Start with a Question

The people I live and work closely with know that I've been neglecting this blog for nearly 2 months. But there's more to it than that. Because I haven't been writing, I haven't been processing my professional thoughts and experiences in the same way. For years this blog has been the place I go to sort out and express my professional thinking, and I'm back. How it happened Just after my last post, there was a sudden change that happened at my school. What the change was does not matter in this context, but it did turn my understanding of my place and my role there upside down for a while. It took a lot of mental energy for me to develop new understandings and I was honestly a bit unsure of myself during that time. I was afraid to share here. A realization Now I realize that I should have blogged about a lot of that. Like many education bloggers, the topics of my posts are often inspired by experiences that I have every day at school. I do not write specif...

Over the past several years I've posted many examples of collaborative learning in my history classrooms grades 8-10.  I've also spoken about the  #gallagherhistory  model at various conferences around the country and right here in Massachusetts.  The part that gets most students' and educators' attention is that I do not give tests.  Ever.   Lecture is also never a part of the student learning experience.  I invariably get follow up messages and emails filled with questions.  Here are some of the most asked questions and their answers. What is the formula? Here it is: Examples of media produced by students during our activities that promote analysis and discussion of evidence. Essential Question  that connects history to students' lives Evidence  from primary and scholarly sources that can be used to find an answer to the essential question Activity  to help students dig into the evidence and develop their own un...