Making History Fun!!

If my students are like any other students that have walked down the halls of a high school, history may not be their favorite subject. And although I think it is a very important subject to study, others may feel that science or math is, so I want to make sure that history is at least fun! Science and Math may be a bit boring and difficult, so I just want my students to have a class period during the day in which they learn a lot and have a fun time doing it. There will be a lot of different tools that I use like fun projects and figuring out what important thing happened today in history. Mostly though, I just want my students to enjoy doing what they are doing, and to enjoy learning what they need to!

Open Door Policy

One of my many hopes for my classroom is that my students will know that I have an open door policy. I went to high school at a small private school and I always knew if I needed to talk to someone, my teachers would be there. I want for my classroom to have this same feel. Keeping it professional is very important to me, but those high school years can be rough and it can be comforting to know that someone cares. I want my students to know that I will be there for them and will always be there to lend a helping hand.

Goggle Documents

In my classroom I am also going to be using the Google Documents application that Google has made available. Google Presentation is going to be a good friend of mine, and will also be useful because I will be able to publish my presentations, thus giving my students access to the presentations online. Another thing that is great about Google Documents is that it is totally free! Apart from using the application myself, I am also going to encourage my students to use it as well. Microsoft Office is great, but can often cost a lot of money where as Google Documents is completely free, and honestly, more reliable. Google Documents will be a great addition to my classroom.

The Forgotten...

As a history student my passion has always been the people who were just on the cusp of history, but never quite made the books. These are the people I want my students to know about when I am a teacher, the forgotten. It is sad to me when college students do not know who Elizabeth Cady Stanton or Susan B. Anthony are. I feel this is an injustice to the students, that they are being cheated, and I want to correct this. In my classroom we will of course learn about all the important people who have made our history what it is, but I also want to teach my students new names that they have never heard before, and make things more fun and interesting!

Blogging

In my classroom I am going to use a blog to communicate with my students. I have found that blogging is a very useful and efficient way to communicate, and it is something else too, FUN! I know that not all of my kids will have availability to a computer, but hopefully there will be a library or other means of checking the blog. I think a blog would be great because I will be able to post homework assignments, fun facts ie: "Today in History...," and messages to the parents. I am hoping that creating my classroom blog will be beneficial and fun for my classroom.