It's really unfortunate to me how social studies has been mistreated by education over the last few years. I understand just as well as everyone else the pressures put on teachers in the areas of math and reading. Of course our students need those basic skills... however, many schools have handled the problem of lack of time by taking time away from science and social studies, and this is a huge disservice to our kids! These are some of their favorite subjects - and why can't we incorporate literacy and math skills into those subjects?
In social studies in grade 4, we focus on the history of our state (Wisconsin), and then branch out to looking at the regions of the United States. For anyone not from Wisconsin, Native American history is big in this area of the country, and has a huge impact on the culture of our state as it is.
Let me give you a little before-and-after glimpse into how I taught Native American history of Wisconsin:
Before: I split students into groups ("tribes"), each one studying a different tribe native to Wisconsin. (Ojibwe, Oneida, Potawatomi, Ho Chunk, and Menominee). Within the groups, each person would research a different aspect of tribal life (food, shelter, clothing, language, history, etc). Students would read books and do a little internet research, jotting down notes on a lined piece of paper. Then, the final product: they would write a 5 sentence paragraph about what they learned and draw a picture to go along with it, and I would use the photos and paragraphs to create a little poster display.
The problem: Pretty boring, to be honest. Not a BAD activity, but definitely not one that engaged my students in higher levels of thinking or creativity. I constantly struggled with the research aspect of it. Students had lots of problems finding appropriate and relevant information, using an efficient note-taking process, and then struggled again with putting the information into their own words and writing the paragraph. I would teach these literacy skills as best I could, but as I'm sure all experienced teachers know, some would catch on and some would totally miss the point.
After: We recently started this unit, with several changes in mind. The basic set up is the same, but I utilized the jigsaw idea even more. Before starting research, I had all the topic groups work together (the foods, the shelters, etc) to create a list of questions - what did they want to learn? They also picked out of their list of questions which ones were most crucial.
Then, they created a mind map using the app iBrainstorm. This app is very simple - Post Its and a marker on a corkboard - but it's awesome for helping students flesh out their ideas. Since this was our first time using it, we all created essentially the same mind map (topic in the center, with the questions coming out of it). My hope is that as we continue to use this app more, they will be able to create their own mind maps to help them visualize their ideas.
The students are still doing book reserach, but I also created QR codes using this website. I found several good websites ahead of time, and then created QR codes for easy access - this way we can avoid the dreaded Google Search (which, as we all know, either ends up with students finding inappropriate material, or finding nothing due to too vague or too specific search terms).
They are going to keep track of their research right in the iBrainstorm app (by creating new post its with answers and connecting them to the questions they address) and then use a worksheet I created as a Google Doc (using the Google Drive app) to plan out their final product.
The final product is going to be a presentation using the app 30 Hands. This app has students insert pictures, text, etc, and then record their voices going through each of their slides, and produces a video. The students will plan out what they want to say based on their research, and find photos to match it. Once they're done, I plan to have them watch each others' videos and fill out a graphic organizer so they are truly learning about all 5 tribes.
The solution: The project now has really stepped up on its use of inquiry - the students are researching these topics because they're interested, and they have developed the questions to guide them in their search - and they also understand the research process better. They are working more collaboratively (both in their topic groups and their tribe groups) and will give more feedback on each others' work. They are still reading and writing, but are using tools to help them organize and structure information, so I'm not punishing those students who struggle with these types of tasks. Not to mention - the students are so excited! Much more so than when we were writing sentences and drawing pictures.
Phew! This first blog entry was a big one. It's a big project! I'll keep everyone up to date as the project unfolds!
It's really unfortunate to me how social studies has been mistreated by education over the last few years. I understand just as well as everyone else the pressures put on teachers in the areas of math and reading. Of course our students need those basic skills... however, many schools have handled the problem of lack of time by taking time away from science and social studies, and this is a huge disservice to our kids! These are some of their favorite subjects - and why can't we incorporate literacy and math skills into those subjects?
In social studies in grade 4, we focus on the history of our state (Wisconsin), and then branch out to looking at the regions of the United States. For anyone not from Wisconsin, Native American history is big in this area of the country, and has a huge impact on the culture of our state as it is.
Let me give you a little before-and-after glimpse into how I taught Native American history of Wisconsin:
Before: I split students into groups ("tribes"), each one studying a different tribe native to Wisconsin. (Ojibwe, Oneida, Potawatomi, Ho Chunk, and Menominee). Within the groups, each person would research a different aspect of tribal life (food, shelter, clothing, language, history, etc). Students would read books and do a little internet research, jotting down notes on a lined piece of paper. Then, the final product: they would write a 5 sentence paragraph about what they learned and draw a picture to go along with it, and I would use the photos and paragraphs to create a little poster display.
The problem: Pretty boring, to be honest. Not a BAD activity, but definitely not one that engaged my students in higher levels of thinking or creativity. I constantly struggled with the research aspect of it. Students had lots of problems finding appropriate and relevant information, using an efficient note-taking process, and then struggled again with putting the information into their own words and writing the paragraph. I would teach these literacy skills as best I could, but as I'm sure all experienced teachers know, some would catch on and some would totally miss the point.
After: We recently started this unit, with several changes in mind. The basic set up is the same, but I utilized the jigsaw idea even more. Before starting research, I had all the topic groups work together (the foods, the shelters, etc) to create a list of questions - what did they want to learn? They also picked out of their list of questions which ones were most crucial.
Then, they created a mind map using the app iBrainstorm. This app is very simple - Post Its and a marker on a corkboard - but it's awesome for helping students flesh out their ideas. Since this was our first time using it, we all created essentially the same mind map (topic in the center, with the questions coming out of it). My hope is that as we continue to use this app more, they will be able to create their own mind maps to help them visualize their ideas.
The students are still doing book reserach, but I also created QR codes using this website. I found several good websites ahead of time, and then created QR codes for easy access - this way we can avoid the dreaded Google Search (which, as we all know, either ends up with students finding inappropriate material, or finding nothing due to too vague or too specific search terms).
They are going to keep track of their research right in the iBrainstorm app (by creating new post its with answers and connecting them to the questions they address) and then use a worksheet I created as a Google Doc (using the Google Drive app) to plan out their final product.
The final product is going to be a presentation using the app 30 Hands. This app has students insert pictures, text, etc, and then record their voices going through each of their slides, and produces a video. The students will plan out what they want to say based on their research, and find photos to match it. Once they're done, I plan to have them watch each others' videos and fill out a graphic organizer so they are truly learning about all 5 tribes.
The solution: The project now has really stepped up on its use of inquiry - the students are researching these topics because they're interested, and they have developed the questions to guide them in their search - and they also understand the research process better. They are working more collaboratively (both in their topic groups and their tribe groups) and will give more feedback on each others' work. They are still reading and writing, but are using tools to help them organize and structure information, so I'm not punishing those students who struggle with these types of tasks. Not to mention - the students are so excited! Much more so than when we were writing sentences and drawing pictures.
Phew! This first blog entry was a big one. It's a big project! I'll keep everyone up to date as the project unfolds!
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