When I picture great teaching, I see a teacher turn a computer lab into Mount Everest! The sixth grade world history students and teachers faced many obstacles to summit the perilous peak: jumping cardboard ravines, crossing treacherous planks and managing to hold onto the climbing rope while crawling through the danger-filled Khumbu Icefall (better known as the computer tables!)
At the end of the climb, students rolled a dice to determine if they reached the summit, or if they had to turn back due to weather.
Mr. Pearce’s students have not only climbed Mt. Everest this year, they have also navigated a Siberian wasteland (an empty portable classroom) to learn about longitude and latitude, explored the ancient caves of Lascaux, France (the media audiovisual storeroom covered in cardboard caves filled with exciting artifacts) and learned the value of agriculture over hunting/gathering (finding sunflower seeds in the yard by the classroom). Interactive and engaging, sixth grade world history at our school is awesome!