Hinduism and Buddhism Double Bubble

The last two days we watched videos and discussed the two religions associated with SOL WHI.4c and d.  If you have access to United Streaming/ Discovery Education, they have a great series on world religions.  I created a worksheet for the students to fill in as they watched.  At the end of each video (they are not all class- about 20 minutes) we discussed.

Today, I had the students brainstorm similarities and differences.  This year the brainstorming occurred on a Monday so I gave them some prompts: What is the country of origin?  Where are the religions practiced now?  What about the founders?  What are the sacred texts?  What are the key beliefs?  They brainstormed for about 8 minutes.

I then created the double bubble  by cold calling students to tell me where to put the information.   At the end of class the students have the completed double bubble for their notes.

Here is our end product:

This is the "old school" version on the board.

This is the one we created with my Chrome Book group.

Happy Teaching!
C

Where in the world?

I was looking through the stash of book and other items in my class.  I came across some very nice maps.  Did I mention they were laminate too!?

The whole display

I was telling the students the other day that the name of the course is technically World History & Geography I.  What a great find!

After mulling over what to do with these lovely maps I decided to keep a record of the places we have studied.

I used some of my gold star stickers to show where the place is on the map.  I then used some cross-stitch floss to lead the space to the place label.

My plan is to change the color of the floss as the 9-weeks changes.

Happy Teaching!
C

The approximate places and their stars.

Egyptian Society

We have been wrapping up our ancient river valley civilization unit and we discussed Egyptian society.  On Wednesday I had the students use an iPad (my pilot group used their chromebook) to research 9 different groups in society: pharaoh, vizier, scribes, doctors, priests, craftpeople, farmers, nobles and soldiers.  I told them to try to think about questions like: Who do they work for? Do they have people that work for them?  What is their diet?  What is their day like?  I told them think about what their groups social status would be: low, middle or high.
The students then shared their ideas and each student was to write down what we discussed.  At the end we discussed the Egyptian slave who is the lowest in Egyptian society.

At the end of their notes I asked them to draw a triangle and have them divide the triangle in three parts.  I gave them 30 seconds to write down where they thought the members of society.  I then cold called students to come to the board and put the society member in the appropriate spot.

This is what the end result was in one of our classes:

I really enjoyed how the students worked in small groups, shared their information with the other students and then put together their social pyramid.

Happy teaching!
C

Graded Papers

As I stated in my previous post, I feel like this year is "New Teacher".  One issue that I've come across is handing back papers.  I spend 5 minutes handing back papers last week and I was not happy with how much time I wasted.  Some of you may be thinking, why don't you have the kids pass them out?  Personally, I don't like that for two reasons.  One, it encourages visiting and/or off task behavior.  Second, I don't like kids seeing what other people's grades are. 

So, I needed to devise a great system...and of course I turned to Pintrest!  I decided to give each of my students a folder, I wrote their first name on them in different colors for each class (alphabetized by their last name), placed them in hanging file folders and put those in an extra crate I had in the room. 

My new paper delivery system!

I told the students they are welcome to check their folder any time.  However, they are to only check their folder.  Also, I am the only person to put papers in.  I keep it in the back of the room on an extra desk. 

Happy Teaching!
C

Am I a first year teacher?

I usually don't "vent" online.  I am going to keep that mindset and tell you all of the new things that are going on with my teaching world.  

First, coming up with a new curriculum has been challenging and fun.  I've enjoyed relearning and remembering all of the things that I forgot I knew.  I remember when I student taught US I I felt very inadequate in that particular content.  At my alma mater, Roanoke College, I took many world history classes: Renaissance Italy, Medieval England, Colonial Africa, Modern Japan, Ancient MesoAmerica, another African history.  I had taken many American classes but they weren't exactly what I needed to know the content for my student teaching.  Now, I get to take that "old" information and use it for my classes.  

Second, I am excited to be apart of a technology pilot group at my school.  One of my five classes travels together (Science, English, Math, me and then Spanish) and they have a Chromebook Notepad.    I don't have an online textbook, like some of my colleagues, so my goal is to have as much online as possible.  I'm using Google docs and Google forms.  Additionally, I'm using Schoology  at my LMS (learning management system).  

Third, I am not coteaching this school year.  I've cotaught for the last three years.  I enjoy the students I have this year; however, I miss that adult interaction throughout the day.  And I won't lie: I miss the free bathroom pass.  I've had to find my teacher bladder again.  

Fourth, I'm just tired.  :-)  

I hope each of you are having a great school year thus far and I know that the rest of the year will be very successful!  

Happy Teachings!

C