As a part of our new push to meet Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) the new expectation in my department is that we conduct a close read exercise at least once per unit. A close read is when we give the students a primary source document and help them to make meaning out of the document.
Today was my first close read of the year. I chose a letter from James I, King of England to his parliament. As this was the first close read the students have done I provided a significant amount of support throughout the process. There were a handful of vocabulary words defined on the worksheet, there were other vocabulary words that I helped break down for the students as we read. We read the document aloud, sentence by sentence making sense of everything we read. Finally it was a pretty straight forward document that illuminated the power of Kings ("God's lieutenants on Earth." ) and their dismissive attitude toward parliament and the rest of the populace.
After we completed the document the students answered a few questions on the back of the document and we discussed the answers. Slowly we are beginning to move toward why people began to resist the absolute powers of the monarchs.
The Reading can be found here. As always if you use these materials or ideas, let me know how they work out for you.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
What is the role of government?
What is the purpose of government?
Why do we have government?
What does the government do?
After eliciting a few answers from the students I'll transition to ask the students a new set of questions:
Is there a government in school?
Who is the government in school?
The students will quickly identify the principal and the other members of the administration, they'll then add teachers to the mix and eventually custodians and cafeteria workers.
What do all these people have in common?
They're all adults and in school they all have a certain amount of power over and responsibility to the "citizenry" -the students. The people the students name all also have a very wide range of jobs and responsibilities, so to get a better idea of what it is that these adults (the government) do here in the school we will engage in a bit of scientific research. The class will be given a "scientific field journal" and together we will go out into the "wild" of the hallways looking to catch adults in the act of working. As we leave the
room I will don my Pith helmet and begin speaking in my best Australian accent (a pretty bad cross between crocodile Dundee and the crocodile hunter).
We will go down to the first floor where I will warn the student no to try to feed or disturb the adults as we don't want to spook them and cause a stampede. I will remind them that the "adults are just as scared of you and you are of the adult."
As we search the first floor I'll point out some of the adults we come across. I'm always sure to point the students toward the teachers on hall duty. We look into the cafeteria to sketch the cafeteria workers. We'll generally see a custodian or two on there way somewhere usually carrying tools. We'll look into a classroom and we always run into our security guard or as I call him on the "safari" securtatus officaurus. We'll engage some of the adults we encounter about the specific duties they are engaging in (all in the bad Australian accent mind you.) Eventually we'll wind our way around to the main office where I inform the students that behind these doors is the home of the "king of the adult jungle", a rare and powerful adult, the schoolus principalus. Fortunately I work in a great school with a great Principal who not only encourages my non-traditional approach, but who also is willing to play a role when needed. As we enter the office the Principal comes out of his office to talk to the kids about what it is that he does in the school. He mentions being in charge or maintaining order, but he stresses that he is the "head go-for" and that the biggest part of his job is to make sure that everyone in the school has what they need to do their jobs.
After our encounter with the Principal we return to the classroom where we'll debrief about our safari. The students will share what they recorded in their "field journals" and we'll talk about the role of government. The students will generally settle on the primary function on government being to maintain order and safety and to ensure that everyone's basic needs are met. I'll finish the class by asking the leading question;
What is going to happen when government fails to fulfill these basic functions?
But to answer that we'll need to go through the rest of the unit.
As always please feel free to take any of the ideas above, modify them, use them for yourself. Please leave a comment to let me know the changes you've made or how the lesson worked for you.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Why does Galileo have to be wrong?
The scientists of the Scientific Revolution did not set off to change the world, their goal was simply to better understand the world. Still through their actions a series of events was set into motion that would not only change the world, it would shake the foundations of the established world order and bring forth new orders, new institutions and a new society altogether. This is why in 1633 Galileo had to be wrong (even though he was right). The trick is getting the students to understand this.
We start by going over the previous night's homework (a reading on Galileo). I'll ask the students "who was Galileo?" and "What did Galileo believe?". When the students mention the word "heliocentric" I'll ask them to explain what that means. At this point as the student defines heliocentric I start the laugh. I make it VERY clear that I am laughing at the idea of heliocentrism and NOT AT the student. This will continue as additional students add more detail about heliocentrism. Eventually one of the students will invariably ask me "what is so funny?" to which I will reply "heliocentric! It's just so funny, as if the sun was in the center of the universe." The kids will tell me "it is", to which I'll reply "how do you know that?" At this point I know I've got them...
The kids will tell me their science teacher taught them that the sun was in the center of the universe. I'll aks them the name of their science teacher and then shout "heretic!". When students try to explain that the sun is in the center of the solar system I will again shout "heretic". After a few more "heretics" I'll say look let me show you something and I'll take my keys out of my pocket and I'll hold them aloft in the center of the room. I'll explain that "when I un-clench my fist my keys will float, they will levitate in the center of the room." Then I put my key back in my pocket. The kids will challenge me to "prove it". I'll say "prove it? What proof do you need? I've told you that the keys will float. Is my word not good enough?" The students will demand an "experiment", they will challenge me to prove it. "Heretics!" I will shout. Some students will bring up gravity. I'll respond that "I have never seen gravity. I don't believe in gravity, I believe what I am told and so should they." At this point some brave student will hold up a pen or their own keys and threaten to drop it to prove the existence of gravity. To this I caution them in no uncertain terms..."think about what you are about to do. I am the arbiter of grades in this room. I hold the keys to your education future. I'm telling you that my keys will float. Is it worth it to prove me wrong if it means failing Global II, summer school, angering your parents, not getting into a good college, a life of misery and want? You need to make that decision right now." Granted most kids will then drop the pen knowing that I don't actually have that much power, but now at least we are ready to have a larger conversation about Galileo and the political and social impacts of his discoveries.
"Why is the Church so concerned about what is in the center of the universe?"
The kids will often previously know that it was accepted Church teaching of the time.
"So what? What's the big deal if they're wrong about this?"
We'll eventually get to the answer "if they're wrong about this what they might be wrong about other things.".
What else did the Church make decisions about in the sixteen hundreds?
This will lead to a conversation about "divine right" and papal infallibility. We are slowly working toward the students recognizing that what is in the center of the solar system is about much more than a simple scientific fact, a "natural law". Galileo has to be wrong because it will shake the foundations of post Renaissance European society. As a final example, I will point to a sign that hangs among my class rules (My class rules are more about Social Studies lessons than they are about what can and cannot be done in the classroom.) "#2 Don't be a peasant"....
What does it mean to be a peasant?
We will describe life as a peasant. How a peasant works long hours for the lord, often lives in a home provided by the lord and eats food granted to him by the lord. We'll note how the only respite the peasant gets from this daily grind is Sunday, when the peasant goes to Church and gets to rest. We'll talk about how arduous this lifestyle is and how difficult it is.
Would any of you want to live the life of a peasant? Why not?
The students will say they don't want to be peasants, That while peasants might not have to think or worry about anything that it would be difficult to be a peasant, that there is a lack of free will.
Why don't peasants ever rise up against the lords?
Here is where we will bring the Church back into the discussion and ideas like the "meek shall inherit the earth" and their reward will come in the "Kingdom of Heaven". I'll now re-ask my earlier question when the student raised his pen to challenge my disbelief in gravity. In might be easy for you to challenge me in this classroom, but would peasants in the fifteen and sixteen hundreds be willing to challenge the Church?
Through this lengthy back and forth students will see that Galileo had to be "wrong" and he had to recant otherwise the twin pillars of society (papal infallibility and divine right) were at stake. The thing is though even though Galileo recants it will lead us to another of our class rules in the coming days (Rule #22, the Genie in the Bottle Rule)
As always if you use the handouts, or if these ideas spark other ideas for your classroom, leave a comment so I get an idea how it works for you.
We start by going over the previous night's homework (a reading on Galileo). I'll ask the students "who was Galileo?" and "What did Galileo believe?". When the students mention the word "heliocentric" I'll ask them to explain what that means. At this point as the student defines heliocentric I start the laugh. I make it VERY clear that I am laughing at the idea of heliocentrism and NOT AT the student. This will continue as additional students add more detail about heliocentrism. Eventually one of the students will invariably ask me "what is so funny?" to which I will reply "heliocentric! It's just so funny, as if the sun was in the center of the universe." The kids will tell me "it is", to which I'll reply "how do you know that?" At this point I know I've got them...
The kids will tell me their science teacher taught them that the sun was in the center of the universe. I'll aks them the name of their science teacher and then shout "heretic!". When students try to explain that the sun is in the center of the solar system I will again shout "heretic". After a few more "heretics" I'll say look let me show you something and I'll take my keys out of my pocket and I'll hold them aloft in the center of the room. I'll explain that "when I un-clench my fist my keys will float, they will levitate in the center of the room." Then I put my key back in my pocket. The kids will challenge me to "prove it". I'll say "prove it? What proof do you need? I've told you that the keys will float. Is my word not good enough?" The students will demand an "experiment", they will challenge me to prove it. "Heretics!" I will shout. Some students will bring up gravity. I'll respond that "I have never seen gravity. I don't believe in gravity, I believe what I am told and so should they." At this point some brave student will hold up a pen or their own keys and threaten to drop it to prove the existence of gravity. To this I caution them in no uncertain terms..."think about what you are about to do. I am the arbiter of grades in this room. I hold the keys to your education future. I'm telling you that my keys will float. Is it worth it to prove me wrong if it means failing Global II, summer school, angering your parents, not getting into a good college, a life of misery and want? You need to make that decision right now." Granted most kids will then drop the pen knowing that I don't actually have that much power, but now at least we are ready to have a larger conversation about Galileo and the political and social impacts of his discoveries."Why is the Church so concerned about what is in the center of the universe?"
The kids will often previously know that it was accepted Church teaching of the time.
"So what? What's the big deal if they're wrong about this?"
We'll eventually get to the answer "if they're wrong about this what they might be wrong about other things.".
What else did the Church make decisions about in the sixteen hundreds?
This will lead to a conversation about "divine right" and papal infallibility. We are slowly working toward the students recognizing that what is in the center of the solar system is about much more than a simple scientific fact, a "natural law". Galileo has to be wrong because it will shake the foundations of post Renaissance European society. As a final example, I will point to a sign that hangs among my class rules (My class rules are more about Social Studies lessons than they are about what can and cannot be done in the classroom.) "#2 Don't be a peasant"....
We will describe life as a peasant. How a peasant works long hours for the lord, often lives in a home provided by the lord and eats food granted to him by the lord. We'll note how the only respite the peasant gets from this daily grind is Sunday, when the peasant goes to Church and gets to rest. We'll talk about how arduous this lifestyle is and how difficult it is.
Would any of you want to live the life of a peasant? Why not?
The students will say they don't want to be peasants, That while peasants might not have to think or worry about anything that it would be difficult to be a peasant, that there is a lack of free will.
Why don't peasants ever rise up against the lords?
Here is where we will bring the Church back into the discussion and ideas like the "meek shall inherit the earth" and their reward will come in the "Kingdom of Heaven". I'll now re-ask my earlier question when the student raised his pen to challenge my disbelief in gravity. In might be easy for you to challenge me in this classroom, but would peasants in the fifteen and sixteen hundreds be willing to challenge the Church?
As always if you use the handouts, or if these ideas spark other ideas for your classroom, leave a comment so I get an idea how it works for you.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
I'm just a kid, how am I supposed to have ESP?
To do well in Global II a student needs to understand the differences between the terms "economic", "social" and "political". Every nation we examine in the 10th grade has its own unique economic, social and political systems. Once a student understands the differences between "E", "S" & "P" they can gain a sense of ESP (extra sensory perception) and an ability to predict the future (or maybe more accurately predict the past) in class. In other words, with a little bit of ESP students will see the problems (or the strengths) of the states we are discussing.
This class starts off pretty straight forward. I give out a handout on the meaning of "E", "S" and "P" and we'll go over the definitions. This might seem a bit harder than it looks. Number one, EVERYONE uses the wrong definition for economy, number two historically speaking there is more to social than people expect and number three, while political is pretty easy to figure out, there is a vocabulary lesson that goes along with it, so there is more here than just filling in "economic", "social" and "political".
We'll start with "economic". you hear the word "economic" and your mind immediately goes to the one word answer "money". Everyone does it. The media and our political leaders don't help when they constantly talk about improving the economy based on building employment, reducing debt and growing the stock market. The truth about "economy" is that you can have an economy with out money. In a Global History sense we are more interested in the individual systems that societies create, so for us "economy" is the "choices a society makes about the production and distribution of goods and resources." The students need to be able to recognize the system a a society employs and its specific features before they can judge its efficacy.
We next discuss the "S". On the worksheet the students are given prompts such as "Catholicism, Confucianism and Caste System". We settle on "S" meaning "social" and I define it for them as "something that binds the people of a state together". I give examples of nations where the society is bound together by a common religion like in the Middle East or Latin America. Then I'll ask the students what is it that binds Americans together? What is our social pillar? The kids may offer a few suggestions, then I'll change the question a bit. I'll ask them why it is on day 3 that they like my class better than most of their others? I'll remind them that it is day 3 and so chances are no one has them doing very much work in class, there probably hasn't been much in the way of HW yet, so what is it? What is different about my class compared to others that may make it a bit more enjoyable to come to. It does not take students long to hit on the fact that I let them choose their own seats. It may seem minor, but it is an illustrative experiential example to show them that Americans prize freedom above all else. It is this love of freedom that binds American society (no matter ones religions, ethnicicty, nation of origin, handedness, etc.) together.
At this point the "P" is easy. It can be answered in one word, "Politcal" or "power" or in a question; "who has the power in a society"? When defining political systems I like to teach the kids a bit of Greek to help them seperate political systems from economic systems and social systems. I'll tell them that the Greek word for power is "Kratos". We see kratos in the English suffixes of "cracy" and "archy" (in words like demoCRACY and mon(o)ARCHY). I take this little detour into ancient Greek to help the kids identify political systems by their names and to begin to show the students how helpful it will be to break down a handful of complex Greek and Latin words.
Once we've defined "E", "S" and "P" the kids read through a list of scenarios and try to categorize them as referring to economics, politics or society. Once that is done the real fun begins....
On the side of my classroom I have a book shelf where 6 "class pets" reside. Each of the pets lives in a house built with legos that rests on three pillars (an economic pillar, a political pillar and a social pillar). The
pets come to the class from around the world (6 of the nations that we will focus on in Global II - Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Japan and China - yes it is a bit Eurocentric, but give me time there is a method to my madness.) Throughout the year students will be able to use their ESP by paying careful attention to the class pets. For example as we near the French Revolution students with a keen sense of ESP will notice the legs of "Pierre's" cage are getting weak and unstable. I might ask them to project what is going to happen in France if the pillars of its society are showing signs of cracking? (for those who can't wait a month for the answer, I'll tell you.... revolution). In the picture of the pets you may notice, poor "Otto" does not have a house, when we get to the nationalism, I may ask the students to use their ESP to hypothesize about Otto's feelings, not having a house of his own. Then once our German unification lesson is done, guess what....Otto will have a house.
Otto's house will go through more changes after our Treaty of Versailles lesson in January. Because of the crippling sanctions imposed on Germany after WWI, Otto's economic and political pillars will be cracked and wobbly while his social pillar (discipline and order) will be strong and extended. We will talk about this change in relation to the appeal of Hitler. Through our "class pets" the students will get to put their newfound ESP to work throughout the school year.
As an added bonus, once we get to the 1950's and de-colonization the students will have a project (using legos) where they attempt to build the perfect houses for the newly independent nations states of Africa based upon the realities of African economics, politics and society in the 1950's, so as you can see there is a lot more to E, S and P that just a couple of quick definitions. Knowing these definitions is just a starting point for a much deeper understanding of history.
As always for other teachers feel free to take my ideas, use them adapt them for you own use, whatever you please. If you do, please leave me a comment to tell me what you do with them and how they work out for you.
This class starts off pretty straight forward. I give out a handout on the meaning of "E", "S" and "P" and we'll go over the definitions. This might seem a bit harder than it looks. Number one, EVERYONE uses the wrong definition for economy, number two historically speaking there is more to social than people expect and number three, while political is pretty easy to figure out, there is a vocabulary lesson that goes along with it, so there is more here than just filling in "economic", "social" and "political".
We'll start with "economic". you hear the word "economic" and your mind immediately goes to the one word answer "money". Everyone does it. The media and our political leaders don't help when they constantly talk about improving the economy based on building employment, reducing debt and growing the stock market. The truth about "economy" is that you can have an economy with out money. In a Global History sense we are more interested in the individual systems that societies create, so for us "economy" is the "choices a society makes about the production and distribution of goods and resources." The students need to be able to recognize the system a a society employs and its specific features before they can judge its efficacy.
We next discuss the "S". On the worksheet the students are given prompts such as "Catholicism, Confucianism and Caste System". We settle on "S" meaning "social" and I define it for them as "something that binds the people of a state together". I give examples of nations where the society is bound together by a common religion like in the Middle East or Latin America. Then I'll ask the students what is it that binds Americans together? What is our social pillar? The kids may offer a few suggestions, then I'll change the question a bit. I'll ask them why it is on day 3 that they like my class better than most of their others? I'll remind them that it is day 3 and so chances are no one has them doing very much work in class, there probably hasn't been much in the way of HW yet, so what is it? What is different about my class compared to others that may make it a bit more enjoyable to come to. It does not take students long to hit on the fact that I let them choose their own seats. It may seem minor, but it is an illustrative experiential example to show them that Americans prize freedom above all else. It is this love of freedom that binds American society (no matter ones religions, ethnicicty, nation of origin, handedness, etc.) together.
At this point the "P" is easy. It can be answered in one word, "Politcal" or "power" or in a question; "who has the power in a society"? When defining political systems I like to teach the kids a bit of Greek to help them seperate political systems from economic systems and social systems. I'll tell them that the Greek word for power is "Kratos". We see kratos in the English suffixes of "cracy" and "archy" (in words like demoCRACY and mon(o)ARCHY). I take this little detour into ancient Greek to help the kids identify political systems by their names and to begin to show the students how helpful it will be to break down a handful of complex Greek and Latin words.
Once we've defined "E", "S" and "P" the kids read through a list of scenarios and try to categorize them as referring to economics, politics or society. Once that is done the real fun begins....
On the side of my classroom I have a book shelf where 6 "class pets" reside. Each of the pets lives in a house built with legos that rests on three pillars (an economic pillar, a political pillar and a social pillar). The pets come to the class from around the world (6 of the nations that we will focus on in Global II - Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Japan and China - yes it is a bit Eurocentric, but give me time there is a method to my madness.) Throughout the year students will be able to use their ESP by paying careful attention to the class pets. For example as we near the French Revolution students with a keen sense of ESP will notice the legs of "Pierre's" cage are getting weak and unstable. I might ask them to project what is going to happen in France if the pillars of its society are showing signs of cracking? (for those who can't wait a month for the answer, I'll tell you.... revolution). In the picture of the pets you may notice, poor "Otto" does not have a house, when we get to the nationalism, I may ask the students to use their ESP to hypothesize about Otto's feelings, not having a house of his own. Then once our German unification lesson is done, guess what....Otto will have a house.
Otto's house will go through more changes after our Treaty of Versailles lesson in January. Because of the crippling sanctions imposed on Germany after WWI, Otto's economic and political pillars will be cracked and wobbly while his social pillar (discipline and order) will be strong and extended. We will talk about this change in relation to the appeal of Hitler. Through our "class pets" the students will get to put their newfound ESP to work throughout the school year.
As an added bonus, once we get to the 1950's and de-colonization the students will have a project (using legos) where they attempt to build the perfect houses for the newly independent nations states of Africa based upon the realities of African economics, politics and society in the 1950's, so as you can see there is a lot more to E, S and P that just a couple of quick definitions. Knowing these definitions is just a starting point for a much deeper understanding of history.
As always for other teachers feel free to take my ideas, use them adapt them for you own use, whatever you please. If you do, please leave me a comment to tell me what you do with them and how they work out for you.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Do dates really matter?
Ask people why they don't like Social Studies and it wont take long for the "it's all just memorizing dates" answer comes up. On day two I like to address the issue of dates head on.
I start class by distributing text books and having the kids fill out their book cards (remember this, it's going to be "important" later). After they finish filling out the cards I distribute a work sheet called "Do dates matter"? The sheet lists fifteen important dates from the 9th grade curriculum and fifteen corresponding events. The students are then given five minutes to match up as many of the dates with their matching events as possible. I tell the students that they can work with their neighbors and they are free to use whatever resources they may have to help them to answer the sheet (remember they all just got textbooks and in most cases those text books are still sitting on their desks - in some cases the students even have the worksheet on top of their textbooks.)
I give the kids a few minutes to struggle with the sheet. Some talk with their neighbors, others will try to wrestle with the clues and figure out where the dates fall, still others will randomly guess. Eventually one or two will actually open up the text book and begin looking for some of the answers. Once I see the kids open up the text book I stop them and we begin to discus the strategies they used. I'll immediately commend the students who turned to the text book. I'll remind the class of the instructions "...free to use what ever resources you may have available...". I do this to let them know that in my class I expect them to use the tools they have at their disposal to answer questions. In my class they can take out their phones to find answer (so long as it's not on a test and so long as they're not claiming to look for an answer when in fact they are actually twittering or snap-chatting or what ever the social media flavor of the minute may be.... does anyone even blog anymore? Sheesh).
I next ask the kids what strategies they used to find the answers. Some kids will say that they remembered doing the Neolithic Revolution near the start of the school year so they knew it had to be the oldest date. Some students will recognize 1492 (there seems to be this poem about Columbus and the ocean blue. If only we could make all of history rhyme :) ). We'll spend some time talking about the meaning of A.D. (Anno Domini - the year of our lord) and how it is possible that Jesus was actually born in 4 B.C. or in other words four years before he was born. (It's a pretty good story about a Bishop named Dionysius the Short who was not as good at math as he thought he was.) At this point I'll ask the kids why we even need to know dates if the entire system is four years off? Before they can answer I move to an experiential lesson.
I ask them get up and organizer themselves in alphabetical order by last name along the back wall of the classroom. To make things a bit more interesting I'll instruct them that they have to do this in complete silence. I'll also remind them that they can use whatever resources they may have at their disposal to complete the task. Generally one or two students will realize that they each have a book card of their desk with their last name written out. In no time all of the students will have their book cards in hand and they will quickly alphabetize themselves. In a matter of minutes the students are in the correct order and I have collected and alphabetized my book cards (I told you to the book cards would come back). Next I'll ask the kids if that was hard. They'll tell me it was easy and cause they all know the alphabet. I'll say ok and I'll challenge them again. This time they need to put themselves in age order, oldest to youngest. Because they no longer have the book cards I'll allow them to talk as they do it. Again it only takes a matter of minutes and they are in the correct order. I'll ask the kids which was easier and they'll tell me that they were both easy cause they know the order of the months and they know the alphabet. At this point I'll challenge them. I'll ask "which letter comes first J or L?" There is a noticeable delay as the kid think about the answer or even begin to go through the alphabet (By the way, I deliberately choose J, K or L because there is something about those letters that makes it hard to instantly remember). I point out the lag to the students. I'll then ask them which number comes first 57 or 32? This time the answer comes instantaneously. I now ask the kids what is important to know a handful of dates and generally the answer apparent to all; Knowing a handful of dates makes it easier to put events in order and in context.
I give the kids a few minutes to struggle with the sheet. Some talk with their neighbors, others will try to wrestle with the clues and figure out where the dates fall, still others will randomly guess. Eventually one or two will actually open up the text book and begin looking for some of the answers. Once I see the kids open up the text book I stop them and we begin to discus the strategies they used. I'll immediately commend the students who turned to the text book. I'll remind the class of the instructions "...free to use what ever resources you may have available...". I do this to let them know that in my class I expect them to use the tools they have at their disposal to answer questions. In my class they can take out their phones to find answer (so long as it's not on a test and so long as they're not claiming to look for an answer when in fact they are actually twittering or snap-chatting or what ever the social media flavor of the minute may be.... does anyone even blog anymore? Sheesh).
I next ask the kids what strategies they used to find the answers. Some kids will say that they remembered doing the Neolithic Revolution near the start of the school year so they knew it had to be the oldest date. Some students will recognize 1492 (there seems to be this poem about Columbus and the ocean blue. If only we could make all of history rhyme :) ). We'll spend some time talking about the meaning of A.D. (Anno Domini - the year of our lord) and how it is possible that Jesus was actually born in 4 B.C. or in other words four years before he was born. (It's a pretty good story about a Bishop named Dionysius the Short who was not as good at math as he thought he was.) At this point I'll ask the kids why we even need to know dates if the entire system is four years off? Before they can answer I move to an experiential lesson.
I ask them get up and organizer themselves in alphabetical order by last name along the back wall of the classroom. To make things a bit more interesting I'll instruct them that they have to do this in complete silence. I'll also remind them that they can use whatever resources they may have at their disposal to complete the task. Generally one or two students will realize that they each have a book card of their desk with their last name written out. In no time all of the students will have their book cards in hand and they will quickly alphabetize themselves. In a matter of minutes the students are in the correct order and I have collected and alphabetized my book cards (I told you to the book cards would come back). Next I'll ask the kids if that was hard. They'll tell me it was easy and cause they all know the alphabet. I'll say ok and I'll challenge them again. This time they need to put themselves in age order, oldest to youngest. Because they no longer have the book cards I'll allow them to talk as they do it. Again it only takes a matter of minutes and they are in the correct order. I'll ask the kids which was easier and they'll tell me that they were both easy cause they know the order of the months and they know the alphabet. At this point I'll challenge them. I'll ask "which letter comes first J or L?" There is a noticeable delay as the kid think about the answer or even begin to go through the alphabet (By the way, I deliberately choose J, K or L because there is something about those letters that makes it hard to instantly remember). I point out the lag to the students. I'll then ask them which number comes first 57 or 32? This time the answer comes instantaneously. I now ask the kids what is important to know a handful of dates and generally the answer apparent to all; Knowing a handful of dates makes it easier to put events in order and in context.
Monday, September 9, 2013
Opening Day (What's your shape of the world?)
It seems as if every educator, administrator, student, educational consultant, parent, etc. likes to blog about the start of the new school year being a new beginning. This makes my first day 1000% easier (don't tell a math teacher, I don't think 1000% is mathematically possible.) You see in life and in the classroom I've always liked being one step out of sync and doing things that are a bit out of the ordinary. For me this starts on day one of the school year.
While most of my colleagues are going over rules and assigning seats on day one I like to do a simple exercise on why it is important for us to learn history together as a class as opposed to on our own. I start by going over a few of the expectations on the sheet below. We talk about the words in bold and why they are important. When we get to #5 about coming to class I stop and ask the kids "why do you need to come to class?" I point out that they are going to get a thousand plus page book, why can't they just stay home, read the book and then come in an take the test. After getting a variety of answers ranging from "students would be too lazy to read the book" to "they would need help to understand the book" to the "law requiring them to attend school", I go to my desk and say lets try this...
I pull out a few jars of play-dough and toss them around the room. The students are instructed that they have one minute to make an object with the play-dough. I encourage them to get advice and assistance from their friends nearby. The one rule is that they are restricted to making an object that could be seen in a P.G, moving (I teach 10th grade and I know a thing or two about what fifteen year old boys would sculpt if given free reign.)
Once the minute is up I go from desk to desk asking the "sculptor" their name (gives me an extra chance to learn the names on day one) and then I show their object to the class. I ask the class what they think the object is. Some objects their is general agreement, on others their is disagreement and discussion. Some sculptors combine their clay with a fellow student to create larger two toned works, others use some of the play-dough, but not all of the play-dough. All of them is good and works perfectly into our forthcoming discussion of history.
I next tell them that I see the play-dough as history. We each come to class with some knowledge of history, from last year, from a book they've read or a movie they've seen. We all have an understanding of the world, we all "see" the world a certain way, the same way we all saw something different in the
play-dough.
I ask them if it was wrong for students to combine play-dough and they'll respond to the effect that it is ok, even good to do that because in class and in life when people combine the things they each know (the facts) they're able to have deeper and better understanding. Once I get an answer like this I know we're off to a great start.
Next I ask about the students that don't use all of the play-dough. "They made their shape without using all of the facts. Is that wrong?" The kids will then point out that nobody ever has all of the facts and that is where I challenge them form the upcoming year. I tell them that my ultimate expectation and goal is that over the course of the year as they learn new facts, as they get more "play-dough" they should not be afraid to change their beliefs, to change their "shapes". I then take one of the shapes and point out that even at my (advanced) age everyday I read, I watch the news, I meet people with different life experiences and everyday I'm adding more "play-dough" I'm adding more facts and I'm changing the way I see the world.
It's a different way to get them to think on day one. While they may not remember the URL of my website or my email address (they're both on the handout just in case) maybe, just maybe I've gotten them to come back to class on day two and day three willing to open themselves up to new ideas. After all the start of a new school year is always a chance for new beginnings ;)
Assignment page on my website (including handouts)
While most of my colleagues are going over rules and assigning seats on day one I like to do a simple exercise on why it is important for us to learn history together as a class as opposed to on our own. I start by going over a few of the expectations on the sheet below. We talk about the words in bold and why they are important. When we get to #5 about coming to class I stop and ask the kids "why do you need to come to class?" I point out that they are going to get a thousand plus page book, why can't they just stay home, read the book and then come in an take the test. After getting a variety of answers ranging from "students would be too lazy to read the book" to "they would need help to understand the book" to the "law requiring them to attend school", I go to my desk and say lets try this...
I pull out a few jars of play-dough and toss them around the room. The students are instructed that they have one minute to make an object with the play-dough. I encourage them to get advice and assistance from their friends nearby. The one rule is that they are restricted to making an object that could be seen in a P.G, moving (I teach 10th grade and I know a thing or two about what fifteen year old boys would sculpt if given free reign.)
Once the minute is up I go from desk to desk asking the "sculptor" their name (gives me an extra chance to learn the names on day one) and then I show their object to the class. I ask the class what they think the object is. Some objects their is general agreement, on others their is disagreement and discussion. Some sculptors combine their clay with a fellow student to create larger two toned works, others use some of the play-dough, but not all of the play-dough. All of them is good and works perfectly into our forthcoming discussion of history.I next tell them that I see the play-dough as history. We each come to class with some knowledge of history, from last year, from a book they've read or a movie they've seen. We all have an understanding of the world, we all "see" the world a certain way, the same way we all saw something different in the
play-dough.
I ask them if it was wrong for students to combine play-dough and they'll respond to the effect that it is ok, even good to do that because in class and in life when people combine the things they each know (the facts) they're able to have deeper and better understanding. Once I get an answer like this I know we're off to a great start. Next I ask about the students that don't use all of the play-dough. "They made their shape without using all of the facts. Is that wrong?" The kids will then point out that nobody ever has all of the facts and that is where I challenge them form the upcoming year. I tell them that my ultimate expectation and goal is that over the course of the year as they learn new facts, as they get more "play-dough" they should not be afraid to change their beliefs, to change their "shapes". I then take one of the shapes and point out that even at my (advanced) age everyday I read, I watch the news, I meet people with different life experiences and everyday I'm adding more "play-dough" I'm adding more facts and I'm changing the way I see the world.
It's a different way to get them to think on day one. While they may not remember the URL of my website or my email address (they're both on the handout just in case) maybe, just maybe I've gotten them to come back to class on day two and day three willing to open themselves up to new ideas. After all the start of a new school year is always a chance for new beginnings ;)
Assignment page on my website (including handouts)
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