Social Studies ED 

My classroom website includes general information for students and parents, as well as course materials for each subject. Though I have used Google Classroom for student assignments like current events, projects, quizzes, etc., I still offer this website because it is accessible by anyone (including parents). Using Google Sites, I can link each Unit directly to my folders in Drive. I've attached a document that represents the kind of instructional materials I have created over the years.

After planning a trip to D.C. over Spring Break to tour the city as an American History and Civics teacher, I wrote about my experiences and turned it into an extra credit assignment for my students. They were given three options: to research and write about topics/links I included in my article, to write about an experience like this that they have had that taught them about US history and government, or to plan a virtual field trip that met a checklist of requirements. A good number of students did the assignment, enjoyed it, and produced something thoughtful.

After learning about the Technology Integration Matrix during professional development, I realized that I needed to update certain assignments to make them more inquiry-driven, authentic, real-world, timely, etc. This Sociology unit was my first attempt at creating asynchronous modules for students. I have just begun to update them again to incorporate the modules into a LMS.

My take on Historical Stick Figures, Tournament Brackets, Superheroes and Supervillains, Role Play Debate/Seminar, and Halls of Fame and Shame. These activities can be used during a unit that is heavy with important figures or as a review before a midterm or final exam. They can also be used with groups or larger concepts like Democracy, Congress, the American Dream, the ACLU, Nonviolence, or Imperialism. I have used variations of these activities with all courses and grade levels.

Over the years, I have tried out a number of different ways to assess thinking on quizzes and tests. Though standardized tests only include multiple choice, I include other types of questions on my own. Many of these questions went through multiple iterations until they became valid, fair questions (though some of these are only for Honors). To improve them over time, I looked at the data for each question and surveyed students about those that seem too tough or tricky as we went over answers together.