Author: david.baroody

  • Banksy and the American History Classroom: student-led curriculum creation

    Banksy and the American History Classroom: student-led curriculum creation

    Every week, my students partake in the Weekly News Quiz posted by the NY Times Learning Network blog. This past week, one of the questions presented information about the British street artist Banksy, who during the month of October has taken part in a “residency” in the city of New York.

  • Cooperative versus Collaborative Learning- MS English

    Cooperative versus Collaborative Learning- MS English

    In their recent book The Connected Educator- Learning and Leading in a Digital Age, authors Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Lani Ritter Hall state an important distinction between cooperative and collaborative work. In cooperative learning, “each learner works individually on the same topic and then shares with the group… [so that] one learner’s failure to participate does…

  • PBL Unit- Exploration and Contact 1492-1550

    PBL Unit- Exploration and Contact 1492-1550

    Website page for my 7th graders’ current PBL unit on Exploration and Contact 1492-1550. Unit overview and final product, lessons to complete in the process, hyperlinked examples and information, multimodal resources on formulating a persuasive argument and crafting a thesis. “Notes” are available to me via a shared Google Doc.

  • Hinting at the Tenets of Design Thinking

    Hinting at the Tenets of Design Thinking

    Our recent unit analyzing the 15th century French “Tres Riches Heures” not only focused upon analyzing the subtext of the images but also hinted at the tenets of Design Theory and the creation of meaning by means of student memes that combined historical images with modern text. Shown above is a student product whose annotations…

  • Germantown Academy MS Technomancers at Back to School Night

    Germantown Academy MS Technomancers at Back to School Night

    “Technomancer” is a term a number of my students adopted during their 6th grade year that combines “technology” and “necromancer” and reflects their comfort with and ability to manipulate technology and apply it in new, transformative ways in education.

  • Medieval Memes- The Subtext Behind Images of Life in “Tres Riches Heures”

    Medieval Memes- The Subtext Behind Images of Life in “Tres Riches Heures”

    The original posting and images can be viewed at http://dave-baroody.tumblr.com/post/61877684662/medieval-memes-the-subtext-behind-images-of-life MEDIEVAL MEMES- THE SUBTEXT BEHIND IMAGES OF LIFE IN ‘TRES RICHES HEURES’ The inspiration for this lesson came from a twitter posting by @KQEDedspace this past Wednesday. In that post, author Matthew Williams lays out a brief history of memes, provides tutorials for their creation using the imugr meme…

  • Literacy Narrative Stop Motion Book Map

    Literacy Narrative Stop Motion Book Map

    The original posting and video can be viewed at http://dave-baroody.tumblr.com/post/61405445041/inspired-by-the-student-created-stop-motion-video Inspired by the student-created stop-motion video response below, Penn GSE doctoral student (and my wife) Bethany Silva crafted this stop-motion book map to explain her history as a reader. Admittedly, I had ulterior motives in acting as cameraman on a Friday evening as she stacked…

  • Why Study History?-Student Stop Motion Video Response

    Why Study History?-Student Stop Motion Video Response

    The original posting and video can be viewed at As an introduction to my American History class, I asked students to answer two seemingly simple questions: “Why study history?” and “Why study American history?” I warned students that they might need to go into some detail or give examples to back up their reasoning. I…

  • First Writers Workshop Free Write

    First Writers Workshop Free Write

    The original posting and image can be viewed at http://dave-baroody.tumblr.com/post/60979409605/my-students-first-free-write-as-members-of-our My students’ first free-write as members of our Writers’ Workshop was in response to one of 13 quotes from famous children’s books. The quotes were collected online by the social media and technology website Mashable under the title “13 Quotes from Children’s Books Every Adult…

  • Questioning Authority: Why Study History?

    Questioning Authority: Why Study History?

    The original posting and images can be viewed at http://dave-baroody.tumblr.com/post/60775363885/questioning-authority-why-study-history QUESTIONING AUTHORITY- WHY STUDY HISTORY? Today marked the “official” start of the academic year for my history students, and they began by questioning that study of history with two questions: Why study history? and Why study American history? I am making a concerted effort this…