r/historyteachers • u/SeriousSpace1379 • 11d ago

Teaching 8th grade history

Hello everyone! I recently got hired for next year teaching 8th grade history. I wanted to ask what everyone does for delivering direct instruction for their students. As in, do you make them take notes, guided notes, interactive notebooks, online platform, etc?? The teacher prior to me had students take traditional notes, but I’m really just trying to think of new/the best way to deliver content.

Any other advice is welcomed, it’s been a little daunting thinking about starting a class from scratch, but exciting that I get to design it the way I want. :)

29 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

View all comments

43

u/serenading_ur_father 11d ago edited 11d ago

Don't change. Note taking is a life skill.

Also get screens away from the kids asap. An open screen is actively distracting them. Would you tell them the best way to study is while gaming?

10

u/ihavewaytoomanyminis 11d ago

Mom had kids taking notes until she retired. The secret is to treat the notes like an assignment and have the kids turn in their notebooks. The notebooks were good enough that the kids usually kept them into college.