The problem is I am not as consistent as I would like to be with this. It should be everyday in every class, somedays it is and then there are others when I think, "It's Thursday, I haven't done a brainbreak this week." I can take three minutes half way through class to give my students a brainbreak.
. Contact Parents More
- I have many ways of communicating with parents: email, class blog, remind app and phone calls. I use all of these on a fairly regular basis. I contact parents when I have concerns about their child, but I don't think that is enough. I would like to be able to contact parents more often when I have something amazing to say about their child, for something that I am proud of. I think that establishing a positive relationship with parents is important. This one is one that I already do, but want to do more of. This is not an easy one to do. I see over 100 students every day, many of my parents do not speak English or have an email or working phone.
- One thing that I like to do is learn. My goal here is to continue to improve my content knowledge of Social Studies and to continue to learn and implement new technologies to help keep my students engaged in class.
5. Improve Classroom Management
- I would like to be more consistent with my classroom management skills. This ties into organization.
- I want to keep better annecdotal records of my students. I have a system to take annecdotal records now, I want to do a better job at it. That may mean revising and tweaking my system a little bit.
- I want to make sure that I have a nice balance between home and school.
- I want to make sure that I am consistent with my discipline in class.
Here's to a happy healthy 2017 and a great second half of the school year!
There were 569 eligible votes.
Clinton - Kaine 372 votes
Trump - Pence 147
Stein- Baraka ( Not to be confused with Obama :) ) 26
Johnson- Weld 20
Kanye 2
Spongebob 1
And our own Julia Ann 1
Our next steps will be to compare the outcome of the national election with the results of our school election.
This year is off to a great start, knock on wood. So far I adore my students, all 102 of them. They have been well, a good group of kids. Notice I said so far! I am currently working with a student teacher for the first time. I also have a pre-practicum student one day a week. Yesterday, I got an email from another teacher in training who stumbled upon this blog ( Whoo Hooo!). The signs are all telling me to share my knowledge, so I thought I would take this time to offer some sage advice for new teachers, veteran teachers and teachers in training. Yeah I snickered as I typed that last sentence too. It is more like some must have websites for the Social Studies Teacher. Ryan, Kyle and Jacob this is for you.
1. Rewordify.com
What it is
This is a website that allows you to simplify text that is difficult to read. It has many features that allow you to create modified text for students. Teachers can create many different types of activities including cloze readings, vocabulary lists with or without definitions and quizzes.
Why I Like it
This website is great for taking difficult to read primary source documents and making them student friendly. I also like it because I can use it to differentiate text and scaffold lessons for the Special Education and English Language Learners.
2. Newsela.com
What it is
This is a repository of articles on different topics. The articles are not limited to just Social Studies. There are articles in Science and Literature as well.
Why I Like it
Despite the fact that when I first learned of this website I thought it was pronounced newsela and not News E-L-A, I really enjoy using it. I can find articles that cover many topics from US History and World history to current events. The articles also come in a variety of levels, so I can print the same article at different reading levels allowing me to differentiate in the classroom.
3. CNN Student News
What it is
This is a daily broadcast of the news designed for middle and high school students. The news is about ten minutes long and anchor Carl Azuz is engaging and can be very punny with some of his stories.
Why I Like it
This is a quick and easy way to expose students to current events. It has sparked some interesting discussions in class.
4. Kahoot
What it is
This is a website that allows you to create a game show like atmosphere in your classroom. You create a little healthy competition in class as students vie to answer questions first. This does require that each student or a group of students has a tablet, phone or computer to participate. You won't believe how much students will beg to play again.
Why I Like it
I like this website as a way to review information in class. This takes some prep ahead of time to create a multiple choice question. After the students have completed the kahoot, I can download the information on how each student answered and use it to inform my instruction.
On another note Polleverywhere.com is a similar type of interactive website and just as fun. Here you can create open ended questions as well as multiple choice. Students' answers are projected on the board. The only thing missing is the game like atmosphere.
5. Pinterest
What it is
This is an online bulletin board that allows you to "pin" ideas and save them. Pinners can create a variety of different boards to save ideas and concepts that they would like to use at a later date.
Why I Like it
This is a great way to stay on top of teaching practices. Teachers share lessons, organizational tips, ideas, strategies and a variety of activities on their boards. I use it as a starting point for new lessons. I can take the ideas and use them as is or modify the idea to meet my needs for my classroom.
I would love to hear from you. What are your must have websites for your class.
I am very excited that the school year is off and running to a good start. I have new team members this year that I am looking forward to working with. I am also fortunate to have a student teacher working with me until December. So far my classes have been great, knock on wood.
In the midst of all of this craziness, I decided to modify my behavior management plan. I modeled it after something I found online here. Though not exactly the same, I was certainly inspired by this post.
Here are the main points:
- Tickets are handed out as positive reinforcement.
- Students are given a bathroom pass that allows them 5 trips for the quarter. If they need to use it more than 5 times, they must buy a pass for 5 tickets.
- Rewards of varying ticket prices are available for purchase including pens, pencils, lunch with the teacher etc.
- Each student received a set of passes that included one of each of the following
- Quiz Pass- automatic 100 on a quiz of your choice
- HW Pass- excuses one HW assignment
- Cheat Sheet- allows you to use notes on one test
- Drop Pass- will drop your lowest classwork score.
- Each of these can be used once at any appropriate time during the first quarter, all they need to do is staple it to the assignment
- Students are responsible to keep track of their own tickets and passes.
- About one week before the quarter ends, students can cash in the unused passes. Each one turned in will be worth one point added onto their final average. For example, if a student has an 87 average and turn in 3 passes they will end up with a 90.
- New passes will be issued for the next quarter.
So far the seventh and eighth graders are excited about this. It has been much easier to manage then what I was working with last year, knock on wood again.
How did this happen? you may be wondering. Well, I met Joe Bagley, Boston City Archaeologist, a few weeks back when I was taking the workshop through the Leventhal Map Center. Joe brought the group on a walking archaeological tour of Boston. During his tour he mentioned the upcoming dig at Old North Church. He went on to say that if anyone was interested in volunteering to contact him. My History Geek Radar perked up when I heard that. That night I began bombarding Joe with emails and eventually texts that I wanted to volunteer. I finally got a response after several days. Archaeology in Boston keeps Joe very busy, so it took a while for him to get through all of his emails.
So I picked a day that would work with my schedule and hoped on the train from Lowell and headed to North Station. Ironically, I was reading The Girl on the Train when I took the train to Boston, but that is another story for another time. Once I arrived in Boston, I made may way over to the dig site and introduced myself to Joe and some of the other volunteers.
Joe went over some important information about the dig site. In the 1830s three tenement buildings were built on that spot. A survey was done in June when two trenches were dug. During that time, Joe and his volunteers unearthed what they thought were cisterns. Our task was to begin preparing the site for the dig. That meant removing shrubbery, hauling away benches and stone pavers- chop, lift, haul, repeat- who needs crossfit when you have an archaeological dig? Later in the day some small excavating began. I worked with a student profiling the land. Well really I held a measuring stick while she profiled the trench. I also tried to identify the color of dirt using a book called Munsell Soil Color Chart, not as easy as it sounds. Others were digging down to a certain level. A few small shards were found that day- some really cool things.
Throughout the day some Lookie Loos came and peeked in to see what was going on. They were encouraged to come in and take a closer look. I spoke to a few people about what was going on. I did defer to someone more knowledgeable than me when I couldn't answer questions. I asked one little girl what she thought we were looking for. Her response, "Dinosaurs!".
All in all it was an interesting day. I wish I could have more time at the dig. If you would like to learn more you can visit the Boston Archaeology website, follow them on facebook and on twitter.
| |
Boston Archaeology Dig
So I wanted to share a few links that will be helpful in teaching about the American Revolution.
Leventhal Map Center
Leventhal Map Weebly
Paul Revere House
Bunker Hill
South Meeting House
Old North Church
Old State House
Freedom Trail
Sunday:
I am super excited today. I left my comfy home, my husband and two boys and set of on what is becoming an annual NEH Landmark Workshop Adventure. In the past I have journeyed to Fort Ticonderoga, Springfield Illinois and Kansas City, Missouri to be immersed in regional history. This year's journey has kept me closer to home ( but no less exciting ). I am in Deerfield, MA, about 90 minutes west of my home in Lowell.
I arrived around 4:00 pm, checked - in and then settled into my living quarters before the program began. It has been raining on and off all day, so wouldn't you know it ... the second I get out of the car with my suit case it starts pouring again. Instead of doing the smart thing and get back in my car, I make a mad dash to the dorm. Soaked I put my stuff away and head to the Teacher's Center.
We (the teachers) sat in small groups getting to know one another. For some of us it is the first NEH experience, others are Veterans at attending these week long events. After a few minutes, our esteemed program directors began to orient us on our week ahead. Soon there after we piled into cars and vans and headed to the summit of Mt. Sugarloaf for our first activity. Thankfully we drove to the summit and there was a covered pavilion area (yes it started raining again.)
When we first got to the top of Sugarloaf it was eerily enveloped in fog. We really could not see what I was assuming was a phenomenal view. Dinner of pizza and salad was provided for us. We ate and enjoyed each others company under the pavilion, cuz we certainly could not enjoy the view. Then, something spectacular happened, the fog slowly started to lift and the setting sun started to peek out behind the clouds. The view was stunning!
We had a discussion about the land use of the Native Americans, the English Settlers and why the land has some of the most fertile soil of the region. After returning to the dorms, I ventured down to the local watering hole with some of the other teachers. All in all I would say that day one was a success.
July 11, 2016
Monday:
Today was a jam packed filled day, in a good way. We were kept busy and engaged all day. We began with a lecture from the lead scholar, Kevin Sweeney.
After that we broke out into small groups and rotated through a series of interactive sessions. One of my favorites was going to the Indian House Children's Museum. There the museum educators led us through three different activities. Our first stop was in the kitchen where we were asked to complete two tasks. One was churning butter and the other was making Switchel. With the Switchel, the only guidance that was given was we had to make a palatable drink using these ingredients(ginger, vinegar, water and molasses). We had no idea how much of each ingredient was needed. It was trial and error. I was skeptical, but we surprisingly enjoyed a somewhat palatable refreshing drink. Who knew? I later Goggled it and found the recipe. You can find it here. The homemade butter was served at dinner.
The next activity involved looking at and discussing 18th century period clothing for men women and children. It seems to be that the phrase "Time to cut the apron strings" , comes from the children's clothing. They were literally tied to their mother's apron strings until they were about five years old.

Lastly, we went to another room in the Indian House Children's Museum and actually learned about Indians! We had a chance to look at and discuss Native American artifacts.
Next a walking tour, a museum visit to see "The Door". It is the Plymouth Rock of Western Massachusetts, a relic left over from the Deerfield Raid in 1704. There are gouges in the door from when the Native Americans were breaking into the house. Learn about it here. We also had a lecture on the material culture of Colonial America. Lastly, we had the opportunity to discuss and work collaboratively on our projects.
Image Source: http://1704.deerfield.history.museum/popups/artifacts.do?shortName=door
July 12, 2016
Tuesday:
Despite the slow start today (at no one's fault, it was due to the fact the speaker was having car issues) it was a pretty good day. Our speaker, Margaret Bruchac did a fantastic job discussing the Native American point of view. It was interesting to learn about. We got a chance to look at and discuss some primary sources that sold the land to the English.
,Image Source: http://1704.deerfield.history.museum/popups/artifacts.do?shortName=ahimunquatdeed
My group had a great discussion about this document. There was another walking tour, this time with Margaret, and a chance to hear some first person narratives of the people of Deerfield - all of which were fascinating. At one point during the day another scholar and I had a bit of free time and wandered down to the old cemetery. There we found Margaret giving the last tour of our NEH group. Since we didn't get a chance to go there with her earlier, we tagged along. It ended up with us walking through a meadow and having to climb over a fence to get back to the street. Sorry there is no photographic evidence of this, you will have to take my word.
July 13, 2016
Wednesday:
Today was a road trip day. My kind of day! We began in the morning walking around some historical Native American Indian sites. The first site is now a neighborhood but we had some interesting discussions about the history of the land as we walked around. We then went to another area. This one was a wooded area. We walked around an Ancient Indian burial site. A local Indian performed a blessing at the burial site. I was going to take pictures, but I felt like it would be intrusive. Basically he said a prayer and scattered tobacco to the four cardinal directions. Then he had his wife do something similar for balance. We hiked through this area and occasionally stopped to have a discussion.
Next we boarded the bus and headed to Fort Number 4. This was a civilian fort. Small but interesting to see.
Thursday
Thursday night, our last night we had a lot of fun. We were brought to the tavern to learn about well, taverns. There was punch, lots and lots of rum punch. We got a chance to hang out, play colonial games like Nine Pin (tabletop bowling), checkers and oh yes... Dancing and Music. Not just any music, colonial musicians playing fancy colonial dancing music. Um did I mention there was dancing. Sorry no pictures, I was too busy dancing!
Needless to say this was a very fun night and late night.
July 15, 2016
Friday
Ah the week has come to a close. Today was about wrapping up the week and getting ready to go home. I have to say I am glad I was able to attend the program! Once again I want to give the National Endowment for the Humanities a great shout out for making these fabulous programs available to teachers. Thanks!
For those of you who are interested for next year... http://www.neh.gov/divisions/education/summer-programs
It all began a few weeks ago at my common planning meeting with the seventh grades Social Studies department. We decided that we would design and make Roman shields with the seventh graders. We began to plan the project. Thanks to my niece who works at Sam's club, I got pallet sized pieces of cardboard donated and a trip to Michael's for some painting supplies, we were ready to begin. I cut the cardboard in half and made some samples for the teachers.
A few days later I got this brilliant idea to go to the party store and get Roman Soldier helmets for the teachers. I roamed around the store for a few minutes and I found an aisle with some leftover Halloween costumes. There were swords and shields and the like in the aisle. I hunted and searched through the merchandise to find what I was looking for, but to no avail. I went to find an employee and see if there were any Roman helmets somewhere else in the store. I cannot believe what he told me. He said," You are a week late. A women came in last week and bought all the Roman Helmets I had left for a school project." Honest, you can't make this stuff up. So I settled for plan b, Spartan Helmets. After all Greece and Rome have a similar culture. Plus the Spartan helmets are far more intimidating.
Ready for the Hijinks?
After lunch, I had an inkling for some impish behavior. I told the kids of my nefarious plan, wink wink, and they were game. I donned my Spartan helmet, had the kids make crumpled up paper ammo and lined them up in the phalanx. Now trying to keep a class of giggling seventh graders quiet for a surprise attack on another Social Studies class is no easy task. We marched down the hall in Phalanx formation, ammo in hand past the office, past the cafeteria during 8th grade lunch to the class. My principal, who is somewhat of an imp himself, followed us with a camera to capture the attack. Unfortunately, our attack did not happen. My colleague and his class were awol. After a few grumbles and groans of disappointment we decided to go upstairs and attack the other Social Studies class.
Still in Phalanx formation, minus my camera wielding principal, we somewhat stealthily, but very much giggly ascended the staircase and made our way down yet another hallway. This time our attack was somewhat successful, somewhat pitiful but very much impish and fun. This time our target class was outside in the hallway getting ready to paint their shields. Because they were in the hall, it was not quite a sneak attack, however when we got close enough the crumpled paper ammo was lobbing through the air. Paper balls where everywhere. Kids were laughing and a great time was had by all.
Oh yeah, I know there will be retaliation.
Recently in 8th grade we played a couple of video games in class. First we went old school and played Oregon Trail. I found a streaming version online here. I thought I was going to hear complaint after complaint about how terrible the graphics were, but instead I was pleasantly surprised at their reactions. I can't believe how much the kiddos really enjoyed it, snakebites and all! They asked to play it again the next day. The other game we played recently was called Flight to Freedom and can be found here. In Flight to Freedom the students had to help Lucy escape slavery. Cyber learning at its best!
Seventh graders recently debated about the Elgin Marbles and whether or not they should be returned to Greece. If you don't know what the Elgin Marbles are: The Parthenon was a temple built in Ancient Greece to honor the Goddess Athena. The Marbles in question are sculptures that adorned the temple. Fast forward to the early 1800s when Greece was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Lord Elgin, the British Ambassador to Turkey, removed the marbles and brought them to England where to this day they are on display at the British Museum. The problem is Lord Elgin, may or may not have had permission to remove said marbles hence the debate, "Should the Elgin Marbles be Returned to Greece?" Both seventh grade classes had heated discussions and have written well structured arguments with evidence to support their side of the debate.
I still can't get over that the year is almost done. I have so much still to teach, so much to do. Ack! That's ok. I will manage, I always do. I work well under pressure. I am just looking forward to making the most of the time I have left with my 8th graders, before I ship them off to High School.
http://hechingerreport.org/how-finland-broke-every-rule-and-created-a-top-school-system/
Author
I am an empty-nester with two boys, a husband and a passion for writing, creating and teaching. I teach 7th and 8th grade Social Studies in Massachusetts. I am a self proclaimed history geek and proud of it! In my spare time ( Spare time, ha ha that's a joke! ) I enjoy photography, reading and hanging out with my family.
Archives
February 2022
August 2021
June 2021
June 2020
May 2020
March 2020
August 2019
January 2019
August 2018
July 2018
February 2018
August 2017
February 2017
December 2016
November 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
May 2016
March 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
April 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013