Happy Halloween y’all! While I don’t have any tricks in store for you, I do have some pretty neat treats! They aren’t the edible kind, but you can chew on some of these neat lesson plans that have been going on in the high school. Perhaps you could use these ideas to cultivate new thought and/or new ways to approach “old” lessons, or at least those in need of a re”vamp” (ha, did you see my pun?)

For instance, math teacher Susan Linderman, a 35+ year CISD veteran, utilized Storyjumper.com to have students create syllogisms. Here’s an example: http://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/16672012/542f0453d7937.

Same concept, but she also used Storyboardthat.com.  The students had to create one conditional statement and justify whether it was true or false, then they had to write the converse, inverse and contrapositive of the original statement and justify whether each was true or false. Here’s another example:  Example 2

Kuddos Mrs. Linderman! It really looks like the kids enjoyed using technology to learn math!

In Bill Svehlak’s English 3 class, they used Slidebean.com to creating a digital product on The Crucible and McCarthyism . Students were able to break down concepts and ideas using the presentation site  and infuse a Venn Diagram from Read Write Think. Svehlak said, “I love the ease of use of this site. Loading images as well as videos is simple. Designing is also a crisp, clean process.”

He also provided us with a rad example of one of his student’s presentations: Example 3

And for extra credit, Mr. Svehlak was kind enough to provide us with a base rubric on how he graded their projects!

Students will take on the role of a teacher preparing (Create) a presentation to both engage their class and instruct prior to a cross-curricular unit on The Crucible and McCarthyism.

Slidebean Presentation (80 points)

  • 15-20 slides teaching the similarities and differences between the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and McCarthyism in the 1950’s.

Venn Diagram (20 points)

  • Once created, this diagram can be screen shot and included in your Slidebean presentation.

Rubrics are a great way to help guide your students throughout their projects. There are no surprises for them along the way. They know what to expect and exactly what to do while working on the project. It helps them be accountable for the content you’re expecting from them. An even better perk for teachers is they also make the grading process easy and clear!

Try these out for size: