iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Alright #sschat people! Anything exciting going on in your classroom this week?

Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

‪As a pre-teen, I spent some time after school as an Interpol sub-contractor using my geography and research skills to help them retrieve stolen goods and capture a criminal mastermind and her crime syndicate. ‬

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

New post! I built a gamified DBQ skill builder where teachers assign students 2–3 specific rubric skills based on what they need. Those focus areas sync to student copies, guide their quests,& feed back into tracker for feedback. All built in Google Sheets. michaelkmilton.com/2026/03/03/t...

michaelkmilton.com

The Lost Levels: A Targeted Approach to DBQ Skill Development

DBQ Guild: The Lost Levels is a targeted AP DBQ refinement system. Students focus on two to three skills based on prior performance. Built in Google Sheets with workflow tracking & revision dat…

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

I made a vocabulary warm up game for my students earlier this year as a Google Sheet. Over the break, I adapted it to a website. And now...Vocab Crusher is ALIVE!! Paste terms. Choose a mode. Hit Smash. Take a look! I’d love feedback! vocabcrusher.com

vocabcrusher.com

Vocab Crusher (Projector)

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Ten years ago I made a vocabulary review game I’ve been using ever since: Vocab Connect. It worked great but setup was clunky, so I never shared it. A snow day gave me a few unexpected hours, & I finally fixed that part. Wrote about the game (& the update) here: michaelkmilton.com/2026/02/03/v...

michaelkmilton.com

Vocab Connect: A Review Game, Made Easier

Vocab Connect is a vocabulary review game built around table talk, explanation, and connection. I’ve used it in my classroom for nearly a decade – and recently made the one change that finall…

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

If you are considering introducing a new acronym, please use the WHY Protocol: • What purpose will this acronym serve? • How does this translate to the folks in the outside? • You really think this is a good idea?

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

HOMES is a good one too. It reminds me that there are 5 Great lakes and the rest of them are just mediocre.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Please consider joining SEA - Stop Education Acronyms. Acronyms peaked with scuba & while PEMDAS came close to that in education we should wave the white flag. The ones you learned this year pale in comparison. It will be ok. The post acronym education world might be wordier but it will be clearer.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

This is a write-up of a project where I turned the AP DBQ into a skill-based quest structure, complete with levels and XP, and built around the rubric, revision, and real-time feedback. I even brought my old blog back to life to share it. michaelkmilton.com/2026/01/06/l... #sschat

michaelkmilton.com

Leveling Up with the DBQ: A Skill-Based Approach to Teaching the AP DBQ

I wanted a different way to introduce the AP DBQ – one that made skills visible, feedback immediate, and revision part of the process. This post shares how the DBQ Guild came together, why a …

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Thanks! The quest framing really helped students buy into the process. It was a fun vibe!

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

One of the neatest projects I worked on this year was for my AP World students: breaking up and gamifying the DBQ into what I call DBQ Guild: Questline I. Using the AP rubric, I turned each skill into a separate quest students could practice and level up through. It was a lot of fun. #sschat

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

I have a student teacher this semester. I have asked that he try to observe as many teachers as he can - in social studies and outside of it. I personally don’t spent as much time seeing how other classrooms run. #sschat

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

The Phantom really have music teachers a bad rap for a bit there.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

This is probably very stupid - but I’m trying to make a game-y learning the DBQ thing for my AP World kids. I also learned some very annoyingly awesome Google sheets tricks along the way. This is still a bud of an idea-it could be fun. I might have cut back some levels to make it more manageable.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

I thought it was fun & I could potentially test them out w/ students. I figured by giving it a silly personality it would be hard to just cut & paste w/out reading. Oh. Making on a ghost who is self conscious about being a ghost but drops obvious hints about it’s lack of corporeal form would be fun

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

It peppered these in between summarizing, asking, & answering questions about the nullification & bank crises. It liked please’s & thank you’s & praised when they were used (and mentioned when they were not). These bots limitations it seems are they cannot easily be shared. It made me laugh.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

For a course on AI in the classroom we had to make a Gem -a little chatbot that you give it text as parameters to talk to you about (Gemini) Then I found out you could give it rules - which I interpreted for my amusement. It loved only sequels, punctuation hated owls & had nightmares about Calhoun.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

“Turn it up to 6-7” This is Spinal Tap Today

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

To all of my teacher friends who have been good little boys and girls summer (and are starting tomorrow)- Remember to put out your shoes on this New Year Years Eve and you might find a handful of Expo markers & a mid morning coffee refill in them!

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

Paying homage to the cat hanging on a rope and Ben Franklin’s attributed line after signing the Declaration on Independence (We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately) - I made this motivational poster (yes, there is some Goonies in there as well.)

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Reposted by Michael Milton

Visions of Education @visionsofed.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Episode 214: Teaching How to Evaluate Online Information with Elizabeth Reynolds In episode 214, Dan and Michael chat with Elizabeth Reynolds about her article published in Theory & Research in Social Education, “Teaching students to evaluate online information in social studies: A comparative…

visionsofed.com

Episode 214: Teaching How to Evaluate Online Information with Elizabeth Reynolds

In episode 214, Dan and Michael chat with Elizabeth Reynolds about her article published in Theory & Research in Social Education, “Teaching students to evaluate online information in social studies: A comparative case study of teachers’ goals and approaches.” Transcript Books, Articles, and Other Amazing Resources

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

I came across another cheat code for AP World - if just prior to the test you type in “up up down down left right left right b a start” that your test becomes the NES classic Contra.

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Reposted by Michael Milton

Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Someone on Threads noticed you can type any random sentence into Google, then add “meaning” afterwards, and you’ll get an AI explanation of a famous idiom or phrase you just made up. Here is mine

• Al Overview
The idiom "you can't lick a badger twice" means you can't trick or deceive someone a second time after they've been tricked once. It's a warning that if someone has already been deceived, they are unlikely to fall for the same trick again.
Here's a more detailed explanation:
• Licking: "Licking" in this context means to trick or deceive someone.
• Badger: The badger is a wild animal, and the phrase likely originates from the historical sport of badger baiting where dogs were used to harass

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Reposted by Michael Milton

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 06/04/2025

Since President Donald Trump took office, the Park Service, an agency charged with preserving American history, has changed how its website describes key moments from slavery to Jim Crow.

wapo.st

Amid anti-DEI push, National Park Service rewrites history of Underground Railroad

Since Trump took office, the park service, an agency charged with preserving American history, has changed how its website describes key moments from slavery to Jim Crow

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

"Can't repeat the past?! Why of course you can, old sport. The past. The past. The past. The past. The pa-" *smack* "Shut up, Gatsby!"

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

The book "1984" by George Orwell was written in 1949. the equivalent book today would be titled "2025."

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

I mean, Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ could have been inspired by Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

I’ll say this about teaching - the work is mysterious and important.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Ya know how OER has those neat one page biography graphic novel for historical folks in history for AP World - does anyone make things like this for US? I would like to bring more individuals within US history to my class with short and exciting readings. #sschat

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Erasable pens. They do neither well.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

I might be able to get chatting with Lewis and Clark as it is their journals - but talking to Sacajawea seems odd as they are not her journals. It is what, Sacajawea filtered through Lewis and Clarke filtered through AI.

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Reposted by Michael Milton

Susie Dent @susiedentwords.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Word of the day is a favourite, from old Scots. To ‘tartle’ is to hesitate while introducing someone because you have completely forgotten their name.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

I’m going to see it in the theater in a few weeks. I’ll ask them to play the whole thing.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

The saddest song ever. But it makes the scene make sense!

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Getting an annual physical is like getting your body report card that, best case scenario, ends with a senior slide.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Great Throughline episode about Sarah Josepha Hale who championed the idea of Thanksgiving as a national holiday- The Mother of Thanksgiving one.npr.org/i/1214380338... #sschat

one.npr.org

🔊 Listen Now: The Mother of Thanksgiving

Throughline on NPR One | 50:26

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Reposted by Michael Milton

Chris Hitchcock @chitch94.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Want to be part of our efforts to migrate #sschat to Bluesky? Please share your favorite resources from #NCSS2024 #NCSS24 if you attended. If you weren't at the conference, what are some things you'd like to know, topics you'd like resources about, etc.?

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

In what turns out to be the worst prize in game show history, for correctly guessing the Sphinx's riddle, Oedipus got to marry his mom.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Oh yea! I saw him right before I went to that sesh.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Neat resources from PBS NewsHour Journalism in Action - went to their presentation on their Native American resources at #NCSS2024 www.journalisminaction.org #sschat

journalisminaction.org

Home | PBS Newshour Extra

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Reposted by Michael Milton

Chris Hitchcock @chitch94.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Hey, social studies friends! If you'll be attending #NCSS2024 in Boston next weekend, I hope you'll consider dropping into the #sschat unconference in Room 200. It starts at 9:45am Saturday morning and goes until 11:15. No obligation to stay the whole time. The topics are decided on by attendees.

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Michael Milton @michael42think.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

My students are currently playing around with this Overland Trails database which pulls diaries entries from folks heading west. In teams, they are assigned one person to bring their journey to life. #sschat

dsl.richmond.edu

American Panorama - Overland Trails

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