Colonial Williamsburg Offers Free Virtual Field Trip on Politics & Elections

I just received this great opportunity for social studies classrooms in my inbox: Colonial Williamsburg is offering a virtual field trip about elections and politics called "The Will of the People."  Teachers can access it for free for the entire month of September.  Here are the details:

Now that school’s out for the summer, I thought your readers might like a jump-start on next year’s lesson plans with Colonial Williamsburg’s ‘Gift to the Nation,’ a free month of its interactive electronic field trip. Designed to help enhance America’s political history and highlight the election process in the classroom, “The Will of the People” revolves around the bitter contest of 1800 between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and shows that smear tactics aren’t particular to the modern political era.

“The Will of the People” will be available at no charge during September, leading up to this year’s election.  Designed to bring the engaging and educational atmosphere of Colonial Williamsburg to classrooms across America, the electronic field trip is an immersion for both teachers and students in authentic historical content. Teachers will be provided with multi-disciplinary lesson plans, teacher activities and program scripts while students can take part in history with interactive resources and web activities.

To register, log on to http://giftnation.history.org. The program is available at no cost from Sept. 1-Sept. 30. After September, “the Will of the People” will be available for $120 per school. Registration is open from now through the month of September.

Giveaway: "Come and Take It" (Gonzales) Flag

This week I'm giving away a 3' by 5' vinyl reproduction of the "Come and Take It" Flag, famously flown at the Battle of Gonzales at the outset of the Texas War of Independence in 1835.  It's a little wrinkly, but that's easily fixed.  For all of my Texas history teachers out there, this would be an awesome addition to your classroom wall!

Just email teachforever@gmail.com by 11:59 CST tonight for a chance to win it.  I'll pick one winner randomly (if you've won anything from me in 2011, you're not eligible this time.  I'm just trying to spread the love.)

Good luck!

History Week, Day 7: The Best, Easiest Study Guide of All

During my years teaching history, I was forced to give my students a lot of awful tests for each and every unit we covered. These tests were made entirely of multiple choice questions drawn from released TAKS tests, and usually covered a wide range of unrelated topics or included the most obscure reference you could have imagined. Sometimes I wouldn't get these tests until a day or two before I was supposed to give them!

I did not have the clout or guts to change the tests or throw them out yet, so in addition to fun review games, I would give my students study guides that would give them everything they needed to pass the lousy tests.

My favorite study guide was a foldable commonly known as a mini-book. It's fairly easy to make (you can find directions here), and when you're done you have eight wallet-sized pages (if you use the back and front). All you need is paper and scissors. Unlined copy paper works best.

Each page is small, but you should structure it to have a title (a key vocabulary word), some kind of illustration, and a one-sentence main idea. For an example, see my rough draft of a U.S. Constitution foldable.

Kids like this even in high school, because it's different, it's fun to make, and it's easy to take with them. You might even let them use it on the quiz or test you're giving if they are responsible enough to have it with them on the big day. As with any good idea, you can't use it every time there's an assessment, but you can use other foldables and study guide formats to keep things fresh.

Here's my example mini-book and two resources you can use for other foldable ideas:

• U.S. Constitution foldable
  
• Make your own mini-book
• Foldables wiki (directions and examples)

History Week, Day 6: Five for Friday

These five websites were all extremely useful to me when I taught U.S. history:

1. Citizenship Test lesson plan - Teaching students just a few hundred feet from the U.S./Mexico border meant that citizenship was a natural issue to discuss. The tests people take are also incredibly good reviews of a lot of topics taught in U.S. History classes.
2. Bill of Rights Song - Set to the tune of the "Twelve Days of Christmas," this is one of many good songs for teaching.
3. "Founding Fathers: Rebels With a Cause" Study Guide - This episode of the History Channel miniseries is one of the best in highlighting the events leading up to the Declaration of Independence.
4. History Matters – An invaluable treasure trove of primary sources for early U.S. History.
5. History in Your Own Backyard - Originally designed for Virginia students, this is great for anyone teaching about the very beginning of American history. If you're focusing on Jamestown, tobacco, and slavery, you should take a look at this.

History Week, Day 5: Constitutional Expert Project

In December of my second year of teaching, I was absolutely despondent. My classes were not going very well and I wasn't very happy with myself as a teacher. Desperate to create the kind of exciting, student-centered classroom I had always dreamed of having, I went to my TFA advisor and asked for guidance. With her help, I created what is still the most ambitious project I've ever asked students to do.

It's called the Constitutional Expert Project, which asked students to "focus on either: one of the amendments we studied, the entire Bill of Rights, or the principles of the U.S. Constitution (popular sovereignty, federalism, checks and balances or separation of powers)." I wrote about introducing this project at the time:

It was grander in scale than anything I had thus far tried, and required me to really sell it to them at the beginning in a way I had never successfully done before...

I dressed up like a waiter and arrived Wednesday in character as head waiter of DeRosa's New Jersey Diner, where the options are endless and there's plenty of "food" (knowledge) available for any budget. Based on what they knew coming in about what we had been doing the past week, they would pick from different sets of assignments--pictures, songs/raps, writing their own amendment, skits, surveys, letters to the editor, PSAs, etc.

It is a highly differentiated project that's meant to incorporate many learning styles. After introducing the basic premise of the project, each student completed the "wallet check" diagnostic to see what they could "afford" (which types of assignments they could choose from). There's a graphic organizer and rubric included to keep them on task and show them how they will be graded.

Here's a small sample of what my students came up with:



There were also puppet shows, skits, new proposed amendments and opinion pieces. Needless to say, it was exciting to witness both the creation of their projects and their presentations.

I have to give a lot of credit to materials I found in my TFA curriculum and examples of projects my TFA advisor gave me. As with just about everything good I've done in the classroom, this was the product of many other people's good ideas. Of course, I comfort myself in the fact that most good teachers "beg, borrow and steal" to create their best lessons.

Constitutional Expert Project [MS Word]

History Week, Day 4: Five Fun Review Games

Although the content has changed, I have always tried to review for quizzes and tests with games whenever possible. These are some of the more interesting ones I found in my records.

First, two BINGO games using Steve Mashburn's template.

1. Reform Movements BINGO - Vocabulary from the abolitionist, women's rights and temperance movements.
2. Industrial Revolution BINGO - Major themes and key vocabulary from this era.

Next, two Jeopardy style games.

1. Colonial Jeopardy - Questions about geography, the New England and Southern colonies, and some major political ideas of the early 1700s. I made this when I was only a second year teacher, and I'm not that thrilled with it, but it's a good starting point.
2. American Revolution Jeopardy
   

Finally, the last game comes from a retired teacher who worked at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center. It's a game designed to teach how the Electoral College works while reviewing any other U.S. history facts you're studying. I was lucky enough to play this with other museum visitors and then take the idea back to Texas to use with my students. You need:

• A deck of cards containing the 50 states and their respective electoral vote totals
  
• Dice (preferably the giant novelty kind)
• A large U.S. map you can write on or mark off
• A list of U.S. history trivia questions.

The group is split into two teams, blue and red (or Democrats and Republicans if you can pull that off without incident). In each round, a team will roll the die, take that many state cards from the deck, and then answer a trivia question. If they answer correctly, they get all of the electoral votes for those states. If not, you could give the other team the chance to answer (if you want to up the ante). Otherwise, the other team follows the same procedure.

Play continues until all of states have been won. When I played this game in class, it was around the time of the 2004 Presidential election, which means we were still in the very early part of the school year. This list of trivia questions covers only the first couple of months of 8th grade U.S. history content:

Electoral College game questions

All of these games use vocabulary and wording from TAKS released tests for 8th grade U.S. History. Some question and answers don't make a whole lot of sense, but neither does much of the TAKS. Many of these terms appear again on the 11th grade TAKS, so it should be useful for those teachers as well. As always, please share your best resources in the comments or via email.

History Week, Day 3: Using the Film 1776 to Teach the Declaration of Independence

As a history buff (and major), it shouldn't surprise you that one of my favorite films of all time is 1776, an adaptation of the award-winning Broadway musical. The film covers the initial debates, writing, and eventual signing of the Declaration of Independence. It does this with sharp writing, humor, and of course, several rousing musical numbers.

When I started teaching history, using this film in class as part of our study was a no-brainer. The challenge was figuring out how to fit it into one class period: The 1776 "Restored Director's Cut" DVD clocks in at 166 minutes! Besides the time considerations, there was also a lot of subplots and background on Jefferson and Adams that while interesting, wasn't something they needed to know.

So I watched the DVD over and over again in order to create this annotated 40 minute version of 1776:

Chapters 2-3: Sets the scene (the summer heat of Philadelphia). John Adams discusses independence, but no one will listen to him. (4.5 minutes)

Chapter 5: Ben Franklin and Adams discuss how to get Congress to agree to independence. Since no one likes Adams, they need someone else to propose. Key terms: Common Sense, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, House of Burgesses. (4 mins)

Explain: George Washington says the troops aren't ready for war. Congress isn't convinced about independence despite Adams's arguments, especially Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina and John Dickenson of Pennsylvania (who we'll see later). They agree to formally write down their Declaration before voting, and now need to decide who will write it. (2 mins)

Chapter 8-9: The Declaration committee is formed. The song "But Mr. Adams" explains that Jefferson will write it. (8 mins)

Explain: While Jefferson writes, Adams and Franklin convince the key state of Maryland that the army can win.

Chapter 18: - The Declaration is read. Key terms: preamble; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. (1 min)

Explain: Not everyone is happy, and they make plenty of changes, but the issue that will make or break independence is slavery.

Chapter 21: South Carolina and southern colonies want the anti-slavery language removed, threatening to vote against independence. Adams says it must be included, but he also doesn't want to kill independence. (4 mins)

Explain: The final vote must be unanimous.

Chapter 26-28: Congress votes and makes their final arguments. Key terms: unalienable rights, July 4, 1776. (about 15 minutes)

The parts that say "Explain" are for you to take a few seconds before you skip ahead to the next scene to let them know what they might have missed. The short time allows you to set up your video equipment, complete a Do Now activity and wrap things up if you have a standard 50-55 minute period.

Here are some quick review questions you can use as an exit slip, homework or your Do Now for the next day:

1. Who drafted (wrote) the Declaration of Independence?
2. When was the Declaration adopted (signed into law)?
3. Who was the leader of the Continental Army?
4. Did the Declaration of Independence abolish slavery?
   
5. The Declaration is the document which states...

As a follow up project, I had students write their own Declaration of Independence.

History Week, Day 2: Four Skits For Students to Act Out

In Texas, the 8th grade U.S. History TAKS test contains a lot of names, dates and and other vocabulary. There really isn't any problem solving or higher-order thinking involved. If you can get your students to remember the key vocabulary of American history up to 1865, they'll be all set to pass the big test. 

One method I used to make my lessons memorable and easy to understand was having students act out short plays or skits.

In February of 2005, I presented two straight days of skits about tariffs, John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. I can vaguely remember that the first skit did not go as well as the second, because it was not written as a script. I gave my students character notecards with the most important points on them and had them improvise. Part II had a script and focused mostly on the debate over protective tariffs between Calhoun and Webster. 

Later, my department chair gave me a skit about the first two political parties. It was basically a Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists debate pitting Alexander Hamilton vs. Thomas Jefferson. I rewrote the skit to inject a little humor and write it in a conversational tone that my students would understand better. 

Finally, as a review heading into the TAKS, I basically took a list of important figures we were reviewing (George Washington, Lewis and Clark, Eli Whitney, Robert Fulton, Andrew Jackson, James Monroe and Henry David Thoreau) and created a talk show where they explained their significance. It isn't my best work, but it was certainly better than the alternative (boring notetaking). Everything is on Google Docs:

• A Short Play About Tariffs, Part I
• A Short Play About Tariffs, Part II
• Graphic organizer for notes on slavery, sectionalism, states rights, and protective tariffs
• Political Parties Debate (Hamilton vs. Jefferson)
• Political Parties graphic organizer for the student and for the teacher
• "Mr. D's Time Machine" (feat. The Texas 8th Grade U.S. History TAKS All-Stars)

Give your students the graphic organizer before you start, so they know what to be listening for. You don't need any costuming for this either, although anything you might already have is worth using. 

To identify the characters, I borrowed the idea of making a large name tag visible from anywhere in the classroom: Take a sheet protector and run twine between the top and bottom holes, long enough so that it will hang at chest level. Slip the paper with the character's name into the sheet protector. Write it with a big permanent marker or use a really big font and landscape mode in your favorite word processor.

History Week, Day 1: Before I Taught Math, I Taught U.S. History!

That's right: I was not always a math teacher. In fact, I didn't even major in mathematics or a related field. I graduated from Rutgers University in 2003 with a degree in history and a minor in political science. I took my love and knowledge of the social sciences with me into Teach for America, and I was lucky enough to get a job teaching what I had studied.

My first teaching job, my first real job of any kind really, was teaching 8th grade U.S. History at a small school in Rio Grande City, TX.

I didn't really know what I was doing that first year. I knew the content, of course, and I could explain it in a way that my students understood. I was pretty awful at classroom management as well as making my lessons anything but teacher-centered.

Of course, I didn't usually know what I was supposed to be teaching until the day before or day of a lesson, and my “curriculum” consisted of pages of definitions of TAKS terms. If I was lucky it would already be on a transparency, saving me the time and challenge of having the text burned onto one using what I think was a ditto machine. I learned very quickly that many people considered pages of notes to copy and/or worksheets of released TAKS questions to be a “lesson”.

I should probably forgive myself for being not knowing any better, but I went along with what I was told, and gave my students whatever I was given. Over time, with the support of mentors like my friend Dave (an excellent young teacher who worked at the same school) I learned that it was okay to change things, throw stuff out, and do what was best for my students. In my first year, this only really happened in the spring semester, and only in small increments. I would modify a chapter test I was given that contained an unending stream of released test questions, or changing a list of definitions into a graphic organizer.

My classes did relatively well on the TAKS, well enough so that my department chair expressed her gratitude by telling me that heading into the test, she didn't think we were going to do well at all.

Over the summer, I went back and looked at everything I had been given, all of the notes and definitions my students had labored over. I thought about all of the boring activities and worksheets I had done in unsuccessful attempts to make things stick. I took nearly every page and rewrote it completely, with a single question in my mind: “How can I make this interesting and memorable for my students?” Not surprisingly, things went much better that second year, and my students did even better on the big test.

This is, of course, only part of the story, the part necessary to preface the U.S. History (to 1865) content I'm going to share this week. These ideas are my best work, and many of my best math lessons have roots in my two years teaching history.

Here's all of the History Week posts in one place:

• Day 2: Four Skits for Students to Act Out
• Day 3: Using the Film 1776 to Teach the Declaration of Independence
• Day 4: Five Fun Review Games
• Day 5: Constitutional Expert Project
• Day 6: Five for Friday (special US History edition)
• Day 7: The Best, Easiest Study Guide of All