I taught US Government for many years. And in that course, I touched on every 3rd rail of American politics – race, gender, class, abortion, gun rights, Social Security, etc. Literally every controversial subject possible came up in my class. I expected outraged parent phone …
I almost quit my major on the 2nd day of college. I walked into my first college history class sooo excited. Until my professor told us he would try to keep it to 2,000 pages of reading. Two thousand. I almost fell out of my …
I’m not going to mince words here – I hate summer assignments. I mean, really hate them. I’ve completed them as a student and assigned them as a teacher. Y’all, they’ve got to go. Many AP and IB courses give incoming students an assignment to …
My AP US History teacher was perhaps . . . not the best person to prepare us for the exam. I knew there was a problem when 1st quarter ended and we were STILL in the colonial period. I lived in Virginia, but come on! …
“So, I’m going to take 7 IB classes next year, Ms. P”. Josh was a junior, getting ready to apply to competitive schools the next fall. There was NO need to take all IB classes, but he insisted. I’d taught Josh when he was a …
It’s a few days before school begins. And you suddenly remember that summer assignment is due oh-so-soon. Yikes! You meant to start it right after school ended, but you wanted some time to relax. You even read that blog post about planning your summer assignment, …
My original title for this post was “How to turn in a summer assignment that doesn’t suck,” but that seems a little harsh, no? This is how it generally goes: It’s the week before school starts and I suddenly remember that summer assignment I received …
Ahh, the flowers are in bloom and the pollen is in the air. Can you smell the stress? That’s right. It’s testing season. Every spring, thousands of high school students take standardized exams – Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, SAT, and ACT exams. And let’s not …