One of my favorite conceptual models is to have students categorize historical facts into themes. I stress three major themes throughout the year, Politics, Economy, and Culture. Of course, it takes a while to get them to the point where they can reliably do that on their own. The first time I introduce the concepts is usually with a graphic organizer, where I give them all of the information, and we are just examining one culture or region. Usually by the third unit, most of the students are ready reliably try it on their own.

We are currently studying the pre-Revolutionary era in the American colonies. This time period is tough for the students to grasp, because there are relatively few large-scale events to define it. But it does provide a great opportunity to compare the three different colonial regions using our themes of Politics, Economy, and Culture.

I reserved a week for students to complete their basic research.

Day One: I introduce the topic, and go over the supporting materials. I provide them with the following:

• A task sheet.
• A packet of three graphic organizers, one for each region.
• A reference list of the types of information that go into each category. I like to check their understanding by having them work in partners to think of specific examples from previous units that fit each category.
• A textbook index. We used three texts and an atlas for this particular project.

Yeah, it was a lot of stuff, and to be honest, I wanted to overwhelm them a little bit. Part of their task was just to keep track of all their information and resources.

Day Two – Three: Students worked individually or in small groups to conduct their research. My job was mainly to put out fires on their first day of research. By the second day of research, they were basically up to speed and in the groove. At that point, it was pretty boring for me to be honest :).

Day Four: Pause, reflect, and prep for the group activity. This was also a great chance for students to catch up from being absent.

• I asked students to select their “most important” fact for each theme in each region. For example, the most important political, economy, and culture fact for New England, etc. Students just put a star next to each selection.
• Then I divided them into three different working groups (I like to use poker chips for group selection) to represent each region.
• Once in their new groups, I handed out strips of color index cards. Each region had it’s own color (Red = New England, Yellow = Middle Colonies, Blue = South Colonies). Each student got three cards of the same color (I purchased packs of 5×8 and cut them down), and I asked them to write their three most important facts for that region. Once they finished I collected all of the cards.
• Finally, students completed a reflective journal about their experiences with their research. I love reflective journaling, and use it for almost every activity we do.

Day Five: Group activity. During the previous days of collecting information, I asked students to keep four spaces free on each of their three graphic organizers. On the last day, the students were required to fill in those blanks using work from other students.

• As students came in, I asked them to go back to their working groups from the previous day to make it easier to return their index cards.
• Then, they posted their cards on the board in thematic categories (Politics, Economy, Culture).
• Finally, the students were able to rotate around and collect the rest of their information.

All in all I felt it was a pretty successful activity. Due to the time required, I wouldn’t do it every unit though. Next week, I’ll need to do one or two days of lecture to tie things together for the big picture. But I am most looking forward to facilitating a student debate using the themes. I have found in the past, that one of the greatest benefits of thematic mental models, is that they create natural frameworks for debate. For example, is slavery political, economic, or cultural? Of course, it is all three, but that’s the point. Now the students can argue a point of view rather than factual “correctness”.

 

Comments and feedback welcome!