Mrs. Slaviero's Blog

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...

Practicing historical perspective is an essential social studies skill. Historical perspective is being able to step into a historic situation and examine the motivations, biases, and beliefs of a person or group of people. Students have to revert to the beliefs of a group of people even if those beliefs completely contradict the views we have today. They must weigh decisions based on the situation of the time, not necessarily how situations are viewed today. The C3 Framework for Social Studies states that "Historical understanding requires recognizing this multiplicity of points of view in the past, which makes it important to seek out a range of sources on any historical question rather than simply use those that are easiest to find. It also requires recognizing that perspectives change over time, so that historical understanding requires developing a sense of empathy with people in the past whose perspectives might be very different from those of today." http://www.so...