Originally written 4 years ago. I am excited to say that I am officially done laying down the text for my chapter on political geography. It took me about a week longer than I hoped, but I it is one of the longer units to cover. I am going to set the chapter aside for…Read more
One Tough Chapter to Write: Revising Revisionism for Revisionists
My unit on political geography is proving to be more difficult to write than I thought. I was hoping to finish it earlier this week, but double checking my facts on history have slowed me up. I am doing my absolute best to make sure that any time I reference history, I am very careful…Read more
Student Created eBooks: Good Idea or Lazy Ploy?
Yes, I have dabbled with creation tools and having students curate their own content. I love the idea of having students create a culminating work that they can be proud of. The logistics around it however are a bit daunting–and I’m not going to lie, anyone who says, “have a student create their own ebook!”,…Read more
Project Updates: Vocab Lists Done!
I am happy to say that over the weekend, I was able to complete all seven of my units vocabulary lists. These are my master lists that are a culmination of the various textbooks and study guides out there for my subject. The next step is to “outline” each unit and put them in a…Read more
How to Calculate a Reading Score for your Textbook
If you are sitting over there wondering if you have it cut out to write a textbook for your kids, one that they will comprehend, yet be able to push their abilities, there are some tools that might help. I am not a reading expert and I know there are teachers out there who have…Read more
How to Organize Your Content in Your Textbook
So far in my process, I would say that the most important step is organizing the curriculum’s content where I want it to go. Although this process might be a bit different for other subject areas, for my human geography text, I am organizing the material thematically. There are a few other ways that I…Read more
Finished My First Chapter
Though this process began in the school year, yesterday I just finished laying down the text for one of my seven chapters. The weather has been so nice out that I have been sitting on my patio and typing away on my iPad, today will be no different. I am trying to stay in a…Read more
How to Upload Any Filetype to WordPress
Have you tried to upload a file to your WordPress website only to encounter an error reading, “Sorry, this filetype is not permitted for security reasons?” If yes, then you ran into the same problem that I recently had when trying to upload an .AI (Adobe Illustrator) file. WordPress prevents some of the unpopular file types for…Read more
21 Ways to Use Comics in the Classroom
I stumbled onto this website about how to incorporate illustration/comics into your classroom. Of course they are using the site to promote their product, but nevertheless, it was a great list and you can tailor it to your needs I would imagine. 21 WAYS TO USE MAKEBELIEFSCOMIX.COM IN THE CLASSROOM By Bill Zimmerman, Creator, MakeBeliefsComix.com 1. CREATE…Read more
Dear PhD’s: I Know Something You Don’t Know…
What originally started out as a plan to create a text just for my students, evolved into a concept for a work that can hopefully also help others. After reading message board after message board and having discussions with many other teachers that teach the same course that I do, I found that they all…Read more
