Over the past two weeks students, have been acting as founding fathers in a simulation pertaining to the Constitutional Convention. Students were assigned actual members of the Constitutional Convention and first used the Teaching American History website to research their founding father. For example, students could have been Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, or Benjamin Franklin. Students used the Ed Puzzle App to become more familiar with the issues that faced the country under the Articles of Confederation. Students then worked with delegates from their region to investigate the types of constituents they would represent at the Constitutional Convention. Students represented specific individuals, such as farmers, merchants, and plantation owners. The students, also known as delegates, worked with other delegates from their region to develop stances on the burning issues that faced the young United States under the Articles of Confederation. Some of these issues dealt with slavery, the slave trade, representation, war bonds, debts, and the type of government that would work best for the nation. The delegates worked together create proposals that were then shared with the all of the delegates. The actual Constitutional Convention was held in the EFMS auditorium. The delegates went on stage and began to form compromises with the other delegates. The delegates did their best to create compromises that would work best for their region, but also help solve some of the burning issues. The delegates did an excellent job in all of my class periods! I was very impressed by the compromises made and how the students were able to present their arguments to the other delegates. In addition to the Constitutional Convention, students utilized the Smithsonian Learning Lab tool to investigate American History through pieces of art. To introduce this Artful Thinking lesson, I had students use thinking-routines developed by Harvard University’s Project Zero. The thinking-routines that were used were the “see-think-wonder” and “explanation game” routine. Both routines require students to closely observe works of art and to contemplate the observations they make. The pieces of art that students observed were “Watson & the Shark” and “War News from Mexico”. Researchers from the Smithsonian observed the lesson and were very impressed with the work done by Team 8-1 students! This past week, students compared the compromises that they formed at the Team 8-1 American History Constitutional Convention with the actual Constitutional Convention of 1787. It was very interesting that some class periods formed compromises that were very similar to the compromises made at the actual Constitutional Convention. Following the convention, students were introduced to specific features of the Constitution, including federalism and checks & balances. Students also went on a virtual field trip via Near Pod to Independence Hall in Philadelphia. To prepare for the Chapter Seven Exam, students participated in a review that used a wide-arrange of iPad application. Students used Kahoot, Brain Rush, Socrative, Quizziz, and Quizalize to prepare for the Chapter Seven Exam. Next week, students will be investigating the Whiskey Rebellion, which is full of local history! Have a great weekend 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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