Getting back to Blogging

Do you ever walk away from something for so long that it starts to get hard to go back?  Like running or an organization project or blogging?  I hear ya.  I promise I will return, and have so much fun classroom stuff to share SOON, it's just been so far down the priority list.

For now, let me just share some cool resources that have been piling up, both of which are from ATP!

For timelines, check out Thinkport Tool, a really cool way to construct timelines electronically with equal intervals.

Also, we're moving into our careers unit soon and think this interest survey would be a neat way to start helping the students think of potential future careers.  Although teaching was not my #1 recommendation... hmmm...

Hope you're doing well.  I hope to be back blogging (and running for that matter) soon!

Parents as Study Partners

I just LOVE when parents get involved in student learning, don't you?! 

How cute is this video a parent sent me!?  They were working on studying for our Civil Rights unit test and it became a whole family affair!  I guarantee this made the learning more memorable (and fun!)

Hashtag That

Last week I was teaching on the Civil Rights era when this picture of the 1963 March on Washington prompted a bit of a silly moment...

We were looking at pictures as a way of brainstorming for our upcoming historical fiction pieces and got hung up on the guy taking pictures on the right, about three rows back.  We started imagining him taking "Washington Selfies" and then joking about what he would probably hashtag....which turned into this:

 

I love instructional moments like this...when something organic and memorable makes a connection to students.  Don't you think I can count it as formative assessment?!  :)

Four Score and Seven Years Ago

Today is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.  So as a good Social Studies teacher ambassador, I would like to share this video of all living US Presidents (and a few other politicians and celebs, too) reading the Gettysburg Address.

Click here to watch!

Ken Burns produced this video with the aim to encourage people to learn the Gettysburg Address...so get after it!

America Before Columbus

Happy Columbus Day!  I'm enjoying a nice day off.  We've never had Columbus Day off and it's more a matter of coincidence with the way our calendar fell this year, but I am celebrating (brunch & a massage, what, what?!)!

I also thought I'd share a great resource with you, America Before Columbus, produced by National Geographic.  This video is engaging and informative and a great tie to our curriculum.  It really does a nice job telling about life before Columbus and his crew landed at San Salvador and showing the impact of their expeditions.

Here is a link to view the full video

Wishing you a day of good retail sales and no infectious diseases.  (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

History Class Take-Aways

This week ATP and I, along with some other colleagues, took an American History class.  The class was very lecture-heavy with content much deeper than we would share with 5th graders.  But there were some take-aways I want to remember to incorporate into future teaching.

The focus of the course was on ecological and geographical connections to history.  (Fancy, eh?)

Day one focused on the demise of the buffalo (yup...5 hours).  The presenter's argument was that much more of it was already in motion before the white hunter/settler.

I particularly liked this infographic that was shared.  I think it's a great way to show students the deep impact that the decline of the buffalo had on the culture of the Plains indians.

 

On day two, we started with a presentation on ArcGIS software.  GIS stands for Geographic Information System. 

 

The software has been purchased by the state of Ohio for K-12 classrooms, but is still in the roll-out phase.  There are lots of potential uses for our newly geographic-focused curriculum, especially in allowing students to make inferences about different thematic maps and what they reveal about the city/region.  Check out some of the data available here and some examples of maps below.

 

 

 

 

The software is limited right now by the fact that students have to have a unique account linked by email.  Also, right now all the free accounts are public, so make sure to remind students not to mark their own homes.

 



Disclaimer: a LOT of this seems very complicated and to my untrained eye.  I would prefer to use Google Maps/Earth for most of the same type of lessons.  I'm sure if you really get into the ArcGIS software there is a lot more depth, but I'm not sure I'm totally ready to dive in.

 

One feature I am eager to try is the newly developed addition of Story Maps.  Basically, they are animated maps that cover an event, from the Moore tornado to the Battle of Gettysburg.  I want to remember to look into this more this school year.

 

Since then the take aways have been minimal, but we did take a walking tour of downtown Hamilton to learn about the Flood of 1913.  I'm not sure if there is enough history in our school district to actually do this, but as AC (awesome colleague) shared, it would be an interesting project to have students create more of a "virtual" walking tour of some sort.  AC's idea was to create a larger "walking tour" of a region.  This could also be incorporated locally with the impact of European exploration. Perhaps a walking tour of nearby English, Spanish, or French architecture? 

 

Overall, I'm thankful for the credit hours and the few nuggets of ideas, but mostly, it was a good week to catch up with colleagues before heading back into our classrooms.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope you are out celebrating our beautiful country with friends and family.  In honor of our nation's birthday, I have a wonderful resource for you, "Today in History" from the American Memory Collection of the Library of Congress. 

Today's entry is hopefully pretty obvi... buuutttttt add it to your bookmark list for great primary source documents throughout the year.

 

 

 

God bless the USA!

Historical Perspectives, pt 1

This past Tuesday I met with the teachers in the online class I have been coteaching this summer for the Ohio Writing Project: Historical Perspectives.  We have been reading one of my favorite texts, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  TGLAPPPS is set in post WWII England and consists of letters between characters in London and a book club in the English Channel.

It has some majorly endearing characters and is a charming historical fiction work.  It's lovely and compelling and has been perfect for our class. 

As part of our time together yesterday, SATP (Summer Awesome Teaching Partner, of course) shared a text set that we created as a companion to TGLAPPPS.

What is a text set you ask?  Well, here are three quotes from the experts that may help you shape your own definition.

● A collection of ... texts that have some connection to one another. "Text" can be defined as
a book, an article, a poem, a movie ... The connections are the reader's and are connected to
personal response.... Any classification that expresses a commonality of ideas or authorship or
time or curricular issue would be the basis of a text set [The Reading Teacher]
 
● Collections of resources from different genre, media, and levels of reading difficulty...to
support learners with a range of experiences and interests more than any single text. They are
particularly supportive of less-experienced readers [NCTE leader, Laura Robb]
 
● The idea is centered around the standards and the requirements of argument, perspective, and
multiple texts [Ohio Writing Project Asst. Director, Beth Rimer]

Basically, a text set is what lots of smart teachers have been doing for years to help students connect literature to all sorts of genres in order to think more deeply about a text/era/theme.

SATP shared our Guernsey text set.  It's yours to browse here if you're interested in seeing an example or you perhaps teach WWII. Among other materials, it includes an interview with one of the authors, Annie Barrow, and several primary source images.

We also wrapped up our book club discussion on TGLAPPS.  But that's not all!  I'll share next week about our Skype session with author Lynne Dorfman.

Historical Thinking...Say what?

What a special week on the blog...TWO amazing guest bloggers! 

 

I am blessed by many wonderful colleagues.  But every time I have a PD/workshop/curriculum day with Jen, I truly come away a better teacher.  She is a deep thinker and analyzer.  She is creative and energetic and always makes sure we are doing what is best for by students.  She is great mom to two hilarious kiddos and is so.much.fun to have dance parties with in the car.  I am thrilled to share some of her insights on historical thinking with all of you.

Amy, thanks for the invite to write on your blog. I hope I don't dissapoint and I will go ahead and warn your readers...I am a wordy girl.

One of my new endeavors next school year is to incorporate ways to help my students become historical thinkers. What is historical thinking and why does it matter? I will try to answer those questions. If this is something you are currently doing I would love to hear how you are using this method in your classes, and if you are not, hopefully you will find value in using this strategy in your instruction.

A little background...I have just finished my 14th year of teaching and have had a diverse background of being a special education teacher at multiple levels (8th, 6th, and 5th) and am now a 6th year general education classroom teacher for 5th grade Language Arts and Social Studies. I am fortunate enough to be part of a group of teachers who are taking courses under a grant focused on Teaching American History. One of my ATP's (Awesome Teaching Peers) (sorry Amy, I wanted to be an ATP, you know how I like to use the same acronym but change the words) has asked that I be a guest on her blog so I wanted to share my thoughts on historical thinking and literacy.

What is historical thinking? Historical thinking is a process. A process that requires students to evaluate a variety of sources (primary and secondary) then ask questions about those sources. The quesitons are not the typical comprehension questions about what the source says, but questions that develop a healthy cynicism of why was the source written, what is significant about how it was written or when it was written. Historically, what was occuring at that time and in that place? What was happening in other places around the world? Instruction with historical thinking as a focus asks students to think critically about the documents in front of them and encourages them to check the facts through seeking additional evidence.

Colleagues from our TAH grant practicing historical thinking strategies

Finally, the goal is to push students to validate the sources and information within the documents they are reading. Key components of thinking historically are sourcing, contextualization, close reading, and corroboration. If you are interested in reading more about each of these components you can visit this site by Stanford University. There are also AWeSoME videos on The Teaching Channel that demonstrate these steps. The Teaching Channel is an amazing resource I discovered this year and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has not used it as a resource. 

A bonus resource/lesson I'm going to use next year about the life of Ghandi: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/reading-like-a-historian-contextualization

Why does teaching historical literacy matter?

 

Two words, background knowledge.

 

Historical thinking matters because it forces students to use higher level thinking skills through the analysis, questioning, debate and synthesis of information. The information we are providing for students has to have relevance and allow students to investigate, debate, and question a variety of sources in front of them. This helps them shape who they are as thinkers...as inhabitants in this massive world.

 

My personal thoughts are that historical thinking will allow student to hone in on what shapes their identity both by helping them make sense of the facts in history of where they come from and then also allowing them to form opinions and values of who they want to be. Hmmm, sounds like the type of thinking we want students to engage in during our Language Arts/Reading classes.

 

Researchers have made it clear: it is essential for teachers to teach and reinforce literacy skills on a regular basis in social studies. This is reinforced below in the quote of the author of the book FOCUS, by Mike Schmoker. Schmoker advocates the use of current events articles in newspapers and magazines as well as other primary documents because it helps to ground students in understanding the past and make connections with the present events in their lives. Reinforcing literacy skills using these types of sources will allow students to rehearse in their minds how events played out and what the effects of, or possible effects of, those events were/could have been. Simple cause and effect. Behavior and consequence. This is a HUGE life skill.

 

"I honestly believe that social studies could be on the cusp of its greatest moment-that it could soon be a subject students come to love and look forward to. But to ensure that happens, we must infuse generous amounts of current and historical texts into students’ weekly social studies diet. Such documents should include primary source documents, alternative histories, and also current issues and events found in newspaper and magazine articles. These should be introduced no later than the upper elementary grades. Such supplemental texts could be a real game-changer, with a profound impact on students’ sense of what history is and how it connects to the to their personal lives, culture, and communities."

- Mike Schmoker

Focus, Elevating the Essentials. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2011, p. 152.

David Coleman, the founding partner of Student Achievement Partners and a lead writer of the CCSS in ELA states, "There is no greater threat to literary study in this country than false imitations of literature which do not deserve to be read." The Coleman quote can be found here.

 

This speaks to another vital life skill- validation. We should expect it and we should give it. How many times have you sought validation or recognized it in others? This skill goes way beyond sourcing texts, it speaks to our character. We must teach students to validate their sources and ask questions about the information they are getting much like they should measure the validity of the information others are sharing with them. There is a plethora of potential to practice this skill if you are examining primary and secondary historical documents.

Lastly, the ELA CC standards are asking students to speak, listen and write coherently about a topic. Teaching students how to critically analyze materials outside of reading and language arts class is essential to build their foundational knowledge across content areas. The process of analyzing, recording and discussing primary/secondary documents will allow students to find their voice and be able to write with a clear point of view.
 

My endeavor feels like a mammoth leap, but a necessary one. My instructional practice will be changed by the New Learning Standards for the Social Studies and ELA Common Core in a variety of ways. My challenge is to become efficient at finding and changing the materials that I provide to students. I expect there will be change in the structure of the classroom environment and it will, hopefully, create opportunities for more student-led activities. I have dabbled in this type of instruction in the past, but my personal expectation is that it will occur more frequently next year.

I envision the materials changing in that they will, on a more frequent basis, meet the expectation that students interact with more rigorous text as well as ensuring a balance of investigation with informational text with fiction. I also believe that I will probably focus on building background knowledge more strongly than in the past. The feeling I get about the structure of the classroom is in the delivery of materials. There will be much more scaffolding and practice on the process of what it means to be a historical thinker and modeling of how to organize that information into notes. Then I will set them free to investigate, analyze and debate. Lastly, I feel that this type of instruction and the call for students to think analytically will allow for a student led community of learners. Although I feel I have had elements of this in the past, I do feel I will have a stronger emphasis on building this type of interaction as well as designing activities to foster this interaction.

If you are interested in reading more about historical thinking, I recommend visiting the sites I have referenced as well as http://historicalthinkingmatters.org/why/.

Amy, thank you for asking me to share my thoughts on your blog. Your energy and enthusiasm for teaching is an inspiration, your passion is admirable and your zest for life is contageous. It has been my honor.

Historical Perspectives

I can't believe how fast this school year is winding down and that my summer plans are already beginning to take shape.  Among those is an online class I will be teaching with the Ohio Writing Project.  It's one of my dear loves and a great network of teachers who want to continually grow in the art of teaching.

Our course is called Historical Perspectives (fancy!) in historical fiction and nonfiction.  I'm so, so excited to share with these teachers some of my work with book clubs and writing, but even more, to learn from them. 

And the resources and ideas are already coming in.  I met last night with SATP (Summer Awesome Teaching Partner...she has to have a derivative of my school team's nicknames!) and it's going to be an amazing course.  Contact me or OWP now if you're looking for summer credit!

Two resources just to whet your appetite:

1. Our required text is going to be one of my ALL-TIME FAVORITES!  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.  You will not be disappointed...even if you're not a history buff!  It's told through letters by some of the MOST endearing characters in all of literature.

 

2.  The other is an article, Nonfiction as Mentor Text: Style, by Myra Zarnowski, Marc Aronson, Mary Ann Cappiello of School Library Journal.  It gives an annotated list of great nonfiction texts with VOICE and author's craft!  Always a win.  I can vouch for An American Plague by Jim Murray.  It flies off my shelf when students discover the amazing Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson.  TWO amazing texts!

Mary Ann Shaffer (Author)

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Sidenote:  When I did a Google image search for the OWP logo for this blog, two pictures with yours truly in the background popped up!  Good thing it was a good hair day!

 

Question Blitz & Quick Research

We're doing a Document-Based Question (DBQ) this week on Westward Expansion. (Check out my page on Teachers Pay Teachers for your very own copy!)

The last two days we looked at the documents and I was struck by how many great questions the students asked. So today we explored these questions in a "Question Blitz." I gave the students five minutes to see how many questions they could come up with.

Then we took about ten or fifteen minutes to find as much information as we could to answer our question online. I mean, isn't that how we do research these days anyway? Have a question...ask google!

It was awesome to see the students so engaged and eager to see what they could find. And I learned a TON, too!

Immigration Museums

Friday we wrapped up our Immigration Unit in Social Studies with a museum.  It was way better than a test!

For this assignment, each student chose one country and researched the way that culture immigrated to the U.S. as well as its cultural influences.  They created lovely, informative, interactive displays to show off their learning to our guests.  Costumes encouraged!

 

 

 

 

What a fun way to celebrate our learning!

 

Martin's Big Words

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr, Day!

To celebrate this amazing man, ATP and I created a lesson integrating primary sources and the text Martin's Big Words.

We started with reading the book My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris.  This sweet book details MLK's childhood and tells about a time white friends in his neighborhood suddenly decided not to play with him.

Then we shared images from The Library of Congress.  We also shared a shortened clip of the "I Have a Dream Speech."  Students had a copy of the text to follow along with and added their own thinking and questions as we watched.

 

After discussion, we read Martin's Big Words.  The students each selected one quote from the book to analyze and reflect on.  [By the way, if you want to hear the text of the book, check out this video. The quality isn't great, but it is the full text and images.]

 

These reflections will become part of a display in our wing with a timeline of important African American figures.  It's a great way to talk not only about this time period, but how we can continue living out the 'big words' of MLK.

I really enjoyed teaching this powerful lesson on a important topic.  What are you doing to keep the dream alive?

Happy Veterans Day!

On Friday we celebrated Veterans Day at school.  It's one of my favorite days of the year as we honor more than 300 special vets, some of whom have never recieved proper recognition.

My favorite sweet visitor to our team is a 92-year-old veteran who came to visit one of my students.  Her dad works at a nursing home and had a special connection with him.  He spoke a bit about his World War II experiences and even brought in mementos to show the students.  It was awesome to see so many 10-year-olds crowded around to look at his photos and treasures.  (And funny to help him get out to his bright red Camaro after the program!)

After a parade through the building, the vets enter our packed gymnasium and are honored with songs, thank you's, and poetry.  Two great teachers established a "Just Three Words" slideshow the students help create.  It's a special part of the program and you can view it here.

Thank you, Veterans.  Thinking of you today, Grandpa Ted!

Happy Columbus Day!

Another post coming at you compliments of sister...

In honor of Columbus Day, a poem for you:

Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue

Columbus sailed the ocean blue
Back in 1492.
He sailed across and spotted land,
A beach, and people on the sand.

He called them Indians because
He had no idea where he was,
India was just a guess.
When in doubt, declare success.

 

by Ramon Montaigne

 

I hope you have a good one!

1812 Top Ten

As I reflect on this week learning about the War of 1812, there aren't a million take-aways that will impact my class teaching.  So I've tried to distill the main nuggets of learning I am going to use somehow next year.  (drumroll please) Here are the Top Ten War of 1812 Facts for Kids:

1.  There were lots of complicated motivations to the war of 1812 and most of it depended on where you lived as to how you would answer that question.  Depending on your region and/or nationality the war was about economic protection, maritime rights, showing America's independence, the lure of Canadian territory, and the removal of Native Americans.

2. The war doesn't impact most Americans because it doesn't fit too cleanly into our greater American war narrative, including wars like the Revolution, Civil War, and WWII, which all were fought to 'expand liberty.'  This war also didn't produce a lot of successes.

3. The real loser of the War of 1812 was the native peoples.  They went from being a major force in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys before the war to a greatly weakened (or removed) force.

4.  Many popular battles from this period are a part of our national identity, such as the Battle of Tippecanoe, the Battle at Ft. McHenry (for producing the Star Spangled Banner), the Battle of New Orleans (for Jackson's establishment as a national figure), the burning of the Capital and the Battle of Lake Erie. 

5. One way to think about the War of 1812 is a continuation of the revolution.  Other historians consider it the start of the expansion movement.  Other historians think of it as the second of three civil wars (the first being the revolution, since the people we were fighting look and sound like us).

6. The area around the Great Lakes was some of the land best in the world.  It's flat, fertile land with lots of water trade routes.  This meant lots of people were willing to fight for control of it.

7. After the war, the territories and states around the Great Lakes and Mississippi River had drastic population growth.  Ohio's population grew about 150% between 1810 and 1820.  Alabama grew 1300%!

8. "Remember the Raisin" was a popular war cry after the defeat and massacre of the Kentucky militia in Frenchtown (now Monroe), Michigan.  It parallels the emotions the bombing of Pearl Harbor evoked during WWII. 

9. The fur trade brought many French settlers to North America.  The resources of North America such as beaver, raccoon, fish, and lumber made this area very valuable, especially due to the scarcity of resources in Europe.  That meant that there were lots of groups in Great Lakes area and that shipping routes for the fur were really important.

10. It's amazing how much history you can learn about right in your own backyard.

Fort Meigs

Day four of our class was at Fort Meigs, in Perrysburg. They did a great tour, firing demo, and immersion experience.

We learned first hand how hard it is to march in a wheel (Personally the maneuver reminded me of the Rockettes!)

Certainly a highlight of our historical experience!

"The Fight for Canada"

So I came across this little gem in my 1812 class.  It's a commercial from Candian Government that is being aired during the Olympics to bolster patriotism.  Give it a watch:

It's a great source to show students how different perspectives highlight different points in a historical narrative.  And kind of crazy, right?!

Perry's Monument & Peace Memorial

The site of day three of my 1812 class was lovely Put-in-Bay, Ohio. This is the location of one of the biggest victories of the war of 1812, the Battle of Lake Erie.  The monument honors Oliver Hazard Perry's victory as well as our peace with Canada since.

What fun exploring the environs of South Bass Island with colleagues and a bonus guest, mom.

War of 1812

Today is the first day of my last class of the summer (yee ha!).  This one, on the War of 1812, is a little off the wall for my teaching content, but it's a chance to stay with mom and dad for the week while getting credits.

Last night I was stressing over my assigned reading (well over a thousand pages) and my general lack of 1812 knowledge.  Hopefully this week changes that.  In the meantime here's a great parody to recap.