Archive

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about our learners these days.  As teachers, we strive to make an impact on their lives by pointing them in the direction of their future.  Now maybe it’s just me, but the more I think and the more I dig, I’m beginning to feel like we’re failing to […]

So there I was, thirty sets of eyes on me, fumbling awkwardly at my computer, trying desperately to get the school’s video announcements going before my class went into technological mutiny. The Wifi appears to be working…that’s not it. I tried refreshing the page…that’s not it. I even pasted the link into the browser myself…no such […]

How do we take our writers to the next level?  Sure, we can teach them to generate and organize ideas, but how do we get them to engage with these ideas on a more critical level? It’s all about perspective, brave teachers.  Getting our students to appreciate just how intricate the conversation is involves an awareness of […]

No matter what track they’re on, all high school students are expected to master the art of argumentative writing before they get that coveted diploma.  As teachers of AICE General Paper, AICE Global Perspectives & Research, and AP Seminar, well, teaching this skill is our specialty.  But the content I’ll share in this post also plays nicely with […]

The art of summarizing is a lot harder than it sounds, but it’s an essential part of the note taking process… Being able to effectively summarize information will help students expeditiously unpack their research to the reader.   To this end, I’d like to share a few useful activities for teaching summary-writing with your scholars. Tweet […]

Teacher: “Ok, teams, for your research, you’ll need to examine the issue through multiple perspectives.  Mmm-kay?” Student (during presentation of research): “When I did my research from the environmental perspective, I found that…” In courses like AP Seminar or AICE Global Perspectives & Research, this is all too often the talk.  And let me tell you […]

Quarter 1 has a lot to do with getting your students acquainted with global issues, filling the “blank slate”–so to speak—with those basics that’ll lay the groundwork for deeper research later. While it’s true you simply can’t cover every contemporary and/or controversial issue out there, you do have the Quarter 1 obligation of helping students feel […]

When they first arrive on our doorstep, our students are convinced that they’re masters of argumentation: So confident they are (I say this in love), that when we tell them we’re going to write argumentative essays this year, they challenge our very intelligence and purpose altogether: “‘Persuasive,’ Miss, you mean persuasive essays.  We learned those in middle school.” …to which […]

August finishes out a season of rest and respite for the teachers of the world and invites a period of rejuvenation to follow.  It’s a time when spirits are high, and a fresh white board is waiting for us to color it with our trade.  It’s also the time we begin our ceaseless search for new ideas […]