This is a selection of effective and engaging instructional strategies. They are arranged into four categories: Discussion Strategies, Differentiation Strategies, Formative Assessment Techniques, and Student Self-Assessment Strategies. I printed each category on a different color of cardstock, laminated them, and put them on a binder ring. When I'm writing lesson plans, if I notice that I need a formative assessment or I need to differentiate an activity, I can flip through the cards for inspiration.

*Easily adapted to any history couse* This .pdf includes directions and a rubric for a project requiring students to create a time capsule from a moment, event, or era in history. My students take a Georgia Milestones Assessment then have two weeks of school left, and since we have the pressure of a high-stakes assessment weighing us down all year, I spend quite a bit of time remediating during the year. Once the Milestones Assessment is over, however, I like to provide engaging projects that appeal more to the artistic and tactile students than an interactive notebook might. I typically allow my students to choose a topic from a list of events, included in the directions, and to work in partners.

This PowerPoint Presentation includes notes on all of the standards in Georgia's 6th Grade Social Studies standards. Also included are mini-activities to practice and reinforce the content. I used this as an interactive notebook: input (notes) on the left hand page, output (activities) on the right hand page. When completed, students had a resource to study for the CRCT. I created this and used it in the months prior to the CRCT. I had a 66% pass rate on the SS CRCT (the state average that year was 64%). I have a study guide available separately.

I teach US History using an Interactive Notebook framework, with mini-lessons presenting content followed by activities in which students analyze or otherwise engage with that content. This handout is a cloze version of the notes I use in my interactive notebook, which could be used as review or for a flipped classroom, depending on your resources and needs. For the 2015-16 administration of the Georgia Milestones Assessment, 15% of my students achieved the level of Distinguished, with 51% attaining Proficient or higher while 89% performed at Developing or higher. For the 2014-15 administration of the Georgia Milestones Assessment, my scores were as follows: 74.2% Developing or higher, compared to 73% for Georgia, and 41.2 Proficient or higher, compared to 39% for Georgia. I created this resource while teaching in a Title I school where I did not have textbooks.

This PowerPoint Presentation includes notes on all of the grammar standards in Georgia's 6th Grade ELA standards. Also included are mini-activities to practice and reinforce the content. I used this as an interactive notebook: input (notes) on the left hand page, output (activities) on the right hand page. When completed, students had a resource to study for the CRCT. I created this and used it in the month prior to the CRCT and had a 100% pass rate on the ELA CRCT.

I teach US History using an Interactive Notebook framework, with mini-lessons presenting content followed by activities in which students analyze or otherwise engage with that content. This is a Power Point presentation covering the content of SSUSH2. This pairs perfectly with both the Interactive Notebook Activities and the Cloze notes available for SSUSH2. For the 2014-15 administration of the Georgia Milestones Assessment, my scores were as follows: 74.2% Developing or higher, compared to 73% for Georgia, and 41.2 Proficient or higher, compared to 39% for Georgia. I teach in a Title I school and do not have textbooks. Please see "Georgia Milestones US History Domain 1 SSUSH2 Interactive Notebook Activities and "Georgia Milestones US History Domain 1 Cloze notes," as well. If you find this resource useful, please check out the same resources for all 25 standards, as well as the matching study guides you can also find among my products.

*Easily adapted to any history couse* This .pdf includes directions and a rubric for a project requiring students to create a time capsule from a moment, event, or era in history. My students take a Georgia Milestones Assessment then have two weeks of school left, and since we have the pressure of a high-stakes assessment weighing us down all year, I spend quite a bit of time remediating during the year. Once the Milestones Assessment is over, however, I like to provide engaging projects that appeal more to the artistic and tactile students than an interactive notebook might. I typically allow my students to choose a topic from a list of events, included in the directions, and to work in partners.

I teach US History using an Interactive Notebook framework, with mini-lessons presenting content followed by activities in which students analyze or otherwise engage with that content. These are the activities I use in my interactive notebook for SSUSH2, which could be used as review or for a flipped classroom, depending on your resources and needs. For the 2015-16 administration of the Georgia Milestones Assessment, 15% of my students achieved the level of Distinguished, with 51% attaining Proficient or higher while 89% performed at Developing or higher. For the 2014-15 administration of the Georgia Milestones Assessment, my scores were as follows: 74.2% Developing or higher, compared to 73% for Georgia, and 41.2 Proficient or higher, compared to 39% for Georgia. I created this resource while teaching in a Title I school where I did not have textbooks.

This 147-question construction response study guide covers all standards and elements of the GPS addressed in Georgia's US History course. It is divided by the five domains and each domain is divided into the appropriate standards. I use an Interactive Notebook where students label their notes and graphic organizers according to standard, and this study guide will require them to synthesize information as well as analyzing the impact and importance of different events, individuals, and trends in US History. The majority of the questions will require 3-5 sentences in order to effectively answer.

I created a template allowing my students to pretend to share comments and thoughts in chunks of 140 characters for historical figures. This could also be used for characters in a play, short story, or novel. My students created a Twemplate for Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle. Page one provides areas for a profile picture or a brief profile blurb and space for four separate posts. The left side of page two provides for 4 separate posts submitted by contemporaries of the historical figure (i.e., Plato would be following Socrates.) The right side of page two provides for a list of popular hashtags or topics.

This PowerPoint Presentation includes notes on all of the literature standards in Georgia's 6th Grade ELA standards. Also included are mini-activities to practice and reinforce the content. I used this as an interactive notebook: input (notes) on the left hand page, output (activities) on the right hand page. When completed, students had a resource to study for the CRCT. I created this and used it in the month prior to the CRCT and had a 100% pass rate on the ELA CRCT and a 96% pass rate on the Reading CRCT.

I currently use this worksheet every Monday when I go over the quiz from the previous Friday. Students keep track of what questions they missed, the content of those missed questions, and the cause(s) for missing each question. This explicitly informs students about what they need to study prior to the summative assessment. I use this data leading up to each summative exam in order to assign review work that specifically remediates each student on their personal areas of weakness. Using this has contributed to the fact that my results on the Georgia Milestones US History Assessment are better than the state averages despite the challenges that come with teaching in a Title I school.

I teach US History using an Interactive Notebook framework, with mini-lessons presenting content followed by activities in which students analyze or otherwise engage with that content. For the 2015-16 administration of the Georgia Milestones Assesment, 51% of my students attained Proficient or higher, while 89% achieved Developing or higher, with 15% performing at the Distinguished level. For the 2014-15 administration of the Georgia Milestones Assessment, my scores were as follows: 74.2% Developing or higher, compared to 73% for Georgia, and 41.2 Proficient or higher, compared to 39% for Georgia. I teach in a Title I school and do not have textbooks. *I do not offer answers keys to any of my products anymore due to the fact that my students have attempted to purchase them*

I teach US History using an Interactive Notebook framework, with mini-lessons presenting content followed by activities in which students analyze or otherwise engage with that content. This handout is a cloze version of the notes I use in my interactive notebook, which could be used as review or for a flipped classroom, depending on your resources and needs. For the 2015-16 administration of the Georgia Milestones Assessment, 15% of my students achieved the Distinguished level, with 51% attaining at Proficient or higher and 89% performing at Developing or higher. For the 2014-15 administration of the Georgia Milestones Assessment, my scores were as follows: 74.2% Developing or higher, compared to 73% for Georgia, and 41.2 Proficient or higher, compared to 39% for Georgia. I teach in a Title I school and do not have textbooks. Please see "Georgia Milestones US History Domain 1 SSUSH1 Interactive Notebook Activities, "Georgia Milestones US History Domain 1 Interactive Notebook notes," both free as well.

I teach US History using an Interactive Notebook framework, with mini-lessons presenting content followed by activities in which students analyze or otherwise engage with that content. In a Title I school, for the 2015-16 administration of the Georgia Milestones Assessment, 15% of my students achieved the Distinguished level of performance, while 51% were Proficient or higher and 89% were Developing or higher. For the 2014-15 administration of the Georgia Milestones Assessment, my scores were as follows: 74.2% Developing or higher, compared to 73% for Georgia, and 41.2 Proficient or higher, compared to 39% for Georgia. I developed these resources while teaching without access to textbooks. Please see "Georgia Milestones US History Domain 1 SSUSH1 Interactive Notebook Activities, "Georgia Milestones US History Domain 1 Cloze notes," both free as well.