History Teachers Club

Building a community in the classroom where students feel connected, supported, and confident they can be successful is essential for teachers. However, fostering a community of other passionate and supportive educators to for us to lean on is equally important! In this episode Dan & Caitlin with special guest, Matt Kulasiewicz, discuss how they do both.  :)Matt shares the importance of learning students' names day 1 to connect with them, how he gets students to open up and share about personal issues in a safe way where students feel comfortable so students connect with one another on a deeper level, and much more. Dan shares an exit ticket strategy he uses that builds a culture of gratitude, and Caitlin shares how she adapted that strategy to also get students to start recognizing their own strengths and skills, and much, much more! For fostering a teacher community around you to support you and inspire you, Matt shares about the importance of checking in on other teachers, Caitlin shares on how important it is to collaborate  with other teachers who jive with you, and Dan shares about how you can start a "Marigold" program at your school to create a spirit of appreciation and encouragement amongst the staff. 💜Caitlin references the book, "Be the Flame: Sparking Positive Classroom Communities" by Shane Saaed.And don't worry- the fire alarm that interrupted our intro was recorded after school so no students were around and Caitlin was fine! Just a little wet from the rain! 🤣

How do you get students excited about learning history? How do you make lessons on the silk road, Stamp Act, or WWI come alive and get students interested and engaged in academic rigor? Thats the focus on this episode!We're so glad you asked? 🤣😜 In this episode, Dan & Caitlin discuss how to think about lesson planning, strategies to build the skill that is needed to plan creative lessons that empower students, how to balance state standards with interest-based lessons, and how to not burn out in the process! Because lessons and activities that actually ignite students and get them willing to struggle over important historical lessons actually will give us fuel to keep teaching with that fire! There is no substitute for passion and bringing enthusiasm into your lessons each day- if you want kids to care a little, you better care a whole friggin' lot!

Dan and Caitlin, with a super special guest, Jon Chiarmonte, aka the @YouMatterGuy, discuss the importance of being genuine, authentic, and honest with our students and creating a learning environment where all students feel welcome and appreciated! Its hard to do- it often requires us to swallow our egos and be real.  For a decade Jon has a run a class devoted to connecting with students on a deep level, discussing heavy and important topics that really matter- because YOU MATTER- to ensure that students have a place, and a teacher, where they know they can be appreciated, be themselves, and be engaged in real learning. Dan, Caitlin, and Jon share several personal stories, some tear jerkers, from their years of teaching and relations with students, to show that mistakes are okay, all voices and stories matter, and when we drop the pretense and allow ourselves and our students to be vulnerable, something special happens. As always, we hope this episode helps you transform your classroom and have a bigger impact in the classroom. We welcome questions and comments on our instagrams, emails, or in a review that you write us! Club dismissed :)

Buckle up! This one gets a bit crazy as Caitlin and Dan share some over the top and some easily implementable actions you can take to transform your classroom into a space of excitement, wonder, and engagement! Teaching is such a creative profession and we often play the roles of lead actors as well as directors and if you want students to really get excited about learning, you'll learn some fun ways to do that in this episode. From redecorating our rooms, to costumes, to just having kids close their eyes and take them on "virtual field trips" back in time- this episode will help you set the stage of your classroom for some exceptional learning!

Do you need more MAGIC in the classroom to make history come alive and make learning a history a blast? Thats the focus of our club meeting today!Dan and Caitlin share the first part of a five part series on bringing MAGIC to the classroom: Manifesto, Actions, Genuine, Ignite, and Community. We share how having a personal manifesto and a deep rooted WHY can guide and ground you as a teacher. Dan and Caitlin share their personal stories and manifestos- what teaching history means to them, and two lessons that exemplify it.  Of course, there's some fantastic, "Dad Jokes in History" to close it off as well. Hint- Caitlin is not happy with Dan's jokes. 🤣

Dan and Caitlin share their favorite first day lessons for history class to get students interested, active, and engaged right on day one! Scrap the syllabus and procedures and get students excited about the learning that is going to take place in your class all year.  You never get a second chance at a first impression- or a first day lesson :)The lessons they share get students thinking critically, working together, and learning skills that they will use all year long.  Caitlin shares an awesome lesson that has students analyze personal artifacts to piece together a story of who she as they learn to make observations, inferences, and generalizations to interpret the past. Dan shares a lesson that has students debate the most important reasons to study history to get them to understand the relevance or 'why history matters!' Lots and lots of goodies are shared throughout the episode that can help you plan the best first day ever next year!  Oh, and don't miss the "Dad jokes in history" at the end 🤣 (But where's the eye-roll emoji??)