It's election day here in 'Merica. (Why is this not a national holiday?) I am sitting at my desk thinking, writing, planning for voters, and how I taught this last year. I have two classes to plan for now: one Honors Government and one Standard. (I teach in VA, and we don't do Common Core. So I am going to talk Virginian, and you can translate.) This year I am trying to craft a course that meets diverse learners. What do I need to get across to each of these learners, and what is the most interesting way to get there? Let me take you on a tour. 1. Both courses use my on-line course notes. I use Versal to divulge all kinds of information. My textbook is from 2009, and woefully inadequate. So, I have started typing up notes on the course and incorporating video, quizzes, images, graphics, and other apps you can throw in there. Kids need a user id and password, but that information is not shared with me. Versal is great in that it allows me to circumvent funding issues, but it is a huge sink of time for me right now. My thoughts are that I will be able to update it as I see fit next year. I like it better than blackboard in that it feels like a blog (like this) and access only requires a wifi and connective device. Kids should appreciate that. 2. Evaluation versus application. Both courses get the history and current events of voting, what the Constitution and the states do, and laws that cause states and federal agencies to battle each other. I focus more on collaborative review activities with my standard class, while my honors kids delve more into the actual process, players, and impact of voting. 3. Skills, skills, skills. We work with statistics in this unit, an essential skill that is requested by all curriculum everywhere. We work with primary and secondary resources. Honors, again getting a bit more extension, gets to chew on some extended radio interviews actually questioning some of the folks who are active in creating voting barriers. There are a lot of things in this unit that are up for sale on my TpT site... check it out to help you completely roll this unit out!
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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...
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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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