Showing posts with label building background knowledge in social studies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label building background knowledge in social studies. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Previews for Curiosity

I love movie previews. I have seen the previews for EVERYTHING and then they make me WANT to watch the movie!

A good preview can catch you in and make you want to see a movie you thought you had no interest in. It can make you say “Wait a minute! I DO know something about that movie! It’s the one that has so-and-so in it. It’s the one about such-and-such! That’ actually looks cool!”

While a lesson is not ALWAYS as fun as a movie (Although,  I have seen some of your lessons. They are pretty dang fun), but sometimes, we have to get the kids interested with a preview. Sometimes, they’re not automatically interested on their own. Sometimes, we have to drum up a little interest.  

I have seen three quick and easy ways to preview a lesson that take little to no preparation. You can do them at the beginning of a lesson or you can do them at the end of the day before to get the kids curious about the next day. 

Curiosity is a powerful tool. It gets kids engaged. And we all know that kids who are engaged are learning while kids who aren’t really engaged are just going through the motions, which means they aren’t really learning. They’re just doing busy work

  1. Have them skim a text or reading to find the one or two most used words that are going to come up. But give them a super-short time limit so they’re not actually reading. Give them 30 seconds and make it a game. They’re just skimming. Then, based on their skim, ask them what they’re about to read about. Now they’re curious. Why are we going to read so much about the word “states”? Or about the word “nobles”? Or what’s a “silk road” going to be all about?

  1. Give the kids 3-5 words from the upcoming lesson and have them work with a partner to put the words in a sentence. They should not be entirely unfamiliar terms, because the kids can’t do much with a pile of unfamiliar words, but mostly familiar words. For Post-classical china, I’d use “silk, trade, great wall, paper, ideas”. For the lead-up to the Civil War, I’d use “North, South, Slave, free, election”. See how well their sentences explain what they’re going to learn. Then, if you want to get FANCY, have them return to that sentence after the lesson or unit and fix up that sentence. They can even do a “I used to think ___ but now I think__” to reflect on how much they’ve learned”


  1. A third way is to just ask a big question and have kids turn and talk. “How can you get silk from here to there? What if it’s something heavier and breakable like porcelain?” What should we do if Texas wants to leave the USA? Should we let them -- or make them stay? How does the government try to guarantee our rights? How can it do a better job?
Let’s continue to be intentional to build curiosity and engagement in our students so they WANT to learn!

How can you use previews to build curiosity and engagement in your lessons? How do you already do this? I’m SO curious!!

Email me! Newmantr@pcsb.org 


Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Summertime and the Reading's Easy

It's about that time, y’all!

The school year is almost over!  We are so close, I can almost SMELL the beach from here!

So, it’s time for my annual summer reading list. You definitely don’t have to read the same book I AM, but I do recommend that you find SOME books to read, preferably the kind you don’t have time to read during the school year.


I fully admit to being academically “tired” during the year and reading mostly flaky stuff. But in the SUMMER, my brain is less worn out and more fresh. It’s a great time to read some “real” books while I have a little distance from the school day and school year. It’s easier to get through “real” books in the summer.

It’s important to do your OWN summer PD your OWN way, and reading books to refresh your thinking and practice is a great way to do that.


Read on the plane.
Read at the beach.
Read on your couch.
Listen in your car.
It doesn’t matter WHERE or WHEN, just read!

So, here is my book list for Summer 2019!
  1. These Kids Are Out Of Control: Why We Must Re-imagine Classroom Management for Equity by H. Richard Milner IV et al.  admit to having this one already downloaded and ready to go! So many of us struggle with classroom management. And we also struggle with equity and how to use/apply/cultivate it effectively. And maybe some of us have noticed that the teachers with the best relationships with kids, with the strongest equity practices -- have fewer classroom management issues. Let’s work on figuring this out together! (PS -- If I love this book as much as I think I will, I’d like to do it as a book study in the fall. Who’s with me?)
  2. Why Learn History (When It’s Already on Your Phone)? By Sam Wineburg. I admit, I’m already a couple chapters into this one. It’s pretty brutal, leaving no sacred cows alone. Roasting Howard Zinn, TAH grants, Bloom’s Taxonomy, George Washington, Google, pretty much all assessments of the past 100 years, and lots of other things I generally like and think highly of, Wineburg shoots right through all that stuff to the heart of teaching history and to historical thinking. And, despite me really being a fan of things like George Washington, the TAH, and Bloom, this book is amazing so far. It really gets past all the pieces to the Big Question: Why do we teach history to kids, and how can we do that better?
  3. The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation by Jonathan Hennessy. This year, I have two graphic novels on my list, in an attempt to see if and how I can use them with students next year. The first is a graphic novel of the US Constitution -- which should be wonderful for students struggling to read and get engaged in Civics & Gov. Imagine giving it to a struggling reader to give him or her a little background before jumping to the actual text of the actual constitution! That could be a great scaffold!
  4. The Odyssey, A Graphic Novel by Gareth Hinds looks promising, too! I admit that my third grader read it and found nothing objectionable (and she still gets outraged by the “h” word -- hell). But I don’t know how I would use it -- yet. I have to actually read it to think through that.
  5. The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge. This book blew my mind. I’m not much of a scientist -- and definitely not knowledgeable enough to be a NEUROSCIENTIST, but this book was practical and easy to understand and explained SO MUCH about our world, about education, about our kids and ourselves. It really amazed me with it’s readability and about how much useful stuff I got out of it!
    1. *Caveat: there is a chapter about human sexuality in there. It has nothing to do with teaching social studies, but don’t be shocked when it is in the book. That’s not why I am recommending the book. It's the rest of the book that I recommend!
  6. Beneath A Ruthless Sun: A True Story of Violence, Race, and Justice Lost and Found by Gilbert King (author of The Devil in the Grove. This is another important, powerful book about racial terror in Florida. You will see the familiar Willis McCall reappear in this book. It looks like an emotionally difficult read, but I can handle that in the summer.
  7. Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About The World by Tim Marshall. I am so intrigued, I can’t help myself. Which maps, in particular, explain everything about the world? I have no idea. But I plan to read and find out!  

How about you? What’s on your teacher summer reading list? Want to read one on my list and talk about it via email?Or over fruity beachy beverages? Want to share what YOU plan on reading? Or tell me what you thought of a book?

Email me! I love to know! newmantr@pcsb.org
-Tracy

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

You Down With OPV?

You down with OPP (Yeah you know me)
You down with OPP (Yeah you know me)
You down with OPP (Yeah you know me)
Who's down with OPP? (Every last homie)

Large chunks of the “OPP” song (by Naughty by Nature, 1991)  are pretty inappropriate for me to send out through work email.    So, don’t think about those parts and we’re all good.

And don’t listen to it on your work computer or with students around. Just saying!


Instead of “OPP”, we’re going to talk about “OPV”
Like Naughty by Nature has said, “O is for Other, P is for People”
The last “V”, well, that’s not so simple.

I won't get into that, I'll do it...uh...sorta properly.

Ok, ok, enough silliness. This IS really a strategy and it IS really called OPV. O= Other; P= People; V=Views.

Our benchmarks ask us to look at multiple perspectives frequently -- particularly with historically underrepresented groups. We even have a benchmark about seeing history through the eyes of the people who lived it.

We also have a current societal problem where people live in echo chambers where they don’t actually experience opposing viewpoints in their social circles -- or if they do, the common response is to ridicule and mock the other side.

So how can we help kids learn to examine Other People’s View? I’m down with OPV (I know i sound old. I can live with that)

OPP, how can I explain it? I'll take you frame by frame it.
This is a hook activity that’s intended to be an introduction to a lesson and should take less than 10 minutes. Other People’s View (OPV) is from CoRT Thinking Tools , an exploration tool to broaden perception. It’s a very important part of thinking to be able to see the different points of view of other people -- not just your own. The OPV helps kids to broaden their (our?) overall thinking about a situation.. ​​​
Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Display a photograph (or painting or another visual stimulus)  without giving background information. Have students analyze the photograph. ​​​
Step 2: In each of the thought bubbles have students individually write what they think the people/animals/objects in the image may be saying, thinking or representing. This step is intended to help students think about different points of view.​​​
Step 3: Have students share and compare the comments they wrote in the thought bubbles with a partner or in groups. ​​​
Step 4: Debrief whole class making connections to related concepts and establishing historical context.​​​
The example here shows a famous photo of police dogs and a Civil Rights demonstrator in Birmingham in 1963.  How can students attempt to understand viewpoints of the the demonstrator, the bystanders, the police, --even the dog?  \

How can we get use this tool to get students to look at multiple viewpoints?

We can try this with photographs, of course. But political cartoons and paintings work, too. Here’s a Civil War cartoon about Lincoln. The caption (which may be too small here for you to read), says “Lincoln’s Last Warning: ‘Now, if you don’t come down, I’ll cut the Tree from under you’”.     

This is an easy strategy to set up! Just open a word document, paste the image you want in the center (leaving big margins) and insert the speech-bubbles.

If you don’t know where to find those, go into Word, under “insert” click “shapes”. At the bottom should be several versions of “callouts”. Choose one and resize and flip as needed.

That’s it.

Say OPV I like to say with pride
Now when you do it, do it well and make sure that it counts
You're not down with a discount

You’re down with OPV (Yeah, you know me!)

Don’t forget to have your kids share their thought bubbles together to encourage deeper conversation. It doesn’t have to take long and it encourages creative thinking and multiple viewpoints!

Well if you do, that's OPP and you're now down with it
But if you’re not, here's your membership

You’re down with OPV.

Yeah? You know me?

Email me! Tell me how OPV goes!

-Tracy

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Maps and 10x2

I hope you had a great spring break! Boy, it’s hard to come back to work, the real world, and the time change!

Do you remember what a “double take” is? In cartoons and the movies, the character often exaggerates this by turning his or her head more than once toward the thing they are double-taking on. They look and then they look again.

Man, don’t you WISH sometimes that your students would look -- and then actually look again -- AT CONTENT IN YOUR CLASS?

Let’s see how we can make this actually happen!

Here’s another great “Artful Thinking” strategy from Harvard’s Project Zero. It’s called “Looking Ten Times Two”. Those of you who went to February DWT at the James museum of Museum of Fine Arts had a chance to try this out last month.

I want to dig into the “how to” of this and then I want to talk about some places that you could use this strategy -- hopefully some that will work for you and your kids!

So, here’s what you need. An image -- a painting, a photograph, a drawing, a political cartoon, a map, or a picture of a sculpture.

Try THIS or THIS or THIS or THIS or THIS?


Here’s how it works:
  1. Look at the image quietly for at least 30 seconds. Let your eyes wander.
  2. List 10 words or phrases about any part or aspect of the picture.
  3. Repeat steps 1 & 2: Look at the image again and try to add 10 more words. Or phrases to your list.

This strategy helps students slow down and make careful, detailed observations by encouraging them to push beyond first impressions and obvious features. It can be used with any kind visual art. You can also use non-art images or objects. The routine can be used on its own, or to deepen the observation step of another routine. It is especially useful before a writing activity because it helps students develop descriptive language.

What about using this with a map?


Now, have your kids use the “Looking Ten Times Two” strategy with the maps. Do they get more out of the maps this way?   

It’s hard to get and keep the attention of students. It’s hard, OURSELVES, to slow down and look at things more closely.

Try “Looking Ten Times Two” in order to look more closely at art and maps. See if it helps your kids dig into the visual in a better, deeper way.

Let me know how it goes! As always, email me and let me know how it goes!
-Tracy
 

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Context

My kid went nuts when we couldn’t find his blue shorts. It had to be THOSE blue shorts. Both of my kids stayed up waaaaay too late. They looked ridiculous. So did I. I let them roam all over someone else’s neighborhood and talk to strangers who looked weird. They ate more sugar than their small bodies could handle and wound up literally running in circles to work some of the sugar out of their systems. Some neighbor had a scary movie playing on a projector on the outside wall and both my kids had nightmares. We went home at the obscene hour of nine o’clock, it was too late for baths,  and the whole family was in tears by ten.

It was so much fun!!!!

“It” was, of course, Halloween.

Context. It makes all the difference.

The difference between “#parentingfails” and “pretty average” is in the context. The question of  Halloween or Regular Wednesday Night has a pretty big impact on your understanding.

Context is an area where a lot of our kids struggle. We as teachers struggle with teaching context sometimes, too. It’s hard to tell the difference between context and content.  What “stuff” about history or government or economics is the important “stuff” and which is just contextual “stuff”.

If you’ve ever showed your students a throwback Thursday picture, only to have them giggle and wonder at your hair or clothes, you know how important context is.

Context is JUST as important in social studies, too.

  • The Constitution did not originally give every adult citizen the right to vote, of course.  Originally, the states determined who could vote, often choosing only land-owning, white men over age 21, often about 6% of the population.

The context behind that is a powerful piece of that understanding. The context of gender, race, power, money, and language in the original electorate was essential to understanding that limited enfranchisement
  • The beginnings of Buddhism as a reaction to Hinduism is a huge reason that Buddhism caught on in the first place. That context of a stratified Hindu society is what makes Buddhism stand out. It’s different. It’s a reaction to its historical context.
  • The Scientific Revolution is only a “revolution” in the context of the previously religious understanding of the universe.


Without context, it’s impossible to understand an “impact” or an “effect” -- because there has to be some context, some THING to be impacted or effected.

So, every single time we bust out a document in class, kids should use some context. There are plenty of ways to do this (APPARTS, Doc Analysis Sheets, etc.) but here are the questions that SHEG (Stanford History Education Group) asks us to use ...
  • When and where was the document created?
  • What was different then?
  • What was the same?
  • How might the circumstances in which the document was created affect its content?

If you’re looking for some quick prompts to practice contextualizing documents, SHEG gives us a few to start with:
  • Based on the background information, I understand this document differently because ...
  • The author might have been influenced by ___ (historical context).
  • This document might not give me the whole picture because...

If you read last week’s WW email, you know we talked about Sourcing. Contextualization is interwoven with sourcing as we look at the people and circumstances around the CREATION of the document to inform our understanding.

Again, this is not just a HISTORICAL Literacy Skill. It’s a Civic Literacy Skill. It’s a Citizenship Skill. It’s a Media Literacy Skill. It’s a Social Media Skill. It’s a Personal Relationship Skills.

It’s a life skill.

Looking at the context of a document is crucial to understanding it. We need to help our students use context when they read the news or a listen to a candidate or watch something online.

Let’s get them in the habit of asking those context questions every time they come across a document. I think it can be powerful in understanding history and current events.

How do you ask your kids to contextualize? Do you do it frequently? How can you tuck in these questions every time you bust out a document?

AS always, I love to hear from you. And Happy Halloween. Don’t let the Candy-Hangovers get you down tomorrow!

-Tracy