So many students have test anxiety and we have some ideas to help them! In this episode, Caitlin and Dan share a bunch of ways you can help students who suffer from test anxiety so they can perform at their best and develop more confidence in themselves. Caitlin shares from her own experience and what has helped her and her students- with great reviews, making 'brain dump' videos, and rituals and routines like her 'positive affirmations' right before taking the test. (Yes, theres confetti and stars as well!) Dan shares some Social Emotional Learning strategies he uses like gratitude journal ..read more

Get ready to be inspired to not just teach or highlight Black culture and Black leaders, but to really celebrate it! We were so luck to be joined by Deana Forbs, @socialstudiesscholar, who shared so many inspirational ideas and activities you and your school could do during Black History Month, sure, but also all year long! Deana specializes in teaching and helping other educators teach Black Joy, an approach to teaching Black history and Black cultures that doesn't overly focus on slavery or the traumatic parts of their history, but highlights and celebrates Black leaders, resistance, and th ..read more

17 unique and great tips and tricks we wish we knew when we were entering the profession!  In this episode, Dan and Caitlin share many actionable tips, strategies, procedures, and routines that will help all teachers - not just history teachers! From always remembering you cannot possibly grade everything and you shouldn't feel guilty for that, how to use manipulatives and artifacts to help all learners connect to history in a tangible way (yes, you should serve tea for your lesson the Boston Tea Party!),  to saying no unless its a 'heck yes!' so you don't over extend yourself, to c ..read more

In this episode, the PLC is joined by the EduProtocols 'Dream Team' to discuss how EduProtocols can save teachers time and energy in prepping and planning while engaging students in active learning. Jon Corippo (co-developer of Eduprotocols), and  Adam Moler, and Scott Petri (authors of the EduProtocols Social Studies edition book) joined us to share how EduProtocols really can be a teachers best friend. "By making learning visible" you can ensure students are engaged, monitor students' growth, and with consistent use of these versatile strategies, so much more class time is devoted to a ..read more

In this episode we are joined by Bruce Lesh, author of "Why Won't You Just Tell Us the Answer? Teaching Historical Thinking in Grades 7-12", to talk all about how to use history labs in the classroom. Bruce shares form his years of experience on why history labs engage and excite students by making students much more active in the learning process. Dan and Caitlin share how they have used labs in their classes and why they love them. Together, we did some trouble shooting of the common problems that can happen with inquiry lessons, what separates a DBQ from a 'history lab,' and why labs can g ..read more

Getting students to think critically, carefully analyze primary and secondary sources, and gather evidence to answer a prompt can sometimes be like pulling teeth, but CSI activities get students doing all these with enthusiasm! In this episode, Dan and Caitlin break down why inquiry is such a powerful teaching modality for history classrooms. And one of the coolest and most engaging ways to implement an inquiry lesson is with CSIs- Crime Scene Investigations! From the basics of just using 'crime scene' yellow tape in the room with a couple of simple artifacts, and playing pink panther or X-F ..read more

In this episode, Caitlin breaks down how she uses "Symbol Slam" to engage students while building historical knowledge for her students. Its more than notes, its more than a call-and-response- its more than a review of key terms - its an active learning strategy that can be applied to any subject matter, any history class, at any age to get students to comprehend essential terms and then to be able to think critically about them! Dan pretty much ends up interviewing Caitlin for this special episode due to the number of requests we got to review how this strategy works. Think of the 10 million ..read more

Dan and Caitlin, with a super special guest, Jon Chiarmonte, aka the @YouMatterGuy, discuss the importance of being genuine, authentic, and honest with our students and creating a learning environment where all students feel welcome and appreciated! Its hard to do- it often requires us to swallow our egos and be real.   For a decade Jon has a run a class devoted to connecting with students on a deep level, discussing heavy and important topics that really matter- because YOU MATTER- to ensure that students have a place, and a teacher, where they know they can be appreciated, be themselves ..read more

How do you get those students who just rely on their peers to do their work and feed them the answers instead of actually working and engaged in class? Well, thats what we jump into in this episode! Dan and Caitlin share many strategies and tips for getting those students more engaged in class and how to reach them where they are at. The key thing is to realize that moochers are generally doing so for a reason - they could be lost, bored, or needing attention.  Once you identify the root of the students 'mooching' then you can strategize how to help that student. From taking little brea ..read more

Gallery walks can be great activities to use in history class and once and with some secret sauce they can be unforgettable! In this episode, we are joined by Matt Barry to walk us through (get it!) his outstanding Louis and Clark Expedition Gallery Walk that he has been doing for years with his students. His students get role cards of specific members of the expedition and then have to navigate through the hallway with numerous stations to not just learn about the Corps of Discovery but in some way, experience it! Besides diving deep into this one lesson, we talk about many different ways ..read more