Welcome to the Coffee House Historian!
This started as just a blog to reflect on my practice and is growing to include teaching strategies, resources, and curriculum. It will likely grow to include other topics as well until it finds a clear character.
Bookmark this page or subscribe to receive updates. You can check out the course specific pages I am building for AP World and US History.
Most Recent Blog Posts
Preparing for National History Day China 2024
NHD is the best social studies style program I have seen that gets students to apply their knowledge and skills to a real world question, and engage with the wider community about their research and passions.
Breaking the “Content Trap” in Social Studies
I will never give up my intrinsic love of and passion for content, but it needs to be tempered with the recognition that students need more. Content is merely the roadmap to a skill set that will help every student think more deeply about and engage more critically with the world around them.
The flexibility to design a new course is another reason I love international schools.
After a well needed summer respite another school year has started. One of the things I am most excited about is teaching our new 9th grade course. A major benefit of teaching at a private international school is curriculum flexibility. If our department sees a need to fill curriculum gaps or to make adjustments to…
Scaffolding Historical Thinking Skills
In the race to cover content it is easy to overlook the importance of scaffolding historical thinking during instruction. It is easy to ask students to analyze causes and effects, make comparisons, or effectively source documents; but harder to make sure students have a clear path to showing proficiency. Without clear scaffolding, without a system…
Standards-Based Grading in History: Vertical and Horizontal Alignment
Curriculum is not an add-on task that occurs in meetings, over summers, or acts as a distraction from teaching and instruction. Curriculum is at the heart of teaching and teachers should own it and live it. Vertical and Horizontal alignment is an oft mentioned, but less fine-tuned component of curriculum.
Earning Complexity in AP World: The Power of However
Although the complexity point is difficult for students to earn, it is possible. Depending on the historical thinking skill or topic being written about, there are some easy frameworks students can use in their arguments to make writing with complexity a habit.
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