Daniel Hood is a high school history teacher at a private school in Southwest Virginia where he teaches AP® World History, AP® European History, and AP® Comparative Government. I love maps. Maybe it’s because of all the high fantasy novels I read as a young adult, which would have been incomplete without the map inside the first few pages that brought the whole fantasy world into sharper relief. Or it might have been …
Category: High School Disciplines
Chemistry for Humans: Why the Right Textbook Matters
I have never encountered a student with strong opinions about whether they learn kinetics before or after thermodynamics, or which theory best explains expanded-octet structures, or whether quantum mechanics should occur early or late in the text. Fortunately, there are still many ways in which the viewpoints of instructors and students align perfectly. I’d like to share a few of those human-centric areas of agreement that can be supported by an effective textbook.
Teaching Students to Think Like Historians: Making Secondary Sources a Primary Focus in the U.S. History Classroom
According to AP® instructor Craig Nicoletti, students must be taught more than how to memorize information. In our latest Norton Learning Blog post, AP® instructor Nicoletti encourages his students to “think like historians” by synthesizing historical information, constructing arguments about the past, and recalling specific historical details.
Behind the Scenes of INSECTOPOLIS: A Q&A with Author Peter Kuper
The Norton Learning Blog team recently sat down with award-winning cartoonist Peter Kuper to discuss how he channeled his love of insects into his newest graphic novel, Insectopolis. Kuper shares how COVID-19 inspired his work, why humans should care about insects now more than ever, and how this title might just inspire a future generation of scientists and artists.
Exhibiting in the Humanities: How Showcasing Student Work Can Transform History and English Classrooms
Craig Nicoletti is an AP U.S. History teacher and Humanities Program Chair at Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis.
Five Tips for Navigating Your First Dual Credit Course
Morgan Cline is a 2025 graduate of Teays Valley High School in Ashville, Ohio, currently studying aviation and music education at The Ohio State University. Imagine starting your first year of college. New school, new friends, new living arrangements, potentially a new city to call home, new activities—new everything. For many, this is the biggest …
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Storying the Classroom: Why ELA Is the Perfect Place for Ethnic Studies
Since the fall of 2021, I’ve taught a class called English 12 Ethnic Cultures, a course designed specifically to incorporate Ethnic Studies principles into English Language Arts. After doing this work for some time, I am convinced that the Language Arts classroom is a perfect place for this kind of work. English teachers are natural storytellers, and our classrooms can be the place where students’ own stories emerge.
“Write What’s Not Fair”: On Obsession, Paradox, and Permission in the Classroom
Passionate student writers rarely lack ideas, but instructors can help them narrow those ideas down by choosing to write what makes them feel the most. Authors Matthew Clark Davison and Alice LaPlante instruct students to write what’s “not fair.” Unresolved emotions, from hatred to love, offer great fuel to new writers seeking direction.
The Best of Both Worlds: Using Print and Digital Tools in your AP® Literature Course
As an older Millennial teacher, I find that I am stuck between two worlds: the one I was born in and the one in which I grew up. The one I was born in was analog: paper, pencils and highlighters, and books. The one I grew up in—although it was ever-evolving—was decidedly not analog. It was keyboards, screens, and software updates. Like me, students are caught between these two worlds.
Creating Connections: Tips for Writing Effective Test Questions
Tests are a learning experience for the test-taker. Tests are not only a way to find out how much students know, but they are also a way to guide the test taker as to what is most important about what they are learning. Whether it is for a chapter test, a semester exam, or a test bank, I write questions that focus on details and the big picture.