I never really considered myself that creative of a person growing up, but it has turned into one of my major strengths. Teaching has really shown me this over the years. Keeping teenagers interested in history for 180 days a year can be a daunting task.
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My “Aha” Moment in Teaching
When I first began teaching I was very by the book, kind of “old school”: lectures, quizzes, tests, and the final exam with a few projects sprinkled in. Students liked me personally but felt like it was too much repetition. I went back to the drawing board after my first couple of years resolving to make my class more relevant, as well as hands-on.
I had a class in college that used the History Alive! curriculum, but at the time did not see how it could really work for me. History Alive! has one of the most innovative history curriculums out there. The focus is getting students to: role-play, re-create, act, and work together to solve problems.
I started having mock press conferences where 10th graders would take on the personas of various historical figures. I thought for sure it would not work, but to my chagrin, it did! I then dove deeper into History Alive! creating a curriculum that focused on project-based learning and simulating events. I moved to Economics and U.S. Government a few years later and took this approach once more.
Changing Subjects
After teaching U.S. Government and Economics for 10+ years, I have a strong repertoire of simulations, projects, games, and other hands-on activities. My students really enjoy these lessons the way I teach them. It can really spark their interest and make the class quite engaging.
Without this creativity, I think I would have struggled a lot more with teaching for sure. I have learned so much as a leader and instructor. So many seemingly insurmountable problems can be addressed with creativity and holistic thinking. Classrooms are dynamic places and demand dynamic creative thinkers to teach in them. This is the main expression of my creativity.
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History Alive Materials For Teaching
Amazon has some of the older textbooks for History Alive if you are interested. These are great for classes or homeschooled students.
What are your thoughts on this?