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…
7 Ways Teaching Writing in History will Empower Your Students
We know teaching writing in history class is important. But it can also be incredibly daunting to even think about how to weave it into your content-heavy classroom. So, we…
How to Teach the Election Even in Polarizing Times
Never before have teachers, especially civics teachers, been in such a delicate, but essential, position to be reliable, non-partisan, and unbiased sources on current politics. The 2016 election left so…
5 Websites That Will Help You Teach Civics Like A Pro
We all know about the amazing iCivics web-based curriculum, the generous endeavor founded by former Justice Sandra Day O’Conner. In fact, it seems to be recommended so much in Facebook groups that…
5 Easy Civics Project Ideas That Will Empower Your Students
We call it Civics, not Government, class because the purpose is to instill a sense of citizen duty and participation, not just a memorization of names, flow charts, and Constitutional…
How to Design Inquiry Lessons for Your Thematic History Class
You are committed to switching to thematically teaching your history class, you’ve read my blog post of the 5 steps to building a thematic unit, you have a unit and theme…
