Why I Love Teaching Humanities

Humanities invites students to explore new worlds, encounter different perspectives, and better understand their own place in history. Through literature, students can learn from writers such as Jane Austen, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and J. K. Rowling, while award-winning children’s and young adult books bring new ideas, experiences, and perspectives into the classroom.

Growing up, I watched Reading Rainbow and internalized the idea that a book can take you anywhere and help you imagine becoming anything. I love seeing the moment when students discover a genre, author, historical period, or topic that makes them excited to learn more.

My own teachers showed me how powerful humanities education can be. They encouraged my creative writing, introduced me to historical fiction, and taught me how to develop and refine my ideas. I want to provide students with those same opportunities to discover their interests, strengthen their voices, and experience the joy of learning.

Humanities also prepares students for a rapidly changing world. Skills such as asking thoughtful questions, evaluating sources, communicating clearly, revising ideas, and using technology responsibly will remain essential—especially as artificial intelligence continues to change how we find and create information.

My Beliefs as a Humanities Teacher

I believe learning should be engaging, collaborative, honest, practical, and connected to students’ lives. Students benefit from clear expectations and consistent routines, but they also need opportunities to make choices, take creative risks, and learn with others.

I work to be the kind of adult who consistently shows up for students, continues learning, and models the values I ask them to practice. I bring determination, compassion, creativity, and a willingness to reflect and improve to my work as an educator.

Theoretical Foundation

Constructivism provides the foundation for my instructional approach. Students learn more deeply when they can connect new ideas to their previous knowledge, experiences, beliefs, and observations. Project-based learning supports this process by asking students to investigate meaningful questions, make decisions, solve problems, and create authentic products.

My approach is also influenced by Vygotsky’s view of learning as an active and social process. Through modeling, scaffolding, collaboration, and purposeful feedback, students receive the support they need while gradually developing greater confidence and independence.

Ideal Learning Outcomes

I want students to leave my classroom knowing how to ask productive questions and locate reliable information. When students can investigate questions, evaluate sources, and communicate what they discover, they become more independent learners.

Students also learn strategies for organizing and retaining information. One strategy I teach is doodle notes, which combine words, symbols, and simple drawings. This active form of note-taking helps students process ideas, make connections, and create tools that are meaningful to them.

Most importantly, I want students to recognize that every person brings experiences, strengths, and perspectives from which we can learn. Humanities gives students opportunities to understand one another, examine complex ideas, and participate thoughtfully in their communities.

Stakeholder Relationships

Families are students’ first and most important teachers, and strong partnerships help students thrive. I communicate with families, listen to their perspectives, and work with them to support each student’s academic and personal growth.

I build relationships with students, colleagues, and families through communication, curiosity, reliability, and empathy. I collaborate with staff members to identify strategies that help individual students succeed, and I look for community connections that make learning more relevant and authentic.

Ideal Learning Outcomes

I want my students to learn to ask productive questions and how to find reliable resources for answers. If students learn to ask and research questions, they can learn to do anything. They won’t always have a teacher guiding them, but they can learn how to become their own teacher. I want them to take good notes; I like to teach about doodle notes. Doodle notes make learning more active by engaging more learning styles (listening, reading, kinesthetic), while customizing to individual learning needs. Finally, students will appreciate that everyone has something unique and special from which we can learn.

Stakeholder Relationships

Parents are our students’ first and most important teachers, and communities are the beneficiaries of their education. Teaching is an opportunity to work with parents to support students’ values and growth. That is what we all do as a community: support the best family outcomes. All stakeholders contribute to the well-being of students and their ability to learn. Being an involved community member is important by showing interest in culture, interests, and events.

I build relationships through communication, curiosity, and empathy. I work with other staff and families to find learning strategies that work for students. I stay connected with the larger community so I can reach out for real-world application of learning materials.

Educational Technology: A Collection of Words

This lesson used literature and technology to help students develop stronger, more precise vocabularies. We began by listening to a read-aloud of Peter H. Reynolds’s The Word Collector. Students identified words that captured their attention and discussed what made those words interesting or powerful.

Using links shared through Lightspeed, students explored Thesaurus.com to find alternatives to commonly used words such as walk. We then worked as a class to create a Google Slides anchor chart featuring synonyms, antonyms, and memorable words from the story.

The lesson combined reading, discussion, vocabulary development, digital research, and collaborative creation.

Reflection and Future Modifications

In a future lesson, I would prepare a short list of familiar words to help students begin their exploration. I would also establish a more structured Chromebook distribution routine and consider using a shared Google Doc or Slides presentation so students could contribute their discoveries in real time.

Doodle Notes and Visual Vocabulary

Students in my classroom learn to create personal visual dictionaries using words, symbols, and simple drawings. This strategy does not depend on artistic ability. Instead, it gives students another way to organize information, represent abstract ideas, and create associations that support memory.

Visual notes encourage students to process information rather than simply copy it. They also give students greater ownership of their learning by allowing them to create study tools that make sense to them.

Assessment Tools and Strategies

I use exit tickets to check understanding, identify students who may need additional support, and adjust upcoming instruction. Each exit ticket is brief and focused, allowing students to demonstrate their understanding of a lesson’s central objective or standard.

I also use self-reflection ratings alongside academic assessments. Comparing students’ confidence with their demonstrated understanding helps me determine who needs clarification, additional practice, encouragement, or a new challenge.

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Self-Reflection Rating System

1 — Not yet: I do not understand this skill or concept yet.

2 — Developing: I am beginning to understand and can complete it with support.

3 — Independent: I understand and can complete it on my own.

4 — Confident: I understand well enough to explain or teach it to someone else.

Entering the Classroom

Students take a conversation card as they enter and sit in the corresponding location. Seating assignments change regularly, giving students opportunities to work with different classmates, hear new perspectives, and develop their collaboration skills.

Students begin with a quiet entry task so they can settle in, organize their materials, and prepare to learn.

Bullet Journals

During the first five minutes of class, students:

• Review notes and tasks from the previous day.
• Mark completed work.
• Create a priority list for the day.
• Identify both personal goals and class expectations.

At least once each week, students add a visual vocabulary entry to their journals. We create a simple image and identify the different meanings or ideas it can represent. During the final five minutes of class, students update their journals and reflect on their progress.

Attendance Routine

The opening attendance period is a voice-level-zero routine. Students may update their bullet journals, read, draw quietly, or continue working on an assignment. If they have a question, they write it down and ask after the opening timer ends.

This routine gives students a calm and predictable start while allowing me to take attendance, check in with the class, and prepare materials for the lesson.

After the five minutes are complete I use discussion cards to engage students in a socratic style conversation and develop relationships.

Class Expectations

Be Honest, Be Kind, and Be Brave

During the first week of class, students work together to identify what these values look and sound like in our learning community.

It is always and. Honesty, kindness, and bravery work together:

• Honesty helps us reflect on what worked, recognize what needs to change, and learn from mistakes without shame.
• Kindness creates a classroom where people feel safe asking questions, sharing ideas, and trying again.
• Bravery gives us the courage to attempt difficult work, reconsider our thinking, and persevere when our first approach does not succeed.

Our most important expectation is to keep trying. Students and teachers will not do everything perfectly, but we can reflect, adjust, and continue making progress.

Progress Before Polish

Some students become overwhelmed because they expect their first attempt to be perfect. I teach students to separate creating from refining:

1. Complete a thoughtful first draft.
2. Revise it to meet the learning goals.
3. Polish the details and presentation.

This process helps students overcome perfectionism, sustain momentum, and understand that strong work usually develops through revision.

Leaving the Classroom

Students may use the restroom, get water, or visit the nurse according to established school procedures. They sign out, take the appropriate pass, and return promptly. One student may leave at a time.

Instructions and learning materials are available in the classroom and online so students can independently locate information they may have missed. In our classroom, we practice becoming resourceful problem-solvers and solution creators.

Encouraging One Another

Students may snap to show quiet approval or encouragement during discussions and presentations. This allows them to support classmates without interrupting the speaker.

Materials for Learning

Students come prepared with:

• A pen or pencil
• Highlighters, markers, or colored pencils
• A charged laptop
• Paper
• A bullet journal

Clearly labeled classroom storage areas help students locate current work, previous assignments, extra pencils, and other supplies. These systems encourage independence and protect instructional time.

Student Engagement 

Humanities is an engaging and relevant area of study. It includes everything from understanding how government works and discovering new worlds through reading to exploring the people, places, and events that have shaped the world we live in. When students recognize how literature, history, and civics connect to their own lives and communities, learning comes alive. Whatever a student’s interests or future goals may be, the skills developed through humanities are valuable.

I keep students engaged by providing a variety of ways to explore ideas and demonstrate learning. These may include doodle notes, art, collaborative work, presentations, essays, podcasts, and other creative projects.

My goal as a humanities teacher is to help students master academic standards while giving them meaningful opportunities to use their individual strengths and talents to express what they have learned.

In my class students learn from real people who are very different from themselves, and from historical figures they can relate to. They learn and expand on ideas they are passionate about, and they learn how to do it in respectful ways, while challenging their existing understanding and finding relevant sources.