It's officially that time of the year. AP Review time. This is the time of the year where exhaustion is constantly creeping into my life, as class time begins to multiply and divide, add and subtract as if I were in some kind of string theory nightmare. I would go on about this, but look... you and I, we're both in a hurry. So I am going to cut through the crap and get right down to it. In order to achieve that inner glory, it takes a ton of planning and using resources that already exist. Let me help you find those resources. Plan it outFigure out how many days you have and what resources you have at your disposal. If you are a singleton, approach your review with reference to how much you can take. I have taken the approach of Thursdays after school for an hour (I am there no matter what; these are our office hours) and Wednesday nights at 9 pm. (I teach an online course for my school district on Blackboard Ultra, so I just sign off at 8:55 and then resign on to continue on to review with my online and face to face students) I like Blackboard Ultra because it is free and it records the sessions. If you don't have that, there is Google or Facebook or a hundred other Facetime like apps. I have uploaded a schedule I think is capable of capturing my face to face and online kids so that all can benefit with their crazy work/sports schedules. Beg, Borrow, and steal (okay, not steal... but)So many of our peers in the field have culminated wonderful resources to use throughout the year. I use these at the end of the year to help mitigate the heavy lifting. For instance, I love using games to interplay with one-on-one review. For each content unit we review, I am working two days back to back on FRQs and on reviewing old tests. This means I need to get my kids engrossed in something enriching. I use iCivics games to capstone our learning, and ask my kids to complete Google form questions that force them to apply content to the iCivics games. To be clear, I do not ask them to summarize the game, but to look at how they can apply content from our units to the games. These are discussion questions for small groups to talk about regardless of whether or not they finished the full game. I also rely on digital breakout games. Kellye Sluder Self of Hoover High School in Hoover, Alabama is amazing at making these digital breakout games. Want to know how to find out more? Join the AP Facebook group for educators. (Be prepared! We ask questions to verify that you are indeed a teacher!) I will say some students like them better than others, and therefore I give them options. I have board games like Constitution Quest and The Presidential to help support the kids interest. There are other resources that I have peppered into our review sessions that are available only up on the Facebook group, like the Court case spoons games. More reason to join. Review Content quickly and effectivelyI have several online and review books that I splice into our reviews. They include: ... and just keep reviewingKeep it up, friends. I would give you more of a pep talk... but I have more reviewing to do. And so do you! Good luck!
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Jen's bookshelf: nerdcation
I want to start by thanking Mr. Snowden and Mr. Greenwald for their uncompromising dedication to giving the NSA violations air time and transparency.
I wanted to share some of the most important things I have learned from this book bef...
tagged:
nerdcation
tagged:
nerdcation and to-read
tagged:
nerdcation and to-read
tagged:
nerdcation and to-read
AuthorI lovgov. LOVE IT! I love teaching government, learning about it, debating, discussing, asking questions about government. And not the standard boiler plate questions, but the hard ones that are NOT in the books. Archives
August 2018
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