Monday: Students began to wrap up their analysis of the documents pertaining to the Salem Witch Trials. Students traveled to the document stations, and once again identified the source information, main ideas, key images/quotes/data, and what “bucket” they believed the document would fit into. At the end of the class period, students performed the “Final Bucketing Activity”. Students perused the documents one last time and identified three main causes to the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria. From there, students “filled” their buckets with the documents that displayed a particular cause. This activity is important for students to complete because it helps with the outline and rough draft process of the Document Based Question (DBQ) Response. Tuesday: Election Day! I hope everyone enjoyed the day off! I had the opportunity to work with several Middle School & High School Social Studies teachers to align curriculum and discuss other important facets to the Social Studies Department. Wednesday: Wednesday marked the outline process to the DBQ Response process. I worked closely with students to complete the outline. Students used their document analysis to develop several paragraphs to explain the causes of the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692. Students created a thesis statement, used evidence to support their arguments, and finally created a conclusion that tied everything together. I was very impressed with the work that students put into their outlines. There can be no doubt that this outline will be very helpful when students work on their final copy of the Salem Witch Trial DBQ Response. Thursday: I had the chance to travel to the Heinz History Center to partner with the Smithsonian Learning Lab. Several EFMS Social Studies teachers applied for this partnership and were accepted. We met in the All-Purpose Room of the Heinz History Center with about forty other educators from the Western Pennsylvania area. The Smithsonian Learning Lab gives everyone with a desire to learn the opportunity to explore the Smithsonian's rich resources anytime, anywhere. In addition, educators and students have the opportunity to make their own collections from the millions of online resources provided by the Smithsonian. The group at the Heinz History Center was some of the first educators to use the Smithsonian Learning Lab and its resources! I am very excited about this partnership and can definitely see my students enjoying the collections that will be made! While I was away, students worked on creating their rough drafts. To help students through this process, I provided several Ed Puzzle videos for students to watch. I am very excited to see what the students came up with! Friday: Friday marked the final step in the Salem Witch Trial DBQ Response process. Students came to class with their rough drafts completed and then worked to peer-edit their responses. Prior to this activity, I identified several items that students should keep an eye-out for when peer-editing. Students then discussed their findings with their partners and began to work on their final DBQ Response. Students used the Hanx Writer App to type their final response. The Hanx Writer App looks and acts like a typewriter. Students were very intrigued by the sounds created by the typewriter. Most were not too happy with the fact that the Hanx Writer App does not feature auto-correct. The final copy of the Salem Witch Trial DBQ is due Tuesday, November 10th on eBackpack! I am very eager to read these responses and see how students have improved in their writing since the beginning of the year. Great work everyone!
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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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