I hope everyone is enjoying their Holiday Break and ready to ring in a very Happy New Year! Since it has been several weeks since I updated the Blog, I wanted to share the happenings in Team 8-1 American History. Since my last post, students have concluded their investigation of the French & Indian War. This school year, I created a HyperDoc powered by Google Sites to share the events of the French & Indian War. The Google Site also included videos, numerous images, and primary source material related to the French & Indian War. The Google Site included an interactive image using Thing Link that asked students to assume the role of art historians! If you have not checked out the French & Indian War Google Site, you can view it here! Following the French & Indian War, students successfully completed their Chapter Four Exam on the Growth of the Thirteen Colonies. Once again, I was very impressed with the scores on these exams... keep up the great work everyone!
Currently, students are examining the Spirit of Independence. In this Chapter students will look into the individuals and events that bring on the American Revolution. Keeping with our Flipped Classroom approach, students continue to watch videos created/edited by yours truly, and then come into class prepared to complete activities of their choice. For example, in the first section of our new chapter, students were introduced to several different acts/taxes levied on the American colonies. To help organize this information students had the opportunity to create different types of graphic organizers. Students also had the option to apply this knolwedge in a Letter to the Editor activity. Students assumed the role of a disgruntled colonists and wrote a letter to their local newspaper on why their fellow colonists should support non-importation agreements. I find it awesome when students can apply the information that I provide in my Flipped Video Lessons to any assignment, especially when it involves creative writing! Another choice that our students and I enjoyed involved using Apple Clips. Apple Clips is kind of set up like Snap Chat, well at least that is what my students say. Apple Clips allow users to record short videos and add different effects, such as filters, stickers, emojis, etc. Apple Clips also contains a very useful caption options, so that students explanations within a clip appear on the screen. I asked students to use Apple Clips to explain the following:
Currently, students are preparing for our Boston Massacre Mock Trial! To prepare for the Mock Trial, students investigate the Boston Massacre by navigating an Apple iBook that I created. The iBook contains several interactive features, such as multiple videos, image galleries, 3D models, and interactive images. From there, students are assigned roles for the Mock Trial. These roles include:
I also wanted to give a special shout out to every student in my homeroom that helped with the holiday Door Decorating Contest. We did wait till the very last minute, but we did end up being named Best Overall Door! Using the Tech the Halls theme, Homeroom 212 incorporated an app that allowed users to Face Time Santa and also include Augmented Realty through the HP Reveal application! Well done everyone!
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I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday and is getting excited for the upcoming Holiday Break! Since my last blog update, students in Team 8-1 American History have continued our investigation of Colonial America. In addition, students have also completed their Document Based Question (DBQ) responses. I was extremely impressed by the responses submitted by our students. Learning how to properly analyze, cite, and craft a DBQ response is a new skill for all 8th graders at Elizabeth Forward Middle School. I was specifically impressed by the way our students utilized the documents to support their claims. In addition to DBQs, our students have participated in several activities/simulations over the past few weeks:
In addition, students also continued to explore and investigate different primary source material from our Colonial America period. For example, students spent several class periods examining different sources related to the Atlantic Slave Trade. The sources that students analyzed were provided by the Smithsonian and Library of Congress, including an reading from Olaudah Equiano. Equiano’s account provides a detailed picture of what it was like for enslaved Africans to journey across the Middle Passage. Students also participated in an activity based upon George Washington and the Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior. Several years ago, I participated in a professional development sponsored by George Washington’s Mount Vernon. At this professional development, I was introduced to the text titled, Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior. The story goes that a young George Washington copied out the rules found within this book in order to be more informed on how to act in social situations. While some of the rules are a bit dated, most of the rules still apply today. In our activity, I had students select a rule, and then create a visual for the rule. Students could either draw their rule, or use the StoryBoard That platform to create their scene. If you have not checked out the StoryBoard That website, please do! It is an awesome tool that my students really found engaging and fun! Students then rewrote their rule in a way that makes sense to us today. Once again, I was very impressed by the creativity and enthusiasm by our Team 8-1 Students. Currently, students are investigating the French & Indian War. This is one of my favorite topics, because a plethora of events occur within the Pittsburgh area. So far, students have viewed several video clips from The War that Made America program that was created by PBS. In addition, students have used tools like Google Earth to view specific sites (such as Fort Necessity & Fort Duquesne) related to the conflict. Some students have also taken on the challenge of analyzing George Washington’s journal entries that pertain to his journey to Fort LebBoeuf. In this activity, students perform document analysis on the journal entries, and then use the journal entries to create a map of Washington’s journey. This week, students are using a Google HyperDoc to examine the events and outcomes of the French & Indian War. A HyperDoc is a digital document—such as a Google Doc—where all components of a learning cycle have been pulled together into one central location. Instead of using Google Docs, I decided to make a HyperDoc using Google Sites. The Google Site that I created includes different forms of media from different platforms, including:
This is my first time using the HyperDoc method and creating a Google Site, and I would definitely appreciate any feedback. You can check out the Google Site here! I also wanted to give a special shout out to my homeroom for another great Power Block session. Students were given yet another team-building task, which included using pieces of cardboard to build a Rube Goldberg type of device. Be sure to check out the pictures below to see what the students came up with! |
Mr. Steve Hartnett
Mr. Hartnett will update the Room 212 Blog with classroom updates on a regular basis. Be sure to follow me on Twitter @ MrHartnett212 Archives
July 2019
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