Mrs. Slaviero's Blog

Beginning a unit of study about something well-known, like the US Civil War, can be challenging for students. Many may feel very knowledgable about the topic and it can be somewhat intimidating for those that don't know a lot to keep up, at least at first. I began our Civil War unit today hoping to bridge the gap between these two groups of students by having them complete a group "Think-Puzzle-Explore" activity. Students generated lists of facts they think they know about the war, puzzles or questions they have about it (hypothetical questions are accepted) and then ways that they would want to explore the topic. Student "Think" answers reaffirmed the range of knowledge and the "Explore" section illustrated the need for us to delve into primary sources, which we will. The "Puzzle" portion was where deep questioning of the topic occurred and this curiosity is a great starting point to take our lesson tomorrow.

The students showed outstanding effort on their pictographs! Many put theirs in their portfolio but these were returned to me to be displayed outside of my classroom and on this blog.

Students today are demonstrating their understanding of life in the North by creating a pictograph. The factual information students draw into their pictograph will prove that they understand the uniqueness of the North before the Civil War. When students are assessed in this way they show their "Big Picture" knowledge of a topic and that will in turn help them remember history in a powerful and meaningful way. Students will complete a pictograph about life in the South after we've studied that subject and will write about the similarities and differences in both pictographs.  

Here are some of the completed haiku. The students did a very good job of capturing the essence of working in an New England textile factory in the 1800s. Their hands were destroyed Tough work in the hot summer The work was boring                                                                 --Nick, Joel, Neil and Ganesh Stuffy, hard to breathe Cotton whirls about in the light Small cuts dot my hands                                         ...

Students have been learning about the Industrial Revolution in the mid1800s and how it changed life in New England. Today students processed their learning by creating haiku poems on the subject. They were challenged to think about and evaluate this topic within the structure of a haiku, a 3 line poem with 17 total syllables--5 in the 1st and 3rd lines and 7 in the second line. The poems have been impressive and some will be posted here soon.

Students spent some time analyzing artwork that captures the idea of Manifest Destiny, or the belief that Americans in the 1800s felt they deserved to have their land extend "from sea to shining sea". The painting, "American Progress" by John Gast, is full of detailed examples of the positive and negative effects of Manifest Destiny. Students began their work writing what they saw in the painting and what those items made them think  and wonder about. The following discussion proved that students used deep thinking to extend their knowledge of this time period. This is one of my favorite activities because I love incorporating art into US History and it makes me happy when my students can relate what they see in art to what we are learning in class. They now have a strong image in their mind when they think of the growth of the western United States.

Students learned about the Monroe Doctrine (written in 1823) today. This document isn't well known but should be because it sets the American foreign policy course to this day. We spent some time in class discussing how we are the peacekeepers and police force for the world and listed many examples where this was the case. Tomorrow the students will decide if America should take on this role.   This discussion was another great opportunity to integrate 20th and 21st century history into our curriculum.