I'm happy to announced that I have been selected to present at the 2014 Great Lakes Social Studies Regional Conference hosted by the Minnesota Council for Social Studies in March of this spring. My presentation is titled How I Stopped Giving Homework and Taught My Students (To Hate Note-cards)” In this presentation I share my collection of active learning strategies and how I have used them to get rid of traditional homework in my classroom. This shift in teaching and homework strategies has also led to more student involvement in classroom activities, an easier opportunity to differentiate learning for students, and gives students a chance to think and express their opinions. If you are a social studies teacher in Minnesota (or in the Great Lakes region), I encourage you to see my presentation at the "Great Lakes Social Studies Conference" hosted by the Minnesota Council for the Social Studies on Monday morning. If you can't make the conference and you are interested, please feel free to contact me.
New Year Resolutions for Twitter:
1) Continue with my USGov History of the day for my government class 2) Continue with my APEuro History of the day for my AP Euro class 3) Help students with their sense of humor by posting a school friendly joke every morning 4) Use more @s to reach out to professional organizations 5) Get more involved in professional educational #discussions 6) Get my students more involved in their education outside of the classroom by having more school related activities/competitions involving Twitter. 7) Find different individuals (teachers or students) to engage in chats with my class (Edit - additional info) - In the end, this was my checklist and brainstorming process of reminding myself that there are many different ways to help students. If thinking, laughing, and communicating are goals that you have for your students, then consider some of the ideas above to use Twitter as an alternative way to reach your students to help make a difference in their lives. |