On Monday, October 17th, students were introduced to the Middle Colonies through a lesson on Near Pod. Students were able to go on a virtual field trip via Near Pod to the cities of New York and Philadelphia. I want to give a special shout out to all of the 7th grade Social Studies teachers for preparing the students for this lesson. The prior knowledge that students possessed on William Penn and the founding of the Pennsylvania was very impressive! On Tuesday, students participated in a QR Code Gallery Walk on the Southern Colonies. Students walked around the classroom and the 8th grade hallway and performed different tasks on bulletin board paper. Then students would scan a QR Code to a Wikispace and answer-accompanying questions on the eBackpack app. Our Review Extravaganza for Chapter Three took place on Wednesday. Students traveled to different review stations to prepare for the Chapter Three exam. The review stations consisted of the following:
Italian Culture Day took place last Thursday, October 20th. To introduce students to different aspects of Italian culture, students were split into three teams and competed against one another is a “locked box” challenge, which was loosely based on Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. Students were given a series of questions that they worked together to answer on Quizalize. When the students earned three stars, the group was provided with a clue to unlock the box. Students could attempt to unlock the box or answer another set of questions to earn another clue to the lock’s combination. I was very impressed with the students’ ability to work together in their groups and congrats to all of the winners! Friday was test day in American History class. Once again I was very pleased with the overall scores for this exam. The exam was provided on eBackpack and contained multiple-choice questions, short answer, and a section identifying primary and secondary sources. Another shout out goes to the 7th -8th grade girls volleyball team for hosting a students vs. staff volleyball match. I had a blast playing both the 7th & 8th grade girls volleyball team and I know the other teachers did as well! On Monday, students were introduced to the Salem Witch Trials through a iBook that I created. The iBook contained a video introduction to the Salem Witch Trials and also described the following for students:
The iBook also contained several concept-check questions built within the iBook, along with interactive images and slides. On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to travel to the University of Pittsburgh and participate in a Workshop provided by the Bill of Rights Institute. Several employees and university professors led in-depth analysis of primary source material concerning the Bill of Rights. Mr. Englert, Mr. McDowell, and myself were very impressed by the wealth of knowledge and classroom applications that were provided during this workshop. On Wednesday and Thursday, students examined the individuals behind the Salem Witch Trials by using the iBook and a collection of short video clips placed on the Ed Puzzle application. Not only did students examine the young afflicted women, but they also were introduced to several of the individual’s accused of witchcraft. Students recorded their findings on the eBackpack app, which will be useful in their document based questions response. On Friday, October 28th students were introduced to primary source analysis. I utilize a tool/method from the National Archives when having students analyze primary & secondary sources. Students also worked on a pre-writing strategy called bucketing to prepare for their first Document Based Question written response. Next week’s agenda:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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
Categories |