Declaring Independence…but for who?

Question: What rights and freedoms do you think the government should protect?

 
declaration-of-independence

 

The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as 13 newly independent sovereign states, and no longer a part of the British Empire.

The Declaration justified independence by listing colonial grievances against King George III, and by asserting certain natural and legal rights, including a right of revolution. These ideas were based on Enlightenment philosophy, particularly John Locke’s theory that government power derived from the consent of the governed.

Check out a great warm up video here.

 

This video has a great introduction by Morgan Freeman on the context and impact of the Declaration of Independence. It also features a complete read-through of the document by a cast of Hollywood movie stars. However, the read-through is not quite as dramatic as I thought it would be…it kind of starts to drag when they get to the list of 27 grievances. I recommend just showing the introduction.

 

This video is from the John Adams miniseries. It gives a nice context on the debate in the Continental Congress (The reading at the end is MUCH more interesting and dramatic…it doesn’t include the list of grievances).

 

An abridged Declaration of Independence (full text version)

PREAMBLE

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

*Translation – This document will explain why we want independence!

 RIGHT OF PEOPLE TO CONTROL THEIR GOVERNMENT

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Questions: Describe the “unalienable rights” in your own words. What rights and freedoms do you have now that you think the government should protect? Where does government get its power? What if a government does not defend the rights of its citizens? What are some groups that were not treated equally during colonial times?

LIST OF 27 GRIEVANCES (COMPLAINTS AGAINST THE BRITISH KING)

    • Abuses 1 – 12 abuses involve King George III’s establishment of a tyrannical authority in place of representative government.  King George III rejected legislation proposed by the colonies, and replacing colonial governments with his appointed ministers. The King is a tyrant, because he keeps standing armies in the colonies during a time of peace, makes the military power superior to the civil government, and forces the colonists to support the military presence through increased taxes.
    • Abuses 13 – 22 describe the involvement of Parliament in destroying the colonists’ right to self-rule. Legislation has been passed to quarter troops in the colonies, to shut off trade with other parts of the world, to levy taxes without the consent of colonial legislatures, to take away the right to trial by jury, and to force colonists to be tried in England.
    • Abuses 23 – 27 refer to specific actions that the King George III took to abandon the colonies and to wage war against them. For example, the American sailors were regularly kidnapped and forced to serve in the British navy.

Question: Which grievance do you consider the most important?

COLONIES ARE DECLARED FREE AND INDEPENDENT

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Questions: What powers do the new United States have? Who do you think was the intended audience of this declaration (name as many people or groups as you can)?

 

Reflection

Capture

These are GREAT ideas from the Declaration of Independence:

    • “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
    • A government is a contract with the citizens. People give up some of their freedoms, so that government will protect their rights.
    • If a government does not protect the rights its citizens, then they can and should change the government or start a new one.

BUT consider the following:

    • Thomas Jefferson and many of the other Founding Fathers owned slaves.
    • Slavery was still legal and enforced in all 13 colonies when the Declaration was signed.
    • Most countries in Europe were ruled by Kings who believed they were given their power directly from God, and could rule however they wanted.
    • Britain and the American colonies did have elections, but only wealthy men could vote or hold political office. Women and poor men did not have any political rights.


Pretend you live during 1776, and you have just read the Declaration of Independence.

Write a brief diary journal from the point of view of: (pick any three)

  • A Loyalist in America
  • A Son of Liberty
  • A woman
  • A free person of color
  • A poor person
  • The British King
  • The British Parliament
  • The French King

 

 

Comments and feedback welcome!

The Tipping Point – Making a Common Sense Argument for Independence

 “Small islands, not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island.”  – Thomas Paine Common Sense 

 

Commonsense

 

Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that inspired the American colonials to declare and fight for independence from Great Britain in the winter of early 1776. It was published after the fighting broke out between the British and colonists, but before the Declaration of Independence. In clear, simple language it explained the advantages of, and the need for, immediate independence from Britain.

Common Sense targeted a popular audience, and was written in a straightforward and simple way, so Paine’s political ideas were understandable to everyone, even uneducated or illiterate colonists. This brought “average” colonists into political debate for the first time.

Before Common Sense, many colonists still thought of themselves as British citizens who were just angry at their government. But afterward, many colonists wanted to break away and form a new country.

The Declaration of Independence was written and signed just a few months after Common Sense was published.

 

 

Here is an abridged interpretation of Common Sense by Thomas Paine. (The actual pamphlet is quite long…you really need to break it down to use it in the classroom.)

The Purpose of Government

Society and government are two separate things. People in society do what they want in search of happiness. Government exists because of what people do wrong – it sets limits on the behavior of people. At best, government is a necessary evil. At worst, government is intolerable.

Without government, society has absolute freedom. People can do anything wish. Unfortunately, people can and do commit evil. Government punishes evil doers, hence, government protects society. Therefore, we give up some of our freedom to create a government to protect our natural rights; life, liberty and possessions. (SOCIAL CONTRACT!!!)

We elect representatives to our government to make sure that government protects the natural right of citizens. Elections should be held often so that representatives can be reminded of what citizens want. Frequent elections will also keep representatives from becoming corrupt. This will make for a happy relationship between society and government.

The English Government

Simple things are easily run and easily fixed. The English government is too complicated. When something breaks, it is difficult to even know what is wrong. The English government promises much but delivers little. Let us examine the three parts of the English government: the King, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons.

Since the King and members of the House of Lords are not elected, they do not care about the people. Members of the House of Commons are elected and are the only true voice of the people. Yet, the King tells Parliament (Lords and Commons) what to do, and Parliament does it.

The Rule of Kings

It is ridiculous that one capable man who becomes king should have all future generations of his family also rule. His son might be a dictator or a fool. England has had a few good monarchs but many bad ones. Another evil of kings is that someone else rules in his place when a king is too young or too old. Kings do not make good governments. Under kings, there have been at least eight civil wars and nineteen rebellions. In England, all a king does is start wars and give away property. One honest man is worth all the kings who ever lived.

The Current Situation in America

On the following, I offer nothing more than common sense. War will decide who will rule America. Some say that America needs Britain to be successful, but they are wrong. America would have been great without Europe. People escaped from Europe to come to America for political and religious freedom. And to call Americans “Englishmen” is wrong since many people in America come from other countries.

America has no advantage by being connected with Great Britain. Our relationship with Britain has brought America into war with other nations. Whenever Britain goes to war, it disrupts American trade with other European countries. It is better that America stay out of European problems.

There are those who cannot see the abuses of Britain. If you believe that peace can be made, you are lying to yourself and you have the heart of a coward.

The Ability of America to Fight a War

I have never met with a man, either in England or America, who has not said the colonies and Great Britain would separate at one time or other. The time is now. It is cheaper to fight than to spend millions to repeal acts of Parliament. We are united and this continent has the largest number of armed men of any power in the world. It would be easy for America to build a navy; we have the resources of tar, timber, iron, and cordage. America builds some of the best ships, most of them are not fit to use. Our arms are equal to any country, and we can produce our own gunpowder and cannon.

Independence

To conclude, many reasons may be given for independence. Some of which are:

      • First – other nations cannot solve our conflict as long as we are considered a part of Britain. Hence the conflict will go on forever.
      • Second – France and Spain will not help us if we do not break with Britain.
      • Third – we must not be seen as Englishman and rebels fighting Britain but as different people seeking independence.
      • Fourth – if we sent a document to foreign governments stating British abuses and our failed attempts to peaceably fix them, and showed that we were pushed towards separating from Britain, it would do us great good.

 Until independence is declared, America will suffer.

 

Questions to consider

1. What is the social contract theory of government?

2. Who was the intended audience of Common Sense?

3. According to Common Sense, why should America declare independence?

4. Which argument for independence do you think is most important? Least important?

5. How do you think loyalists reacted to Common Sense when they read it?

 

Comments and feedback welcome!

Bloody Massacre? Are you sure about that?

The Boston Massacre (1770) was one of the most iconic events of the pre-Revolutionary period. It has a cool name, and an instantly recognizable image, The Bloody Massacre.

massacre2

Of course, it’s also a signature piece of propaganda created by Paul Revere, a member of the radical, and occassionally violent, protest group, the Sons of Liberty.

As a warm up, I asked students to pretend that they were American colonists living outside of Boston during 1770, and they were given a copy of The Bloody Massacre, but had no other knowledge of the event. What did they see? What did they think happened?

The dog…the first thing they point out will be the dog. Count on it.

British troops are shooting people.

The soldiers look organized.

The soldiers look mean, some of them look like they are laughing.

The officer is standing behind his men and just gave the order to fire.

The soldiers are very close to the crowd.

The crowd looks scared.

The crowd doesn’t have any weapons.

Some people in the crowd are dead or hurt.

One person in the crowd looks like he’s asking the soldiers to stop.

It happened in the middle of a city.

It looks the crowd is only a little bit bigger than the group of soldiers.

 

I didn’t provide any additional context, but simply asked students to record their observations on this T-chart.

Then, we watched this clip from the John Adams HBO mini-series. FYI, this clip is OK, but I highly recommend just purchasing the full episode from Amazon Instant Video, because it sets up the events of the Massacre perfectly.

 

Then students worked with partners to discuss the evidence that was revealed during the trial (for the other side of their T-chart).

There were only a few soldiers.

The crowd was about 200 people.

The British officer was in front of his men, not behind his men.

The crowd threw snowballs, oyster shells and garbage at the soldiers.

The crowd was carrying clubs…they may have thrown their clubs at the soldiers.

 The crowd was very loud and screamed at the soldiers.

Some people in crowd were shouting at the soldiers to “Fire!”

The first shot was fired accidentally.

 

Finally, we reconsidered the engraving of The Bloody Massacre.

How could we change it so that it was more accurate, based on the trial testimony?

Why do you think Paul Revere left out or changed some of the facts? What story was he trying to tell? Who was his audience?

Do you agree or disagree with what Paul Revere did? Why?

If you were living in Britain, how would you feel about The Bloody Massacre?

What do you think might have been different if the soldiers had been convicted of murder?

 

Comments and feedback welcome!

Getting a Handle on KWL (pt. 3)

Today was a culminating day in our exploration of student-generated questions. (Please check out part 1 and part 2 of this discussion to get up to speed.)

 

I was a bit nervous for several reasons:

  • This is really uncharted territory for both me and the students. I had a pretty clear vision of what I wanted to do, but I didn’t know where things were going to get hung up, and I really wasn’t sure how the students were going to respond.
  • Things have been very disrupted recently. PSSAs last week and I was out of the classroom twice this week. Once for field trip and a second time for a unexpected family matter. Any break in routine automatically means lost time to get us back in the groove.
  • I invited my supervisor and our literacy coach to observe the lesson. (For what it’s worth, they both seemed generally pleased with what they saw. I will be following up with them next week for a debrief.)

 

But whatever, no guts no glory.

1. Students read over the list of questions they created and put a check mark next to any that they thought they could answer. Then, I gave them about ten minutes to compile their questions on this graphic organizer. I made a requirement that they needed at least 5-7 (depending on the class) questions for each side of the organizer. If they did not have enough questions for one or both of their columns, they could make up new questions on their own, or get additional questions from a partner.

2. We discussed the difference between “open” and “closed” questions. Closed questions are fact-based questions with one clear and uncontested answer. The answers are usually short and straightforward. Open questions are based more on opinion and interpretation, and have multiple possible correct answers. Students coded their questions with a (C) or (O) to represent closed or open. We discussed a few examples as a class, and the students could help other out with the coding. I think this is an important distinction for students to consider, but I also told them to not over think it when categorizing the questions.

3. Students picked their most important closed and open questions from both their “answered” and “unanswered” list.

  • Their “answered” questions will be used by the students on their test. That is, each student has created an individualized response section for their test.
  • Students may ASK me one question from their “unanswered” list. I will respond in writing when I grade their tests.

 

Here is the test that I am handing out tomorrow. Students will have two days in class, and extra time at home if necessary, to work on their responses. The test will be open notebook, they can refer to any materials we used during instruction. Students must cite the source of all of their facts. Responses can be typed or handwritten according to student preference.

Everyone must answer: (30 points) 

Summarize the French and Indian War. Be sure to include:

  • What caused the war?
  • What different groups were involved in the war? What were their motivations?
  • Where was the war fought?
  • In your opinion, what were the two most important battles and why?
  • How did the war end?
  • What were some major changes or effects of the war?

Pick one of the these: (20 points)

Mr. Walp says that the Native Americans were not important during the French and Indian War! Prove him wrong with multiple examples.

Mr. Walp says that the British had better military leaders than the French during the French and Indian War! Prove him wrong with multiple examples.

Do both of these: (20 points each)

Pick the most important fact question from your “answered” list.

  • Write the question.
  • What is the answer? (cite your facts…)
  • Why do you think that this is the most important fact question on your list?

Pick the most important opinion question from your “answered” list.

  • Write the question.
  • In your opinion, what is the answer? (cite your facts…)
  • Why do you think that this is the most important opinion question on your list?

On the back of your Question Organizer, write one question from your “unanswered” list that you want Mr. Walp to answer. (5 points)

Staple the Question Organizer to your test answers. (5 points)

 

My thoughts:

Timing during the lesson was very challenging for me. It felt as though I was trying to stretch out a 20 minute activity to fill a 40 minute period. Some of that was my own self-consciousness, like I don’t feel like I’m hitting my mark unless I push an aggressive timeline for the lesson. But I think it also had to do with the fact that I was not clear on my own goals. Was this a fairly straightforward administrative task, or a more complex analytic/discussion task? In the end, I defaulted to completing an administrative task with time to spare, rather than trying to have a deep discussion that was cut short because of lack of time.

Overall, I am very happy with this first run through. There were a lot of distractions during the unit, and I had to content with my own learning curve on the content. So all in all, it could have fallen apart in a lot of places.

I have to make a student reflection to get their feedback.

I think I am pushing them a bit for this test. There are just so many things I am asking them to keep track of at this point. For the most part, they are not losing points anymore for what they write, but rather losing points for what they forget to write (e.g., improper citations, lack of detail to support an argument).

One the one hand, it’s really cool to see them developing and growing as writers and junior historians, on the other hand, there are some students that just refuse to budge. No details. No opinions. No personal connections. No citations. Just a dogged regurgitation of the bare minimum of facts. No amount of coaching or feedback on my part seems to help at all.

    • Is it me? Have I been unclear about my expectations? Am I not reaching them? Should I structure things differently to help them?
    • Or is it them? Do they just not “get” it? Do they not care? Are they stubbornly abiding by an internal clock that regulates the amount of time they are willing to spend on an assignment, regardless of the outcome? Are there circumstances in their life that are negatively impacting their ability to do the work at a high level?
      • No doubt the answer is, as always, D. all of the above.

 

Go to KWL Student Reflections

 

Comments and feedback welcome!

Getting a Handle on KWL (pt. 2)

Yay…PSSA Week…might as well finish watching our movie.

However, this also seemed like an opportunity to have students continue their work creating and answering their own questions.

Rather than fall back on the ol’ low-ball “write 10 facts from the movie” routine, I instead asked students to write down 10 questions about the movie over the course of four days. I think this task is easier said than done, because students have to simultaneously listen and watch to get information. I reminded students to be as specific as possible to avoid questions like, “What was that guy talking about during that thing?”

So far so good after a few days. Engagement during class discussion seems to be higher in general. Although for the most part, there are only a few students that drive discussion by volunteering to share their questions, there have been a lot more students volunteering to answer questions. If nothing else, my students can’t stonewall me when I ask if anyone has questions.

So in solidarity with my students, I have some questions:

  • How much time do we spend collecting information to create questions vs. answering questions?
  • Should students only develop their own questions on their own, or should they work together to do it? Or both?
  • Who should spend more time answering the questions? Me? Their peers? Do I just keep throwing them back in until they figure it out on their own?
  • What about student questions that never get answered? What about AMAZING student questions that never get answered?

I don’t know the answers. I don’t think there are clear answers. But these are my thoughts so far:

  • At the moment I’m all fired up about student-generated questions, but it stands to reason that eventually getting answers to at least some of the questions is probably important too.
  • Creating a flexible structure is key.
  • Of course, the chief enemy is time.
  • Hooray for PLNs! Some awesome feedback from a connection on Edmodo directed me to a strategy I’d never heard of called Question Formulation Technique. It ties together a lot of ideas that were loosely bouncing around in my head. Although I feel like it’s a too late for steps one and two this time around, I can still easily incorporate steps three through six.

Step One: Create a prompt

The most effective prompts for this activity are statements that are focused clearly enough so that there is a direct link to the purpose of the lesson and are neutral enough so that students feel free to respond to the prompt. Many teachers use prompts that begin with stems such as “Your role/task is to…” or “You want to / A group wants to.” A prompt could also be a description of a class project.

Step Two: Students generate questions
In groups, give students a fixed amount of time (5-10 minutes) to generate a list of questions, adhering to these rules:

1)      Write down the questions exactly as they are said

2)      Do not stop to discuss or answer the questions

3)      Write down as many questions as you can

4)      Statements should be rephrased as questions.

Step three: Students identify open and closed questions
Ask students to look at their lists and put an “O” by all of the open-ended questions (questions with many possible answers) and a “C” by questions that elicit one answer (a “yes/no” question or a question with a factual answer).  Then, have students change one of their open questions into a closed question and one closed question into an open question.

 Step four: Students prioritize questions
Have groups select 3 questions from their list. It could be the three questions they find most interesting or important or the three questions that they think need to be addressed first.

 Step five: Groups share questions
When groups present their questions, ask them to share why they selected these three. The questions that the class generates can be used as the focus of a class discussion, a writing assignment, a research project, or as a tool to help you plan future lessons.

 Step six: Reflections
Give students the opportunity to reflect on this process by writing in a journal and/or through a brief discussion.

*This six-step summary is available for download at http://bit.ly/1hgmeHf

 So here’s my checklist for the rest of the unit:

  • Spend some time in the textbook. We actually haven’t done that yet this unit. I also want to try out a new open-ended study guide format.
  • Take a day or two to regroup and reassess our KWL list. What do the students know now? Which of their questions have they answered? What questions do they have left?
    • Complete steps three, four and five from QFT.
    • Maybe give another day or two in the computer lab to let students do research to find more answers. I swear it feels like such a guessing game to figure out the best time to go to the computer lab. What I wouldn’t give for a 1-1 laptop classroom…
    • Develop an assessment plan to close out the unit.
      • Teacher-generated questions. What key questions do I want students to answer to ensure we address essential content? I am thinking of using a counter argument format. For example, “Mr. Walp says that the Native Americans were not important during the French and Indian War. Prove him wrong!”
      • Student-generated questions. Let students select a few questions they created AND answered during the unit. This should be a mix of closed and open questions. The most interesting part for me is that this will result in completely individualized tests, but it shouldn’t be any more challenging to grade than my current format which is almost exclusively based on essay responses at this point.
      • Mandatory reflection component.
        • What did students like/not like about creating their own questions? 
        • What was the most important question they had, that did not get answered? I could answer them back on their reflection. 
        • Suggestions for improvement.

 

Go to Part 3

 

Comments and feedback welcome!

Getting a handle on KWL

So for awhile now I have been trying to incorporate student-generated questions into instruction. The most common method for doing this that I am aware of is the “Know-Want to Know-Learned” (KWL) model. It probably has a lot of different names, but that is what is was called when I went to college. The basic model is a three column chart. Students list their existing knowledge in the KNOW column, create questions or make predictions in the WANT to know column, and track their learning over time in the LEARNED column.

Sounds great, right? Then why have I had such a hard time figuring out how to effectively incorporate a formal KWL into instruction?

 

Roadblocks to implementation:

1. Remember to do it. OK, so this one is totally on me. I guess I should add it to the collection of Post-It notes on my desk and computer monitor.

2. Make time to do it. Easier said than done, right? However, my sense is that process takes a full class period. Completing the first two columns (KNOW – WANT to know) works great as a class activity because it creates easy opportunities for Pair and Share collaboration and student driven class discussion.

3. Timing. This one is trickier than it might seem at first. The great fear is that students’ will just respond with a resounding “NOTHING!” for prior knowledge, which will lead inevitably to an equally enthusiastic “NOTHING!” for what else they want to learn…and then we all just stare at each other uncomfortably for a few minutes before I change the subject. I believe strongly that students need a chance to browse the topic before starting a KWL graphic organizer for two reasons.

  • First, it gives students a chance to actually develop prior knowledge. Yeah sure, most of the time students are “familiar” with a topic because they learned about it in a previous unit or grade level. But what about the kid that shockingly doesn’t remember a specific history unit from two or three years ago? What about the student that moved in the middle of the year, and his old school had a completely different curriculum? What if they just didn’t pay attention the last time they saw it? Give students a day or two to explore in the textbook or online. Show a video. Do something to help them access the memory banks, or generate new connections.
  • Second, I don’t think it is reasonable to ask students to generate their own questions for understanding, which is a task near the very top of the Bloom’s taxonomy, without giving them supports. They don’t know what they don’t know at first. But give them a little taste…and the questions come flying out. I have found that maps, particularly before and after maps, are incredibly useful to help students generate questions.

4. Make it meaningful (a.k.a Follow through). This is actually where I have stumbled the most. I have asked students to create and submit a list their own questions on multiple occasions…but then what? Now I have a big pile of questions. It’s too much information for me to process, which at least in part contributes to problem #1 and 2 for me. So, what usually happens is…nothing. I look at their questions. I feel super happy that they came up with awesome questions. I wonder what to do next. I don’t do anything with the questions. I have a vague sense of failure as a teacher.

Happily, I feel like I have finally connected the dots a little bit.

We are learning about the French and Indian War right now. Honestly, I came into the unit a bit disorganized. I spent so much time and energy on the slavery unit, that I just needed to take my foot off of the gas pedal for a few days and regroup. So, in true history teacher fashion, I decided it was the perfect time to watch a movie. The PBS documentary “War that Made America” is superb. Part One highlights the first two battles of the war, and prominently features George Washington. I started it about 8 minutes in, but it still ran slightly over one period.

We had a brief discussion after the movie about main groups that were fighting, and the different fighting styles that were used. In short, I asked the students to consider what the British have to do differently if they want to start winning some battles.

Then, I gave them a packet with some quick facts and two blank maps. I asked the students to try to find some patterns in the timeline. Typical answers included: the French won a lot in the beginning and the British won a lot in the end, they usually only fought during the summer months, and it looked like a lot of fighting happened in the year 1758. Then we colored in the before and after maps. I simply asked student to describe the difference between the two maps. Of course everyone pointed out how much territory changed, especially between England and France. (On a side note, I had a real “D’oh!” moment when I realized how much more sense it would have made to color British territory red and French territory blue. Oh well.)

 

Untitled

French and Indian War map (After 1763)

 

 

Then we spent two days in the computer lab. I asked students to find answers to key questions using the French and Indian War resources posted on my Scoop.it page. Their homework after completing their initial research was to create three questions where they wanted to learn more information.

That brought us to today.

Walking in the door I asked the students to summarize what they knew about the French and Indian War in 3-5 sentences. They could use their notes to help. Class discussion to fill out the “Know” column on a T-chart on the white board was quick and painless. All five classes generally came up with the same basic facts.

The British were fighting against the French.

They fought over land.

They were fighting over the Ohio River Valley.

Native Americans fought for both sides.

There were more Native Americans fighting for the French than the British.

George Washington was a British officer.

France won a lot of battles at first.

The British won the war.

France lost most of its land in North America.

It was also called the Seven Years War.

Cool so far. To keep the mental juices flowing, I then asked students to categorize each fact as “France” “America/British” “Native American” or “Other”. They could use more than one category for each, but I preferred if they picked just one, otherwise we would quickly fall into an “all of the above” trap. I clarified that it didn’t matter which category they used, as long as they could explain why (The fact that it was also called the Seven Years War was a prime example of the “other” category).

Then we moved on the “WANT to know” column. I asked them to take a few seconds and categorize the questions they made for homework into the same groups (French, American/British, Native American, Other). They then had ten minutes talk with anyone in the class to complete a task sheet to find 8-10 (depending on the class) questions, including the three questions they already had from their homework. Finally, I asked the students to identify the two most important questions on their list with a star. The last ten or so minutes of class was spent taking volunteers to share their questions for the T-chart. This is where it really felt like everything was paying off, they came up with terrific questions.

Sample of student questions:

Did Britain and France always fight?

How many people died?

How many people died for each group?

How did the British win?

Why was the Battle of Quebec important?

Did France ever go on the offense in the war?

Why did the British fight differently from the French and Indians?

Were the Native American axes more powerful than guns?

Why did the Native Americans have guns?

Why did more Native Americans fight with the French?

What happened to the Native Americans after the war?

What is Pontiac’s Rebellion?

How did George Washington become a British officer?

Why did George Washington fight for the British in French and Indian War and against the British in the American Revolution?

Why did France help America during the American Revolution?

Why did Spain help France?

What if France had won the war?

How was the rest of Europe impacted by the war?

What if more Native Americans had fought for the British?

How did the colonies deal with all the new land they got from winning the war?

 

I did a few things during this discussion that I think were really important to help it be more successful than in the past.

  • I did NOT try to answer the questions. Usually I get so caught up in “teacher mode” that I just start lecturing. I think that tendency is a killer for this activity because it means we only get to hear a couple of questions and I step on my own toes by making later lessons and activities redundant.
  • I had the students keep their question sheet rather than turn in it for me to put in a pile on my desk. Now they always have their questions ready to go for study or discussion. I haven’t tried it yet, but I think an effective closure for a lesson would be to have them re-read their list and check off any questions we answered that day.
  • I made them promise to keep me honest. The students kept their list of questions for later reference (This was not a graded assignment). Our goal is to find the answers to their questions before the end of the unit. If they find their answers as a natural result of lessons in the unit, great! If not, make sure to ask me, or another student, again later on. It seems like this will create a cool infrastructure for class discussions throughout the unit. When in doubt, check the list.

I feel pretty hopeful about the elusive KWL finally working out for me. I’ll have to ask the students for their perspective to be sure. Just for kicks, I also want to somehow incorporate their questions into the unit assessment as well. More on that later I guess.

Go to Part 2

 

 

Comments and feedback welcome!

Close Reading: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Douglass

I won’t lie…although I don’t regret any of the lessons I’ve developed, or the discussions we’ve had in class, this slavery unit is starting to feel too long. It’s hard to tell though, we’ve had so many school cancellations and delays for weather, plus the President’s Day holiday, that my perspective is probably off. All told I think it will be three total weeks of class by the time all is said and done. A long unit to be sure, but not crazy long. But still, if I’m starting to feel it, then the students must certainly be ready to move on. Oh well, in the home stretch now.

After our introduction with modern day slavery, we examined the horrors of the Middle Passage, the Virginia slave codes, and a comprehensive timeline of slavery throughout all of the thirteen colonies. One of my overarching goals for this unit was to help my students to appreciate the full extent and power of the system that was in place to virtually eliminate any possibility that slaves would fight back or try to run away…because if they don’t understand that simple, powerful truth, then I fear that the inevitable, if unstated, conclusion would be that the slaves were too unintelligent, weak, or cowardly to do so.

As a culminating activity for our slavery unit, I wanted to use a primary source to help students see daily life from a slave’s point of view. Our curriculum does not extend to the mid-1800’s, but I felt that the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was the best overall resource available due to its relatively accessible language, vivid imagery, and well-known author. Additionally, I wanted to finally try my hand at a structured close reading lesson, something which I had never done before.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a fairly quick read at only 188 pages, but close reading is a time intensive activity, so I knew that I wanted to work with an abridged version. Luckily, the work is in the public domain and available in full text online, so it only took an hour or so to create a customized primary source to fit perfectly within the unit! I decided to focus on the first few chapters where Douglass describes his life as a child in slavery.

I took about ten minutes or so to introduce Frederick Douglass to the class. When students arrived, the picture above was on the screen. When I asked students if they had heard of Douglass, many hands went up, but only a few knew anything concrete about him. The most common knowledge was that he used to be a slave. I gave a brief overview of his life, including some context on the national and regional attitudes toward slavery in his time. Then I showed a quick video introduction, which largely reinforced what I had already presented. On a side note, I found a surprising dearth of short Frederick Douglass biographies on YouTube given his importance in our country’s history. There were a handful of longer format documentaries, but the video below was one of the few worth using that was under 5 minutes run time.

 

 

The abridged text that we used included excerpts from three chapters of the Narrative, so I basically just repeated the procedure below three times. I think that pacing is a particularly important concern with close reading to keep it from getting bogged down. I actually used a little electronic stopwatch during steps 2, 3, 4 and 6. Even so, with the introduction, and a follow up day for the students to complete an activity reflection and develop a rough draft, the whole lesson will take us six days to complete.

Step 1: Read aloud

Each chapter excerpt is only 3-5 paragraphs, so this part only took a few minutes. I read aloud while students silently read along. Since the passage was fairly short, I took a little bit of time to bring it to life a bit by speeding up, slowing down or pausing to build tension, and changing my inflection to cue students to particularly strong ideas. However, I did not give additional commentary or context…it’s OK for students to come out of this part with questions for clarification.

Once I finished reading, I told the students which paragraphs we are going to focus on for deeper analysis. (For each chapter, I pre-selected two paragraphs for close reading and discussion.)

Step 2: Re-read and post it

Students had 3-5 minutes (depending on the class) to silently re-read the two paragraphs and use colored Post-It strips to highlight important information. I asked them to use one pink strip for each paragraph, and least one yellow strip for both paragraphs combined. At first, I said that students only needed to use a yellow strip to mark a spot that they didn’t understand but, surprise surprise, very few students were willing use a cute little flag to inform me and their peers that they didn’t “get it”. However, one simple change yielded great results!

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Step 3: Reader 1/Reader 2 annotations

Each student was given a graphic organizer that aligns with the paragraphs of the reading.

Students had five minutes to complete annotations as Reader 1. I repeatedly reinforced the idea that they should respond to the reading, rather than just try to summarize it. Bullet points were OK. Opinions, emotions, and personal connections were OK. The Post It notes were a great anchor for this part, and I told them, “If you don’t know what to write, write about your Post It notes.”

Then, students had another five minutes to do second round of annotations as Reader 2. To ensure that they saw a variety of responses, I did not have students pair up. Instead, they exchanged papers in their small groups a different way (clockwise – counterclockwise – diagonal) for each chapter. They had to read the Reader 1 comments before they wrote anything as Reader 2. They could not repeat any information. However, they could respond to Reader 1 by agreeing, disagreeing, adding more information, etc. I think that the Reader 2 role was a bit tricky for students to “get” at first, but by the second time around, they were doing great.

Step 4: Pair and share small group discussion

Three to five minutes for students to talk about their annotations in their small groups. This is one of my most frequently used strategies, so the students are very accomplished at it by this point. I feel it is a terrific way for all students to share, and hear different ideas prior to, or during, class discussion.

Step 5: Class discussion

I did not have set agenda for this part because I wanted to be responsive to their questions and concerns. Again, my goal was for students to have a general sense of the daily life of a slave, rather than recall any one specific fact. However, since we were only discussing two paragraphs of text, it was pretty easy to hit all of the main ideas in 15-20 minutes. I use numbered popsicle sticks for random selection, so I just grabbed four or five and started calling on people…summarize each paragraph, what quote did you pick and why, what else did you want to know that wasn’t in the text, etc.

Step 6: Summary journal

Students had 10 minutes to complete a summary of the two paragraphs. We do 3-5 sentence journals almost everyday as warm ups or exit slips, so they are very comfortable with that. Even so, I was initially surprised at how much longer it took the students to summarize the text, but in retrospect, that made sense given that we were using a primary source instead of a textbook.

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So, I am still in the middle of things (we are doing class discussion for the second chapter tomorrow), but it seems to be going well so far. I am definitely looking forward to the students’ feedback on their unit reflection journals!

 

Check out what the students thought about this lesson!

 

Comments and feedback welcome!

Building Empathy: Modern Day Slavery

We are about to spend two weeks examining the institution of slavery in colonial America. However, to kick off the unit, I decided to spend two days exploring the idea of modern day slavery. I did this for two reasons:

  1. To help my students develop an appropriate emotional connection to the people they were going to learn about.
  2. To increase the overall relevance of the unit.

I was a bit nervous going in, because this was my first time developing a lesson specificially to build empathy (what if they rebelled against it…or even worse, didn’t care?). But nevertheless, I felt strongly that the effort was worth the risk, and was cautiously optimistic that it would be successful.

Day One: Global Connections

Coming in the door, students saw this map on the board.

Percentage of population that is enslaved.

Source: Washington Post

Happily, many students stopped to examine the map, and even talk about it as they realized what they were looking at.

I spent about five minutes introducing the idea of modern day slavery using the map to highlight “hot spots” like India, S.E. Asia, and Africa, but also to demonstrate the truly global scale, and the fact that United States was part of it.

Then, I told them we were going to use a series of videos to look deeper at modern day slavery, and that it might make them a little sad or mad…but that would be an appropriate response. I did not want them to take any notes during the videos, they just needed to really watch. At the end of the day, they would write a short journal response. (We do a lot of reflection work in class, so they are quite used to using journals as an exit ticket). To prevent the mood from being broken, I had the students get paper and pencil ready to go before the viewing the videos.

The first video was a excellent, quick summary of the facts and figures of modern day slavery. I stopped the video once to explain the concept of trafficking, and how that was what happened to the Africans during the colonial slave trade.

 

The second video was a real gut-punch in terms of generating empathy. The students were riveted. On a side note, watching this five periods in a row was a bit draining for me.

 

The students were pretty subdued when I turned the lights on afterward, and there were tears evident here and there. I quietly asked them to spend the last few minutes writing. They could write whatever they wanted. I would eventually collect it, but it wasn’t for a grade. If they wanted to write anonymously, they did not have to put their name on it. It was more important that they express themselves honestly.

Day Two: Close to Home

The warm up for the second day was a PowerPoint slide of a brief journal relfection I created in response to the TED video.

“Although I knew about modern day slavery already, the video really made it more real for me because I saw pictures of people actually living in slavery today. It’s weird to think that right at this moment, they are still out there suffering.”

I shared my thoughts and feelings about the videos, and then asked the students to pair-and-share with partners for a few minutes about their own reaction to the previous day’s content.

While the previous day had focused on global slavery, I wanted to bring the issue closer to home and show students that modern day slavery exists in the United States as well. Again, I asked students to simply watch the final video without taking notes, but assured them that we would have time for discussion and journaling afterward.

I think this video was powerful because it was recent, occured close to us (I teach in Pennsylvania), and the girls that were held in slavery were young, worked in the open, and lived in an ordinary-looking neighborhood. Additionally, I thought it important to hear stories of people that had escaped or been rescued from slavery.

 

When the video concluded, I told my students that I thought it important that we discuss what we had seen over the past two days. However, I only wanted them to share if they were comfortable, so I promised not to call on anyone unless they volunteered. To provide a non-verbal means of group expression, and to provide structure for the discussion, I invited students to come up to the white board and write a word that best represented their feelings. I led the way by writing “Guilty” and “Hope”. And then I waited…

Each class responded differently. In some, students immediately got up and started writing. In others, there was a bit of hesistation as everyone waited for someone else to go first. My honors class was particularly apprehensive. After a minute or so I helped them out by quickly reading through the lists of words that the other classes had created. That worked like a charm, and students immediately rushed to the board.

Student reaction to modern day slavery

 

I started discussion by talking about my two words.

Guilty: I feel guilty because I have a good life with a lot of opportunities, and it is painful to see and hear about so many other people trapped in horrible situations. I also have to admit that I’m at least a little bit a part of the problem because some of the things that I own were probably made in part from slave labor. (I didn’t want to beat them over the head with this, but I thought it important to make a connection to the larger global system).

Hopeful: Although the problem is big and scary, it was important to see and hear examples of people that are fighting against it, and people that have escaped or been rescued. (I wanted to plant the seed they can take action. I am hoping to leverage this lesson into a larger service project).

To give all students a chance to verbalize their feelings, I asked them to pick any word from the board that resonated with them, and discuss it with their partners.

After a few minutes, I opened the floor for a wider class discussion. I didn’t really have an agenda for this part, as I just wanted to be responsive to each class. Generally, two or three students led the discussion in each class. If there was a lull, I’d say aloud one of the words from the board, and ask if anyone wanted to respond to it. Sometimes students asked questions like, “How could this happen?” or “Why doesn’t anyone stop it?“.

The only thing I could in those instances was to be honest.

Slavery is about money. People do it because they benefit from it financially.

I don’t know how to stop it, but I want to learn more and try to do something.

Then, I asked them to journal one more time. Again, I gave them no prompt or direction, they could write whatever they wanted. They did not need to put their name on it if they wanted to stay anonymous, but I was going to collect their journals, because their thoughts and feelings were important to me.

Finally, I made a wordle of the combined student one-word responses. I think this will be useful to show later in the unit to help maintain the emotional connection to the content. It also serves as a powerful bond between the students across all of the classes.

Student Response to Modern Day Slavery

For the future, I’d like to get permission from some of the students to make a blog post of their journal responses. Also, I hope to organize interested students into conducting a awareness campaign, and possibly some sort of fundraiser event to support an anti-slavery N.G.O. Fingers crossed…

 

Check out student journals responses to modern day slavery!

Check out my Frederick Douglass lesson!

Check out what students thought about the lesson!

 

Comments and feedback welcome!

Themes in History: Colonial America

 

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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.

Colonial Regions and Themes

Colonial Regions and Themes

Colonial Regions and Themes

Colonial Regions and Themes

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!

Excellent (part II)

The kids took their test yesterday for the solids unit using their custom-built Excel spreadsheets to help them do the calculations. They had complete discretion as to whether or not they used the spreadsheet. A few students preferred to do it the “old fashioned” way, but most used Excel for at least part of the exam.

Most of the kids needed extra time to finish, which I certainly did not anticipate. But in retrospect, it makes total sense. They were basically taking a test in a completely new way, and it noticeably slowed them down. In addition to the normal processing time needed for the content, they were not yet proficient in using the spreadsheet…how and where to enter the data.

By far, the most interesting thing was realizing that they were learning and adapting on the fly. Multiple students had to make adjustments to their formula cells during the course of the test as they caught errors in the calculations. Even better, some students modified the very structure of their spreadsheet, or added completely new formulas to streamline or improve their calculations.

It was a pretty cool experience.