This will be my 12th year teaching high school ELA, and you could say I’ve learned a few things that I wished I knew going into year one. One thing is clear about 12 years: there are going to be fun and easy years and there are going to be hard and challenging years. And I honestly can’t say why...
Contextualization is an intriguing skill introduced in the redesigned AP History courses. It plays a crucial role in multiple aspects of the courses, including multiple-choice questions, short-answer questions, and essays (such as the Document-Based Question and Long Essay Questions). Mastering...
In 2015, the College Board introduced several changes to the AP U.S. History course and exam. One significant addition was the inclusion of new historical thinking skills. Although these skills were always part of the course, they were never explicitly defined. Now, the College Board has provided a...
Explore engaging and interactive Juneteenth lesson plans designed for secondary education students to deepen their understanding of this important historical event.
During Pride Month, everyone expects coming out stories or rainbow flags to take over their social media profile pics–and honestly, I love those parts of June. But as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, we love to hear stories of identity, whether or not it connects to sexuality or gender. Being...
In my last post, I shared the success stories of two of my multilingual learners. I told you I used strategies, but I didn’t share which ones.
The wonderful thing about Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is it isn’t content-specific; it can span all curriculum and grade levels. Knowing the five areas of CASEL’s Classroom SEL Framework helps decide where your strengths and weaknesses are as a teacher. Additionally, you can share these...
Discover how simulations can enhance learning in AP® U.S. Government and Politics. Engage students with hands-on activities like discretionary budgeting to deepen comprehension and foster multidisciplinary understanding.
Read. Annotate. Discuss. Write an essay. Rinse and repeat. Sometimes the most direct path is the best path. My classroom is often “un-instagramable.” However, with some units, I want to provide students with new ways to show what they know. I want to help my students see how different elements in a...
Let’s face it, poorly answered free response questions are hard on both teachers and students. Most students shudder at the thought of answering the free response questions in AP Macro because it requires them to gather all their knowledge AND apply it. When teachers see poorly answered FRQs, we...
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