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...

I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.  ~Golda Meir Time is one of the biggest challenges we face in the classroom and class projects often aren't assigned by teachers because they take a lot of time for students to complete. I prefer to prove that these projects are clear examples of time used wisely but one area I usually tend to spend less of our time on is debriefing. Two activities we completed in class today proved to me that debriefing is as truly as valuable as the project itself. Student Historians created fact-based skits today related to Northern factory life during the American Industrial Revolution. The skits needed to answer the question "If you were a 13 year old in the North in the early 1800s would you have worked in a textile mill?" Students prepared for this project by analyzing primary sources, reading anecdotal stories, and viewing clips. Each group needed to write scripts (one per person) and practice before performing. I did not ...

Biographical line graphs put students in the role of historical biographers. The critical thinking and reasoning needed to justify and debate decisions make these graphs one of the most powerful activities we do in US History. The topic for this line graph is Andrew Jackson. I selected 7 life events and gave students the task of combing through previously analyzed documents and readings to write highlights and low lights of the events. Students created line graphs based on their notes. The graph's range was from -6 to +6 and reflects both positive and negative life events. When line graphs were complete each student needed to prepare for a graph justification discussion. This discussion is powerful both academically and social-emotionally. Students are doing the work of historians when they present and discuss their findings. One needs only to search major historical people and events to discover complimentary and disparaging works on the same subject--the ...

I am not the only educator in my extended family and get-togethers invariably turn into opportunities to talk about education. One of my cousins is an Assistant Professor in a health field at a university about one hour away from me and I greatly enjoy discussing our profession with him. K-12 educators like myself often justify what we do in the classroom because we hope it will “help our students in college and in the real world”—talking to my cousin lets me know if I’m on the right track, even though I would theoretically teach students years before he would. Our conversations lately have centered on the need for student-led and student-generated assignments. I began Genius Hour in Effective Teens last year (I will be giving students the opportunity to complete a modified US History student-led project this year, as well) and shared with him the tremendous benefits I’ve seen when my 8 th  Graders are in charge of their learning. Genius Hour is the antithesis of tellin...

My students and I benefit from using technology in the classroom and it's evident that we are all becoming more comfortable and proficient with it. There are times, though, where this risk-taking doesn't pan out and I have the opportunity to model how I handle failing (this time--there will be others, I'm sure!). I wanted to introduce a new unit of study using primary source maps and prompts in History using an app that would allow me to link the class' ideas on one screen. (The app shall remain nameless, I don't believe the app is at fault, rather user error on my part!) I had read up on the app but felt like we could figure it out as we went along and that's usually a successful strategy. The students in my first class downloaded the app and we all tried to link together. One student showed us how to find a QR code and I thought we were on our way. I gave myself a limit of 7 minutes to attempt this new technology--if we couldn't get it downloaded...

Student Historians took part in an online discussion yesterday on Schoology. Students were asked to take a stand and defend whether they would've been a Federalist or a Democratic-Republican if they had lived in America in the late 1700s. I really like online discussions and will utilize them more often. We started the discussion in class but students could complete their participation on their own time. Our students are usually busy but the week before the end of the semester and a modified exam week is especially time-crunched for them. (One of my girls put her head down on her desk before class began today! It was a good reminder to me to be especially empathetic in the next few days!) I believe this assignment flexibility was appreciated and student participation was high.  Online discussions give students practice in Digital Citizenship. I monitored the discussions and they did a wonderful job of staying on-task and were very professional and respectful. Knowing how t...