Keeping Current... Current Events

 

 

Current Events!

Throughout this month our class has focused a lot on current events. A current event is not something that is from the past... meaning history but something current. Current events are in the news, online, and all over. We used the website called Newsela.com to discover different current events happening in the world today. Newsela is a great website because it has several categories to find particular information and have many articles to read that apply to events within the last couple years.

Teaching students about current events can be beneficial in many ways. First of all current event sometimes apply to a wide range of subject in school and can connect to the curriculum. Current events articles can also be beneficial to help students with building language and vocabulary skills. Students may even benefit from a better reading comprehension and will often be more engage because it contains subjects that may directly connect to their own life and the world they live in. Studying current events also help students understand concepts that they may apply in real life and it helps students to understand the importance of people, events and issues that are being discussed in the news. It may also motivate students to watch the new more and become increasingly interested in politics or event happening. School learning should not be entirely based on the past. There were so many years that my teachers told me that we would get to learning about the present in my history classes but we never did. This semester for the first time we go to the present time in US history and it was unbelievable how much more interested I was in learning! I think this can apply to many people, especially students.

Part 1 – Planning

Our class, this semester was responsible for creating a mini-lesson plan/activity for the class. This activity had to be inclusive of some type of current events article. Our group decided to do an activity based on Free School Lunches and the main components of a school budget. We felt that this topic can be included at various grade levels. It was very hard to find a topic that related directly with our unit plan. The article could be changed based on the grade level that it was taught for. However, since this was taught to our class we focused on an issue of school budgets. We thought that this would be a great topic but what lesson should go along with it? We thought a cooperative lesson would be the best choice for this activity. Next, we had to think about the main activity for the cooperative mini-lesson that would be able to fit into ten minutes. We decided that the think-pair-share method we learned in class would be a great idea. It permits the students to discuss the information and complete a mini activity and then share their findings. With so little time, we decided that we would have to use the method known as a “flipped classroom”. We planned to have the students read the article at home before coming to class so they would know the information readily and then be able to use it for the discussion. The think-pair-share model is a great method and fairly simple to use. We created a padlet for our lesson and on it, there were three questions for the students to answer in their groups. We also wanted to incorporate some type of a hand-on activity as well because we knew that all the groups strictly used technology. We were thinking of good hands-on activities for our independent practice for students to explain their thoughts and opinions. Finally I came up with the “clothes line” idea. I thought of hanging a clothes line (ribbon) and having the students write down what they feel is the most important parts of a school budget. The students could then hang up their answers for the class to see with a clothespin! We also had to keep in mind the state and national standards when implementing the lesson. Below are the standards we used directly in our lesson plan:

National Content Standard

    Theme 3. People, Places and environment

Today’s social, cultural, economic and civic issues demand that students apply knowledge, skills, and understandings as they address questions

Theme 6. Power, Authority and Governance

The development of civic competence requires an understanding of the foundations of political thought, and the historical development of various structures of power, authority, and governance. It also requires knowledge of the evolving functions of these structures in contemporary U.S. society, as well as in other parts of the world.

 

New York State Learning Standard(s) + CCSS

NYS Standard 2.4b Communities have leaders who are responsible for making laws and enforcing laws.

Students will identify who makes and enforces the rules and laws in their community. They will also explore how leaders make and enforce these rules and laws.

Comprehension and Collaboration

1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

2.Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

These standards were used because they were related to both our lesson plans and also to the activity. The student need to work on building on each other’s ideas and expressing their own opinions which the students would do in the lesson. In addition they would have to integrate information and present it orally. The students integrated the information from the article into their responses and they presented their answers to the class.

 Part 2 - Implementation

The class was responsible for reading the article we provided on Newsela prior to coming to class. When they came to class we asked the students what they remember about the think-pair-share method using question and answer. Then we went over the method using our google slides presentation as a visual aid. We provided two videos for the students to view further if they would like. There was no time to watch the videos, but if there was they would have been plaid. Next, we asked two questions that had to do with school budgets. We had the class split into groups based on their answers to our questions in our powerpoint. We used the method called "think-pair-share" to discuss the thoughts and opinions of the article. The student after being divided into groups logged onto padlet and answered the three questions that we made. The groups wrote their answers to each of the questions directly on there. We gave them several minutes to talk within their groups. Finally, everyone shared their thoughts and answers to the questions. As our exit ticket we had each person write three of the most important parts of a school budget in their opinion. This was done to show the class that politics are not black and white and although you may agree on one point you most likely will not agree on everything but everyone's opinions are important. To show the importance of each thought, we hung a ribbon for everyone to clip their thoughts on! The class definitely enjoyed it and it was exciting to come up to the front of the room to hang up. This would definitely be good in a class because each student would be excited to get up and be part of this huge list of school budget ideas! The class was closed out by asking the students what questions or comments they had.

 

Part 3 - Reflection

Overall, learning how to incorporate current events into the classroom was very helpful. Current events are a great way to engage students because it incorporates events that may pertain to real-life experiences. I personally learn more from reading about current events because I sometimes feel that history can get boring. In addition, I was finally able to implement the think-pair-share model. I look forward to using current events in my classroom one day!

 



Artifacts bags! A new way of learning!

This week in class we investigated and learned how to use artifact bags in lessons. Artifact bags are a great tool to use in lessons because they are hands on and encourage students to learn.

Artifact bags are associated with Inquiry Lesson Plans because they require students to conduct an investigative process to figure out what and who the artifact bags are representative of. In addition, students need to figure out why these artifacts are significant. Dr. Smirnova modeled the artifact bag activity using artifacts from her own life. The students in our class were required to make meaning from the artifact bags that they were given such as photographs, diplomas, certificates, personal items etc. Many of us even had to utilize translators in order to investigate the meanings of the words since they were in Russian language. In order to further investigate, we filled out the chart with the questions of who? what? when? where? and why? (The 5E's) Finally, we all concluded who or what our artifacts symbolized. The teachers ultimately used the inquiry method to take the information they were given in their bags, to construct an investigation and to form a generalization and conclusion that could be explained with evidence.

** The presentation is attached here. **

An artifact bag is a hands-on activity that could be integrated into any grade level and any subject. A teacher can use an artifact bag for many different topics, subjects, and units within a grade. Artifact bags are great for engaging students in learning, along with the students learning through their own investigation process. In a sense, students become a historian for the day and the whole lesson is put in their hands. I have never used artifact bags and have only heard of them generally. However, from learning about artifact bags, I will definitely be using them in my own classroom! Artifact bags can be appealing to kinesthetic and hands-on learners but any learners as well. Students can feel as if they are taking a large part in their own learning because they are holding real pieces of the past and discovering their importance. As stated in the article Building Literacy Skills Across the Curriculum: Forging Connections with the Past Through Artifacts, “Using artifacts, from primary documents to items that can be held in one’s hand, is a motivational strategy that can tie readers to a variety of genres and bring a period of history to life in the process” (Fuhler, Farris & Nelson, 2006). I completely agree with this statement. I found the artifact bag activity that we completed in class to be exciting and fun. I felt like a detective trying to figure out what the clues (artifacts) could mean! In addition, this project can be cross-curricular. According to the article, students will often be intrigued and will want to learn more about the objects and the topic so they can conduct further investigation. The students can be separated into separate research groups or into literature circles to discuss (Fuhler, 2006). Students can also write diaries pretending to be the person that the artifacts bags correspond to. The students may explain each artifact in a way that relates to the person’s life. In addition, the artifact bag lesson relates to the common core standards because the students examine the interaction of human beings and their physical environment, the use of land, building of cities, and ecosystem changes in selected local regions. It also corresponds with the National Standard: Recognizing different forms of evidence used to make meaning in social studies including primary and secondary sources, such as art and photographs, artifacts, oral histories, maps and graphs.

The artifact bag project was very meaningful to teaching about Our Country’s Leaders because it focused on the first president and leader from my lesson plans. In my direct lesson plan George Washington was mentioned as an important leader. The student got a chance to get a hands-on approach with “real” artifacts of George Washington. By connecting the two the students would hopefully be intrigued to learn more about the leaders and presidents of the United States. The artifact bag project was integrated with Social Studies, English, and Science. It is very important in teaching one lesson where you include other subjects within the lesson for student to make connections. Students don't always see how all the subjects can be related and relevant to what is being taught but students should be informed so they realize that they can apply everything they learned when doing a task. In relation to doing this project, many students complete science experiments. Both of these require the use of the scientific/inquiry method. Students complete many steps in order to come to a conclusions. This process can be used upon many subject areas. This lesson also promotes social skills and face to face interaction within the classroom. The artifact bag project was value-based because it allowed students to work together and build onto knowledge they already know. They got to explore the artifact within a group and interact socially. Although this may have been challenging for some students, this artifact bag incorporated different artifacts that students could have had various perspectives on. This allows students to expand their critical-thinking skills by being historians to dig up information from the past. The students were allowed to use resources, which could have been helpful when it came to the map of Boston. The artifact bag project allowed students to become actively involved and engaged in exploring what each artifact meant.
 

For the second day of Artifact bags in class, each student was required to make their own artifact bag with 3 different artifacts in relation to our unit plan. My unit plan is based on "Choosing our country's leaders". For my artifact bag I included 4 artifacts. My first artifact was a picture of a house and on the back of the picture "Mount Vernon, Virginia" was written. My Artifact bag was based on George Washington. The picture I included was a picture of a painting of George Washington's home in Virginia. The next artifact that I used was an old paper with a letter on it which was the first page to George Washington's farewell address. My next artifact was an old surveying map created by George Washington. On the bottom of the map there is a G.W. for George Washington as a key clue. Finally, my last artifact was a baggie with white hair in it. I actually cut a piece of my dog's hair to use, but it was supposed to resemble George Washington's famous white hair. This was the last clue that my classmates were finally able to figure out who my artifact bag was based on. Using artifact bags in a classroom is a great way to engage students in learning and to excite them with wonder. I found enjoyment in learning about the person my artifact bag was based. By creating this artifact bag I had to take a further look into George Washington’s life. I learned about his life, where he lived, and personal characteristic of him. It was very exciting to investigate and collaborate with my classmates to piece together the clues to figure out what each artifact bag it was. I will definitely use this in my future classroom because it was a great hands-on activity and a great tool for an inquiry lesson plan!

Below are my Artifacts from my project that I made! Enjoy!

 

 

 

Primary vs. Secondary Sources

In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called original source or evidence) is an artifact, a document, a recording, or other source of information that was created at the time under study. It serves as an original source of information about the topic. A secondary source is any source about an event, period, or issue in history that was produced after that event, period or issue has passed. 

Primary Sources: Primary sources provide a window into the past with unfiltered access to the record of artistic, social, scientific and political thought and achievement during the specific period under study, produced by people who lived

during that period. Bringing young people into close contact with these unique, often profoundly personal, documents and objects can give them a very real sense of what it was like to be alive during a long-past era.Primary sources help students relate in a personal way to events of the past and promote a deeper understanding of history as a series of human events. Because primary sources are snippets of history, they encourage students to seek additional evidence through research. First-person accounts of events helps make them more real, fostering active reading and response. Many state standards support teaching with primary sources, which require students to be both critical and analytical as they read and examine documents and

objects. Primary sources are often incomplete and have little context. Students must use prior knowledge and work with multiple primary sources to find patterns. In analyzing primary sources, students move from concrete observations and facts to questioning and making inferences about the materials. Questions of creator bias, purpose, and point of view may challenge students’ assumptions. Inquiry into primary sources encourages students to wrestle with contradictions and compare multiple sources that represent differing points of view, confronting the complexity of the past. Students

construct knowledge as they form reasoned conclusions, base their conclusions on evidence, and connect primary sources to the context in which they were created, synthesizing information from multiple sources. Integrating what they glean from comparing primary sources with what they already know, and what they learn from research, allows students to construct content knowledge and deepen understanding.




Secondary Sources are those which are written ABOUT events in the past. They usually interpret those events through the lens of the time period in which they are written. New discoveries are made and attitudes change over time causing understandings of past events to change. Facts may remain consistent, but interpretations change, sometimes drastically. 


 Sources that have been published very recently will reflect the current theories and understanding of the past. If you use a secondary source that was published decades ago, it is important to know what subsequent scholars have written on the topic and what criticism they have made about the earlier work or its approach to the topic.

Love the World... Hug the World!

Last week we did an activity about the world. I thought it was a great way in engaging the class to learn for the day. Dr. Smirnova brought in a soft world that we passed around. Each person that held the world, hugged in first and then told one way that they would work on helping

save our world when we are a teacher. It was great to here so many interesting ideas. I personally would encourage recycling in my own classroom and limit the use of papers and worksheets. With the help of learning so much technology in both of Dr. Smirnova's classes this should be simple right? Maybe not... When trying to help our environment we need to go past the normal recycling. We need to step up and do what is right in order to help this place that we all call home. I mean, why destroy where we live? In reality, most people do not realize how much damage they are really doing to our environment. As a future teacher I want to bring not only my student, but families and community into help clean up our world. If I can inspire students maybe they will inspire their parents and this could become a chain reaction. I can't make everyone help but anything is better than nothing. Their is so much world pollution and

doing this exercise  helped my learn of new ways that I can help out. It inspired and intrigued me for changes in my life. This spring I am looking forward to planting my own garden and I want to help pick up garbage in my community. I also want to teach others that with a few simple changes, they can actually be a big help! Technology can be helpful especially in the classroom because it can greatly reduce the amount of trees being cut down. If everyone went one year without using paper for projects and homework and notes and resorted to technological ways I am sure we would save billion upon billions of trees! I also would love to bring my students outside to pick up local garbage and show them how

great it can feel to make a difference. If they learn when they are younger, it will really help them as they grow to be more conscious of the ways that they might be causing pollution. Pollution is no laughing matter! It is costing environmental changes, death of animals and a dirty community.

Let's change that!

 

 

Exploring American Indian Tribes

This week in class we researched and investigated important information about 5 different tribes: The Lakota tribe, The Muscogee Tribe, The Mohawk/Iroquois Tribe, The Tlingit Tribe and the Dine Tribe. Each group was responsible in finding information about the culture, geography, history, food, houses/shelters, culture, important leaders etc. about each tribe. We used the Jigsaw method in order to learn and teach others about our tribe. My group was responsible for the Muscogee tribe. We made a powerpoint that showed the ways in which the location of this tribe, greatly affected the life that the Muscogee tribe lived. Each group was also responsible to make a generalization statement. Attached below are the powerpoints for each of the groups:

Lakota Tribe

Tlingit Tribe

Dine Tribe

Iroquois/Mohawk Tribe

 

Before doing this project I had very little knowledge of Native American Indian Tribes and was actually unaware that these tribes even existed. The only ones that I recognized were the Mohawk and Iroquois tribes. It is interesting how those tribes are so popular and that many people who live in America are not knowledgeable of the other tribes. I am glad that I was able to learn about the various tribes that existed and the living conditions/culture of these people through this project. The Jigsaw Method was very helpful in learning about the tribes. I was able to learn many details about each one from my base group members. Although it was hard to learn a lot of the information ahead of time, I have the links to each presentation that was created so I can revisit them and research more! From the class reading I was able to learn about the Indian Removal Act as well. The website Dr. Smirnova provided is linked here. The Indian Removal Act was passed in the 1800s when Andrew Jackson was president. Jackson believed that removal was the only way to save Native Americans from "extinction". The Indian Removal Act gave the president the permission to set up districts within the Indian Territory and provided for the general re-settlement of Native Americans west of the Mississippi River. Over 60,000 Native Americans were forced to migrate and as stated on the website "Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died on this forced march, which became known as the "Trail of Tears."  This information was not covered in our projects but was very interesting to learn about. It is such a tragedy that these Indians were forced to move west and that so many died along the way. I could not imagine what it must have been like to live during this time period! On the page that Dr. Smirnova provided there are also links for teacher's pages on the Removal Act and teaching it to students.
Overall I learned some important information from each of my group members when we proceeded back to our home groups. The Dine tribe relied heavily on their land and environment for shelter, food and clothing. They used stones and logs for there shelters and animals for food and clothing. The logs were used to cook the meat from the animals and the skin and fur was used for clothing.

The Tlingit tribe was known for being a tribe based on seafood due to its close proximity to the ocean. The ocean provided fishing and gave this tribe a symbol as the whale. Cedar trees, lush forests, and wildlife were all important to the Tlingit Tribe. The cedar trees influenced art especially totem poles and provided shelter and clothing. The lush forest and wildlife were important because they provided food such as deer and berries and also provided clothing such as the use of deer hides.

Geography influenced the way the Lakota tribe lived because of the resources available to the Lakota were buffalo. Because this source was available, it became the main source of food for them and was also used for clothing.The Lakota tribe was a nomadic tribe which means that they moved with the buffalo herds. They used horses to follow the herds and also had houses that were light an potable so they developed Teepees.

Finally the Mohawk and Iroquois tribe was affected by its location because they used animals in their region as a source for clothing and food. The Eastern Woodlands region made longhouses convenient for this tribe. More permanent living locations due to prime water sources were around the Great Lakes region. The seasons in the area also influenced the growing seasons which in turn affected their food.  

Overall, the Jigsaw method was once again a great tool to teach one another about information we each researched. Through this project I learned so much about my given tribe and all the other tribes. I truly enjoyed this jigsaw project. I feel that the jigsaw assignment was very beneficial and informational. I had to become an expert on my tribe and teach my peers about my tribe. The same for my classmates. Jigsaw enables all of us to learn about a variety of tribes in a small amount of time.  Each person in the group was responsible for the overall outcome and success of the project. If each person didn't do their part, then it would reflect in the presentations. In our group we were unfortunate to have two members of the group who did not help work on the assignment so the other three of us were responsible for the whole powerpoint which was really tough. However, I am happy that by doing more work I winded up learning more. A group processing form would have been helpful in evaluating our group members. I learned so much about teaching about geography and Native Americans! I learned about the 5 themes of geography which are: Location, Place, Human-Environment Interaction, Movement and Region. All of these concepts were researched and taught within our individual PowerPoints. I was also not aware of the fields of Geography which are physical and cultural. By reading further in depth about geography and the American Indians and also by completing this project I learned information that I will one day use in my classroom. I also learned a great method for an inquiry instruction lesson - The Jigsaw Method!
Technology was very helpful in completing this project and can be very useful in the classroom. Technology permitted the different groups of students to create various representations for their project. Some students used glogster, some used PowerPoint, and many other websites. This is a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom and teaches students about tools/websites that may be used as well. The teacher can even include a mini online quiz afterwards on the information that was learned as a form of post-assessment. The lesson should be active, meaning that students should be involved and engaged in the lesson. With this lesson, the students will get an approach of actually taking their own action and in a way, teaching themselves through research much like our class did! The lesson can also integrate other disciplines into it. An English lesson can be based off the lesson and the research found. The students can write a paragraph about what they learned or they can each write on a sticky note what they learned on lino.com. The information that being taught should be related to the student's lives in some way in order to to make the information meaningful to them. When students are learning they sometimes don't absorb the information because it means nothing to them and does affect their own life. However, a great assignment would be to have each student write a letter to a friend in another tribe including information about their tribe. Or they can write a letter trying to appeal the Indian Removal Act displaying their fears and thoughts in order to give them an experience of how the people on the trail of tears must have felt! This project can also be changes for the various elementary grades. The students at a higher level would most likely be able to write the letter/paragraph but for students at the lower level learning about this topic can get a more hands-on approach. Maybe by creating mini houses as a class, with mud and sticks would be a good idea to teach the students. The students can create longhouses or tee-pees! This will teach the students a small portion of information since they will not be able to retain all the information at a young age. Under the National Standards this project could relate to the theme: Time, Continuity and Changes. This theme states: "Through a more formal study of history, students in the middle grades continue to expand their understanding of the past and are increasingly able to apply the research methods associated with historical inquiry. They develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for differences in perspectives on historical events and developments, recognizing that interpretations are influenced by individual experiences, sources selected, societal values, and cultural traditions. They are increasingly able to use multiple sources to build interpretations of past events and eras. High school students use historical methods of inquiry to engage in the examination of more sophisticated sources. They develop the skills needed to locate and analyze multiple sources, and to evaluate the historical accounts made by others. They build and defend interpretations that reconstruct the past, and draw on their knowledge of history to make informed choices and decisions in the present." (NCSS) Through this project the students would get a better understanding of the changes that occurred from then to now and understand more about this time in history. In addition it also uses many of the Social Studies Practices for New York. Through the inquiry method of learning this information and using the jigsaw method the students would be "Gathering, Interpreting and Using Evidence". In addition the students would be using "Geographic Reasoning" in order to learn how geography is important to each tribe! The Practices are outlined here on the engage.ny website.
  Overall, I really enjoyed this project and will definitely implement similar activities in my future classroom!

 

 

 

Yo... whats up guys? Lets talk academic language!

Academic language is a very important topic to discuss. It is crucial to use academic language within the school and in life. After conducting fieldwork, I really opened my eyes to the importance of academic language.

Academic language is used in school and work. It is the language of text, assessment, power and academic success. It is important as professional adults that we speak using proper academic language. Throughout fieldwork, most of the class used "guys" as a way of addressing the students. This would be considered social language, not language we as educators should be using to address the students. We lead by example, if we speak properly, our students will be more likely to use similar language, but it goes beyond modeling. Academic language is something that needs to be taught. The differences between social and academic language can be taught by providing two passages, one written using social language, and the other using academic language. The students can read the passages and determine the type of language being used. Based on grade-level, students should be taught academic language in a different context. Here is a break-down by grade-level groups:
Pre-k-4th: Teach age appropriate language through show and tell.
4th-8th: Provide set examples, allow students to develop academic language through practice in groups and as the educator, gradually pull back support for individual ability.
9th-12th: Complicated grammar structure should be taught.
ELL's need extra help with learning academic language. Explicit, specific instruction is necessary for ELL's to use, understand, pronounce and develop academic language. 

I feel teaching academic language is important for several reasons. The first being that using academic language is beneficial to academic success. The second is because the use of technology in today's society. Students are surrounded by a world of technology; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, computers and texting are part of the average student's social world. The language used is often slang, which I am finding to be interfering with language used in schools. Reading papers and talking to students, I am finding "gunna, wat and goin" as trademarks in papers. As a future educator, I am worried that students will continue this social language into their professional careers. It is important that we as educators teach and use academic language with the students. I will strive as a teacher and professional adult to use academic language and teach it to my students in order to help develop college and career ready individuals.

 

It's a Puzzle - JIGSAW!

This week in class we worked on our cooperative learning presentations using the jigsaw method. I really enjoyed this. At first I was hesitant to the success of the assignment and method, but after personally experiencing it, I understood the purpose and method of using jigsaw. I personally would implement jigsaw in my classroom. Many teachers are resistant to using jigsaw, but if it is used properly, it can be a successful way for students to become "experts" in a topic and take charge in their learning. Jigsaw seems very similar to a research project. Rather than calling it a research project, which sounds very overwhelming, especially for children, it is a fun, hands-on cooperative project. I also like that jigsaw allows the students to take a firm role as "teachers" of their topic within the project. We taught the cooperative method, PIGS. One person from each group took on a

specific letter of the acronym, researched it, became an expert, and created a presentation with the other group member who had the same topic. Then we each taught our letter/topic. This made me feel more responsible to fully understand my topic. Jigsaw does not leave much room for any student to fall under the radar. Each student is equally responsible for their topic and it is very clear for the teacher to observe to see which students do not fully complete the assignment. We were assigned another jigsaw project based on various Native American tribes. I am excited to see jigsaw in practice again.