Someone asked the other day about a review test that students took last year prior to the Constitution Test. Here it is. Challenge yourself by taking the test and keep track of your scores.
My Fourth Period class completed a 20 minute video chat with Jesse Gauthier’s (http://mrgauthiersvms.blogspot.com) 8th grade class in Newport Maine yesterday. It was a good experience for the students to compare and contrast their experiences with students across the country. They spoke of climate, clothing, what sports they play and what fast food they like. We will continue to work out the sessions so that they will be more content based, but for right now getting to know each other is paramount. I had some tech glitches, what a surprise, as my computer froze and the video locked up. I am exploring ideas for a camera that is able to better pan the classroom though.
As for the upcoming weeks, the students will continue the study the Constitution which consists of looking at the debates of the Constitutional Convention and the basic principles of the Constitution. The three branches of government will be studied indepth as well as the Bill of Rights. For eighth graders this is a particular important unit as they must take the district-mandated Constitution test in December. Next week we will look at the separation of powers, the Preamble, and parts of the Constitution. Finally we will culminate with a intense review of the Bill of Rights and amendments application to the student’s lives.
The idea to record students as I read from a supposed break-up letter came from Eric Langhorst http://www.speakingofhistory.blogspot.com/. I thought it was absolutely brilliant as students were on pins and needles as to the content and author of the letter. The purpose of the letter was to correlate a fictitious breakup with the colonists declaring independence.
As for my own attempt, I was able to read the letter to seven different classes on a shortened day without anybody breaking the silence of the lesson. The content of the letter was slightly modified from Eric’s letter. After reading it some students informed me that it just wasn’t authentic enough. The funny thing was that they fell for it anyway. I eventually had a student write a version that was student friendly as they would say.
I must say that I did enjoy the lesson and that this is something I would not have done three years ago. However, once I saw the engagement of Eric’s class, I figured I could give it a shot. The video was shot with a Flip Camera by my student teacher who was nice enough to complete four classes of taping.
My students’ next venture into Web 2.0 is the use of Wikispaces. Since we are studying the Constitution, my colleague Adrian Montero and myself came up with idea of them to summarize the unit using a wikispace. Since this is the nadir of the project using Wikis, we had to lead them through setting up the pages first. Hopefully within a week some groups will have some substantive content posted. We provided them with a outline as to guide them with the content. It is hoped that this work will continue to foster collaboration.
On another note, a colleague of mine forwarded a blog address of a teacher who was struggling with the use of Google maps and how to incorporate something qualitative for students to work on. His blog can be found at http://dgrice.blogspot.com/. He came up with idea of using a Google doc form and having students input various date based on the form questions. In US History, this can be used to document historical sites as well. Something for me to work on as I have had similar struggles with Google Maps and how to utilize them in the classroom.
As we finished the unit on Independence I reflected on the lessons that incorporated the use of technology. It is very clear that the students are actively engaged utilizing podcasts. Their creativity went beyond my expectations. Quite a few students asked to produce more podcasts in the future which will definitely happen. Moreover, their grasp of the content was evidenced in the Common Assessment scores some of which were perfect. Something seems to be working.
It is without a doubt that the use of technology coupled with a well planned unit incorporating literacy and the use of primary source documents brings out the best in student learning. The key is the planning which takes an investment in time working with colleagues developing engaging lessons. Creating reading summaries, podcast lessons, essential questions, primary source lessons, and other lessons takes hours beyond the school day, e-mails and constant revisions.
That being said the students next unit of study involves the Articles of Confederation and the Constitutional Convention. The focus will be on the use of compare and contrast exercises looking at the Articles in comparison to the English government, the various debates during the convention and the ratification debate. The technology focus will be on the use of wikis. In three weeks time the students will have produced wikis for each of the respective periods I teach that reflect their knowledge of topics, people and debates of the Constitutional Convention.
The students did an excellent job on their podcast. Some were very creative with the various features using the Garage Band application as well as being creative with the script writing. I was impressed with their preparation as most groups prepared scripts with clearly labeled roles. As a teacher the most rewarding parts of this activity was the student engagement and the pride the students took in the work. It was not uncommon for groups to record multiple times until they got it right. The repetitive reading of the script not only allowed for them to create a better product, but it also reinforced the content being taught. Some of these podcasts will be posted within the next week so look on the podcast page for the student work. One brave group chose to be videotaped and have it posted. So here it is. Viewing requires the Quicktime plug-in.
First Period
This week you will be creating a podcast following the directions below. The assignment will require you to select three key events leading to American independence. The next step will be in your groups of three to develop a script for the podcast. Check below for the directions.
So that you can see how the podcast should flow, four of your teachers here at Mendez did a sample. A shout out goes to Mr. Montero (the rowdy colonist), Ms, Chavez , the moderator, and Mr. Tagaloa, the cameraman. Yes we did have fun doing this and it only took 20 minutes to write the script and 5 minutes for the preparation and recording.
Directions
In this project you will create a 2 – 3 minute podcast about three events that led up to American independence. The podcast will be recorded and broadcast on the internet. Your podcast has three different roles: Moderator, Loyalist (British supporter), and Patriot (Independence supporter). To complete this project you and your group members will complete the following tasks.
Monday/Tuesday – October 12/13
Tea Act/Boston Tea Party Declaration of Independence
Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts Stamp Act/Boycotts
Internet Resources – See your teacher’s blog for links
|
Textbook Resources |
|
| Tea Act/Boston Tea Party | Page 138 |
| Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts | Page 138 |
| Declaration of Independence | Page 152 & 164 |
| Stamp Act/Boycotts | Page 136 |
Moderator – Your script is a factual summary of the events. It should include the details of who, what, when, and where.
Loyalist (British) Perspective – This part of the script needs to discuss the events as the British would see them.
Patriot (Colonial) Perspective – This part of the script needs to discuss the events as the patriots who supported independence would see them.
Thursday/Friday – October 15/16
Web sites
Boston Tea Party
http://www.boston-tea-party.org/british-view-new.html (Loyalist Perspective)
Stamp Act
http://www.history.org/History/teaching/tchcrvar.cfm (Patriot perspective)
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/documents/documents_p2.cfm?doc=258 (Loyalist Perspective)
http://www.masshist.org/revolution/image-viewer.php?item_id=224&img_step=1&tpc=&mode=transcript&tpc=#page1 (Loyalist Perspective)
Revolutionary Era
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/american_revolution_01.shtml (British perspective)
Below is a screencast on how to use Garage Band to create a podcast.
Have you ever had one of those weeks where things seem to fall in place? Your lessons click with the students, your creative juices are flowing and the sky is the limit. This was one of those weeks for me. Being that said I would like to share my successes. The week begin with students looking at the cause and effect relationship of the various events leading to the colonists declaring their independence. After reading over the events they were to rank the events according to importance. From that point some classes briefly debated with each other on the merits of importance of events such as the Continental Congress, the Stamp Act, the Boston Tea Party and others.
On Wednesday we dissected Phillip Dawes drawing “The Society of Patriotic Ladies of Edenton North Carolina. With the 20 minutes we had in class the students were able to point out the various strange details of the picture and conclude that the artist showed clear bias. They basically were able to come up with the artist purpose of the work. Success!
Thursday was another day of success as students explored Paul Revere’s gravure (mentioned in the previous post with Dawes) and were able to detect inconsistencies with his work and what actually occurred. I even had a group of students who debated over when the moon is visible during the day in reference to the moon found in the right-hand corner of the picture. Once again students were able to draw conclusions about the purpose of the work.
Friday was collaboration day with the History Department. This provides the teachers time to work on writing prompts, common assessments and lesson planning.
In planning for the upcoming student podcasts, my colleague Mr. Montero and myself came up with a sample video podcast with the assistance of Mr. Tagaloa (Seventh Grade World History) on camera and Ms Chavez our counselor as moderator. Using a Flip Video Ultra we taped the episode and uploaded it in a manner of minutes. Another success. The video will be posted on the next post this weekend so that the students can view it for their upcoming lesson. We figured the best way to demonstrate how to do a podcast was to actually do it ourselves first. It was a great experience.
Using a Flip Video camera is so simple as their so few buttons to play with. Moreover, its quick accessibility allows for teachers to video students working on podcast and recording video podcast.
So much of our history that is studied by students is textual. However, with a little resourcefulness and some tech tools such as a LCD projector and in my case a Smartboard, history comes alive as students study events that are usually found in history books in the form of text. This week students will interpret the famous Boston Massacre gravure created by Paul Revere and the political cartoon done by Philip Dawes, A Society of Patriotic Ladies, at Edenton in North Carolina. The key is to allow the students to explore the picture. Using a Smartboard certainly helps as I have students come up and point out their findings. It also creates an atmosphere of academic discussion as students interpret the pieces. Of course this lessons must be planned out so that there is a clear objective.
Most of what myself and other teachers do is to have the students complete initial research by citing the author, date, and type of piece. Accompanied by this work is an essential question that the students must answer at the end of their research. Then the fun begins as they are to view the work and point out specifics.
Below is the format that was used for the Boston Massacre lesson.
Essential Question: How can a single interpretation of an event influence other events?
Type of Source:
Title of Source:
Citation: Who created this?
Content: What time is it? What people do you see? Describe the action taking place
Communications: What do you think the author wants you to feel about this event?
Conclusions: How would a colonist react to viewing this painting.
Below you can also find the Philip Dawes work.
The first month of school has gone quite well. My students have responded positively to the various writing assignments they have been assigned. We are utilizing journals for note-taking and other activities. Thursday and Friday will be the first common assessment and writing prompt response on colonization.
As we begin the next unit on Monday students will get the chance to create podcast and wikis. The unit will focus on the cause and effect events leading to the thirteen colonies declaring their independence from Great Britain.
I am still interested in connecting with classes around the globe whether through blogs or video casting such as Skype. If you are a teacher interested in these types of collaboration contact me.
