This Week in History

We have had a busy week!

Students in US History participated in a Gallery Walk, examining primary and secondary sources related to some of the battles of the American Revolution. We also reviewed the concept of propaganda and applied that concept to some of the sources. This important understanding will assist students during their National History Day work. 

Student Historians also used the National Archives DocsTeach app to analyze multiple primary sources about Valley Forge. They needed to figuratively weigh the evidence on a scale as to whether or not the documents would make them quit the Continental Army or encourage them to stay. 

This exercise is beneficial for many reasons. One is that the students are working and thinking on a continuum.  Being able to weigh evidence is a critical life skill (and citizenship skill). Preparing students to problem solve in this way will benefit them, regardless of their career path. I was impressed to see that, while many of my students' scales looked similar to this student's (with most of the documents leaning them to quit the army), they utilized what we analyzed earlier in the week--the idea of fighting for the cause of freedom. Their scale stated they should quit but the concept of freedom is what would make them stay. It's clear these students understand this Big Picture historical concept.

This week in Language Support-History was also very rewarding!

Student Historians completed the first part of their research using the 5 Themes of Geography related to one of the fifty US States. I am quickly realizing that it takes more time to complete activities in this class (and that's OK!) and that diligently monitor learning is crucial. We are chunking our research and this week's writing assessment let me clearly see how we are progressing before completing research. We will create a newscast video with this information--it will be excellent speaking and writing practice. Every success in this class is so exciting for all of us. 

The week ended with us preparing for next Thursday's field trip to the Troy Historic Village. We will have a full day of learning--using historical primary source maps of Troy to differentiate between urban, rural, and suburban life, the history of our school (these students will be the first students to study our school history--I'm thrilled to see this goal of mine come to fruition!), and learn 20th Century American Thanksgiving in Michigan. 

One way we are learning about Thanksgiving in Michigan is through understanding American Football. The students viewed some explanations, defined a few terms, learned about scoring and downs, and we played it outside yesterday!