Mrs. Slaviero's Blog

Surreal, to say the least. One week ago today school communities in Michigan found out that they would be closing for the foreseeable future due to the Coronavirus pandemic. This highly contagious disease would cause schools to shift to online learning for the next three weeks (that would coincide with our Spring Break so we will be out of school for four weeks). Families in the state are highly encouraged to stay at home, self-isolate, and stay 6 or more feet away from anyone not in our immediate households (known as social distancing). Our staff gathered last Friday to start the transition to online learning. The district technology teams and administration greatly helped us make this shift. We are adjusting to a new normal. This past week has been unprecedented. Thank goodness we've been a 1:1 iPad school for years now. The technology piece isn't completely new for us. Finding the balance between a typical lesson and online lessons from home is taking some getting us...

The iMovies are completed. As I'm viewing them I'm struck at the talent and creativity of my Student Historians.  Groups of students studied one year of the war, ranked three events from that year they believe impacted the end of the war, found primary source documents from each of these events (including at least one Mathew Brady photograph), drafted explanations of the events, and composed and explained an original piece of music on GarageBand. Their music compositions needed to exemplify  the tone of their year of the war.  I will share projects over the next few days, here is one outstanding example. Bravo students!

Link to my NHD Symbaloo Webmix  Symbaloo is one of the best technology resources I've found to assist my Student Historians and me on our National History Day journey this year.  I learned about Symbaloo at the MACUL (Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning) Conference this past March. I was intrigued by its ease of use and by the company's commitment to education. My first thought was to utilize this resource for National History Day. Over the summer I created a Symbaloo Webmix to simplify the NHD process. Developing the Webmix was a matter of breaking down the project components (thinking about possible topics of interest, understanding the theme, pre-searching, researching, writing the thesis question, learning about project types, seeing project examples, creating digital note cards, housing resources, developing an Annotated Bibliography, and learning about the contest) and creating tiles for each these web links.  The left side of th...

I've been trying to come up with a way to update our National History Day journey when the name jumped out at me--I suddenly remembered "This Week in Baseball", a sports show I used to watch with my Grandpa when I was a kid. (Google it for some great baseball memories!) "This Week in NHD" it is! I met with all 8th Grade US History students again yesterday and we completed a few business tasks--we logged onto NoodleTools, the website that will help us organize our sources and ideas this year, joined the Schoology 8th Grade NHD Group I made for all 8th Graders so that I can easily send every student, not just my students, information and resources, gave a brief overview of the project this year, and shared the Symbaloo Webmix I created for them.  This Webmix is going to become an essential resource. The necessary resources are all in a user-friendly format, color-coded and organized for ease of use. I will add tiles to the mix as the need arises and I look...

Two quotes are the basis for this reflection. The first is from someone I had the honor of hearing speak this past spring. Sir Ken Robinson is an author and education and creativity expert. The second is from William Plomer, a 20th Century writer and poet. Both quotes relate to the heart of my educational philosophy and the never-ending journey to make my classroom a place where creativity is an integral part of the process of thinking like a Historian. I came across a post yesterday that linked these ideas beautifully. "How to Use GarageBand in the Reading Classroom" by Monica Burns has some terrific ideas on how to use this music app in Language Arts classes. I believe that they can successfully be used in Social Studies classes, as well. The second tip was special and I can't wait to add it to the project-based learning my Student Historians will undertake this year! Ms. Burns suggests students compose a music piece that evokes a particular em...

Student Historians completed their video analysis of one year of the Civil War today. Students needed to have time to also vote for their classroom winner but most groups worked until the end of the hour so voting today wasn't possible. (My classes were asked to enter a district-wide video contest for the first time this year.  It was almost-perfect timing--I'd already had this video planned but we were up against the contest deadline and need to submit our overall winner Wednesday. We had a field trip, a career planning program, and guest speaker in the interim!) My solution to get the voting done in time--I think I flipped my class! (Who knew?) Students uploaded their videos to our Schoology page today. I downloaded the videos and uploaded them into folders by hour so that students could view them. Students now need to view all 6 of their class videos tonight or before school tomorrow and, using Google Forms, vote on the one winner from their class. I will compile results t...

Presenting a project-based learning opportunity to my students is always interesting for me but I had an epiphany this week.  I was explaining a persuasive iMovie trailer project to my first class of the day and noticed that while students were viewing this rubric the room got quiet-- very quiet . The normal sounds you would hear with 25+ adolescents in the room were non-existent. I realized then it was because the students were internalizing the work they would be doing over the next few days.  I observed this "Thinking Time"--these students were wondering how they would complete their project with group members I chose for them. It was a very cool moment but I wanted to see if it was just this particular class. Sure enough, the rest of my classes that day did the very same thing--they got really quiet and internalized the requirements. (I will now be looking for this phenomenon every time I present a project!) This made me realize, once again, the necessity of gro...

I'm grading the blackout poem video reflections and definitely feel these should be incorporated into more classrooms' grading procedures! Some insights: Students are (for the most part) quite comfortable taking video of themselves. I thought they might be self-conscious but that's not the case (I must be thinking about my generation, not theirs!). Young people have little to no trouble formulating their thoughts in front of a camera and should be asked to do this more often. Video reflections are an excellent way to quickly get to know students and match names to faces. Most secondary teachers have well over 100 students--the sooner we get to know them, the better for our classroom community. The insights they have on camera  just may be more powerful than if they were asked to write. I sense a maturity and ownership of their thoughts while I'm viewing these reflections, as well. The answers to the questions I have requested are short, typically under 30 seconds...

Student Historians completed their thematic historical research project (see previous post) this week. The timing was excellent--my 8th Graders needed to turn in their iPads Friday; they submitted their iMovie trailers to me on Schoology Wednesday and we started analyzing them on Friday. The trailers had many components and I believe the project objectives were accomplished--student groups needed to study one year of the war, decide upon and rank the top three events they believe directly led to the Union victory, and include at least one primary source document for each of the three events. Midway through the project I added another task--groups needed to find out who Matthew Brady was (he was the preeminent Civil War photographer--a photograph of his is shown below) and include at least one of the photographs he took during the war in their trailer.  photo: http://www.ohiohistoryhost.org/ohiomemory/archives/1575 Reflection is essential to deep learning--each student ...

Student Historians began Civil War era research today, with a twist. My goal was to create a thematic investigative project. Upon reflection, Civil War projects at the beginning of my teaching career centered on various historical groups and topics but I noticed how these projects were actually more like a research report than an opportunity to delve into deep thinking and learning. I needed create something to help this year's students continue to hone the analytical and technological skills they've developed this year and I think we are really going to like the results. Six groups of students will each focus on 1 year of the war, from 1860-1865. (I included 1860 because the Election of Lincoln and secession of South Carolina were huge events that directly led to war.) Each group will rank three events that had an impact on the end of the war, as well as locate and analyze a primary source document for each. They will compile this information into an iMovie trailer pr...

I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.  ~Golda Meir Time is one of the biggest challenges we face in the classroom and class projects often aren't assigned by teachers because they take a lot of time for students to complete. I prefer to prove that these projects are clear examples of time used wisely but one area I usually tend to spend less of our time on is debriefing. Two activities we completed in class today proved to me that debriefing is as truly as valuable as the project itself. Student Historians created fact-based skits today related to Northern factory life during the American Industrial Revolution. The skits needed to answer the question "If you were a 13 year old in the North in the early 1800s would you have worked in a textile mill?" Students prepared for this project by analyzing primary sources, reading anecdotal stories, and viewing clips. Each group needed to write scripts (one per person) and practice before performing. I did not ...

My students and I benefit from using technology in the classroom and it's evident that we are all becoming more comfortable and proficient with it. There are times, though, where this risk-taking doesn't pan out and I have the opportunity to model how I handle failing (this time--there will be others, I'm sure!). I wanted to introduce a new unit of study using primary source maps and prompts in History using an app that would allow me to link the class' ideas on one screen. (The app shall remain nameless, I don't believe the app is at fault, rather user error on my part!) I had read up on the app but felt like we could figure it out as we went along and that's usually a successful strategy. The students in my first class downloaded the app and we all tried to link together. One student showed us how to find a QR code and I thought we were on our way. I gave myself a limit of 7 minutes to attempt this new technology--if we couldn't get it downloaded...

Student Historians took part in an online discussion yesterday on Schoology. Students were asked to take a stand and defend whether they would've been a Federalist or a Democratic-Republican if they had lived in America in the late 1700s. I really like online discussions and will utilize them more often. We started the discussion in class but students could complete their participation on their own time. Our students are usually busy but the week before the end of the semester and a modified exam week is especially time-crunched for them. (One of my girls put her head down on her desk before class began today! It was a good reminder to me to be especially empathetic in the next few days!) I believe this assignment flexibility was appreciated and student participation was high.  Online discussions give students practice in Digital Citizenship. I monitored the discussions and they did a wonderful job of staying on-task and were very professional and respectful. Knowing how t...

Student Historians worked with Popplet for the first time today. The app creates concept maps that can include text and images. Concepts, called Popples, can also be color-coded. The app seems fairly easy to use--I created one about the 3 levels and 3 branches of government while my students were creating theirs (I did add a few pictures later, though, and that took longer to do). I was realizing that searching for pictures of people like our current Supreme Court members, for example, was a very worthwhile activity. Students (and adults, for that matter) need to know who our country's leaders are. The lite version is free and lets you create one map at a time. The map can be downloaded but it then becomes a PDF or JPEG and can't be edited. My Effective Teens are also working on a Genius Hour Popplet and we managed to get around this "one map" issue by moving the second map to another part of the screen. :) My first impressions of Popplet are very good. I've b...

Student trailers have been completed and the results are impressive.  I've realized I really like trailers because they are an excellent vehicle to challenge students to pull out essential facts and details in subject matter. Students really had to stay focused on the rubric and had to be concise, yet persuasive. (Trailers are kind of like Tweets--you have strict guidelines to stay within.) I was also proud to see the grit and determination in my students when they became frustrated by the limits the iMovie trailer put on them. Student teams found ways to add information into pictures or slides, for example. Overcoming obstacles is an essential life skill that needs to be practiced! Here are two examples of student work. Enjoy!

Student Historians began a project-based assessment today--an iMovie trailer supporting ratification of the Constitution. Groups are to take on the perspective of the Federalists in 1787 and create a persuasive video supporting our Constitution. (I decided to have all students focus on the Federalists because their arguments would have detailed explanations of the Constitution--they will refute the Anti-Federalist arguments against ratification, as well.) The groups are excited and so am I--I've never used iMovie in class before. The project is in a Schoology folder and is primarily paperless (I do have a paper rough draft storyboard for each group, though).  I can't wait to see how my students interact with this app. I'm sure their final projects would make our Founding Fathers proud!

Having a 1:1 iPad classroom has been really exciting this year. I look forward to every opportunity to use technology in the classroom and have been trying to utilize it on a daily basis (in a way that makes sense and honors our curriculum).  It's a real risk to use technology in the classroom because of the many issues that invariably pop up. One example is that the app or site might not work well and patience is definitely called for. I've noticed another issue that's come up several times a week, though--the fact that I'm not well-versed in some of the technology we use. (One Note in particular is really keeping me humble!!) This is where Student Tech Leaders (a term I've coined for them) are a necessity. I am truly grateful to these knowledgeable students and eagerly give them the opportunity to shine and show us all how something is done. It gives these leaders the chance to practice speaking in front of an audience on the fly and to be viewed as a tec...

Student Historians will utilize a fantastic site tomorrow (I'm hoping eventually students will be able to download the app on their iPads--we will use the Smart Board tomorrow instead). DocsTeach is a National Archives site and is rich with primary source materials. Teachers can create activities to share with other teachers (I have made a few) and the National Archives has created activities, as well. Tomorrow's activity is called  "Road to Revolution: Patriotism or Treason?". Students will practice OPVL, then analyze some of the viewpoints and perspectives related to events leading to the American Revolution.  http://docsteach.org/activities/19/detail?mode=browse&menu=closed&era%5B%5D=revolution-and-the-new-nation