Mrs. Slaviero's Blog

The iMovies are completed. As I'm viewing them I'm struck at the talent and creativity of my Student Historians.  Groups of students studied one year of the war, ranked three events from that year they believe impacted the end of the war, found primary source documents from each of these events (including at least one Mathew Brady photograph), drafted explanations of the events, and composed and explained an original piece of music on GarageBand. Their music compositions needed to exemplify  the tone of their year of the war.  I will share projects over the next few days, here is one outstanding example. Bravo students!

My full circle moment. Almost one year later. Monica Burns from  Class Tech Tips wrote an intriguing article about using GarageBand in the reading classroom  in 2016 and posted it on Twitter. I  blogged last July about how I'd like to use this with my Student Historians . That opportunity finally came and the result was profound, especially for one group of students. My History classes have studied the Civil War the past two years by completing an iMovie. I created a twist, though, each group studied one year of the war and ranked three events of that year they feel most strongly impacted the end of the war . Students needed to use investigative and discovery skills to learn about the entire war, then the impact of their focus year. Groups were required to find three primary sources related to those events, one Mathew Brady photograph from that year, and a piece of Civil War-era music (not necessarily from their focus year). The GarageBand article gave t...

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...

8th Grade Historians examined the Dred Scott Decision today. This landmark case reinvigorated the anti-slavery movement and propelled the United States toward war. Dred Scott, a slave, sued for his freedom because he had lived in free territory with his master. The Supreme Court ruled that Scott wasn't considered a citizen and therefore had no grounds to sue. The Court also stated that slavery couldn't be denied in the western territories. This ruling was a huge step back for all people against slavery. Students completed a Peel the Fruit Visible Thinking routine to delve deeper into the feelings and thoughts surrounding this case. The outer ring asks students to state what they notice about the topic. The second ring requires students to pose questions about the case and the impact it had on America. (These questions can be rhetorical.) The third ring requires students to practice an essential social studies skill: they must consider different perspectives and viewpo...