Tournament Time

This photo depicts some of our best learning so far this year. The student in the foreground of this photo is clearly deep in thought, analyzing her group's progress. The boy across from her is checking his list, preparing to talk to his group about his progress.

Students are focused on learning together, practicing social norms while building confidence and learning history deeply. What is this jack-of-all-trades activity they are participating in?

The Ultimate US History Tournament: American Revolution Edition.

I created a March Madness-style bracket activity to culminate our years' learning a few years ago, and it was a success. I decided to utilize it again for the American Revolution this year and it's been going well. Students need to generate their own lists of the most important people, places, events, and ideas first (one list per year of the war). Students at tables of 5 compare their lists, searching for commonalities (a good way to reinforce community among students) and whittle their lists down to the four most significant topics per year--these four are ranked, then placed on a bracket, one bracket per table. I really like seeing the discussions taking place, and how students are getting adjusted to being with each other, building off of one another's thinking. (Breakout rooms did serve a purpose, but it's so much better in person.)

The students understand that they need to be able to justify their rankings. Ranking is a sophisticated skill and it also builds confidence when students are asked to analyze and justify their answers. I ask students to think about why a topic received a lower rank of 4, and not the best ranking of 1? Why is that #4 topic on your list at all, compared to a topic that only ranked a 6, for example? There is deep thinking in what constitutes a higher or lower rank--these concepts are at the heart of sophisticated analysis, but the students see it instead as interesting and fun. 

Students rank topics as a team, so no student is alone in their views or justifications (another example of community building). Each student will separately write their analysis of their final four topics, and explain why their winning topic is considered the ultimate American Revolutionary War person, place, idea, or event.

We will finish brackets by the end of the week, and I'm excited to see their results.