NO TEXTBOOKS HERE! Interactive, simulation-based, Paideia/Socratic Seminar focused.
To see an example of how I teach, check out this link to videos I made when we had to go on lockdown at the end of the school year: https://youtu.be/AYkmFECf9jw
In class, we have to cover 3,000 years of history in only 8 months (while also getting time to review before end-of-year testing). I plan everything in advance before the school year even starts, working backwards to make sure I have time for Ancient Greece and Rome, which covers about 40-50% of testing materials.
For notes, we highlight and students read out loud. They work in their interactive notebooks. I don’t do homework very often, if at all. Their homework is to STUDY, and I absolutely love teaching study habits to middle schoolers. Often, my class is the first class students EVER have to study for in their learning lives, and my class is set up for them to achieve genuine success.