Jody Passanisi
Jody Passanisi is a middle school history teacher in Los Angeles, where she works at an independent school. She has an M.A. in Religious Studies from the Graduate Theological Union, and an M.S. in Education from Mt. St. Mary’s University. In addition to her work in the classroom, Jody is an adjunct instructor at Mt. St. Mary’s University in Los Angeles where she works with teachers on current social studies methods. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children.
Biography
Jody Passanisi is a middle school history teacher in Los Angeles, where she works at an independent school. She has an M.A. in Religious Studies from the Graduate Theological Union, and an M.S. in Education from Mt. St. Mary’s University.In addition to her work in the classroom, Jody is an adjunct instructor at Mt. St. Mary’s University in Los Angeles where she works with in-service and pre-service teachers on developing units based on Understanding by Design and current social studies methods. She has also worked as a clinical educator for DeLeT’s induction program, mentoring teachers through their first years in the classroom.
Jody is a vocal advocate for purposefully incorporating 21st Century tools and skills into the classroom and her writing has been featured at Education Week Teacher, Scientific American and SmartBrief. Alongside her collegues Aaron Brock and Shara Peters, Jody writes about teaching history in the middle grades at MiddleWeb’s “Future of History” http://www.middleweb.com/category/futureofhistory/ blog. You can find her on Twitter @21centuryteachr and at 21centuryteachr.wordpress.com.
Jody lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children.
Books
Articles
Hamilton on Broadway: History With a Beat
Published: Nov 15, 2015 by MiddleWeb
Authors: Jody Passanisi, Shara Peters
This is a current and exciting opportunity to be able to make our students connect with history, to help bring it to life. And we’re holding our breath until the show comes to California.
Helping Students Learn to Cite Their Sources
Published: Sep 21, 2015 by MiddleWeb
Authors: Jody Passanisi
Subjects:
Education, History
I’ve been pleased with the results of my citation lessons. I think I am sending stronger kids to high school this way. Will all of the students memorize the rules for MLA formatting? No. But they will realize that when they get an idea off the Internet that backs up their thesis, they need to cite their source. And they will have a basic idea of how to do that. That is a skill they will use the rest of their lives.
Technology Revitalizes Hands-On Education in Classrooms
Published: Nov 07, 2014 by Scientific American
Authors: Jody Passanisi, Shara Peters
Technology has abstracted the educational sphere in the way it has abstracted all other aspects of our lives. Pencils and paper have given way to the more amorphous cloud-based computing, kids are presenting more with Prezi than on poster boards, and work can be turned in online instead of in-hand.
Teaching History Students to Recognize Bias
Published: Feb 02, 2014 by MiddleWeb
Authors: Jody Passanisi, Shara Peters
Students who learn history through this kind of relativistic lens will understand more about how history is analyzed and shaped. This will inform the way that they consume media, transferring these skills to when they watch the news, or learn about a current event. They will begin to look at information being presented to them as discerning consumers, as opposed to blindly accepting what is told to them.
Confronting My Flipped Classroom Bias
Published: Dec 29, 2013 by MiddleWeb
Authors: Jody Passanisi
Subjects:
Education, History
This approach has freed me up to go around and work with students individually, and has actually created more time for students to work on class content. And I don’t know many social studies/history teachers who wouldn’t welcome more time to invest in the actual stuff of history.
Project Learning in History Class
Published: Jun 21, 2013 by MiddleWeb
Authors: Jody Passanisi, Shara Peters
Subjects:
Education, History
What we want in history class is to bring meaning and relevancy to these stories about things that happened long ago. PBL goes a long way to help with this: students are interested and driven to learn because of increased autonomy and the drive of inquiry. Students can make meaning from historical events– and even if it isn’t the meaning that we intended in the first place, it is no less powerful, and probably more enduring.
What's So Hard about Research?
Published: Jun 19, 2013 by Scientific American
Authors: Jody Passanisi, Shara Peters
Subjects:
Education
Now that we know students struggle with research, now that we’ve discussed why that might be so, what steps can we take to help improve the situation? The next frontier for us will be to design curricular interventions that help students overcome some of these challenges they face, and to provide opportunities for them. It is our job as their teachers to help students understand and be able to use this information that they discover.
A New Era of Classroom Transparency
Published: Apr 03, 2013 by Education Week
Authors: Jody Passanisi, Shara Peters
Reflective practice requires critique; you can’t get that from staying within the four walls of your classroom. So, in our view, classroom transparency isn't something teachers should strive for just because it's possible now. It is something teachers must aspire to in order remain current and viable in the fast-evolving field of education.
Pedagogy Whiplash: When 'Best Practices' Conflict
Published: Oct 09, 2012 by Education Week
Authors: Jody Passanisi, Shara Peters
As teachers, we have to be educated consumers at the shopping counter of pedagogy, simultaneously remembering our own teaching voice while remaining open to new ideas. It is a timeless truth that teaching should be dictated by the needs of the students and their futures, not the latest hyped educational technique. Changing student needs should be dictating best practices; as the world that helps shape student growth evolves, the tools that we will need to use will evolve as well.
Being a Digital Native Isn't Enough
Published: Aug 28, 2012 by Scientific American
Authors: Jody Passanisi, Shara Peters
Just because these students are digital natives, does not mean that they do not need guidance to navigate the digital world--both in terms of learning how to discern important and relevant information from a large swath of data, and also to be able to inquire and solve problems that take time, thought, and energy.