| Being a history teacher of 7th grade students can | | | | aspects of the speech they were assigned, and |
| be intimidating for a variety of reasons. Kids are | | | | then were given points for each aspect they |
| easily bored, especially by history, and, believe | | | | remembered. The friendly competition brought |
| me, they have a number of ways they express | | | | out the best of their memory skills, which in turn |
| that boredom. Then, there is the lesson planning. | | | | helped them to learn and understand exactly why |
| World history lesson plans, civil war lesson plans, | | | | the speeches were important and how they |
| social studies lesson plans, and many more have | | | | impacted society at that time. Next each team |
| to be written up in a relatively short period of | | | | was assigned a crossword to solve, and again |
| time. Not only that, they have to be created in a | | | | each team earned points. At the end of the day, |
| way that holds the attention of a room full of | | | | the team that had earned the most points was |
| adolescents who would rather be anywhere else. | | | | able to forfeit homework for the night. |
| I've been teaching for years, and with success, I'd | | | | Believe me, the idea of one less homework |
| like to think, but there comes a time when a | | | | assignment does wonders for a 7th grader's |
| teacher needs to try something new and expand | | | | motivation. They loved it, and began learning much |
| his/her horizons as an educator. Nothing will send | | | | faster than they had before. Every Friday was |
| you running for a classroom solution like seeing | | | | devoted to games, and we spent the whole |
| glazed eyes and hearing sighs of boredom. It's the | | | | period playing the interactive learning games that I |
| job of every teacher to keep the minds of his | | | | got from the website. They were enjoying |
| her kids stimulated. | | | | themselves so much that they had no idea they |
| So, there I was, stuck in a rut, as it happens on | | | | were actually learning a subject that had |
| occasion, and I decided to try something new. I | | | | previously bored them to tears. Watching them |
| went online and looked up the source of my | | | | enjoy learning for a change was great, but even |
| biggest challenge - lesson planning. I looked up the | | | | more rewarding was seeing their confidence when |
| ones I needed the most, which were civil war | | | | it came time for tests. They knew they had |
| lesson plans and world history lesson plans. I was | | | | nothing to worry about, and their test scores |
| amazed with what I found. On the website, I | | | | improved dramatically. The test scores went up |
| found social studies lesson plans that incorporated | | | | by an average of 9 points for each child. |
| a wonderful variety of methods, from video | | | | I can't stress enough the improvement that these |
| re-enactments of famous speeches to cartoons, | | | | innovative world history lesson plans have brought |
| crosswords puzzles, PowerPoint presentations, | | | | into the classroom. It's immensely rewarding to |
| and interactive games. All of these are concepts | | | | see kids laughing with each other as they learn, |
| that kids can enjoy, and are far better than | | | | and to see them doing so well on tests. I no |
| ordinary textbook learning and lecturing. I decided | | | | longer face a classroom of bored children, but |
| to use these methods immediately. | | | | instead walk into a roomful of kids who can |
| First, I divided the kids into teams and gave each | | | | barely wait to get started. The difference in their |
| team a different re-enacted speech to watch. | | | | attitudes is amazing, and the time flies for all of us |
| Then, the teams took turns recounting important | | | | because of all the fun we're having. |