Mr Kampmann’s Online Classroom

This video from the Colbert Report makes the gas price problem more understandable.There is one swear word in it. But I think the overall educational value of the video is high.

Everyone needs to get more excited about history.

I am a big fan of Schoolhouse Rock. One of my favorite is How a Bill Becomes a Law. Over time I will post more of their videos. My hope with these videos that I post is to have parents and students watch the videos and find something educational to talk about in it.

Inaug. 1913 (LOC)

Originally uploaded by The Library of Congress

We get to enjoy an election this semester. I recommend that students they are well versed in the news and the candidates.

This is a very inspirational, motivational, and all around great video by a professor diagnosed with terminal cancer. I will be showing this video to my classes early into the school year. Keep in mind that it is 76 minutes long, so set aside some time to watch this.

This is going to be a very exciting project! The American Government and World Geography classes are going to be completing a L-to-J project. The basic idea is to give weekly quizzes (that don’t count in the gradebook) over material that is important for the entire year. So some of the questions will be over material not yet covered. The idea is to track how well the class learns the material over time.

I will be posting information related to how the classes are doing here every week. We will only have one quiz a week.

The American Government and American History classes are going to be using weekly journals this semester. Everyday immediately after entering the classroom (even before the bell rings) there will be a question, quote, thought, etc. on the board or projector that will need to be responded to in the journals. The journals are separate from the binders. The first 5 minutes of class will always be devoted to the journals, the only exception is on exam and review days.

I will collect these journals at the end of every week. This will usually be on Friday after the 5 minutes to work on them. Each collection is worth 3 points. I will grade the journals in a unique way. A student will roll a dice and depending on what the number matches up with on my grading options will determine what is graded.

The JH Health class will be doing interactive student notebooks this semester. Information about what ISNs are can be found on my website. However, parents and students will need to check back to this website to find the complete list of the Table of Contents. It is very important to have a complete ToC.

The page to find the Table of Contents is ISN-JH Health. It is also located in the sidebar.

This blog is for my social studies classes at Dorchester, NE. Information about these classes will be posted throughout the year. This could be a very exciting project for the students and parents are welcome to visit the site to see what the students have been working on and what is going on with the class.

Nothing will really happen on this blog over the summer, except for minor changes to the site. The real action should start part way through September, when school starts! You are welcome to look around for now though.