To be successful in the 21st century, all students must not only have knowledge of content, but also must have the capacity to think critically, analyze, synthesize and make inferences based on information gathered through research and know how to use technology and technology applications.
It is for these reasons why I take the following approaches to teaching:
1) I teach for understanding. Just because you know something, does not mean you understand it. The first step is to have an understanding of the content we study in class that way we can build upon this foundation.
2) I teach for mastery of learning objectives. To master the learning objectives I require academic rigor, research and project-based learning where you, the student, will have the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge, understanding, and level of mastery. By using project based learning you get to: often choose a topic of your own interest that pertains to the topic being studied in class for further research, construct your own meaning out of the information, make greater connections between your lives and the content being studied and you also have the opportunity to choose the multimedia format that you are most comfortable with so you can best demonstrate your mastery while utilizing your creativity.
3) I also incorporate significant interdisciplinary instruction by integrating the reading and analysis of primary and secondary sources (both non-fiction and historical fiction) reading into my curriculum. A list of some of the books that we may read can be found under the Books tab on this website.