Samantha Shires recently completed her M.Ed. at Virginia Tech, studying Curriculum Instruction with a focus in history and the social sciences. Samantha received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina Greensboro in the spring of 2010 where she graduated with honors. She began her teaching career in Forsyth County at Hanes Magnet School teaching 6th grade Social Studies before moving into Guilford County Schools where she taught 7th grade Social Studies at the Academy at Lincoln. During her first year of teaching she obtained her AG licensure through High Point University, and since then has had the pleasure of working with students of all ability levels ranging from students with disabilities to the highly gifted. Samantha places a great value on working across the disciplines and creating new, innovative ways to teach her students the curriculum. Over the past year she has worked with Learn NC and Microsoft Research as a curriculum writer for Microsoft’s innovative and interactive timeline tool, Chronozoom. She has worked with schools across the country piloting the use of Chronozoom and its curriculum in classrooms, ranging from middle school to high school, from regular classroom settings to AP classes. Samantha has presented at conferences on both the state, national and global level on the use of technology in the classroom and the benefits for both teachers and students if used appropriately. More recently, she has worked on a project with Learn NC and the ABMC (American Battle Monument Commission), contributing a chapter to an iBook. Samantha’s chapter focused on teaching students historical concepts through the use of timelines and chronology. She currently sits on the Executive Board of the North Carolina Council for the Social Studies.
