Mrs. Slaviero's Blog

Biographical line graphs put students in the role of historical biographers. The critical thinking and reasoning needed to justify and debate decisions make these graphs one of the most powerful activities we do in US History. The topic for this line graph is Andrew Jackson. I selected 7 life events and gave students the task of combing through previously analyzed documents and readings to write highlights and low lights of the events. Students created line graphs based on their notes. The graph's range was from -6 to +6 and reflects both positive and negative life events. When line graphs were complete each student needed to prepare for a graph justification discussion. This discussion is powerful both academically and social-emotionally. Students are doing the work of historians when they present and discuss their findings. One needs only to search major historical people and events to discover complimentary and disparaging works on the same subject--the ...

  Today's work in History centered on a Visible Thinking routine called Zoom Out. Students were asked to analyze this political cartoon in three stages: during the first stage I only showed the bottom of the cartoon. The second stage included the veto in Jackson's left hand and the third stage showed the entire image. Students needed to analyze the changes in their perspectives first, and then analyze the cartoon and its impact on them (whether they feel Jackson is a hero or a villain). Routines like Zoom Out challenge students' thinking in ways that allow all students to take risks and give everyone a chance to share their opinion with others. They are also interacting with primary historical sources.