​STUDENT LIFE
ACADEMICS
All of my lesson plans are designed to challenge and inspire students to excell and grow. Each lesson plan will incorporate these elements:
LEARNING TARGETS: Students will understand the purpose of the learning target or task and be able to demonstrate using action verbs listed below.
ACADEMIC LITERACY: Students will read, write, speak and discuss (with peers) their assignments everyday in class, as their tasks increase in rigor.
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT: Students will understand how history is relevant in their daily lives by developing their own beliefs about the consequences and legacies handed down to us by the events of the past.
CHECKING FOR UNDERSTANDING: Student and teacher interactions are the basis for monitoring progress and clarifying student understanding. While formal assessments are necessary, daily diagnostic assessments are critical to insure that all students are able to keep pace with the class.
BLOOM'S ACTION VERBS
RECALL IDENTIFY LOCATE
ANALYZE COMPARE CONTRAST
EXPLAIN INFER SUMMARIZE
EVALUATE CREATE COMPOSE
Class Projects
Examples of student projects from Mr Eversgerd's 2012-13 7th Grade World History class.
PROJECT BASED LEARNING
Students express themselves in many ways. Traditional assessment methods that only utilize multiple choice questions only assess the students' ability to recall and recite knowledge. Assessments that allow students to express themselves creatively give students the freedom to develop their own analyses and create their own outcomes. Project-based learning allows teachers to bring the "real world" into the classroom.
PUBLIC SPEAKING
Their are not many adults who enjoy the thought of having to deliver a speach, or prepare for a debate. Yet fundamental to our liberty as Americans is the inalienable right to protest and hold our government accountable. This is not teaching anarchy. This IS preventing the Mayor and the City Council change zoning, selling community property (e.g.).
Petitioning the government, presenting to a board, propsing to a client; all skills that our children will need throughout their lives. Public speaking will become a fundemantal part of student life in my class. Students will be guided and encouraged to formulate beliefs and express them verbally in front of their peers. I want to create an environment where "guessing" is ok and "predicting" becomes as natural as breathing.
Music
COMMON CORE
Despite what you have read, or heard about Common Core, Social Studies teachers have been teaching critical thinking all along. Many say, that is why history classes are so difficult. The basic recipe for teaching history has always included three essential elements:
CHRONOLOGICAL & SPATIAL THINKING: Students compare the present with the past, evaluating the consequences of past events and decisions and determining the lessons that were learned.
RESEARCH, EVIDENCE, & POINT OF VIEW: Students distinguish valid arguments from fallacious arguments in historical interpretations.
HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION: Students show the connections, causal and otherwise, between particular historical events and larger social, economic, and political trends and developments, with written and verbal communication.
FINALLY: Let us not forget technology and it's relevance in today's world. Students will access websites to conduct research and use apps and other hi-tec devices to demonstrate acquisition of knowledge.