Suppose you had all year with nothing to do...
...but research every topic, define every term, find maps, write mini-lectures, invent creative lessons, dream up an assessment for each topic, plus write hundreds of test questions for "The Grand Exam" for your History and Geography classes.
Well, that's exactly what we've done!
Teacher Toolbooks provide a general knowledge
base, student-centered activities and
assessments, plus “The Grand Exam” to assess
what your students have actually learned.
1. Our Blueprint: The Test
“The Grand Exam” is the final gauge of the students’ comprehension of
your presentation of the material! Utilizing our ToolBooks, students play
“The Grand Exam” long before they actually write it. We have turned the
exam into a series of brain games. Our brain games go way beyond your
typical “Jeopardy” game. They are:
- "Honk If You Hate History"
- "The Last Man Standing"
- "Stump the Teacher"
- "Mars/Venus"
“The Grand Exam” will give your students a great deal of confidence. If
they can perform well on it, they will do exceedingly well on your state
test. Guaranteed! Your students will conquer their test anxiety.
On the day of the state test, they will be sitting silently with a No. 2 pencil,
but as they read the questions they will see and hear your classroom
inside their heads!
2. Our Nails: The Facts
Teacher’s ToolBooks provide you with a knowledge base - all the facts
and concepts that every student needs to know about a particular
topic. Unlike textbooks, our books are packed with facts.
First, you present the topic with a mini-lecture. Next, classroom activities
are designed so that students can manipulate the facts. They perform
what they know in front of the class.
The knowledge base is presented in a clear and logical manner: The
most difficult concept (primogeniture), the most difficult topic (Hinduism)
the most difficult subject (medieval Japan), or the most difficult challenge
(compare medieval Japan and medieval England) is presented in a
fashion that is crystal clear. Unlike supplementary guides, we do not
segment topics; each topic flows logically from one to the next.
Simply pulling together the necessary facts would take months
of work – just one timeline could take hours of work.
3. Our Tools: Action Activities
Students do not memorize the facts - they manipulate the facts!
That is, students interpret, apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate
the facts. Students perform in front of the class, so activities involve
the multiple intelligences - seeing, saying, hearing, writing, doing, etc.
Each lesson is 10-15 minutes long. Every 15 minutes, students
switch gears and move on to something even more fascinating. You
can pack several lessons in 45 minutes and a whole variety of lessons
in a two-hour class.
We have invented brain games and physical games.
Students define terms, compare and contrast, distinguish between
cause and effect, apply the facts to a new situation, break down the
facts, add up the facts, and evaluate the facts (people and events).
Activities with answers: If a historical figure ran your school, how
would your life change? (We provide the answers and they are hilarious!)
Daily life: When you think of this place, what do you see, hear,
smell, taste, touch, feel?
Lessons that work: Student interaction that puts them directly into the
history lesson. Not only do they read or hear the facts – the students are
immersed into history as they relive it!
No general ideas: If we want a student to write a speech by
England’s King John, we provide a specific “Bad King John” worksheet
that shows the student exactly how to write the speech, including the
opening lines for each paragraph of a five-paragraph essay. The student
will be clever and the class will actually learn from hearing the
speech.
Tackling timelines: How to learn a timeline so you can answer that
test question: “Put all of the following events into chronological order.”
Homework: Every lesson has homework from fascinating web sites
on the internet.
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