MsPlu

Do your students struggle with HOW to study? Use this tip sheet as a tool to teach them what specific study methods they can use! Have your students try each of these study methods or a combination of all of them to maximize their understanding in any class!

Do your students have a difficult time finding reliable online sources? Mine could never decide if a website was considered suitable for research or not, so I came up with this rubric. The rubric evaluates a source on 5 criteria: Author's Credibility, Page Sponsor Credibility, Accuracy, Purpose, and Support. To teach the rubric to my students, I modeled evaluating 3 different sources (Excellent, Good, and Useful) to help them see how to judge each source. If you have a subscription to Br

Whether it's your students' first time, or they just need a little refresher, this is an excellent resource for them to have on hand during the research process!

Let's face it, creating a Works Cited in MLA format can be quite complicated and overwhelming, especially from an online source. This tip sheet helps students to understand what information they need to find on a website and include in their Works Cited, plus a checklist so they can make sure that their Works Cited page is formatted appropriately. I even have my students turn in their completed checklist with their papers/projects!

Here's a tip sheet for students who may be stressing out about the Reading Section of the ACT. It includes 1) What the test will look like 2) Types of Questions 3) Tips and Strategies 4) Some scoring info I give this to all of my juniors so that they can practice and feel better about the looming ACT!

Are your students struggling as to where to begin analyzing primary sources and documents? These 7 questions are inspired by Sam Wineburg's 'Reading Like a Historian' book to help get students in the habit of asking these essential questions when analyzing a text.

Students will look at sources to help them determine what type of a government they think the US really has. (I share with students my opinion, but ask them to determine this on their own). This activity asks students to analyze short primary sources, explain their analysis and compare and contrast the characteristics of a democracy and a republic- All in one! If your students haven't been introduced to a DBQ yet, but need the practice, this will help prepare them for the many skills involved

This activity asks students to read the original text from the Bill of Rights and construct their own meaning for each amendment. Typically, I divide students into small groups and have them jigsaw their interpretations of each amendment.

Do you want to push your students into writing more sophisticated claim statements, but they need a little extra guidance to get there? Are they constantly second guessing if their claim statement is good enough? This tip sheet for students was designed because I was tired of getting boring claim statements in my students' writing and then because they were constantly asking me to check their claims (not that I mind giving feedback!). I use it throughout my entire course now to teach students

Do your ever read your student's essays and think "Good example!" only to be disappointed that their explanation of it is lacking? Do your students often skip any form of analysis in their argumentative writing? This tip sheet for students was designed because I was tired of getting writing the same feedback to my students in their argumentative essays ("EXPLAIN this!" or "Good point, but WHY?" or "What's the connection there?"). Good analysis is hard to do in writing, even for adults, and I f

Printable $100 for simulations. I created this for students to use with a simulation I created on the Estates System and Economics in France, but can be used with many different games or simulations for your classroom!

As a follow up to learning The Bill of Rights, students must think critically about each of them to evaluate which 5 (and only five!) they NEED the most. It's always interesting to watch students struggle with which rights they need the most. A great way to make this activity lead into a discussion is to post pieces of blank paper with the numbers 1-10 on them and give each student 5 little stickers (gold stars, smiley faces, whatever you have on hand) and have them place the stickers on the

Printable $10 for simulations. I created this for students to use with a simulation I created on the Estates System and Economics in France, but can be used with many different games or simulations for your classroom!

This is a great writing activity as a follow up to my Economics in France Simulation, but can work on it's own, as well. Students write a letter to King Louis XVI on behalf of someone in French society (clergy, nobility, Bourgeoisie, or a peasant), urging him to take action in order to prevent a rebellion. Can be used as a homework assignment, or as an assessment to see if students understand the problems in France and causes of the French Revolution.

This is an activity where students will take a closer look at the US and Illinois Constitutions to compare what they say about each of the legislative branches.