A Busy New Year

So many things to do - that’s the theme of 2016-2017! As usual instead of making things easy for myself i’ve decided to add more to my plate this year. Along with a new subject this year, there’s my university studies - not to mention sleep training my daughter which is, as you can imagine, lots of fun.

This year’s blog will be focused mainly on Social Studies and how I can improve the classroom through:

1. Flipping the classroom - where possible

2. Project based work - where possible

3. Getting the most out of my simulation and improving student learning.

For the uninitiated, the simulation is a year long “game” whereby students are split into different countries within the fictitious continent of Caledonia - read all about it here. The simulation will be the focus of this year’s blog, though other elements, in particular design thinking in my new subject, will be incorporated.

Each unit in social studies has its standard and content applied to the simulation. For example, when learning about economic ideas from the Industrial Revolution such as capitalism and socialism, we apply these concepts to each country and see the benefits and drawbacks.

The main focus this year will be the simulation - I’m working on collaborating with other grade 9 subjects in order to promote it more as well as gauge how useful it is to my classes as well as the teachers who agree to join in. So far the Science, English and maths teachers are interested.

Next update will probably be more “Design Thinking” focused as the first simulation session doesn’t run for a couple of weeks. Still, it’s going to be fun… and busy…

Mr D