Pottery Barn Lesson Plan for your Classroom

One of the nice things about working in a high school is the students can explore their interests without a commitment to a college major. In order to scaffold a lesson for my more creative students I created a history lesson where students can create their own houses from different time periods – a Pottery Barn Style lesson!

For Global History have students design a home from around the globe for the Phoenicians (ancient history), the Medieval Era, the Renaissance, and modern history. They should use different textures that were available and furniture, and even set the table with foods from the period. This can be done in PowerPoint or a diorama style model.

For US History – this is a lesson through the decades. Design a home for colonists, the 13 colonies, Jacksonian Era, Progressive Era, World War Eras, Great Depression, the Decades “50s – 00s”. They should use different textures that were available and furniture, and even set the table with foods from the period. This can be done in PowerPoint or a diorama style model.

copy-of-rap

nofiredrillsLeave a comment

Wrap up the decades with RAP music in the classroom

I love the idea of using music (especially rap music) in the clasroom. It can seamlessly be integrated into Social Studies, English and language arts curriculum as a form of both poetry and drama. Allowing students to write and perform their own rap encourages them to think critically, to practice writing in the narrative form, to increase vocabulary, and to develop an understanding of rhyme and rhythm. This is the modern day poetry of our nation and students should be able to analyze the material and have an open conversation about many of the themes running through the songs. Here are some song ideas for teaching the 90s into 2001 using music in your classroom.

1) 90s Rap –
Tupac Shakur’s “Changes”, Notorious Big – Hypnotize

Students can analyze the songs and have a discussion about the changes Tupac raps about. Has much changed from then until now? How has rap music evolved?

2) Conformity of the Boy Band Era –
Nsync, Bye Bye Bye,  Boyz II Men – End of the Road, Backstreet Boys – I want it that way

VS.

3) Girl Power – Madonna, Material Girl (to discuss the greed of the decade) TLC, Waterfalls, Spice Girls, Wannabe, Britney Spears, Hit me baby, Christina Aguilera, Genie in a bottle, Destinys Child – Bills, Bills, Bills

Students will analyze the songs, determine the messages delivered and choose one to write an informational essay on the power of boy band conformity vs girl power and sexuality.

4) The Counterculture of 2000 – Eminem – Lose Yourself, Green Day-basketcase
Students will analyze the informational/explanatory writing assignment and determine the messages delivered and discuss how these bands rejected the conformity of the previous boy band discussion

5) 9/11  – Where is the love? Black Eyed Peas Students will analyze the song, determine the messages delivered and discuss what happened during 9/11

rap

nofiredrills1 Comment

Let’s hand it to all the teachers who taught before the internet.

Saturday Morning Musings.  This is how I feel about teaching and parenting.
How did you do it before the internet and Pinterest? Honestly? It’s amazing! Its hard enough to do it now.

That is what tupperware parties were really for right?

Cheers to you and thank you internet.

I always love a good teaching meme!

Let's hand it to all the teachers whotaughtbefore theinternet.

nofiredrillsLeave a comment

Make your grading more efficient!

gradingtests

 

September is a great month for teaching!    The first few weeks of school is a happy time – new year, new students, new goals AND very little grading.  By the end of September those tests are rolling in and piling up on my desk and in my bag.   October is not as kind to teachers as the month of September.

I would prefer never to give a multiple choice test,  but I have to be practical.  Every year, I have over 150 high school students so to survive I make every test a mix of multiple choice and essay questions.   As test day approaches I gather the Scantron bubble sheets (usually in short supply) and plan an early morning assault on the one working grading machine when no other colleague will want to use it.

BUT FORGET IT! Not this year. INSTEAD…

This year… I manage my classroom on my PHONE! (Teaching? I’m on the phone!)

ZipGrade might be my best app find ever!    The basic phone app is a free download.  The free student answer sheets are downloaded from the site  (ZipGrade.com) in 20, 50 or 100 question formats.

Continue reading “Make your grading more efficient!” →

nofiredrills3 Comments

What is the purpose of education?

What is the purpose of education? A great question to consider as we start the new school year. Horace Mann asked this very question when he designed and reformed our modern school system in the during the antebellum era. But fast forward to today (the 2nd gilded age?!) – we are still asking the same question. Educators, Parents, Politicians, students – perhaps we all have different answers (and questions!)

Is an education to prepare for the workforce?
Should students have a rigid structure or should students have flexibility and Freedom in the classroom?
Should teachers give homework?
Should teachers and students have the summer off?
Should education be free from birth?

These are difficult questions with varied opinions from EVERYONE. Everyone has been a student. Not everyone can be a teacher.

What are your thoughts? What is the PURPOSE of Education?

solve-the-mystery-1

nofiredrillsLeave a comment

Spill the Tea

spill

Since we live in such a gossipy, reality TV generation, I decided to create a lesson where students get to “spill the tea”.   Think of “The Talk” or “The View” TV shows with historical figures. This lesson is always a hit and can be used on a variety of topics. Choose a moderator to host the “show”.

Here’s how it works:

Split your class into groups of 4-5 students for each “Topic”. You can do this by having students pick a tea bag out of a hat (ex: Peppermint, Roobios, Eucalyptus etc).  The 4 students with Peppermint Tea bags are a group, the 5 with Roobios are a group and so on. Peppermint gets the topic of:
Roobios gets the topic of:
Etc.

Have your entire class sit in a circle (similar to a socratic seminar). The group sits in the center and has to spill the “tea” on a specific topic while the rest of the class takes notes.

Continue reading “Spill the Tea” →

nofiredrills3 Comments

The Search for Solid Scholarships

As September ramps up and back to school season is full in gear, my students always ask me, when should I look for start to look for scholarships? Should I wait to apply to college first? NO! My answer always is START NOW. The old saying is true – the early bird gets the worm. Later on in the year after you fill out your FAFSA and apply to colleges that will open a whole other window of scholarship opportunities too so keep that in mind. Now where should you start? Here! And of course USE GOOGLE. Obviously. Try to tailor to your specific attributes. For example, female engineer. Male first generation student. Culinary Student. Talk to your school guidance counselor or college/scholarships advisor. Here are several of my favorite websites for scholarship search:

SCHOLARSHIPS.png

nofiredrills1 Comment

The GREAT “HOLIDAY” Baking Challenge!

It may be September, but that is not stopping me from thinking about the holidays! I have shared with my readers in the past, bringing baking into the classroom is SUCH a hit! My Great Cookie Challenge at the end of the year is a great way to review historical events. BUT during the holiday season I like to have a GREAT HOLIDAY BAKING version of my  CHALLENGE WITH MY STUDENTS.

The rules:

I like to do this in groups of 2-3 students. Each group should Bring in a delicious dessert (that no one in the class will be allergic to!) that was baked it at home. It can be a donut, a cronut, a muffin, a cupcake, a cake, croissant, pie whatever floats your boat. In class – you will be decorating it with a historical event from THIS SEMESTER. You can have it be holiday specific, (Martin Luther King Day, Columbus Day, Christmas, Chanukah) or a historical event. The class judges each creation and at the end of course they eat the cakes. Here are some of my favorite photos from past challenges.

Whats another holiday pound or two for the joy of our children? Happy baking!

cookie2

cookie4cookie1holiday-bakeoff

 

nofiredrills7 Comments