How to Plan an Awesome School Assembly Using These 5 Steps
“It takes a great assembly to be better than no assembly at all.” This our mantra whenever my student leaders get into assembly planning mode. I shamelessly borrowed and tweaked…
Teach Primary Source Analysis Like A Pro With These 5 Strategies
Any history teacher knows that a primary source-based course is the best way to teach the stories and lessons of the past in a way that’s both rich and intriguing. …
5 Back-to-School Ideas to Create an Amazing Student Council
Every teacher knows how important setting the right tone in the first week of class is. Likewise, those first interactions with your student council need to be intentional towards building…
Student Council Calendar Tips That Will Save Your Sanity
If I could go back and tell my brand new student council advisor self just one piece of advice it would, hands down, be this: pencil in all the events…
Fail-proof sentence starters for writing for primary source analysis
Analyzing primary sources actually means three separate things: reading, thinking, then writing. But we often talk about it and teach it as if it’s all a singular thing. It’s not. …
One Simple Hack to Teach Historical Argument Like a Pro
One of my favorite parts about teaching social studies is that there is inherently never a right answer. For being a huge rule-follower in every other aspect of my life,…
Three Branches of Government: Activity Ideas that Engage
No matter how you structure your Civics class, you’re doing a Three Branches of Government unit. There's no way around it. And it’s for sure your biggest unit, with endless…
Avoid these 3 mistakes when asking questions in your social studies classroom
Asking questions seems easy enough. But after spending any time at all teaching you know it’s not. Certainly, not asking great questions anyway. It’s one of those subtle yet fundamental skills I…
Teach Historical Text-Based Writing Like A Pro
Primary source analysis is the cornerstone to teaching history these days. And once you have a few good analysis strategies in place, it’s easy to assume your students can seamlessly turn their…
37 Community & School Staff Appreciation Days to Celebrate
It truly takes a village to raise a child and the school community has never been more essential in supporting our students. In my high school Leadership class, we add…
