One of My Favorite Ways to Stay Organized in the Classroom

Posted on July 31, 2016 by Stephanie's History Store

Starting the year off organized is key to many teachers’ sanity. For me, that includes planning ahead. With those two things in mind, this right here is one of my FAVORITE teacher organization tips/tricks/tools/methods (NOT an affiliate link). It has worked for me no matter how many students/preps/periods I have because it comes in so many different combinations and colors (one year I had it in 5×5–one slot per period for each school day–and it was amazing!).

back to school tips for secondary teachers

When I make my copies for next week or two, I file them in this multi-row and column organizer. It’s not an ideal location this particular year, it’s behind my desk and on a sideways filing cabinet, but it will do.

The left column is Monday-Friday for Geography, the middle one is for Texas History, and the column on the right is for US History. I make the Geography copies for Monday, use a binder clip to keep them together, and put them in the top left slot. Tuesday’s copies go right below, Wednesday’s in the third slot, etc.

Repeat for each class for each day of the week. They slots are tall enough, and my classes are small enough this year, that I can fit 2 weeks worth of papers in each slot, each batch in its own binder clip.

my favorite way of keeping my classroom handouts organized

A few reasons why I love this:
–it helps me stay organized (the exact amount of handouts I need per class is pre-counted out and in binder clips)
–I can plan ahead without letting paper pile up on my desk

–if a student knows they’ll be absent I can easily give them their work ahead of time
–it gives me a physical visual of where I’m going in the chapter

–it’s very flexible (for every variation of the number of subjects and periods I’ve taught I’ve had one of these)
–it’s VERY durable, knock on wood, they always last the school year and then some

Right now my papers are waiting to be copied. I don’t have my class lists yet but as soon as I do my paper organizer will be full of student information forms, get-to-know-you activities, why study history, task card answer sheets, map pre-tests, etc.

back to school teacher desk

Do you have any back to school tips? I’d love to read about them in the comments.

While you’re here, hop around the other blogs linked up here for more secondary back to school tips!

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A Peek in My New Classroom

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Stephanie's History Store

There’s still 2 weeks until school starts but I wanted to give you a peek into my classroom. I was able to decorate with a lot of new things this year that I’m really excited about. It’s the first time I had a bulletin board to decorate and I’m also using anchor charts for the first time, so setting up has been fun but deciding where to put everything was a challenge. I can’t re-arrange the desks to make a reading nook by my bookcases until the extra desks are taken out of the room which won’t happen for another week. So until it’s all finalized, here are a few peeks into my classroom. These are my favorite parts so far.

#bestclassroomever BTS 2016

First up is my Why Study History board. It has quotes from various people throughout history on it, and as a first week of school activity, the girls will write what the quotes mean in their own words and what can be learned from them. They will then create a bulletin board outside the classroom with their own reasons for why we should study history. I know it’s not a huge pop of color, but in the room it actually stands out for that exact reason.

why study history bulletin board

I have 3 anchor charts (plus class rules) ready to go for the first week of school. A friend suggested what can we learn from the past and how do we learn about the past so we’ll have a class discussion on both of those (my classes are really small so the girls will write the answers themselves on the anchor charts), and then I made one based on what an effective historian does.

first week of school social studies anchor charts

What has not changed is my student center, though my decorations are more in line with what’s appropriate for middle school girls. They turn in their work in the black stacky thing (I still don’t have a good name for it!), they find what they missed in my absent bin (I finally labeled it as such), and they still have a one-stop shop for pencils, erasers, scotch tape, etc. What’s new this year is a small binder for “finished early” work. In the binder are activities that will work for any of my 3 classes (map skills, writing prompts, vocab practice, activities to review any topic, articles about current events, etc).

student center with absent bin and organizer to turn in work

student center with supplies, absent bin, and organizer to turn in work

I still have my classroom library, though it is divided into 2 spots (they form a little L-shape in the back corner of my room). One has reference books and the other has books about many of the topics we’ll cover throughout the year. The girls can read them when they are done with their work. I also have a stash of National Geographic magazines they can browse throughout the year. Once I can rearrange the desks, this will be a little reading nook with a rug and some beanbag chairs/pillows. Did you notice the map is “upside down?” I’ll be writing a post on that map in a couple of weeks on how I use it to start a conversation on perspective.

This is a section of the bulletin board outside my room (I’ll be teaching Geography, TX History, and US History), the girls will finish the rest of it. This pigeon poster has always been one of my favorites so I wanted to show that too (some days you’re the pigeon, some days you’re the statue).

the start of my exterior bulletin board

What do you love about your classroom?

Credit for many of my decorations goes to: Elle Madison, Addie Williams, and Julie Faulkner.

My Top 4 Picks for the Best Resource Ever for Back to School ’16

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Stephanie's History Store

Every year it seems like I find a new set of favorite activities/resources for the coming school year. Well, this year I have 4 amazing resources to share with you guys for #BestResourceEver for the Back to School 2016 season. I wanted a “top 3” list but couldn’t narrow it down to just 3 so I picked 2 activities for students and 2 resources for teachers.

The activities are a better fit for history teachers but the teacher resources can be used by any middle or high school teacher. By the way, there’s no way I could do these justice so definitely click on the links to check them out in more detail!

4 resources secondary (history) teachers need to get this year!

1. This template for a pamphlet activity can be used in over 30 different ways to review ANY history topic! Each option incorporates academics, opinion, creativity, and visuals.

It’s an activity that every teacher should have in their go-to stash, especially since no two review pamphlets in a unit would be the same and students would have different options to choose from for the next unit. You won’t believe the mileage you get out of this!

2. Students will LOVE learning and reviewing topics such as Jamestown, the Oregon Trail, and all the presidents with these doodle notes.

They come in a variety of set-ups (color, black and white, notes included, blank for students to take notes in) for your convenience. They are easy for students to personalize and they will keep students fully engaged in the topic at hand. My favorite part of them (though it was hard to pick just one thing) is the comic figure who tells students things like “it’s always a bad idea to go to the bathroom right next to where you get your drinking water!”

3. This planner is a must have for secondary teachers. I splurged on getting it professionally printed and bound and I ADORE it! Some of my favorites parts of it include the pages/spaces to plan out activities for the month, notes for what not to forget, reflection areas, monthly calendars to plan ahead, and more!

You can get it in a few different patterns/themes, you can easily reprint it to use year after year, and an added perk is how fantastic it is for lefties like myself since it works with a top binding 🙂

4. Last, but certainly not least, are these “make grading easier” type forms, but really, there’s a plethora of checklists/sheets/forms for you to stay organized and keep records of many different kinds regardless of the subject you teach.

My favorites are the feedback forms, class bragging sheet, class results analysis form, and post assignment reflection form. There were sheets included in this that I didn’t realize I wanted/needed until I got this resource.

I’ve been loving putting my lesson plans together in my new planner, I can’t wait to use the pamphlet and doodle note activities, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the feedback and organization forms positively impact my classroom.

Which resources or activities would make your top 3 or top 4 list? I’d love to read it in the comments below 🙂

4 resources secondary (history) teachers need to get this year!

How to Respond to, “Why do We Study History?”

Posted on July 3, 2016 by Stephanie's History Store

In just about a month, students around the world (or at least the northern hemisphere) will be asking their social studies teachers, “why do we have to study history?” Of course there are great answers to that question, it’s just a matter of whether teachers spoon feed students the answers or have them work with the question themselves (I like putting my students in pairs before having the whole class discussion). Though it might be tempting, it’s not really responsible of us to say, “why not/because I said so/because it’s important/etc” and move on. Each year, depending on my students, I have handled that question a little differently.

My very first year teaching I answered it myself, then the next day I had the students come up with their own answers because I thought I had done them such a disservice by only telling them my opinion. Since then I have started incorporating various activities to get the kids thinking about why we should study history (some are linked below), and this year they will make a “why we should study history” bulletin board for our hallway.

I was curious about how other teachers and students responded to the “why study history” question, so I reached out to some of my social studies teacher friends and this is a sample of what we (or our students) have said:

Should we study history?

History helps us see why things are the way they are. There’s still a lot of hate and racism in the world, but if you look back, we’ve come along way. It makes you feel hopeful.
We should know where we have come from to forge a path to where we want to be. That includes understanding what has worked and not worked so we can continue to improve without backtracking.
We as a people love stories and history is nothing but stories.
History is the best reality show ever.
History can be kind of repetitive. After the Civil War, the north were angry so they punished the south. After WWI the Allies were so angry they punished Germany, who was resentful which definitely contributed to WW2. So, history teaches us about a lot of mistakes that have been made that we should try not to repeat.
“All we hear about is STEM, What if I don’t want to be an engineer?”
History isn’t just dates, battles, and documents. It is people who woke up, ate breakfast, worked, had families, and helped us get to where we are today. We will be those people one day and we should be studied and understood too.
The skills you learn and develop while studying history will be useful in many other parts of your life.
History answers the question, “why?” Why did Japan invade China, why do we call it a telephone, why do we shoot fireworks on the 4th of July, why did France send the Statue of Liberty to America, why does county A side with country B in a conflict against country C, etc.
History can teach us about who we are, and maybe even help guide us to who we want to be. April Cullom shares a personal story HERE about taking ownership of one’s history and not letting it get lost as previous generations pass on, click to read about how it moved and challenged her students to do the same.

If you are interested in “why study” history type activities, I’d recommend starting with one of these:
From Education with DocRunning: Why Study History
From History in the Middle: Occupations of the Past
From Gail Hennessey: The Past Shapes Our Present
From History with Mr. E: Why Study History
From Social Studies Success: Why Study History

How do you handle the “why should we study history” question? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

***Special thanks to Sarah Pecorino Illustrations for the image in this post***

Stephanie's History Store

History Teacher, Wife, Mom, Traveler, Foodie, Reader

Monthly Archives: July 2016