Mrs. Slaviero's Blog

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 stud...

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 th...

There is so much happening in our classroom this month! US History students are learning about the work of historians through the Stanford History Education Group's "Thinking Like a Historian" series. This program is serving to add to our academic language in the classroom this year. We are also studying the pre-Revolution and the Revolutionary War. Our study centers around "March Madness"-style brackets.  Student groups are analyzing people, places, ideas, and events of the time period through seeding and regional tournaments. The ranking necessary to complete these regionals isn't easy! Students develop their rankings and topics independently, then they need to prove to their group mates the importance between, for example, a three seed versus a six seed. The elimination rounds are full of animated voices and students scrambling to locate factual justifications in our materials and create an agreed-upon set of topics and a winner. The first two ...

I really enjoy incorporating music into my classroom on a daily basis. I play classical music while my History students are working on group activities, Motown hits for my Effective Teens when they are planning their Genius Hour projects, U2's "Pride (In the Name of Love)" to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. and analyze his impact on the Civil Rights Movement, and relaxation music when I sense student stress levels are high.  Yesterday I utilized music in a different way--to help students deeply review the American Revolution. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REUusj4nxh4 The piece I used was the main theme to the movie "The Patriot", composed by John Williams. This piece is brilliant, in my opinion, because it so clearly takes the listener through the history of the American Revolution. One can hear life before British taxation in the colonies, the impact of events like the Boston Massacre and Intolerable Acts, the early, middle, and turning point battl...

The American Revolution Center has created an interactive timeline of events surrounding the American Revolution (and related modern historical events about the Revolution) that I wanted to share with my students and their families. Students will be creating their own timeline of Pre-Revolutionary War events and this is a wonderful way for them to preview next week's area of study. http://timeline.americanrevolutioncenter.org/