This episode is all about NCSS, National Council for Social Studies, and how joining NCSS or your state organization can be so helpful in your growth as an educator by connecting you with other amazing educators and organizations! Dan & Caitlin were just back from the national NCSS conference in Nashville when they recorded this and spoke about their experiences there including both of their presentations. Dan presented on "History Labs: Bridging Historical Thinking with 21st Century Li...

We are relaunching one of our favorite episodes jam packed with creative and fun activities you can try out this Halloween season! In this episode Dan and Caitlin share some fun things they have done for US and world history for Halloween and even some local history things you could do as well. From learning about the history of Halloween, 'haunted geography', slimy sources (thats a winner!), and making tombstone epitaphs and graveyards for historical figures, we tried to include as many fun...

Get ready for many more great ways to start class, no matter what course you teach! In this episode, we pick up right where we left off in the last episode and share fun activities to do with historical images like "Meme Mondays" to kick start curiosity, wall and desk graffiti, spiraling & skill building tasks to help students review previous lessons, and much more. We also share some grading hacks for bellwork so you don't have to spend your precious time grading bellwork while still ...

The most important three minutes of class are those first three minutes! In this episode, Dan and Caitlin share their favorite ways to start class in order to transition students effectively, get them interested and excited, and kick-start their curiosity! Sharing very practical strategies on how to set up an effective 'start of class' routine, bellringers that will not just get students focused but also get them to 'lean into the lesson', and how to make sure 100% of students start with a ...

100% or Nothing Quizzes, a historical thinking Get-to-Know-the-Teacher activity, gamifying routines and procedures and much more! 🤩 This episode picks up right where we left off as we go over how we create a community of passionate learners in the first week or two of school! We talk about being your authentic self, how we carefully teach procedures & routines and how you can gamify it to help students master it, how to set high expectations for students so they know learning is serious ...

Building cardboard historical sites, being silly with Play-Doh, on day one, 'living' in a world without history, and many other crazy ideas for an amazing first couple of weeks of school are found in this episode! In this episode, Dan & Caitlin share many strategies, activities, and policies that help them set up an amazing school year. They discuss great ways to get students excited about class with unique first-day activities (yes, we ditch the syllabus and get into some cool stuff rig...

Summer is hard earned, y'all! And we owe it to ourselves to make the most of it! In this episode, Dan and Caitlin share their best tips for really pouring back into yourself after a long school year! Because the best PD you can get this summer just might be rest, relaxation, and adventure! If you are doing some planning and prep for back to school make sure to check out our site for some great first week activities for history class: www.historyteachersclub.com And we would love it if you...

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 ...

Reviews can be fun, helpful, and even energizing for students and for us teachers if done correctly. And in this episode, we are talking all about review strategies and a framework for approaching reviews that will ensure students get a lot out of it and maybe even look forward to showing how much they learned on the test! 🤷‍♂️ Caitlin shares about how she transforms her terms and key concepts from her Symbol Slam into a massive timeline and a map to help students remember, recall, and make ...

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 o...

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'...

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 roo...

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 Lewis 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 ...

John Spencer is something of a project based learning guru and an expert in delivering empowering student-centered projects. In this episode, we get all into how to manage and how to incorporate PBL in history and social studies classrooms. In the episode we talk about how moving towards more project-based-learning can be intimidating for teachers because as John discusses, getting off the tracks is part of the process. But we discuss ways to provide supports for students, ensuring content ...

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 probl...

Its everyones favorite time of the year- Halloween season (its not just a day!). And we got you covered with lots of great activities and lessons for Halloween. In this episode Dan and Caitlin share some fun things they have done for US and world history for Halloween and even some local history things you could do as well. From learning about the history of Halloween, 'haunted geography', slimy sources (thats a winner!), and making tombstone epitaphs and graveyards for historical figures, w...

In this comical episode, Dan and Caitlin are joined with the one and only, Gaspare Randazzo, @standuprandazzo, to talk about costumes in the classroom. Caitlin couldn’t be happier! With Dan being a reluctant costume wearer, Caitlin and Gaspare share about why they love dressing up, some of their favorite costumes, where to get affordable costumes, how to make your own with things from around the house, and why raiding Halloween stores the day after the holiday is a gold mine for deals! They a...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...