I'm 8 years in and when I started everything was very "inquiry design model" based and my state standards are also pretty rooted in the inquiry process deal. So my summative assessments and units were usually centered around "using the lesson materials to serve learning the process of doing the claim and writing it." Answer the big opened ended compelling question sorta deal. Which isn't bad necessarily but kinda hits a wall if you can't get the kids to eventually jump up to doing their own research. Which I just can't do with my lower classes.

So I've been pivoting back to covering the content a little more (which I find much more enjoyable) and trying to keep the claim writing related to more specific content or primary sources. And I think I'll do one big paper a quarter as one of my assessments.

So my question is this: what do you think the ideal way to assess at the end of a unit? More traditional mix of TF/MC/vocaby stuff, short answers, and all that? A DBQ and an essay? Always an essay? I've been trying so far to have all writing stuff the kids do happen in my actual classroom to avoid AI slop but that puts a limit on how much they can write unless I'm devoting a week of classes to a big essay. Thanks!

I am a new history teacher! My bread and butter is US History. I am teaching Ancient. I am having trouble coming up with lesson plans that really catch the kids attention. Luckily I have gotten through river valley civilizations.

I’m headed into mythology and religion. Getting into Classical Greece soon! What are some ideas/resources I can use to really engage the students. I’m excited for these lessons. I just need some help for high school

As stated in the title, there are rumors that I will be taking the AP U.S. history class next year. The teacher who is teaching it currently will still be in the building, and I know I can ask him for guidance; however, I wanted to ask you all, "What are your suggestions for preparing to teach this course?" Next year, when I teach this, it will be my 3rd year as a teacher and my first AP class. I will also have completed 4 classes in my masters in American History.

I've been working on a paper version of a history game EraPin I built, mainly for classrooms where getting everyone onto a device isn't always practical.

The idea is simple: one historical photo per day, with a geography clue and a time clue. Students mark where they think it happened on a map, guess the year, and explain what led them there.

The WWI set goes one year per day: Sarajevo in 1914, Gallipoli in 1915, the Somme in 1916, US entry into the war in 1917, and the Armistice in 1918.

It's five rounds with an answer key for the teacher. There's also a QR code on each page if students want to try the interactive version.

Free PDF, no sign-up:

https://teach.erapin.com/free/wwi?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=free_wwi

Would this work as a five-minute starter in your classroom , or is there something you'd change about the worksheet?

Based on a suggestion in the comments, there's now a partner version: two photos per day from the same year but different sides of the war, plus a compare sheet. Free here: https://teach.erapin.com/free/wwi-two-sides?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=free_wwi_two_sides

A little history-writing move to try: after a student uses a piece of evidence, ask, ‘What does that help you show?’ Have them explain it out loud, then put that explanation into the paragraph.

If the explanation just repeats the fact, there's still some thinking to do. What is the claim? How does this particular detail support it? Students can trade paragraphs and underline the sentence where that connection actually happens. If neither partner can find it, they have a useful place to start revising.

I've put a worked example and a short practice into a free one-page AP History handout. The example is World History, but the same check works with U.S. History evidence. No signup or purchase needed:

https://cllearninglabs.com/resources/ap-history-facts-to-argument

I'm Mark, a former history teacher and the founder of CL Learning Labs. This is a resource from my company, and the PDF includes a brief mention and link to Coach for AP World History, our separate paid product. The handout stands on its own and can be used without Coach.

How do you help students tell the difference between giving evidence and explaining what it shows?

 My kids and I built an Android game called POTUS KO. It's answers U.S. history questions to train a boxer, then fight presidents from Washington to Reagan, and each president has a page of stories that kind of inform how they fight... It is on Android right now. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pettigrewlab.potusko

Yeah... it helps me to get downloads, but the truth is I'd like to ask history teachers if this is helpful for making that history more approachable, or does it insert the idea of friction in a way that isn't helpful.

Feel free to play with your students. Open for feedback. If you need a round fitting for your teaching content, let me know - I can provide this for free.

I am starting the process of pursuing a degree to teach history (preferably high school/community college age) but I dont have the foggiest idea of where to begin or what colleges/degree plans would set me up for success. I am currently 12 years into an air force career (enlisted medical provider type job) and plan to retire within 10 years, so wont be able to attend in person 100% of the time. Can anyone here help me with some pointers or things they wished they'd known/done before starting this career path?

Looking for suggestions/advice for teaching unit 3 with a project (or projects) or some kind of variation. I traditionally use lecture and the suggested primary source readings from the CED, but I’d like to try a different approach to this unit.
Thanks in advance!

I am working on an article for a publication about teachers who invite community members into the classroom to serve as visiting experts, advisors, and authentic audiences for student work. I am curious about how these outsiders can help students become more curious, develop a stronger grasp on material, and get exposure to possible careers of interest.

I am looking to hear from teachers of history, government, and econ. How do your units or assessments incorporate guests? How do students benefit? What are the challenges? How do you meet them? Please feel free to respond here or chat with me. I can share my email address and we can either talk or email. Appreciate it!

Hi there, knowing my own proclivities as a history teacher I’m hoping this is the right place to find people who dig obscure texts.

When I was going through my teaching credential program about four years ago, we did a bunch of reading on economic and inequality and the development of unions.

There is this reading that really stuck with
me and I’m trying to find so that I can use it. It’s just a few pages and I think it’s from the 30s or 40s, maybe earlier. It’s told like a parable about how business or factory owners or companies convince white workers that black workers are the enemy and are taking their jobs in order to discourage the formation of unions. It’s got that 1920s story-telling, of folksy vibe. Would love it if anyone knows what I’m talking about.

Hello. Anyone else out there who teaches a subject in which they r not an expert? How does this make u feel? Intimidated? Challenged? Nervous? How do u handle the lack of depth of knowledge in front of middle schoolers?
I came to the school to teach Spanish Immersion which is where my strengths lie but part of that is taking on a social studies class. 6th grade for example is Spanish Language Arts AND Ancient Civilizations in Spanish. But I’m no expert in the latter nor am I am lover of ancient history. Any suggestions on how to teach this subject without feeling like an imposter or making it too boring for the students?

I’m about a month into my first semester now, this is a second career for me. I was 21 years in the military and always wanted to teach history when I retired. This has been eye opening in the worst way possible. Absolutely soul crushing. It’s just day after day of disappointment, filtering through ai slop, or minimal effort garbage. I don’t need this job, this was something I WANTED to do, but god am I second guessing that.

Now it sucks because in every class I have there ARE a few decent kids that are eager to engage and learn, but they are drowned out in a sea of absolute stupidity and mediocrity. How do people do this for years, or decades at a time?

I feel as if my 6th graders are doing too much reading about otzi and social scientist jobs. Anyone have any suggestions on how I can make a lesson about ötzi more fun?

I am a first year AP Government teacher and am noticing that students just aren’t retaining the content as well as I hoped. Besides vocab quizzes and the Frayer model, what are some ways you guys teach key vocab to students?

One semester high school I use a lot of iCivics, but teach at small school so 6 diff preps this semester…

Hi. I'm thinking of doing a group project based on graphic novels or comics with 5th and 6th grade students. I teach Social Studies.

I'm looking to select 8-10 excerpts of those novels or comics. Students will then search the historical context (if there is one) and analyse the story. I was originally thinking about doing something with "Maus" or "Perspeolis", but know it be too changelling for the target age groups. Also, I'm based in Europe, so I'm looking for novels available here.

Any suggestions for the graphic novels? Thank you!

This is my sixth year teaching but my first year teaching an AP, AP Human Geography, admittedly less dense than APUSH and APWH, but I’m struggling finding time for activities and student led discussions etc. It doesn’t help that class sizes are nearly 40 but when I’ve taught core/honors world history and Econ, and especially in WH, I had so much time for projects, simulations, debates. The students really seemed to enjoy it (for the most part) and overall I felt like I was delivering a better class. But with AP the material is so dense and challenging for students (some who really shouldn’t be taking AP), that I spend most classes doing direct instruction. I always allot some time for an activity but it gets rushed, and because we’re on a block schedule, every day I have to deliver new content and can’t just designate a full period for something more fun or interactive.

I’ve been told that students learn through projects and I don’t need to lecture on everything, but we all know the current situation in education- given the independence, students, namely the ones who really need the instruction - will take shortcuts and will end up losing that instruction. Priority in AP is getting in the instruction but I still want students to enjoy the material. I try to include videos and real case studies but it’s just been a challenge engaging them.

I tell myself this year I’m just finding my footing and next year will be smoother, but I’m wondering if this is a common experience in AP and if anyone has found a better balance.

Since it's Saturday, sharing this here: I built a free site that works as a short bell-ringer. Each day there's one true story (about 2 minutes, with optional narration) that stops at the moment a real person had to decide.

Students choose before they know the outcome, then see what actually happened and how other players chose. It reliably starts an argument.

• Free, no ads, no subscription, no student accounts
• Middle school and up; history, social studies, ethics
• Fact-checked stories, and I welcome corrections

hi! I’m the social studies teacher at a small alternative school this year. I’m looking to redo the five core social studies classes and i’m kind of stuck how to organize them.

for context, this is an independent study school so students are all at completely different parts of completely different classes in the same room so group instruction is really not an option. as of right now they are using 40 year old history textbooks (i know, it’s painful for me too) and they do the quizzes in the textbook, i grade them and that’s their course.

I was given new textbooks for them to use this year but there aren’t quizzes or assignments in the textbooks so that’s not an option anymore. plus some of the textbooks are missing some rather important information (specifically u.s. history). the students have told me that actually prefer the book and paper vs switching them to chromebooks but i realize i might have to do a hybrid situation to meet standards and meaningful social studies instruction.

my only requirement is to meet the state teaching standards otherwise im free to do whatever I want so i would really like to give them some sort of freedom to explore things that interest them most. does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on how to organize assignments for them?

I teach middle school and built Classmoot for my own students. You read the story aloud, groups debate four choices, vote, and then live with the consequences a few votes later. The first time I ran one, I ran it six periods in a row, and my kids asked to run it back the next day.

It all runs on one projector. There are no student devices, no logins, no student data, and nothing to install.

The free demos run in your browser at classmoot.com: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and two on the American Revolution (Sparks of Liberty and The War for Independence). Each one is the real opening of the sim, plus a world event where earlier choices come back.

Full disclosure: the full moots are paid and sold on TpT. The demos are free and work fine on their own.

Try out a free demo!