Teaching History with Mrs. Byars

Next year will be my first year teaching AP World History. The course covers all of human history and asks students to complete a test in May in which they must complete a multiple choice section and write three different types of responses, two of which are long essays, while consistently asking students to contextualize and analyze a variety of historical primary and secondary sources. To be honest, I wasn't entirely thrilled about a 4 day AP World History summer institute. I was worried it would be dry, content heavy, and would lack specific concepts and tools I could use in my class. I am incredibly happy to be proven totally wrong.  The speaker at APSI San Gabriel this year is Aaron Marsh and he has done an excellent job giving us a general view of the course while breaking up the day with activities we can use in our classroom right away that support the historical thinking skills we will need to develop in our students.  But what really struck me and wha...

I am a big fan of asking students for feedback regularly. I'll ask for feedback immediately after certain lessons or activities, I'll ask for feedback at the end of a unit, and I always ask for feedback at the end of the semester. Usually, I am looking for engagement and learning. My students are generally very honest about what they like and don't like and also will admit when assignments they did not love helped them learn (and also when the opposite occurs). This summer, I've asked for feedback weekly because I am trying something so different than my traditional classroom. So for this post of my reflective grading summer adventure, I've decided to share this weeks surveys results. I used Google Forms to create the survey and then sent the survey to students as an Exit Ticket for the day via Remind (I also post a link on the board for students who don't have phones). Google Forms takes that data and makes these charts. I Feel Like I Learned About H...