A Flair for Thematics

My name is Deanna Tawadrous, and I have been in education for over ten years. I have a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education, where I spent most of my time teaching 4th and 5th grade. I am also Social Studies endorsed and currently work as a contract curriculum developer for an online course.

I look at teaching like a giant puzzle. You start with the standards and break down what you need to teach into tiny pieces. Then you determine how to teach them using differentiation and interactive learning. Slowly as you build a game, unit or cross-curriculum activity, you being to see the puzzle form and take shape. However, the main problem in education is time. How do you teach all of these standards to mastery? Social studies is often the first to go! However, I love to create engaging and interactive social studies activities, embedded with cross-curricular skills such as reading or writing. When done correctly, the students are so interested in what they are doing, they don't see the close reading questions or are unfazed with writing a short narrative.

Teacher of the Year Nominee

Bachelor in Elementary Education from the University of Arizona ESL Endorsement Middle School Social Studies Endorsement

As a teacher, my greatest struggle was finding a way for students to make connections and interact with the past. When students hear social studies, they first think about mind-numbing informational text and short answers—followed by boring lectures and endless slides. However, being a teacher, I want students to see the mysteries, stories, and parallels from the past. As a creator, I aim to create high-interest and interactive lessons to engage students. In my project-based learning units, students will explore in a scaffolded inquiry-based learning experience, while my simulations allow students to interact with the past as a character. They make choices, research information, enhance their ELA skills, and much more!