Student Engagement
Providing lessons that engage students is vitally important. You have to capture a student’s interest. The more interested the students are the more they will remember and be able to apply.
Lessons and Activities
US History
United States History has many facets to learn about. As a teacher you are trying to engage learning, ignite interest and cover as many standards as possible in a lesson.
*******************************************
August 22, 2021
Using review stations helps students apply their learning in different modalities. This is a Civil War station review. You can have students review for a class period and get through about half of the stations or make it a two day activity. You can also utilize the information and convert it in Google Slides if you want a digital review.
August 22, 2021
Court Cases are covered in 8th Grade US History to 1877. Within 8th grade students need to know five court cases. I have found that having students create a foldable or a graphic organizer with the information for all the cases they will then use it as a reference tool and eventually not need the reference tool.
May 29, 2021
This lesson helps to explain the multiple perspectives of diverse groups of people during the War of 1812.
May 29, 2021
Looking at the Declaration of Independence you can see why the colonists felt they had to break up with Great Britain. Using this lesson they are reading and viewing the issues.
May 29, 2021
Using a Hyperdoc students can have all the available sources at their fingertips. A Hyperdoc does not have to be a one day activity. This could be used over several days depending on the resources attached and the final project. Here we are looking at Sectionalism. The Hyperdoc has documents attached for the Road to Civil War.
May 8, 2021
When reviewing for STAAR testing for US History in 8th grade students need to know about Cause and Effect. This Hyperdoc has the Cause and Effect theme using technology.
May 8, 2021
When offering students an activity this school year we have had the need to offer it in a digital format that way those students at home or in the classroom have access to them. This is a digital immigration activity where students are accessing the one pagers that I would have had at stations in the past.
April 17, 2021
Students often need to experience activities to understand the concept of the topic. Sticky Note Exploration helps students understand the claiming of land and how different countries had different amounts of money they could spend on exploration.
March 18, 2021
Students today may have not grown up listening to the patriotic songs from the past. There are times they will hear songs but do not know what they are or where they came from. This activity revolves around the National Anthem using paintings, lyrics and a video.
March 6, 2021
Building relevance and engagement by having students choose topics that they feel affect them. Making students realize that the Constitution does affect them and having them come to the conclusion that they have to be an informed citizen and being careful of the sources they use to do the research or information from. The week before beginning the government unit start giving short warm up activities to get the students involved in the topics that will be covered through discovery.
February 13, 2021
In this lesson students will work either independently or in a small group working their way through the Google Slide Deck. Here they will take on the role of a Civil War Soldier. They will access videos and record their findings in the designated areas. We are working on their writing skills with the content.
February 10, 2021
This lesson has several components to it. We will first look at how Voter Qualifications have changed, what voting looked like in the 1850s, analyzing a political cartoon and the Electoral College.
January 10, 2021
One of the basic things we need our students to understand is comparing and contrasting. This lesson allows students to do additional research on the 13 colonies, compare, and contrast Economic, Social, Political and Environment of the groups of colonies.
Knowing the difference between the people and geography of the regions of the 13 colonies will help students understand that the differences between them continue through the Civil War.
January 5, 2021
This lesson is to build relevance and engagement by having students choose topics that they feel affect them. Making students realize that the Constitution does affect them and having them come to the conclusion that they have to be an informed citizen and being careful of the sources they use to do the research or information from. This is a review lesson connecting pieces of history together. It could be used when teaching Government or at the end of the year before the STAAR test. Compare and Link the Rights of today.
*******************************************
January 1, 2021
Vocabulary is the foundation that all content is built on. We need our students to learn the vocabulary words and also be able to apply them correctly. This lesson can be adapted in a variety of ways for your ESL and SPED population or in the way you teach.
Texas History
Teaching in Texas we teacher the rich history of how Texas became its own country and then moved on to be annexed into the Unite States. There are several facets of Texas history that help support our United States History teachers.
*******************************************
August 22, 2021
Using review stations helps students apply their learning in different modalities. This is a Civil War station review. You can have students review for a class period and get through about half of the stations or make it a two day activity. You can also utilize the information and convert it in Google Slides if you want a digital review.
May 29, 2021
Using a Hyperdoc students can have all the available sources at their fingertips. A Hyperdoc does not have to be a one day activity. This could be used over several days depending on the resources attached and the final project. Here we are looking at Sectionalism. The Hyperdoc has documents attached for the Road to Civil War.
May 9, 2021
You are going “BACK TO THE FUTURE”. When you arrive in Texas, the only humans you will meet are the Native American groups you find in each region. You will be traveling Texas on foot or horseback and will be keeping a journal of your trip, which will include sights, sounds, climate, and landforms, and of course, any interaction you have with the Native Americans of the area.
March 6, 2021
Building relevance and engagement by having students choose topics that they feel affect them. Making students realize that the Constitution does affect them and having them come to the conclusion that they have to be an informed citizen and being careful of the sources they use to do the research or information from. The week before beginning the government unit start giving short warm up activities to get the students involved in the topics that will be covered through discovery.
February 13, 2021
In this lesson students will work either independently or in a small group working their way through the Google Slide Deck. Here they will take on the role of a Civil War Soldier. They will access videos and record their findings in the designated areas. We are working on their writing skills with the content.
February 10, 2021
This lesson has several components to it. We will first look at how Voter Qualifications have changed, what voting looked like in the 1850s, analyzing a political cartoon and the Electoral College.
January 30, 2021
Our students are more technically inclined than we are. Using technology will add more engagement to the lessons. You are able to decide if this would be a collaborative activity or an independent activity.
Living in Texas students feel like cattle were always here. This lesson helps to explain the life of a cowboy as well as what caused the cattle industry to shrink in Texas.
The Beginning and End of the Cattle Industry
January 1, 2021
Vocabulary is the foundation that all content is built on. We need our students to learn the vocabulary words and also be able to apply them correctly. This lesson can be adapted in a variety of ways for your ESL and SPED population or in the way you teach.
*******************************************
World Cultures
World Cultures starts with some basic ideas about Culture, Resources, Government and Economy and uses these ideas to describe all the countries of the world. Having an equal starting place to compare and contrast the countries.
*******************************************
May 9, 2021
When students are exploring a continent such as Europe we want them to get an overview of the countries within the continent. These countries can be very different and we want the students to know why.
May 9, 2021
Students in World Cultures need to learn about the religions of the world. In many cases this is the first introduction to different religions other than their own. Use the Linked Slides activity to have students learn about them.
March 18, 2021
Have you ever seen the Amazing Race on TV. This is a teacher version of the TV show. This was originally created as the exemplar that students could use as a guide as they created their own about the country they were studying.
Students will be moving across the United States on this journey. Taking notes at each of the stops as well as the other clues you receive. They must pay attention to the dates it will be important at the end. Students will come across roadblocks and detours but they can stay strong and continue to the end.
March 6, 2021
Building relevance and engagement by having students choose topics that they feel affect them. Making students realize that the Constitution does affect them and having them come to the conclusion that they have to be an informed citizen and being careful of the sources they use to do the research or information from. The week before beginning the government unit start giving short warm up activities to get the students involved in the topics that will be covered through discovery.
January 10, 2021
One of the basic things we need our students to understand is comparing and contrasting. This lesson allows students to do additional research on the 13 colonies, compare, and contrast Economic, Social, Political and Environment of the groups of colonies.
Knowing the difference between the people and geography of the regions of the 13 colonies will help students understand that the differences between them continue through the Civil War.
January 1, 2021
Vocabulary is the foundation that all content is built on. We need our students to learn the vocabulary words and also be able to apply them correctly. This lesson can be adapted in a variety of ways for your ESL and SPED population or in the way you teach.
*******************************************
Michelle's History Graphics 