Category: Greg

The BUCKET list

11/6/2014

Greg here - and it's my return to the blog! Becky has dominated the posts recently (for which I am greatly appreciative), but I insisted on contributing this week.

No, this is not an IMDB review of the popular 2007 film The Bucket List. Although meeting Jack Nicholson or Morgan Freeman is certainly on my extended list of things to do before I kick the bucket. I'm referring to a new project I started this year with my AP US History class.

For those of you unfamiliar with the CollegeBoard or Advanced Placement courses, they made a concerted effort to shift the emphasis away from content and to historical thinking skills. Although I integrated long-term projects in to my AP curriculum for the past several years, the AP course revisions afforded me an unique opportunity to experiment with new ideas.

I wanted students to do research and writing on a regular basis. I also wanted students to see the value and potential experiences that exist in our community (before they leave for college). The bucket list project combined the two and reinforced a litany of standards from the Common Core, PDE, and the CollegeBoard.

Common core

PDE

collegeboard

The result is a blog that highlights the students work with weekly contributors and links that push out to each of the students' sites. (Check out the about section for a full description of the project.)

The students embraced the concept and have checked off a variety of items from their list. Some of the most interesting are a visit to the Shoe House, volunteering for a local organization, and praying at an abortion clinic. I am humbled by their efforts and am considering items that I need to check off my own list.

Have a great weekend!
Greg

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On "desk work" and "being a fan girl"

9/29/2014

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Greg here - aka fan girl. More on that in a minute. I am sure everyone is extremely busy with lessons, grading, etc., so I will do my best to keep this short.
On the recommendation of a departing faculty member, I began writing on desks this year. Many would consider this blatant vandalism, but thankfully it involves a thin tip expo marker and a microfiber cloth. The students quickly followed suit.

For my students, this goes in the face of everything students have been told since kindergarden - and they love it! I've been working on cause/effect mind mapping with students (Chronological Reasoning). I thought it was a perfect time for them to work at their desks.

Students quickly grasped their markers and worked together to create some impressive connections that clearly demonstrated their contextual understanding of the issues.
In the examples above, we were discussing the contributing factors leading up to the War of 1812. I followed it up with a modification of Jeff Mummert's game jam concept. (Full Disclosure: Jeff is a friend and colleague at a neighboring school.) Students needed to take a movie, utilize its characters, and modify the plot to represent the history.

The group that modified The Lego Movie created fantastic relationships between the characters and historical figures (my favorite being Morgan Freeman's character Vitruvius representing Thomas Jefferson).

I tweeted the board work to the writers of The Lego Movie - Chris Miller & Phil Lord. My students were blown away when Phil Lord retweeted their work!

I was rather enthusiastic when I shared the news with the students. Although they were extremely impressed, it earned me a new name: fan girl.

Best,
Greg

P.S. Don't forget to enterBecky's giveaway!

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AP US HISTORY FOR 1st Graders

9/12/2014

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Greg here! I hope everyone is doing well!

Over the past few weeks, Becky and I invested some time in creating a new Columbus activity set for 1st - 3rd graders. Surprisingly, there are over 466 Christopher Columbus resources on TPT for 1st and 2nd grade alone.

When developing the activities, we kept two things in mind: 1. age appropriateness and 2. rigorous historical thinking. I turned to the newly developed historical thinking skills set forth by the College Board for AP US History to help build my framework.

The result is a set of activities that target some of the same skills I reinforce with students in 10th and 11th grade. For example, the craftivity (highlighted in the top photo) asks students to utilize an adjective to describe Columbus's voyage. Students are then required to back up their "conclusion" with two reasons. This is a simplified version of skill 6: historical argumentation. This approach will pay dividends in the students' writing and discussion skills.

The sequencing activity (seen below) reinforces the basic components of chronological reasoning (skill 1).

And the "What's your view?" activity requires students to synthesize (skill 9) the information to draw and write about a perspective of the voyage. Although guidance will probably be necessary, students will have fun thinking about an event from a different standpoint. Let their creativity run wild but also help build a context of the realities of the situation.

There are also several primary sources in the document (with accompanying questions) that supports multiple perspectives of the voyage (skill 7 - appropriate use of historical evidence).

I am convinced that good social studies skills are simply good critical thinking skills. These activities provide foundational historical thinking skills that will help students in both ELA and future social studies classes. Ultimately, we need to create engaging opportunities for students to understand that social studies is relevant and interesting.

Best.
Greg

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