Absolute Monarchy’s Ultimate Class Playlist: Pairing Music with History

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Michael K. Milton

When I began school this year, I decided to create a class playlist – finding music that encapsulated what we did for each day in class and posting it in the room for all to see. Not only will this give my students a “headline” of what we did that day, but it will both expose them to different music (I was upset they had not heard of The Pixies) and force me to reflect upon my lessons daily. This activity was inspired by the book Making Thinking Visible by Ron Ritchart, Mark Church, and Karin Morrison and developed through conversations about this book that I had with Dave Wallace (@DaveJWallace).

The discussion of the songs is not a focal part of the class, but a bonus for those who are interested (like a classroom “Easter Egg*”). Each day, I write out the song title and artist on a whiteboard and tweet it out with a video or links to the lyrics. I like the idea that a classroom (like the hit show Arrested Development) can be a layered experience.**

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Common Core State Standard Rubric for History/Social Studies 11-12

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Michael K. Milton

For the past few weeks, my colleague Todd Whitten and I have been sharing some work that we have done with the Common Core State Standards for History/Social Studies. During this process, we created rubrics based upon the 9-10th Grade Standards and the 11-12th Grade Standards. This week, we will be sharing those documents.

Below is what we created based upon the Common Core State Standards for History/Social Studies for 11-12th Grades. (Todd will be launching the rubric for the 9-10th grade on his blog later this week.)

When we were aligning activities with the Common Core (links below), this was our guiding document.

Let us know what you think! Continue reading →

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Primary Documents, Social Studies, and the Common Core: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Michael K. Milton

Last week, Todd Whitten and I shared ways to hit the different Common Core Standards for Social Studies/History using technology. This week, we are launching our work on Primary Documents and the Common Core (check out Todd’s post on using John Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government). While these are written for grades 11-12, they can be modified to accommodate other grade levels.

Before we get to the activities, I want to explain more about our vision of how we intend to use the standards in our classes. The standards are broken up into three sections: Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure, and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. For simplicity sake, we are going to call them Green Circle, Blue Square, and Black Diamond. Continue reading →

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Technology, Social Studies, and the Common Core: Part II

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Michael K. Milton

This summer I have been working with Todd Whitten on how we can integrate the Common Core Standards for History/Social Studies into the classroom for this upcoming year. Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing what we have come up with both here and on his blog.

Yesterday, Todd began with a post on “iPad Activities for the Common Core in High School Social Studies.” While the title is long, he makes up for it by offering 14 innovative ways to hit specific standards. I hope you find today’s sequel post more Back to the Future Part II than Beethoven’s 2nd.

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Lessons from Superhero Movies: Teachers’ Edition

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Michael K. Milton

As the recent surge of superhero films is showing no signs of stopping, I felt that now was probably a good time to share lessons that I have gleaned from the current batch of superhero movies and apply them to the teaching realm.

The Dark Knight Trilogy

1. Always have tools in your utility belt. You never know when you may need to switch tracks quickly or scale a wall*.
2. You will have obstacles. Sometimes, lessons simply do not go as planned. You will occasionally fail. But as Thomas Wayne said (which Alfred would later repeat), “Why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.”**

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to a 1:1 Classroom* (Lessons Learned from Year 1)

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Michael K. Milton

As I was watching The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on the way to New York City on Sunday, I came across this piece of dialogue:

Mr. Prosser: This bypass has got to be built and it’s going to be built!
Arthur Dent: Why has it got to be built?
Mr. Prosser: It’s a bypass. You’ve got to build bypasses.

This exchange happens when Arthur Dent attempts to save his house from demolishment for the sake of progress. Arthur, who was quite attached to his house, wanted to find out the reason why it was going to be demolished and was unsatisfied with Mr. Prosser’s answer.

This past year, my school went 1:1 (one student per device) with iPads. When I started the year, at times I acted like Mr. Prosser. I did not always think about the reason for using the iPad. “I’ve got to use technology because technology is great to be used!” I thought, “Why? Because it is there!” However, over the course of the year I have realized that technology is not a panacea. It is merely a tool in my utility belt. As a result I have taken a look back on my year and created tangible new strategies that will help make my management of a 1:1 iPad classroom much more effective. 

(image: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Lesson #1 

Avoid using technology solely as a gimmick

or…What’s tech got to do, got to do with it?

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My Season Finale: The Ending of the School Year as a TV Show

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Michael K. Milton

If the closing of my first year school year was a season finale what would it be like? This thought popped in my head during my morning run as I was anticipating receiving my contract for the upcoming year. Here is what I came up with!

Note: some of the events are overdramatized in order to add suspense.

Scene 1: The Mail Room

(MR. MILTON opens an envelope that contains his contract for the next year with two checkboxes – one indicating that he will return and one indicating that he will not. MR. MILTON sighs heavily appearing unsure of whether or not he will return.

MS. PALMER enters the mailroom and tears upon a similar letter)

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How I Found a Job: Episode 4 ~ Tales from the Road

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Michael K. Milton

While applying for a teaching job a few years ago, I posted a few notes on Facebook about the experience. I wrote them in an attempt to keep my sanity and sense of humor while facing a series of setbacks. As it seems like many people that I know are in this position, I have decided to post them here over the next few weeks. I wish all searching for jobs the best of luck. 

Three years ago in a state not so far away…

“Tales from the Road”

As you probably know, searching for a job can be very daunting…and can occasionally bring you to tears in interviews (a friend said this may have been her downfall in one of hers). To keep my sanity while seeking gainful employment, I am keeping this “job journal” with the belief that this will help me move past the difficult times (and, hopefully, then laugh about them).

This weekend I found two districts that were looking for social studies teachers. One is a smaller school that is looking for one social studies teacher; while the other is much larger and looking for five social studies teachers. Today, I hand-delivered my application packets to both of these districts. The odds seemed to be in my favor as I ventured out this morning in my navy blue Brooks Brothers suit.

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Posted on May 24, 2012 by Michael K. Milton

As Andy Marcinek and I are attempting to launch a website that highlights tech-integrated lessons (learn more about it on Edutopia!), I wanted to (re) share a lesson that my students enjoyed which uses Twitter.

Michael K. Milton's avatarMichael K. Milton: Musings on History & Education (mostly)

Edit: I have transitioned this to using todaysmeet.com rather than Twitter. The activity works the same, but we are in a walled garden that is much easier to set up than Twitter is.

In groups, students were assigned a country that became industrialized during the 18th and 19th centuries. The group’s job was to be the mouthpiece of that country with the task of letting the world know of their progress in industrializing using a common hashtag #MrMHWH. This was not the first time my class has used Twitter in class, so there was no need to explain how to use it. While the majority my students have personal Twitter accounts they elected to create new ones with the name of their country and used an image of their flag for the profile picture.

Getting started in this activity was a bit slow at first. With the exception of Britain, countries…

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How I Found a Job: Epsode 3 ~ Advice from Mom

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Michael K. Milton

While applying for a teaching job a few years ago, I posted a few notes on Facebook about the experience. I wrote them in an attempt to keep my sanity and sense of humor while facing a series of setbacks. As it seems like many people that I know are in this position, I have decided to post them here over the next few weeks. I wish all searching for jobs the best of luck. 

Three years ago in a state not so far away…

“Advice from Mom”

My mother is absolutely wonderful. She also means well. She really wants to help me find a position. At first, I begged her off; believing that using personal connections is cheating. One of her friends has a friend whose wife occasionally has coffee with one superintendent. An old acquaintance was a former superintendent and principal. A retired teacher walks around her neighborhood every so often. I told her, “thank you, but I think I am ok.” This, or course, was when I was a hot shot and believed that I could find a position in no time.

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Posted in How I Found a Job, Reflection | Tagged , , | 3 Comments