Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Welcome to Mrs. Weber's History Class!

I used to want to be Indiana Jones.  Seriously.  I even met with the guidance counselor my Freshman year of high school to find out what I needed to do and where I needed to go to college to make this happen.  As I was sifting through the pamphlets he gave me that I realized Dr. Jones spent the majority of his time researching in the library and not actually out exploring ancient ruins.  Boring! That's not what I wanted.  I wanted to "do history,"  not read about it.


So naturally I decided to be a history teacher, right??  Well, not exactly.  But that's another story for another day.

Now that I am a history teacher, I attempt to try to create a classroom that allows my students to "do history."  To experience history in a different way while incorporating hands on activities (that are inspired by Indiana Jones), incorporating technology, and changing the way they think about what "history" is.  I consider myself very lucky to be working in a school district that allows me the freedom to make the class "my own" and try new and different ways to learn.

So, for the parents of the kiddos about to enter my room, it will be different.  It won't be the social studies classroom that you remember growing up.  Hopefully your child will come home telling you more about their day than the old standby, "it was fine."  They may love it.  They may find it difficult at first.  That's OK.  And if they don't??  Follow me on Instagram (@jillwebs) and Facebook (Jill Weber-cms) for updates and links to this blog that tell about our days.

For the Students who are about to walk through my doors.  Be ready.  Be ready to think differently.  Be ready for challenging questions that don't necessarily have a right or wrong answer.  Be ready to choose a side, support your answer with evidence, and write.  Be ready to work with a team to gather evidence and then complete tasks on your own.  Be ready to have an opinion about what and how you like to learn. You have choices in my classroom and I will listen to your suggestions.  That doesn't mean I drop everything to do whatever you want, but if you have a something you enjoy...tell me.  We'll see if we can't figure out a way to squeeze it in.

Most importantly, be ready to DO History!