molersmusings

How I Rack and Stack: Inside My Lesson Planning Brain

In the past I have been asked, “How do you decide which EduProtocols to use, and how do you stack them together?”

On the surface, a rack and stacked lesson looks like it just works. Kids are engaged and the transitions are smooth. But there’s a lot of planning behind that flow. Decisions that start long before the first Gimkit or Frayer Model ever hits the board.

So I thought I’d pull back the curtain a bit and walk through how I build these lessons. I’ll use two real examples: one on Manifest Destiny (Mini Report too), and the other on Andrew Jackson and the Nullification Crisis. Different months, different topics, but the same planning approach.

It’s not just about which EduProtocols I like. It’s about what kind of thinking the content demands, and what kind of thinking I want students to practice.

Start with the End in Mind

Every lesson starts with one question: What should students know or be able to do by the end of this?

For Manifest Destiny, I wanted students to understand the concept and controversy of the idea—why people believed in it, what it looked like, and how it’s viewed today. They needed to analyze both visual and written sources and make comparisons between historical and modern perspectives.
For the Nullification Crisis, the goal was to understand how tariffs sparked tension between state and federal power, and to analyze Jackson’s leadership through that conflict. This wasn’t about memorizing dates—it was about understanding motivations, perspectives, and consequences.

The learning targets were content-specific, but they were rooted in bigger historical thinking skills: sourcing, analyzing POV, sequencing causes and effects, and making comparisons.

Build the Stack Around Thinking, Not Just Activities

Here’s where the rack and stack comes in. I don’t start with a random list of EduProtocols. I think about how the brain learns (I’ll fully admit, no clue if these terms are correct, but it’s how I think about them):

Retrieval, Fluency, Context, Synthesis, Expression

That learning arc helps me organize the protocols in a way that makes sense.

My coauthor Scott Petri would always stack (sequence) EduProtocols in a way to help students create something/express themselves at the end of a lesson. An example of this is his use of Fast and Curious and Thin Slides throughout a lesson that would build to the Thin Slides being used for an Ignite Talk.

Manifest Destiny Stack

Fast & Curious: Vocabulary primer to retrieve key terms
Wicked Hydra: Generate questions from a controversial headline to spark curiosity
Sourcing Parts: Analyze the “American Progress” painting to tackle symbolism and sourcing
MiniReport: Synthesize a textbook excerpt and a modern article into a structured comparison

Nullification Crisis Stack

Fast & Curious: Start again with vocabulary retrieval
Frayer Model: Use student data to target the most-missed terms for clarity and fluency
Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then: Sequence the conflict with a narrative lens
2xPOV: Explore Jackson vs. Calhoun’s stances through primary source excerpts

The protocols change, but the pattern doesn’t. Start with retrieval, build into context and complexity, and finish with a chance for students to show their creativity/knowledge.

Let the Content Shape the Thinking

The thinking flow stays the same, but I adapt it based on what the content demands.

Manifest Destiny is full of imagery, myth, and legacy. It asks students to wrestle with beliefs, intentions, and consequences. I use EduProtocols that bring those pieced to life through visuals, structured writing, and modern-day connections.

The Nullification Crisis, on the other hand, is rooted in power dynamics and constitutional interpretation. It’s about understanding who wanted what, why they clashed, and how it played out. So I lean into story structure and POV work to help students break it down.

I’m not asking, “Which protocols do I like?” I’m asking, “What kind of thinking does this content require?”

Some Skills Go Beyond the Content

There’s another layer here, too. Sometimes it’s not just about history skills, it’s about cognitive skills that matter long after students leave the classroom. I’m trying to take care of the present while preparing kids for the future.

Here are three skills I intentionally built into these stacks:

Adopting a Different Perspective: The POV Analysis protocol pushed students to consider two very different interpretations of the same conflict: Jackson and Calhoun’s views on states’ rights and federal authority. That’s more than a history lesson. That’s about being able to hold multiple perspectives in tension, something we all need more practice with in and out of school.
Synthesizing Messages: In the Manifest Destiny lesson, the MiniReport asked students to combine ideas from a traditional textbook and a more critical, modern article. They had to make sense of competing viewpoints and turn it into a coherent written product. That’s the kind of synthesis skill that transfers to writing, speaking, and decision making.
Asking the Right Questions: Wicked Hydra helped students generate their own questions from a provocative headline. We didn’t start with answers – we started with curiosity. That habit of inquiry matters. It helps students know what to ask when things get unclear or when they need to dig deeper, whether it’s in history or real life.

Final Thoughts

When I rack and stack, I’m not just filling time or tossing in a protocol because it’s fun. I’m designing a flow. A lesson that moves students from buiulding background knowledge/retrieval to confident creation – without burning them out along the way.

Even though the topics change, the thinking stays consistent:

Start with the goal
Build the sequence that supports the right kind of thinking
Keep the cognitive load manageable
Let students do the heavy lifting, at the right time, with the right support

If you’re just getting into racking and stacking, here’s my best advice:

Start small. Pay attention to the thinking each step requires. And when in doubt, ask: What do I want students to do with their brain next? That’s the question that drives everything I build.

AI and EduProtocols

The Top Three Most Used EduProtocols This Year

After years of using EduProtocols, I’ve learned that a few always rise to the top, especially in a year with content to cover, AI to manage, and routines to maintain. These three protocols: Fast and Curious, Number Mania, and Thick Slides became the top 3 EduProtocols I used this year.

Fast and Curious

This one’s been a staple for me year after year.

It set the tone for class, gave us quick retrieval, and got vocab into students’ brains before they needed to use it in a deeper task. I stuck with Quizizz most days and kept the sets short, tight, and tied directly to our content theme. Played it twice: once cold, once after a fast reteach or class discussion. Bonus if the class average hit our target, they earned 100% in the grade book.

How I used it:

Previewed key terms for units on Colonization, Constitution, Expansion, Industrialization, and Civil War
Included terms like mercantilism, urbanization, checks and balances, sectionalism
Built student buy-in by letting them submit terms to include
Used it mid-lesson when attention dipped or as a quick Friday review
Turned Quizizz class averages into a challenge: beat your Monday score by Friday

Fast and Curious Tip:

You can easily find premade quizzes on Gimkit or Quizizz – simple, easy, ready to go. However, I don’t often do that because they are not worded in a way that I teach or word things. So, I will often take the textbook section of readiongs for the week and upload those to ChatGPT. I have ChatGPT extract vocabulary words and create questions that fit with the content.

Number Mania

This protocol moved from a go to graphic organizer to one of the most powerful thinking routines I used all year.

At first, it was just about identifying meaningful numbers. But it quickly became the tool that helped students back up their claims with evidence, especially when layered into short writing tasks or argument structures.

How I used it:

After short readings on Jamestown survival rates, Revolutionary War casualties, Constitutional compromises, factory wages, and Civil War production
Students pulled 3 – 4 key numbers, paraphrased them, and explained their significance
Paired with icons, AI generated visuals, or short captions
Rolled right into Short Answer responses or “Divide the Pie” arguments
Posted top examples to Padlet and used them as models

The extension that worked best:
I started requiring students to use two of their numbers in a Short Answer claim. For example: “Why was the North better positioned to win the Civil War?” They had to cite the railroad mileage, factory output, or population numbers they had just worked with. The writing was better because the thinking was already done.

Bonus variation:
AI generated “Truth with Sprinkles” – I gave them a fake paragraph with incorrect numbers, and they had to fix it using their Number Mania notes. Quick, smart, and fun.

Thick Slides

This became my go to for synthesis and creative output.

Students got one slide to make their thinking visual. We used a set structure title, visuals, stat or quote, short summary and it let me see quickly who got the content and who needed help.

How I used it:

Wrapped up content from Colonial Regions, American Revolution, Industrialization, Reform Movements, and Civil War
Assigned AI image generation to visualize abstract concepts or quotes
Had students screenshot their slide and upload it to MagicSchool for feedback
Turned slides into gallery walks or Padlet posts to compare perspectives

The best variation this year:
After students created their slide, I had them use it in a Divide the Pie activity. Each student argued which reformer, event, or region had the biggest impact—using only the details from their slide. It forced them to know what they made and defend it.

Final Thought

These three: Fast and Curious, Number Mania, and Thick Slides did more than fill time. They became a rhythm. Retrieval led to analysis. Analysis led to argument. Argument led to creative synthesis. They worked with any unit, played well with AI, and kept students focused.

Let me know if you want copies of my Number Mania prompts, Thick Slide templates, or how I stack these across a full week. Always happy to share.

Things That Shaped me

Things That Shaped Me: Ask My Students

Not long ago, I had a job interview where someone implied I might not be great at building relationships with students.

Fair enough. I get how I come off. I’m dry. I’m short and to the point. I’m introverted. I don’t do grand entrances. I’ve always been that way.

But if you think I can’t connect with kids—ask my students.

Coaching tennis helped me figure that out. When you’re on a court, you don’t have to be the loudest person in the room, you have to be on. You have to read the situation, encourage through frustration, and know when to step in or back off. Teaching is the same. Presence matters more than performance.

Over the years, my students have taught me more than I could ever teach them. I’ve seen middle schoolers walk into class after nights of chaos at home and still manage to be kind, still find ways to work hard. I’ve had students crack jokes that stopped me mid lesson. I’ve seen creativity in unexpected forms, a side conversation that turns into a brilliant project, a single sentence that says more than a five paragraph essay.

I’ve learned to listen more and assume less. I’ve learned that just showing up day after day matters more than people realize. And I’ve learned that connection doesn’t always look like a hug or a pep talk. Sometimes it looks like a quiet nod, a sarcastic comment, or a student hanging out in your room just a little too long after the bell.

I still have the letters. The artwork. And a letter of recommendation a student typed up for my Ohio Teacher of the Year application. Not because they had to, but because they wanted to.

So yeah, am I quiet? Definitely. But don’t mistake that for disconnected.

Ask my students. I’m pretty damn good at it.

TWTW

The Year That Was in 234

This year was tough. No sugarcoating it. I don’t know if it was being new at a school, trying to make the best out of a textbook that felt like a brick, or being told to follow it even when I knew it wasn’t right for the students. Structure? Absolutely. But textbook structure? Not it. The chapters were overloaded, the pacing felt artificial, and truth be told the cognitive load was off the charts.

A colleague reminded me of something simple: if students don’t know 95% of the vocabulary in a passage, comprehension will fall dramatically. That was us. All year. I watched kids stumble not just over words, but phrases and meanings we take for granted. For example, so many kids didn’t know the meaning of “conflict.” And it made everything feel harder, every reading, every discussion, every attempt to stretch thinking.

Still, I tried to keep showing up the only way I know how: with EduProtocols, lessons built on the science of learning, attention to cognitive load, and creativity. Some days? They worked. Some days? They didn’t. And honestly? The “not so great” days started to feel like they were outweighing the good ones.

But here’s what I can point to: these kids wrote. More than they ever had. I was told writing in social studies wasn’t part of their experience before this year. But we stuck with it Class Companion, Short Answer reps, writing routines, and honest feedback loops. It took time, it took struggle, but I watched growth happen on the page. That matters. That’s something.

I tried to raise the rigor, tried to stretch into DOK 2 and DOK 3 all year. But the climb was steep. I don’t know if I made an impact. Some days I really wonder. But then I hear my good friend and coauthor Dr. Scott Petri in my ear:

“Moler, you worry too damn much. Your worst day of teaching is probably someone’s best day.”

So here’s to holding onto that.

Here’s to writing gains, honest effort, and showing up—especially on the hard days.

And now: I’m onto new things. More to come on that in the future.

AI and EduProtocols

Rethinking the Questions We Ask – “Answers Will Vary”

A kid once turned in an answer to question 3 that just said: “Answers will vary.” It was clearly Googled and lifted from a teacher Weebly page of TCI answer keys.

I looked at it, shook my head, and said, “If you’re going to cheat, at least cheat correctly.” Then I realized the question I asked didn’t require them to think – it just needed Google… or now, from AI.

We’re in a world where students can Google or AI their way through any worksheet. So instead of harder questions, or. ore questions, we need better ones. Questions that actually require students to think, reflect, and decide.

Here’s how I’ve started reworking my questions:

Old Question	Better Version
What caused the American Revolution?	If you were a colonist, which British action would’ve pushed you to rebel—and why?
What did the Great Compromise do?	Which Constitutional compromise matters most today? Defend your choice.
What is Manifest Destiny?	Would you have supported Manifest Destiny in the 1840s? Explain your POV.
What were working conditions like?	Create a pro-factory ad. Then explain what you left out—and why.
What’s federalism?	Draw a symbol of federalism. Explain how it shows two governments sharing power.

These shifts help because AI can explain the facts, but it can’t choose for the student. When students have to justify, reflect, or take a position, it brings their voice into the work. AI might help them brainstorm, but it can’t replace their thinking.

Add Simple Reflection

Asking better questions helps, but building in quick metacognition takes it further. Here are 3 go-to prompts I use:

“What was the hardest part of this task—and how did you deal with it?”
“What part of your answer are you most confident in?”
“What changed your thinking today?”

Nothing over the top, just 1–2 sentences. We do it after Sketch & Tell-o, Thick Slides, Number Mania, or a writing task. It keeps the focus on how they thought, not just what they said.

Focus on the Process

During our Industrialization unit, I gave students a fake, rosy paragraph about factory life. Instead of writing something new, I had them revise it using evidence from our Number Mania activity (factory rules, fines, wages, etc.). The magic happened in the follow up: “What did you change—and why?”

That’s where I got real thinking. Students weren’t just reporting facts.
They were spotting spin, making decisions, and defending edits. That’s process.

Final Thought

If a chatbot can do the assignment better than your students, it’s time to change the assignment. Ask questions that need them. Build in time to reflect on the how, not just the what. Focus less on “finishing” and more on thinking out loud.

And when you start making these shifts, it’s eye-opening to see how much students have been relying on Google or AI to get by. The shortcuts get exposed, but so does the opportunity to help them become real thinkers.

AI and EduProtocols

Is AI Feedback Less Human?

There’s a growing perception in classrooms that when feedback or grading comes from AI, it feels less human. Students sometimes see it as impersonal, maybe a sign that the teacher doesn’t care. And to be honest? That feeling isn’t entirely wrong.

Part of good feedback is relationship. The tone, the nuance, the “I see you” moments that students pick up on when a teacher scribbles a star or writes “Nice!” in the margin. AI doesn’t do that. It can’t. So when students say it feels different, we should listen.

But here’s the other side of the story: AI feedback doesn’t have to replace the human part. AI can free us up to be more human. Instead of spending hours hand-marking spelling errors or rewriting the same comment over and over, teachers can let AI handle the routine, and then use class time for real conversations: mini-conferences, revision chats, side-by-side re-reads.

Some ways to make AI feel more human in your feedback loop:

Let students co-pilot: Have them ask AI for feedback and critique the response. Was it accurate? Helpful? What would they change?
Add a human layer: Record a short audio note responding to AI’s comments or add a sticky note that says “This is solid, especially that last sentence!”
Use AI as the start, not the end: “Here’s what the AI noticed, now let’s talk about what I noticed.”

In the end, AI can feel less human. But when we use it alongside teacher insight, not instead of it, it can lead to more feedback, more revision, and more meaningful learning.

Maybe it’s not about choosing between care and AI, it’s about using AI to create more space for care.

TWTW

The Week That Was In 234

Tuesday – Number Mania

Wednesday – Divide the Pie

Friday – Netflix Template

Monday – A Nation Prepares

This week’s theme was “A Nation Prepares for War,” and I’ll be honest—I ran out of time. I really wanted to get into Reconstruction, but I refuse to gloss over material just to say I “covered” it. If I’m going to teach something, I’m going to do a thorough, intentional job. Otherwise, what’s the point?

It’s been a tough week. So I started Monday with something easy. Low prep. Low stress. But still effective.

We kicked off with a Gimkit that I ran twice—once for warm-up and once after feedback. It was packed with vocab and content-based questions: secession, sectionalism, Lincoln’s election, states’ rights, etc. A quick way to reactivate prior knowledge and see what stuck from last week.

Next, we jumped into a Thin Slide activity on Padlet. The prompt: Why did the South secede? I gave them a short reading to skim and told them to pick one word or phrase and one image that represented the core reason. But what made this one different was how we used AI.

Instead of finding an image, students used Padlet’s AI image generator. They entered a short phrase, made it their caption, and used the body of the post to explain what their image represented. That move—credit to the students—was gold. It made the captions matter. It made the explanations more thoughtful. And it gave them a creative outlet that still demanded analysis.

We wrapped the day with a blank map—labeling Union, Confederate, and Border States. I’ll admit, I don’t usually like blank maps. But sometimes the brain just needs a break. This was the break. A little coloring. A little labeling. Still purposeful, but low cognitive load to help everyone ease back in.

Tuesday – Sides of the Civil War

Tuesday’s lesson focused on understanding the advantages of each side heading into the Civil War. I kept it simple and familiar because I’m a big believer in reusing quality material when it works.

We started by running the same Gimkit again—this time as a Fast and Curious. The repetition wasn’t just for review—it was to reinforce accuracy and let students feel some early success. Their scores went up, and they felt it.

After that, students completed a Number Mania based on a short reading about Union advantages. The prompt was direct:
Why did the Union have an advantage over the Confederacy in the Civil War?

Their task:

Include 4 numbers from the reading with paraphrased explanations
Add icons or images that helped visualize the data
Give it a title
Keep it clean, clear, and creative

This was a solid way to push students beyond just copying facts. They had to decide what numbers mattered and explain why.

We wrapped the day with a short EdPuzzle covering the four major battles: Fort Sumter, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Appomattox Courthouse. It was a simple close to the day, but effective. The video reinforced the bigger picture—how the war escalated, where it turned, and how it ended.

Wednesday & Thursday – Why Did People Fight?

This was the heart of the week, and it spanned two days. We started both days with a Quizizz for retrieval practice—Fast and Curious format again.

Then came the layered lesson. Students read a series of primary and secondary sources about different groups in the war: Union soldiers, Confederate soldiers, Black soldiers, and women. Afterward, they submitted four reasons for fighting through a Google Form.

Here’s where AI came in: I fed their responses into ChatGPT and asked it to create six categories based on student submissions. These included things like defending homeland, fighting for freedom, or protecting rights. I shared these categories back with the class.

From there, students completed a Divide the Pie activity:

Choose 5 of the 6 motivations
Assign each a percentage based on how influential they believed it was
Justify their thinking with specific details

It was reflective. It was writing-heavy. It worked.

Students weren’t just reciting facts—they were categorizing, weighing, and defending ideas. This is exactly what we need more of.

Friday – Wrapping Up the Theme with Netflix and Retrieval

Friday’s goal was simple: wrap up our “A Nation Prepares for War” theme and give students a creative outlet to show what they’d learned. We started with one last round of our Quizizz fast and curious—same questions from earlier in the week, but now serving as a final review. The ALL-class average was 85%, which was awesome, especially considering the quiz covered three weeks’ worth of content.

Next up: the Netflix template. I used an old template I’d saved (no idea where it originally came from), but it always works because it looks like an actual Netflix series layout. That visual hook alone helps students lock in.

The success criteria came straight from the yellow arrows in the template:

Slide 1: Series title, image, and a 3–4 sentence summary. They had to explain the division of states, why the South seceded, Fort Sumter, and reasons people were willing to fight.
Slide 2: Three creative episode titles—each tied to a big idea from our unit. Each episode needed a 2–4 sentence summary explaining the problem, the response, and the result.

To finish, I created a Magic School classroom for writing feedback. Students uploaded screenshots of their slides and received quick AI feedback. We had great conversations about the suggestions—what to take, what to ignore, and why. It’s not about AI replacing thinking; it’s about helping students reflect and revise.

This was a great way to end the theme. Students retrieved information, created something meaningful, and got instant feedback to grow their thinking. Simple. Structured. Creative. The way learning should be.

Things That Shaped me

Things That Shaped Me: Dr. Scott Petri

I never expected to write a book—let alone write one with someone like Dr. Scott M. Petri. (He always suggested you search his name with the ‘M’ because the other Scott Petri was a Republican representative in Pennsylvania).

He was an AP teacher with a doctorate, living in Los Angeles. I was a middle school teacher from small-town Ohio. He was short. I’m tall. On paper, we seemed like an odd match. But somehow, it just worked.

We were randomly paired to co-author The EduProtocols Field Guide: Social Studies Edition. And what started as a professional project quickly turned into one of the most meaningful friendships of my life.

Scott was organized. Me? Not so much. But where I brought simplicity, Scott brought structure. Where I was the quiet one, Scott was the talker – he couldn’t say “hi” in less than 500 words. He could take a simple idea and spin it into something complex, layered, and thought-provoking. I’d rein it in, offer a “clean it up this way,” and he always listened. He often told me criticism was hard for him to hear. Maybe it’s my small town tone, but it never bothered him. It never turned into a power struggle. We just trusted, and respected, each other.

We talked often – once, twice, sometimes three times a week. Every single conversation was a masterclass in something. He always had a new idea, a fresh take, or a connection to someone doing cool work. He loved connecting with people. And it showed in everything he did, from how he crafted our monthly Live Social Studies Show, to the care he put into promoting it. He was always thinking about the teachers who tuned in, how to give them something useful, how to make it meaningful.

The first time we met in person was at Spring CUE in 2022. We had been working together for months, but that was the first time we shook hands. Two days later, we presented together, and it felt like we’d been doing it for years. People were shocked to find out we’d just met.

We ended up traveling the country together, presenting at MassCUE at Gillette Stadium, presenting in Madison, WI at WCSS, presenting virtually, and sharing EduProtocols everywhere we could. We were different, but we balanced each other. I grounded the conversation. He elevated it.

And through it all, he was kind. Incredibly kind. Always asking about my daughters, my wife, my life back in Cincinnati. He genuinely cared. About people. About teachers. About making education better.

Losing him so suddenly still doesn’t feel real. He wasn’t just my coauthor. He was my partner, my teammate, and my friend.

Damn, I miss him.

I’ll keep sharing what we built together. I’ll keep talking about the things he taught me. Because Dr. Scott M. Petri shaped me more than he probably ever realized.

Rest easy, my friend.

Things That Shaped me

Things That Shaped Me: When the Spotlight Casts a Shadow

In 2022, I was named the 2023 District 5 Ohio Teacher of the Year.

On paper, it sounds like a dream. A high honor. A moment you’d frame.

The process was deep and demanding. I had to write five essays about my teaching philosophy, collect samples of student work and lesson plans, and submit three letters of recommendation, one of which came from a student. That student letter was incredible. It meant everything to me because it was real, honest, and unscripted.

So yes, I was proud. But here’s the other side; the one that doesn’t show up in the press release – it’s a blessing and a curse.

The title “Teacher of the Year” comes with weight. Not just pride, but pressure, perception, and, sometimes, pushback.

Impossible Expectations

Suddenly, you feel like you have to be on all the time. No off days. No mediocre lessons. No room to just be a teacher doing their best. The spotlight shines, and it burns a little.

Imposter Syndrome

You start to wonder: “Am I good at what I do? Or did I just put together a solid application?” You second guess yourself more than before. Because once you’re given a label like that, every mistake feels amplified. Every shortcoming feels exposed.

The Attention

Some people treat you differently. Some quietly celebrate you. Others…keep their distance. And some say the quiet part out loud: “Every teacher should be Teacher of the Year. That kind of award isn’t fair.”

They’re not wrong to feel that way. There are incredible teachers in every hallway of every building, teachers who’ll never get nominated, much less recognized. I’ve worked next to them. I’ve learned from them. I am them.

So now I carry this strange duality: proud of the honor, but deeply aware of what it might look like to others.

And here’s the hardest truth: the award can work against you.

When I’ve interviewed for new roles or tried to grow professionally, I’ve felt the hesitation. Sometimes it feels like the title “Teacher of the Year” is a warning label: Might have ideas. Might want to lead. Might expect too much. Might leave

In public education, accolades are complicated. They don’t always open doors. Sometimes they quietly close them.

No doubt…this award shaped me. Not just the award, but everything that came after it. The pressure. The doubt. The silence. The looks. The interviews that didn’t pan out.

But also: the clarity. The reminder that no title changes why I do this. It’s not about the plaque. Or the essays. It’s about that student letter. It’s about the trust, the effort, the connection.

TWTW

The Week That Was In 234

This week was all about pulling the thread—tracing how specific events pulled the country apart and pushed us toward war. I built everything around one central theme: A Nation Divides Over Slavery. From court cases to debates, from compromises to elections, we kept the structure tight: retrieval, repetition, and real thinking. The protocols stayed familiar, the tasks stayed purposeful, and students had a chance to connect the dots, not just memorize them.

Monday – Thick Slide with Readings

Tuesday – Lincoln Douglas Debate with Clues

Wednesday – Fugitive Slave Act with Reading

Thursday – Election of 1860

Friday – Divide the Pie, Sega Game

Monday – Kicking Off “A Nation Divides Over Slavery”

We kicked off our new theme this week: A Nation Divides Over Slavery. The idea behind this theme is to help students connect key events and legal decisions that drove the wedge deeper between North and South – like the Dred Scott case, the Fugitive Slave Act, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, and the Election of 1860.

We started with a Quizizz set that previewed these four topics – both vocabulary and content. I told the students upfront: this isn’t just about getting right answers. This is about seeing where we are before diving in and building context all week.

From there, we went straight into a Thick Slide on Dred Scott. I gave students four guiding questions:

Who was Dred Scott?
What did the court decide?
What impact did it have on the country?
Why does it matter today?

They added a powerful quote, one or two relevant images, and a title that helped summarize the case’s importance. I’ve used Thick Slides a lot this year, but I liked this one because it helped students pull together multiple layers of information on a tough topic and create something visual that forced them to organize their thinking.

To add a local lens, we wrapped up class with a short reading about The Case of Henry Poindexter – a lesser known but powerful Ohio case that challenged the logic of Dred Scott. Poindexter was ruled free when he entered Ohio, even though the Dred Scott ruling said enslaved people weren’t citizens. That contrast hit home for students. It was a great way to help them see that not all courts agreed—and that the debate over slavery and citizenship wasn’t as cut and dry as some textbooks make it seem.

Why this lesson worked:

Quizizz built background and gave us data
Thick Slide gave students a structure to produce and reflect
The Poindexter case grounded the learning in local history and made it real

Tuesday – A Twist on the Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Tuesday was one of those days where I wanted to keep the content heavy, but the delivery light. We were building off of Monday’s work with Dred Scott, and I needed a way to connect to the Lincoln-Douglas debates without it feeling like just another block of text.

We started with an EdPuzzle, a solid recap of the Dred Scott case that also dropped in mentions of Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. It served two purposes: review Monday’s learning, and plant seeds for what was coming next. No extra slides. No extra talking. Just a well-placed video.

The the twist – instead of reading straight from the textbook, I decided to rework the passage on the Lincoln-Douglas debates. But I didn’t rework it myself—I asked AI to do it. Specifically, I asked ChatGPT to take the reading and embed five hidden clues to a mystery object. The object? An orange.

The clues: wedge, sections, bitter, peel, squeeze.

The students didn’t know this at first. They just read the modified version, answered the reading questions, and moved on. Until I dropped the twist.

I shared a Padlet and told them: “Based on what you read, I was thinking of an object. It’s hidden in the clues. Guess what it is, and explain how it connects to a country being pulled apart by the issue of slavery.”

I changed the Padlet settings to manual approval so no one could copy answers. Kids were rereading, piecing together metaphors, trying to figure it out.

The guesses ranged from “lemon zest” to “an instrument” but when a few landed on “orange” and explained it like this…

“The country was in wedges, pulling away from the center.”
“There were different sections that couldn’t stay together.”
“Everyone was getting squeezed from both sides.”

This wasn’t about right answers. This was about interpretation.

It was late in the year. Attention spans were slipping. But curiosity still works.

Why This Worked

The EdPuzzle grounded us in prior knowledge without slowing momentum.
The AI-rewritten reading kept all the important facts but added a playful puzzle.
The mystery object metaphor gave kids a reason to reread and think differently.
The Padlet added a layer of mystery and ownership—students weren’t just responding, they were interpreting.

We talk a lot about curiosity in learning, but sometimes it’s as simple as hiding a metaphor in plain sight.

Wednesday – Number Mania and Division Over Slavery

I decided to build the day around a lesson adapted from Retro Report, focused on how the Fugitive Slave Act further divided the nation and fractured the Democratic Party. We’d touched on the law last week, but this time we went deeper, analyzing its consequences more intentionally.

We opened class with a quick discussion about how a single law could force citizens to choose between their conscience and the law. Then we moved into a Number Mania. I provided students with a short, impactful reading on the Fugitive Slave Act that was rich in context and included some powerful data: $1,000 fines, $40,000 to return one man, over 300 people returned to slavery, and more. Students had to use three numbers to prove this quote true:

“The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 deepened the divide between the North and South by punishing citizens who helped runaways, rewarding biased decisions, and sparking costly conflicts over slavery.”

They added visuals, a title, and paraphrased facts supported by numbers. It was more than just pulling data, it was about making meaning with that data. This protocol always helps students see the weight that numbers can carry in understanding a moment in history.

We ended with a Fast and Curious Quizizz, looping back to the same content vocabulary and themes from Monday. Every time we run that loop, accuracy improves. It’s low stakes, high impact, and it sets kids up for deeper thinking in the next lesson.

Why it worked:

Number Mania turned data into narrative and helped students visualize division.
The reading provided the foundation, and the task forced synthesis.
Quizizz helped reinforce essential vocabulary and context.

Thursday: Election of 1860 and the Nation Splits

Thursday we wrapped up the second part of our Retro Report lesson on the road to the Civil War—this one focused on the Election of 1860. After covering the Fugitive Slave Act earlier in the week, this was a natural next step. It helped students see how deep the divisions were not just in laws, but in politics.

We started with an EdPuzzle on the Election of 1860. Just a four-minute video with a good breakdown of the four major candidates and how their platforms represented the different regions of the country. It was a great primer, quick, clear, and helped set up the rest of the lesson.

After the video, students read short excerpts from each of the party platforms. We didn’t go overboard here, I just wanted them to pull out the core ideas: What did each party believe about slavery? About federal power? About the territories?

We wrapped it up with a Short Answer Battle Royale using the platform. The question was simple:

How did the results of the 1860 presidential election show that the United States was becoming more and more divided?

There was candy on the line, so they wrote like it actually mattered. Some of the answers were solid—claims, evidence, explanations. Some still needed guidance. But that’s the beauty of ShortAnswer. Students saw each other’s responses in real time. They adjusted, they improved, and they learned from one another.

It wasn’t a loud or flashy lesson, but it worked. The video gave them context. The reading gave them specifics. The writing gave them purpose. And the candy didn’t hurt, either.

Friday – Choice and Review to Close the Theme

We wrapped up the week and our “A Nation Divides Over Slavery” theme with a final round of Quizizz. This was our retrieval layer to see what stuck after hitting the Dred Scott case, the Fugitive Slave Act, Lincoln Douglas Debates, and the Election of 1860. The class averages were solid: 94%, 85%, 90%, and 86%. That tells me this themed structure is working. The repetition, the chunking, the protocols—it all adds up.

But what I liked even more was the choice students had in their assessment.

Option 1 was “Divide the Pie”—a visual breakdown of how much each event contributed to the growing division between North and South. Students had to assign a percentage to each of the four events and then justify those numbers with specific evidence. Not just pulling numbers out of thin air—but actually defending them based on class work and content we’ve layered all week. It wasn’t just about what they remembered. It was about what they understood.

Option 2 was the Sega Genesis Game template from EMC² Learning. This one let students reimagine the week’s events as a vintage video game. Their job? Turn historical conflict into gameplay. What would the levels be? What obstacles would the player face? What’s the story arc? It’s creative, but it still demands content knowledge. I built out some success criteria so they weren’t just designing for fun—they had to make their game tie back to each event.

That’s the point. We’re giving students tools to own their thinking. Whether it’s defending a pie chart with historical evidence or turning a political crisis into pixelated gameplay, they’re showing what they know in ways that stick.