Blogs on Lesson Plans

"As a child I walked with noisy fingers along the hemline for so many meadows back home." - Jewel

I love to read poetry for many reasons, but some that strike me as being the most important are:

• Reading poetry relaxes me.
• Reading poetry makes me laugh!
• Reading poetry allows me to see into a deeper, more emotional part of myself.

At Sammamish High School, we've identified seven key elements of problem-based learning, an approach that drives our comprehensive curriculum. I teach tenth grade history, which puts me in a unique position to describe the key element of authentic problems.

What is an authentic problem in world history? My colleagues and I grappled with this question when we set about to design a problem-based learning (PBL) class for AP World History. We looked enviously at some of our peer disciplines such as biology which we imagined having clear problems for students to work on (they didn't, but that is another blog post).

'Tis National Poetry Month! In April, classrooms around the country will dive into the expressive art of poetry. Shakespeare, Frost, Yeats, the list goes on and on.

There are many great ways to bring poetry into the classroom, and whether it's reading, writing or performing prose, poetry can be a great way to engage students. To help you bring poetry into your classrooms, we've compiled a list of some of the best open resources.

Standardized tests can be a wonderful teaching tool to enrich and deepen classroom learning.

What?! The prevailing wisdom states that standardized testing drains the life out of a classroom and saps students of interest and engagement, brings on unnecessary and at times crippling stress, and limits the view of what students are really learning in school.