Poetic Primary Sources: Using Poetry to Teach History

During National Poetry Month, we often think about reading or writing poems in our Language Arts classes, but poetry can be an incredibly valuable tool in the Social Studies classroom, as well.  After all, poetry has been around since the beginning of written word!

More importantly, according to the National Council for Social Studies, primary sources should be our go-to for informational text in the History classroom.  Primary sources offer us a first hand account of history, and can often provide perspectives (and biases) we cannot otherwise see. Poetic primary sources can open up doors to the innermost thoughts of individuals, and can help students examine time and place in a way other documents cannot, allowing emotion to come through in the sharing of historic times and events.

Here are just a few resources to help you make the most of National Poetry Month in your Social Studies Classroom:

• Poetry Soup has great listings of poems from all eras and all peoples.  Take a look at the many history-related poems to find a topic that works best in your class.
• Some of the greatest poetry is written in times of strife.  During WWII, incredible poets recorded their greatest experiences and fears during their internment in camps, both in American and Europe.  While the Japanese wrote haikus throughout history, the ones written during American Internment were written in English, yet are truly authentic in form.  Poems written during the Holocaust in Europe take on many forms, but are all strong in both emotion and visualization.  Find a great collection of all types of poetry from WWII at the WWII Poetry Site.
• During WWI, many soldiers wrote letters from the trenches.  Some of those wrote in poetic form, sharing their hopes and fears for their futures.  The Poetry Foundation has a very complete listing of resources that describe many aspects of the first world war.
• And if we are sharing historic poetry, we must go back to the original poets of Greece, and Homer was the best at detailing history in verse.  Examine Classical Literature and the poets that started it all at Ancient Literature. 
• Finally, Famous Poets and Poems has an amazing listing of poems from all times, including modern poets that examine current topics and current events.  Allow students to read Maya Angelou or Shel Silverstein to escape into the realities of the 20th century or the dreams of the 21st.

But reading poetry is not enough! Allow your students to report on history in poetic form.  Writing poetry can be informing, but also cathartic.  More importantly, it can be engaging, keeping your students learning through the month and beyond as you come closer and closer to the end of the year!

Happy Teaching!

Creativity in Action: Test Prep without the Boredom

It's me, Michele from A Lesson Plan for Teachers, and I'm here to make a few suggestions that are near and dear to my heart for test prep season! 

In my classroom, creativity has always been welcome, encouraged, and appreciated.  Based on the research I studied on gender gaps in the classroom back in the 90s, all students and especially females retain content more successfully when given the opportunity to process that content creatively.  So why, when it comes time to prep for the inevitable testing window, do teachers often step back from allowing creative expression and resort to lecture or paper-based reviews?  Don't do it!

So, here are a few suggestions to make your classroom more creative while still tackling the testing prep that is mandated in our classrooms now!

1. Assign students topics from your course.  Allow them to choose a method of presentation, whether it be written, drawn, sculpted, or performed.  Hold a Class Presentation Show to cover all of the topics without the boredom!
2. Create an Illustrated Timeline Wall covering all of the content you need to review.  Let your students shine with their individual talents, with some organizing the dates, others writing the concise descriptions, some illustrating the main points, and others adding creative elements to draw attention to significant themes.
3. Graffiti a Wall with illustrations and bubble letters on all the key topics covered in class.  Have students discuss the topics as they create the wall, reviewing the key points.
4. Turn your classrooms into a Living Museum with students dressed in characters from your content (Historic figures, book characters, important scientists or mathematicians).  Hold a meet and greet for interaction and discussion of themes or significant events.
5. Step back in time or into a book where students Build the Scene and models of significant role-players to recreate the past or the story.  Wrap-up with topic reviews or a graphically organized overview.
6. Play Games! Charades, Pictionary, and student created games can allow students to review the content while creating the game and while playing!

And there are so many other options that get students up out of their desks and active in their learning and review.  What ideas do you have for making your test prep fun, engaging, and CREATIVE?

Happy Review!

Digging Up History

This is Michele from A Lesson Plan for Teachers, and I wanted to give you a creative idea for those dreaded testing reviews!  Instead of having students complete the traditional worksheets or reviewing the course content through the projector, get students up and digging for the information they need!

Creating an archaeology dig in your classroom is easy!

1. Start by asking your Guidance Office to save the shredded paper for you for about a week.  This should give you ample supply of dig material.
2. Create a frame for the dig site.  This can be as simple as a wooden frame or one made of taped cardboard.
3. Fill the frame with the shredded paper and divide into quadrants with twine.
4. Place topic cards into the dig materials.
5. Let the fun begin!

Since my subject area is Social Studies, I created a topic card for each unit I taught in the year.  I assigned students into pairs or small groups, and as they dig the cards, they complete a SPRITE Graphic Organizer to review the topic.  If they can't remember the facts, they can refer to their notebook or other sources.

As the class finishes up all of the topic cards, share as a whole group with each team summarizing their SPRITE review.  For a more comprehensive written review, have all students complete SPRITEs on all topics.  Place the SPRITEs in chronological order in notebooks for further study, added research, or other tasks for review.

SPRITE SOCIAL STUDIES GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

What other ideas can you contribute for making review more engaging?

College Pennant Activity - Student Goal Setting

Hi Everyone! Caitlin from EB Academic Camps here to share a fantastic (and FREE) project with you! 

Last year when I was still in the classroom, I taught my students the documentary Waiting for Superman. After studying the film, I really wanted to create a much more collegiate environment in my classroom that would inspire my students to continuously put their best foot forward. Thus, I devised a little college pennant activity. 

The project is quite simple and allows for considerable creativity for the kiddos. 

Students were to design a pennant for their dream college. Then on the back of the pennant, they had to include their dream job and three steps they could take right now to make that dream a closer reality. It was a really fun project and the kids came up with fantastic pennants for me to hang up!

Kudos to my hubby for coming to school with me on Sunday to hang up the string across my classroom! 

Apparently I have a lot of doctors and directors in my 7th and 8th grades! 

(Some of their goals are pretty broad ... but I figure it's okay since at least they know they need to work hard.)

I think this one is so neat! He couldn't decide between Harvard and Caltech :) 

A view of all the pennants hanging up (sorry the lighting is so poor). I loved walking into my classroom and seeing all of these pennants of inspiration! 

You can download this project for FREE from our EB Academic Camps Teachers Pay Teacher Store. I would love for you to share this project with your students and send me pictures of their creations!

Why You Should Never Yell at Your Students

There are very few things that I believe in more adamantly than I do as not yelling at your students. This is NEVER a good idea. These are my top 3 reasons why. And they're legitimate ones you should take into consideration, so keep on reading.

1. It doesn't help anyone. Not you. Not your students. Not anyone. Think about how well you react when someone yells at you. Do you really want to do anything to please them? NO. If anything, you want to do the opposite because they just berated and yelled at you. And as a teacher, your heart rate increases, you're incredibly upset, you've lost your cool. Yelling is really one of the worst things you could do to improve student behavior.

2. It doesn't show your students respect. Think about what it's like to receive respect from your principal (or boss). They trust that you're doing an excellent job in the classroom, they treat you with kindness and the kind of respect you deserve. And how do you respond to that? Positively, right? And if you've made a mistake, what is more likely to help you improve? Being brought into your principal's office and being yelled at? Or being brought into your principal's office where they calmly and kindly discuss with you the areas where you could use some improvement? If you don't prefer the latter, well then ... We should be showing our students the same respect that we expect from our principals. They're more likely to respect us in return. And as a result, they're more likely to behave better in our classrooms! Respecting our students is a win-win situation.

3. It doesn't portray you as a role model. As teachers, one of the most important things we can be for our students is a role model. If we stand in front of them yelling at them, showing them that we are completely out of control of our class, then we are not portraying ourselves as role models. We should always show ourselves to be some of the most upstanding citizens, who treat everyone with kindness and respect, and who are always in control of our emotions. If we are out of control and yelling, what are we teaching them? We're teaching our students that yelling is meant to get them what they want. When looking at interpersonal relationships, yelling is the furthest thing from helpful.

As a teacher, I remember yelling ONCE at a student. His name was Anthony, and I felt terrible about it. He had been pushing my buttons all day, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I yelled at him in front of the entire class and immediately regretted it. I'm sure we've all been there. 

But what I did after yelling at Anthony was probably the best lesson I could have taught my students that year. I apologized to him in front of the entire class. I said something to the effect of, "Wow. Anthony, I am so sorry for yelling at you just now. I lost my cool and should have never treated you like that. I hope you'll forgive me." And you know what Anthony said? He said, "I forgive you, Miss. Thank you." Talk about a profound experience not just for myself, but for my students as well.

If you tend to yell at your students, I hope you'll reconsider. And know that we've all been there. But with the New Year approaching, now is the time for change! Make it your resolution to not yell at your students for the rest of the semester. And sometimes, if I feel like I'm going to lose it, I'll step out into the hallway and take a moment to breathe, remind myself that this is just a moment, and allow myself some time to calm down.

Wishing you all a wonderful 2016!

12 Days of Christmas Activities (FREEBIE ACTIVITY)

Happy Holidays Everyone!

We hope all you USAers (is that a word?) had a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends! We are officially into the Christmas and Holiday season, and it is oh so exciting!

Celebrating the holidays was one of my favorite parts about being a teacher. I've always taught in Catholic schools, so Christmas was a huge deal to say the least. I used to decorate my classroom with Christmas lights, play Christmas music all day long, decorate with student Christmas work everywhere. You get the idea ... I stinking love Christmas.

This year, Jessica and I created an awesome 12 Days of Christmas Activities unit that can be used in conjunction with any unit of study! Since you are all awesome Middle School Mob junkies, I want to direct you to an EXCLUSIVE FREEBIE that is not featured in our TpT Store. You can only access it by CLICKING HERE!

Here are some awesome pictures of the complete unit. How cute are these activities for students, which you can then use as decorations for your classroom? It's a win-win if you ask us!

Wishing you all a joyous Holiday Season!

Use "Notes From Your Teacher" to Simplify Grading Papers

It's a Sunday afternoon.  The air is crisp.  Bright red and orange leaves decorate the lawn and trees.  The sky is crystal blue...and I am sitting at my kitchen table facing down a stack of student essays.

Don't get me wrong!  I love to teach writing.  I love to see the progress my students make as they work through ideas, logic, drafts, and reviews.  And I firmly believe that the best way for students to improve their writing is to write -- a lot. 

Students need practice and feedback.  

It's the feedback part that gets me.  I often say I need to install a seat belt on my chair to keep me in it until the stack is gone.  However, I'm willing to stay in my chair weekend in and weekend out in order to get my students to write -- a lot.

I use writing workshop, and this provides a lot of flexibility. But I feel like I am writing the same comments over and over again on papers.  My solution is to differentiate student tasks during our workshop time by using "teacher notes." 

So here is what I do to reduce my grading time, but also give my students feedback and purpose for their time during writing workshop:

1.  I read through the student drafts.  I always review graphic organizers, idea sheets, and prewriting.  This allows me to catch students who are running off the rails.  There is nothing worse than reading a draft or (worse yet) a final essay and realize the student didn't follow the directions.  I generally collect student graphic organizers or idea sheets as the students walk out of the room.  This is their "ticket out."  I can quickly sort through the papers to see who is ready to move on and who might be stuck.  

A colleague of mine uses a red dot on papers that aren't ready to go forward and a green dot on papers that are.  If you have a red dot on your paper, you need to meet with the teacher before moving on.  Brilliant.

2.  I print up the "Notes from your Teacher" document for the mode of writing I'm using.  As I'm reading a draft, I can quickly check off the items I want the student to work on.  

There is space at the bottom and room on the back for me to write notes if I feel the student needs more.  There is also a space for "see me" if I want to have a conference with the student.

As I'm reviewing papers, I stack them in groups.  Students who are ready to move on go in one group.  Students who need to work on similar issues (a thesis statement for example), go in another group.  

The next day in our writing workshop, I can meet with groups of students, review what their next steps are, and set them to work.  All of my students are focused on their task for the day.

3.  Mini lesson magic.  The "teacher notes" also help me determine what my mini lesson for the next day will be.  I know my lesson will address my students' needs.

4.  As students work during our workshop time, they respond on the right side of the "teacher notes" sheet.  My favorite part is the little cartoon at the bottom.  It gives me instant feedback on how the student feels about the writing done that day. 

At the end of class, the "ticket out" is the writing and feedback on what the student completed that day and how he or she feels.

So even if I don't get to conference with each student during our workshop time, I get feedback from them.

5.  And the cycle continues.  

6.  I have my students keep ALL of their graphic organizers, idea sheets, drafts, and teacher notes.  They just staple the most current work on the top.  

This is the best thing for students.  They can really see how much work writing requires.  They look at their stack and see their little "seed" of an idea grow into a real narrative or an argument.  They can look through drafts and point to where they revised weak sentences or used vivid details or provided supporting evidence when there was none there before!

7.  Okay, so back to Sunday afternoon.  It's crisp.  There are leaves.  And I still have time to play in them with my dog.  Partly because I read my students' writing every day.  Partly because I use a checklist feedback form like my "teacher notes."  And partly because I installed a seat belt on the chair at my kitchen table.

Write on, my friends,

Ps:  If you want to try out the teacher notes I use, I'm offering them for FREE for the next 24 hours.  Jump on over to my store and snag 'em.  Just Add Students.  Be sure to let me know how they work for you...and I'd be remiss not to ask you to be my bff and follow my store (okay, you've read this far in the post...surely you want to follow me??!!).  Happy writing!!  mp

A Checklist Manifesto for Teachers

Have you read The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande?  He proposes that the simple checklist will help streamline complex tasks and reduce errors.

The primary focus and anecdotes of his book deal with the medical field, but the take away is that in the midst of a complicated, multi-step process, a checklist helps us avoid mistakes and omissions.

When I finished reading this book, I cheered.  I felt validated!  Yay!  I am not crazy for loving my checklists!

In this back-to-school post, I want to share my own "checklist manifesto" ... middle-school style.

When to use a checklist

• I use checklists whenever students are working on a multi-step task:  writing assignments, projects, book talks, or project-based learning.  Using the checklist helps me know that students are progressing in their work. 

• I also use a checklist to quickly mark daily homework that is completed, but might not be taken for a grade.  Since I don't always collect homework, the checklist helps me see who has completed the work and who has not.  

• A checklist helps me track when and how often I conference with a student during workshop time.  

• I can use it to record participation grades.

My clipboard, my friend

• I keep my checklist on a clipboard that I can easily use as I wander around the room monitoring students at work.  I use a simple shorthand to make quick notes.

• Be sure to keep a cover sheet over your clipboard to ensure students privacy, and always return your clipboard to a safe place!  I keep mine in the same place on my desk.  That way, I never have to worry about losing it.

Other benefits

• When using a checklist for a project, you are really creating all the steps required to complete the project and you're creating a gradebook page.  This is a wonderful resource for student or parent conferences when you want to talk about work habits.

• A checklist is really a formative assessment.  You can see what areas need to be retaught -- even if you're just using a - or + notation on your checklist.

• Anecdotal evidence at your fingertips.  Your checklist can show behavior patterns that need to be addressed with your students.  Often, students don't realize they've been unprepared for class three times in a week, or they have missed turning in assignments on a regular basis.  The checklist gives you the data you need to conference with students to help them adjust their behavior.

• Checklists help you stay on track for a project.  You'll be able to see what the next steps are in completing a writing assignment or group project.  This will help you adjust the pacing of your class.  

Thank goodness my classroom isn't a (medical) operating room!

Obviously my checklists are academic rather than medical in nature.  But the outcome of using a checklist helps simplify my life.  As you're organizing projects for this school year, consider trying a checklist to help you organize and gather data -- stat!

Interested in more checklist goodness?
Check out the product in my Teachers Pay Teachers store:  Teacher-Checklists:  Making formative assessments easier.  You can download it for FREE for a the next week.  If you do download it, please leave me feedback!