Steve Hill’s mobile unit is a museum, and he is part curator, part tour guide, and all teacher. The décor isn’t pretty. There are no tassels, no window treatments, no striking color themes. It is, however, a constant lesson in history, and it covers almost every wall.

What do Hill’s students encounter each day?

• Statuettes of ancient Greece and Rome, including Romulus and Remus
• Propaganda posters of Mao Tse-Tung
• WWI and WWII helmets
• Portrait photos of Martin Luther King, Jr.,  Elvis Presley and Teddy Roosevelt
• A student replica of “The Death of A. Marat”
• Personal plaques, awards and certificates
• Philadelphia sports memorabilia
• Images of the Vietnam War and WWII dog fighting planes
• Hanging maps
• A fallout shelter sign
• Shelves of history books

Of course, these fragments of history are useless without the historian. Hill is a storyteller, a historian to the core, and the lessons he teaches are filled with visual support, frequently straight from his trailer walls. His students learn about communist China with Maoist propaganda staring them in the face. They learn about the development of military firepower holding a 30 inch inert, wood and steel bullet in their hands.

Sometimes Hill wears the memorabilia, like a WWI doughboy ammunition belt and German hate belts adorned with buttons from slain soldiers.

Hill says on open house nights even parents, perhaps slightly concerned, ask about the image of an execution in the back of his room. He breaks into a history lecture, and soon they see what his students see all semester—the deep, complex, fascinating stories of history.

Can’t you just put pictures on Power Point?
Of course you can. Hill does, too. And, like many teachers, he enhances his instruction with film. But the memorabilia in his room has two advantages.

1. It’s  in the room the day students walk in the door, just waiting to be explained. It creates intrigue—a problem of sorts—whether students are inquisitive enough to ask about it or not. Students most frequently inquire about the WWI and WWII US, German, French, and West German helmets, which they finally come to understand when instruction reaches the 20th century.

2. It’s still in the room after Hill has incorporated an item into a lesson, rekindling that lesson each time the student sees it, strengthening the memory, the ability to recall. If Hill’s students stare off into space, chances are they’re accidentally reviewing history lectures.

Hill explains, “Historic memorabilia adds another dimension to my teaching and student learning. I use the different artifacts to teach and inspire students to ask, “WHY?” Even if students are zoning-out, the visual treasure of history surrounding them in my classroom is teaching them by giving them visual anchors to history that can be cued in later instruction.”

Mobile Unit 5 isn’t exactly the Smithsonian, but it is an extraordinary classroom and a wonderful place to learn.

In Civics and Economics, tenth graders learn the difference between civil and criminal. Defining the concepts and distinguishing between the two is simple enough, but last week Mark Grow’s students performed short skits to make sure the concepts were clear and unforgettable.

Having learned all the basics, Grow’s students were instructed to form groups of three to four students, choose a type of case (criminal or civil), create a skit demonstrating that case, and act it out. Keep reading »

Three wonderful teachers shared their strategies for getting to know their students, and all three are worthy contest winners. I hope you will enjoy reading what they do to develop a stronger understanding of who their students are as individuals. I am, as always, amazed by the brilliance and dedication of our teachers.

Tracey Moore

It is hard to get to know my students by teaching them math. I’ve always admired english teachers because they get to know their students through their writings.

The first day of class I give out a student information sheet. On the first page is all of the normal information…parent’s names, schedule, phone numbers, etc. On the back, however, I ask questions like:

What would you do if you were given a million dollars?
Who is someone you admire and why?
What do you think are the characteristics of a good teacher…a bad teacher?
Do you consider math to be something you are good at or a difficulty?

That night, my husband and I go through all of the sheets. We learn which of my students come from single parent homes (this year I have 5 students total that live with both mom and dad!). I learn who is self centered and who is giving (from their answer to the $1,000,000 question). I learn who is already defeated by math before they walk in the door Keep reading »

One role of an instructional coach is to help teachers reflect on how they deliver instruction and how students receive it. Such reflection can be facilitated in several ways, the most telling of which is data–data about student behavior, questioning techniques, student engagement, teacher movement.
Consider inviting me to your classroom to gather data and reflect with you. Here are a few ideas:

• High-level Questioning: What questions are you asking your students? Where do they fall on Marzano’s taxonomy?
• Reinforcement ratios: How are you reinforcing student effort and performance? To what extent is your feedback positive or negative? Keep reading »

I ended my last blog with observations about some of the collaboration that occurs between our biology teachers. Before Spring Break our Spanish teachers (Luisa Haynes, Ashley Watson, and Sara Dunham) allowed me the pleasure of observing collaboration in their department.

They learned together.
My involvement began with an hour-long training CPS training session the entire department, including Walt Spencer and Mike Lupo, scheduled with me. This training led to some consensus on the usefulness of the device and to an agreement about building a database of review questions using Exam View software.

They planned together.
On our recent work day, the three Spanish teachers spent several hours tackling a common problem. Keep reading »

Flinchicus jaundicus

The first thing I did after I put my two-year-old son to bed a couple weeks ago was draw an alien. I had been waiting to start my drawing since observing Jed Smith’s alien DNA activity earlier that day. For me, drawing the alien was everything. I’m guessing it was for many of his students as well.

Before beginning this cooperative activity with his students, Smith taught them the process for transcribing DNA (a series of A’s, G’s, C’s and T’s) into mRNA (a series of A’s, G’s, C’s and U’s), and translating mRNA into proteins. These proteins are determined by a sequence of amino acids, which in turn tell something about the genetic trait. In this case, the genetic traits included alien features—2 antennae or 4, 4 eyes or 8, blue skin or yellow.

Why It Worked
The process itself is easy to follow. It’s also one of those processes that is easy to forget a few minutes later. That’s why, for me, the alien was going to be everything: Keep reading »

Rebecca Price. Congratulations Rebecca!

Thanks to everyone for the amazing contest submissions. Check out the brilliance…

Rebecca Price
I wanted my students to understand the concept of how temperature of a solvent and surface area of a solute affect the dissolving rate in a solution. So, on Thursday I gave my students a list of materials that they would have access to during their lab activity. Then I gave them two objectives: 1) Find the relationship between temperature of a solvent and the dissolving rate of a solvent in solution. Keep reading »

I will never pretend that technology can do what we do. Teaching is best left to teachers. But learning? That belongs to students. Study Island, although it cannot teach a student on its own, can help students learn the skills and knowledge we teach. In my conversations with teachers about online tools like Study Island, I have encountered two strategies that seem particularly effective.

The Kujawski Plan
Geometry teacher Zina Kujawski—in every way a mathematical thinker—has such an elaborate Study Island plan for her students that it deserves a name: The Kujawski Plan. Here’s what she does: Keep reading »

Check out what’s going on at Rose High. The following paragraphs are teachers’ responses to the question: what was your best teaching experience today? They were accumulated over only a few hours.

My first period class (I’m sooooooooo proud of them) have learned how to love and affirm a particular student in the class and, as a result, have developed a higher level of tolerance and understanding for one another…. (I believe, too, that it’s part of because of how I treat the particular student)… D— has become very dear to our hearts…. his theatre nickname is “D-fresh”….  and; when he comes in the room the entire class heartily greats him (he comes in a little late each day, and we’ve usually started)… they cheer, call his name and applaud…. You should SEE his face light up!!!!!  It’s awesome!!!!!   And it has really helped his self-esteem and his willingness and ability to participate!!!!!  What more can we ask for?  Everybody wins!!! Keep reading »

90%
Ninety percent is a solid B if you’re a student, but if you are a teacher in Pitt County School, 90% is A+ territory.

Last year the county began training all teachers in Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol. Within the SIOP initiative, they identified two particular goals: SIOP objectives (content and language objectives) in every classroom and 90% student engagement.

What it’s not
Ninety percent student engagement might be difficult to define, so let’s start with an antonym. Keep reading »