Tier One Historical Thinking Methods and Our Writing Project

Before the winter break, we will finish up our thirteen colonies unit in my classroom.  As a culminating activity for this unit, my students will be asked to write a "Colonial Narrative" where they write as if they were one of the original members of the Plymouth Colony.  Students will be provided with the background information about what this is like by listening to the books Sarah Morton's Day and Samuel Eaton's Day.  This project will really allow students to build a "Personal and Intimate Connection to the Past."  Students are being asked to write a story from the perspective of a colonial child, so they will have to reflect upon the life of these children and the comparisons and contrasts to their own life will naturally take place.  Students will provide a voice to historical events to which they may have been previously disconnected.  My hope is that after completing this project my students will have a much greater understanding of the difficulties that the Pilgrims faced in their everyday lives.

Our Writing Assignment

Today, our group determined that we would focus on narrative writing for our assignment.  Also, we will be focusing on colonial times.  We decided that we will use the trade books, Sarah Morton's Day, Samuel Eaton's Day, and Tapenum's Day to present different perspectives about how children lived on Plimouth Plantation and in the Wampanoag Village.  We will then have students use these stories to write their own narratives as if they were a child in Plimouth Plantation or in a Wampanoag Village.  We're hoping that this will help students to make personal connections to the history that they are learning.

I was able to use a similar project with my students last year, and I just adapted it to fit the standards for this assignment.  The main addition was that of using a trade book before the assignment.  I know that my students really enjoyed writing using a historical context last year, and I look forward to doing this new activity with them.

Historical Fiction

As a personal lover of historical fiction, I LOVED the book suggestions that Dr. Fran Macko made for different units that we teach throughout the school year.  I find that my students really respond well to information presented in picture books because it has become such a novelty for them by the time that they are in 5th grade.  I also really enjoy the Dear America series and am often able to use them in my leveled reading groups.  I will be on the lookout for the titles that she presented in the workshop.  Additionally, I really appreciated the many links that she was able to make between the social studies standards and language arts standards.  With the current time crunches that many educators are under, it's really helpful to be able to "kill two birds with one stone."  Thanks for a wonderful presentation Dr. Mack!

The Importance of Heroes

Dr. Denenberg offered numerous suggestions for how to incorporate the study of heroes into EVERY classroom.  I LOVED the extremely creative projects that he brought to our attention.  I can see my students really engaging with the "history" pack that he modeled for us.  It started my wheels turning about which heroes of my own curriculum I could introduce with a "history" pack.  Additionally, I really liked the suggestion that he made to put information about heroes on our classroom bathroom passes.  I have often observed my students dilly-dallying from the bathroom back to my classroom, and I know if they had that little bit of information to help keep their minds occupied they would definitely use it.  Finally, I really appreciated the emphasis that Dr. Denenberg placed on the character traits that were specific to different heroes.  It can be difficult for my students to fully comprehend what it means to "persevere" or to be "steadfast."  I feel as though knowing personal stories about individuals would help students make connections to these words and consequently better understand them.

American Culture

Yesterday, Anthony Fitzpatrick in his Solve for Y presentation reminded us of how strong our cultural ties can be.  He brought up many common expressions and reminded us of their roots and connotations.  I found his reminder that many expressions such as "The Midas Touch" actually come from negative connotations, though we often use them positively.  Anthony also brought up that we often have a tendency to romanticize the past, or to look back about 20 years and describe how amazing things were then.  As examples, he cited the theme songs to All in the Family and Happy Days which describe either glory days gone by or are written about a period already long in the past.  Finally, he presented us with examples of how current culture is often based on historic culture.  One example of this is the song "Love Story" by Taylor Swift which references Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Hawthorne's Scarlett Letter (albeit incorrectly). 
I think that students would have some very powerful connections to the current culture representations that Anothony presented.  Anthony's presentation reminded me that many of my students have this content knowledge that I can tap into when presenting historical lessons.  I plan to keep this in mind as I teach different social studies lessons.