Kris McIntosh

I taught social studies in a public high school in Ft. Worth, TX for 28 years before leaving the classroom and working directly with social studies teachers, k-12 for 4 years. In the classroom I team taught U.S. history with an American literature teacher and we engaged 50 students for 120 minutes every day. By combining short stories, poetry, novels with history, music and art students developed a fuller sense of our nation’s history. From 2004 to 2011 I worked part time directing teaching American History grants and mentoring new teachers in low performing campuses. I am now doing consulting and writing warm up/review lessons for FDC Lessons.com

When students left my classroom at the end of the year they were able to think critically, work successfully in teams, direct their own research and verbally present and/or write out their findings. By engaging students with primary sources, whether speeches, diary entries, editorial cartoons or photographs, combined with questioning strategies, students were able to discover a more complete picture of our nation. As they discovered the history of our nation, students had to give proof for their conclusions, so after discovering the who, what, where, and when they focused on the why.

I have written lessons for the Sid Richardson Museum of Western Art, the Southwest branch of the National Archives and the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum. Lessons can be viewed on their websites. I have presented at both the National Council for the Social Studies national convention 2007-2014, and the Texas Council for the Social Studies state convention 2008-2017 Miller Brewing Company Teaching Chair of Excellence, 1995 Outstanding Teacher, Southwest High School, 1995

BA in history/geography/education Central State University, Edmond OK., 1972 MLA, Texas Christian University, Ft. Worth, TX 1986

In 1998 while visiting Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, I purchased from an antique dealer, a 1948 envelope, commemorating the 85th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. I was impressed that the envelope was then 50 years old. Fast forward to 2008 and I am mentoring new teachers who need help with developing lesson plans. That 1948 envelope with its commemorative stamp, appropriate postmark and artwork depicting the event of Lincoln at Gettysburg, became the image for a lesson’s warm up activity. Analyzing the image and answering a variety of questions immediately hooked students into the fuller lesson on the Gettysburg Address. I now own hundreds of envelopes, which are correctly called first day covers, since the envelope contains a stamp cancelled on the first day of its issue. When searching for a first day cover for a particular topic, the stamp and the postmark never change so the challenge is to find the one with the best artwork. The images from the first day cover lay the foundation for all the lessons now found at my teacherspayteachers.com store! Images hook students on history.