A few years ago I attended a PD session called "Integrating Graphing into your Instruction".  An old teaching friend was the presenter, so I gave it a shot.  I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I got out of it.  Graph reading and interpretation are skills that show up frequently in standardized social studies tests that do not explicitly exist in most social studies standards.  We expect our students to use them, but we don't (or at least I didn't) really think about ways of explicitly teaching those skills.

So, how can we integrate frequent graph skills practice into our instruction given that World History has to cover 40,000+ years of content and American History nearly 500?  I integrate graph practice in two main ways.

First, my warm up activities at the beginning of class always involve a short (less than 2 min) vocabulary activity and a slightly longer second activity either related to map reading or graphing.  For my graphing warm ups, I'll project a graph and we will briefly discuss its features.  I ask questions like, "What type of graph is this?", "What do the colors mean?", "What units are used?" with the follow up of, "How do you know?" or "How did you find out?"  Then, I'll ask several questions that require them to actually read the graph (and, again, I ask them to explain how they got their answers).  I really enjoy doing this because I can select all kinds of different graphs that don't necessarily need to be on topic (like a favorite super hero pie chart) that sort of trick my students into exploring and reading types of graphs.

The second way in integrate graph practice into my instruction is with specific graphing activities.  I have a growing number of these resources available in my store.  If you're interested, CLICK HERE to check them out.



I'm also giving you a FREE set of graphing posters (pictured above) that you will get as a Google Slide presentation you can print out that are a perfect addition to an informational/teaching wall either in your classroom or in the hallway.  CLICK HERE for the set of 4 posters, and don't forget to follow my TpT store for more great Social Studies resources!

• My Graphing Resources
• FREE Graphing Posters
• My Store

I love note taking days in class - I get to tell stories, make jokes, and get kids engaged and laughing while - "Wait.  Mr. Robinson, can you back up?  I'm not done copying yet."  Right before the punch line.  Every time.  Or, "What do we copy?" or "Do we have to write all that?" etc, etc, etc.

  Mrs. Dickenson taught my class how to take notes in 6th grade ELA.  Her method was tedious, but, after lots (and lots...) of practice, it was neat and effective.  Neat rows of capital letters, Roman numerals, lower case letters and lower case Roman numerals (who knew that was a thing?).  Each represented topics, sub-topics and sub-sub-topics.  By the time I got to college, my note taking had evolved into a system of dashes and dots.  Then, as a teacher, I expected my students to be able to do the same.  They couldn't.  Either they were listening to me and not writing, or writing and not listening to my lecture.

So, I adapted.  I developed my concept of Interactive Notes.  The purpose is to present a lot of information with lots of student-to-student discussion, then once they have thoroughly engaged with the content, write down the critical content on a pre-printed student note taking sheet.  The result is that all students can listen, interact and write instead of some write and some interact and some write.  With my interactive notes, students can do all three, and wind up with neat, easy to read and study notes with only critical content recorded! 

I have created several sets of interactive notes so far, and plan on making more (including a set of self-guided interactive notes using Google Slides that are perfect for distance learning) that are available at my TpT store.  The first link below the following picture is for a free sample called "Introduction to Maps".  If you like it, please check out my other ones by clicking the second link for my other interactive notes.  If you like them, remember to follow my store and this blog for more great Social Studies resources!

Using latitude and longitude is a 5th or 6th grade standard here in Michigan where I teach, and I imagine it's around that age in most other places too, yet, every single year this winds up being a major road block.  There are usually 5 to 10 students in each class who can do it quickly and correctly every time from day one, and maybe 6 to 8 who just need a quick reminder.  This leaves about half of my class each year that I have to start from scratch with.

It's actually the same problem that exists with finding reading materials that challenge everyone.  There's that small chunk of students way ahead - the reading/history dorks who probably already know all of the core content, the large chunk in the middle who are ready to go, and that far behind chunk that really needs intensive instruction.

So, what do we do?  I devote an entire day to basic map skills using a Google Slide presentation that I am offering here and at my TpT store for FREE that both serves as a quick reminder to that middle group while introducing longitude, latitude and other map-related concepts to those who are far behind.  Then, and more importantly, throughout the year, I intentionally begin or end most classes with map activities that use latitude and longitude as well as other map reading skills.  I also occasionally use topical stand alone activities like my Hurricane Tracker resource for enrichment and additional practice.

Oh, one last thing before I share my resources.  My wife is an elementary teacher, so I feel I have to add this.  I also teach all my students, "Latitude is fatitude" and make them stick out their bellies while doing the "discount double check" motion.  It's hilarious.

So, click the links below to check out the resources I mentioned in this post, and don't forget to visit and follow my TpT store for lots of other great social studies resources!

• FREE Classroom Posters to print
• FREE Introduction to Maps Interactive Notes using Google Slides
• Hurricane Tracker Activity (Traditional Print)
• Hurricane Tracker Activity (Digital Version perfect for in class or distance learning use!)
• My Store

The first of the top 5 things middle schooler's don't know for Social Studies that I wish they did is the difference between a continent, a country and a state.  Every year, when we do our review of basic geography, someone invariably says, "Wait, Australia is a continent?  I thought it was a country."  
"It is."
"Oh, so then North America's a country?"
"No..." 
"But we're called Americans."

Every.  Single.  Year.

It's almost like it's a rite of passage one year of students passes down to the next every August or something.

So, how can this gap be quickly filled?  The first link below is for a FREE presentation using Google Slides that will teach your students the difference between continents, countries and states in a quick and fun way that even includes a game!  The second link is for a set of three posters you can print and display in your classroom as visual reminders for your students throughout the year.  These two FREE resources are only available here, so if you know any other teachers who would benefit from them, please encourage them to visit and follow my blog, and don't forget to visit and follow my TpT store for lots of great Social Studies products!

It happens every year.  You know it's coming, but it still manages to catch you off guard every time.  Your students (and not just one or two) don't know or don't know how to do something so basic it stops you in your tracks, and you probably utter those familiar words, "You should have learned that last year," or, in the case of working a pencil sharpener in a reasonable amount of time, in kindergarten.  Seriously, Ethan, how many cranks until it's sharp enough?

It's probably not their fault, and it isn't productive to blame elementary teachers anyway.  To borrow a phrase from Truman, "The buck stops here."  So, what do we do?  Do we scrap our scope and sequence and just teach elementary content?

​No.  Although, when I taught 8th grade American History, my students loved watching PBS' Liberty's Kids.  The answer is to fill the gaps while moving forward with new content.  I know it sounds like I'm suggesting learning to walk while we're running, but it's actually easier than that.  Over the next month or so, I will be blogging about each of the 5 things and giving you some FREE resources to get started!

So, make sure you continue (or start) to follow this blog to learn more about my Top 5 Things I Think Middle Students Should Know But Don't & What to Do About It.