Frequently Asked Questions

No. Most of the homework questions are designed to be higher order questions, so there isn’t one set answer. I encourage students to take chances and not be afraid of wrong answers. Wrong answers are sometimes better than right answers because they let the teacher know what the students need to know. Also, if I made an answer key available, students would be able to simply copy from it. There generally is more than one correct answer to problems in life, so I don’t limit students to what I expect of them. Often, they deliver more than I could ever imagine!

Yes. Everything is free. At the bottom of most pages there is a list of resources. The resources may include assignments, lesson plans, and audio files.

No, I cannot respond to individuals asking for homework help. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. I get as many as 500 e-mail messages a day, and I cannot respond to everyone. I wish I could.

I teach Social Studies at Emerald Cove Middle School in Wellington, Florida.

I have been a radio personality for over twenty years and I have done stand-up comedy. I bring quite a bit of my background into the classroom. You can find many “historical impersonations” on the Crazy Voices page, where I become a caveman, a hunter, a mad scientist, and more. I encourage my students to use their creativity to make our class more interesting. One student wrote a fantastic piece called “The Twelve Days of Archaeology.”

I have the benefit of people from around the world looking at my site. I have learned a great deal from people who have made improvements to mrdowling.com If you see a mistake, I’d be very pleased to hear from you.