What a fun week! The Histocrats have just returned from the 2013 Georgia
Council for the Social Studies (GCSS) Conference and are very excited. It was
great to see so many colleagues be recognized for their great work and share
our passion for teaching history with others. Two Histocrats, Dr. Margaret Duncan,
and Nina Kendall presented at GCSS.
Dr. Duncan presented Gaming 101: How to Effectively Incorporate Tabletop
Games into the Classroom to a packed house. She showed teachers
how board games can be used to facilitate learning in the classroom. Using Assasin’s Creed as an introduction, she drew
teachers into a discussion of engaging all students in meaningful ways in the
classroom. Whether students build train routes across the U.S. in Ticket to
Ride, manage resources building a wondrous medieval cathedral in Pillars
of the Earth, or dominating the marketplace in Monopoly; they can
learn from cooperative games. Teachers were excited about the possibilities.
She offered great advice about how to get started in your school. You can find
her advice and more on our page.
I presented Players of the Past: Using Art, Drama, and Primary Sources
to improve Understanding. I shared ways to use the lenses of
art, drama, and music to explore the past. I love using art and music in the
classroom. We discussed using visual thinking strategies and places to find
art. It can be used to help students better understand events and the role of individuals.
We also looked at using literacy strategies like one sentence summaries as formative
assessment. Find art, drama, and literacy ideas here on our page.
