Movie Trailers Intros

This year I learned how to make a movie trailer for use in my classroom. It was very easy with iMovie and I plan on doing several more throughout the year for lesson hooks. I started working on them Saturday and had both finished by Tuesday night. It was that easy! I had seen several other teachers make them as a way to introduce themselves on the first day of school, had seen them on #tlap chats, and so I decided to make one too. Here is the one for my AP US History Class:

And here is the one I used to introduce myself and class to my regular US History students. What fun it was to create. I even got several cheers and claps from my students!

Getting Creative With National Monuments & Sites

The worst thing that can happen to a teacher is when they go through the unit too quickly and have days left to fill....or is it? Having to find something to fill three days out of the next 14 forced me to be creative. Thanks to Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess, I started asking questions about how I could make a fun activity related to the unit, but not just give students busy work or a lecture. Our current unit is on the environment and energy, so I started out thinking about national parks. But, I soon realized that my unit was becoming to much of a science lesson (at least according to my students in AP Environmental) so I searched for inspiration. I found it on a list of national parks that also included national monuments and historic sites. That is where I realized that the national park service is US history content and what started as a decision to preserve the environment by Theodore Roosevelt has now become a way to preserve American history too. With that said, my students will be spending tomorrow researching a monument or site and then creating a marketing brochure to present to other students. For my students it will be enrichment to the curriculum and a way to keep them engaged as the school year winds down. Here is the link to my Weebly site with instructions! Pictures will follow once the activity is completed.

My Twitter PLN

I look forward to Monday nights and the opportunity to spend up to two hours collaborating with teachers from across the United States (and sometimes even around the world). I have several people that I collaborate with as part of my PLN, professional learning network. This collaboration happens from the comfort of my own home as I log on to Twitter and participate in chats. There are two chats that I like, #sschat (social studies) and #tlap (teach like a pirate). Sometimes I lurk and just watch as people comment on questions given by the moderator, but most times I participate by sharing my lessons and ideas.

Each week, there is a different topic. We have discussed many topics including close reading, student presentation skills, using documents, lesson hooks, current issues, simulations and much more! It is extremely powerful to share ideas with educators (teachers and administrators) alike. The conversation is fast paced and a program like Tweet Deck helps. I am always inspired and find a few good ideas that I can implement the very next day. In addition, I can share some of my most successful lessons with them!

Last night, I participated in a chat about student engagement in an online environment. Seeing as my students are in the computer lab today, I took those ideas and added an Edmodo discussion component to their assignment. It is perhaps the best part of the lesson as students share their ideas. While I am not able to get online every Monday (thanks to my one year old who would rather play with the keyboard than sit still), I always go back and view the conversations. 

Every 21st century educator needs to get a Twitter account and start joining chats. There are tons of chats for every subject. And what better way to inspire your students to become life long learners, than by showing that you are also one!

Lesson Hook: Simulating a Bus in Alabama, 1955

At Dave Burgess's "Teach Like a Pirate" seminar, I learned the importance of hooking the students into a lesson and have been searching for ideas ever since.

My lesson on the Montgomery Bus Boycott provided the perfect opportunity. I took a deck of cards and made sure to have the appropriate number of cards for my class period, ensuring that there was just a small amount of face cards. As students entered the room, each one was given a card. Once everyone was seated, I had everyone to stand up around the room. As I called a card, starting with Ace, the students who held that card were allowed to choose any seat in the room. This continued through the numbered cards. Once all of them were seated, those with face cards were told they could choose any seat they wanted, as long as it was a seat that was already occupied. Those "displaced" students then took the remaining open seats. Some got up quietly, others protested.

We proceeded to have a discussion as I first asked the "displaced" students how they felt, and then those with face cards responded. It was the perfect introduction to the bus boycott and allowed me to mix up the table groups for the day's activity, a DBQ answering the question, "Why did the Montgomery Bus Boycott Succeed?" I will be actively planning more hooks like this for my lessons.

Hippies for a Day

Thanks to Dave Burgess and #tlap, I have added a new element to my teaching - dress up days! I don't know why I never thought about having Decade Days before now! It is so easy to select a day to focus on the attire, music, art, culture, etc of a decade.

Friday was a minimum day so I made it our Counterculture Day. Students were asked to dress in tie dye or like hippies. We listened to the music of Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Country Joe and the Fish and Credence Clearwater Revival. Students were shown pictures and we also had a class debate on the draft after reading a couple of articles on the topic the previous day.

Next time I do this day, I want to add an activity to get students up and moving around. Because it was only a 40 minute class I felt rushed. Here are some pictures from the day:

Poster DBQs

Today is block schedule at my school which means 2 hour and 2 minute classes. That is a very long time for students to sit and listen to a lecture. We started off with our March Madness Elite 8 round and voting, but that only took 20 minutes. The idea for a visual DBQ came from an AVID conference that I had attended years ago.

I found 17 different documents (speeches, letters, diagrams, photos, etc) and put them together in a Google Doc. Students were put into groups of four and given the instructions to look through each document and decide how they would answer the question: Why did the US lose the Vietnam War? Once they had decided on an answer, they were given a piece of flip chart paper, scissors, markers and glue sticks. On the poster they had to write a thesis statement. Then students selected 6-8 documents that supported their claim as to why we lost the war. Each document was cut out and glued on the paper. Students wrote sentences underneath explaining how that document answered the question. Many students also chose to make colorful borders and pictures to enhance the look of their posters.

Each team was asked to present its thesis and supporting evidence. We then discussed comparisons to other wars, both past and present.

Rather than me telling them in 5 minutes the reasons why the US lost the war, students used document analysis, critical thinking and collaboration skills to answer the question. This took over an hour of group work. All of these skills are essential common core and 21st century skills. It also allows the students to take ownership of their learning rather than be passive listeners to a teacher on stage.

Here are some pictures of completed posters:

1950s Day

Yesterday was Fifties Day in my classroom. I went to Party City where I was able to get some decorations including a wall poster. I also used pictures from the decade around the room. Using Pandora Radio, I had fifties music playing while students entered the classroom. I let several songs play before beginning the lesson. On each table was a graphic organizer with 1950s slang words on the back.

Together we read through an article called Take Me Back to the 1950s, which highlights major cultural events of the decade. I paused along the way to share photographs, short stories, video clips and even my dad's letterman sweater. The video clips I used were three commercials (Coca Cola, Ford and Kool Aid), Elvis Presley (the 1st Ed Sullivan appearance to show his swinging hips and a later Ed Sullivan appearance), the chocolate scene from I Love Lucy and a short clip of Leave it to Beaver. Students were asked to write down things in six boxes (social conformity, women, automobiles/suburbia, teen culture, consumerism and entertainment). I encouraged students to dress fifties style and I did have several students who did. For the last five minutes of our class period, I held a hula hoop contest since the hula hoop was first popular in the fifties.

It was definitely a fun way to make history more alive and my students are very excited about our upcoming hippie day as we study the Vietnam War.

Truman Trial

For the past five years, I have been including a mock trial in my curriculum. For one week (or sometimes longer), my classroom is transformed into a courtroom in 1953. The defendant is former President Harry S. Truman and he is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Students assume the roles of lawyers, witnesses, judges, court reporters, and jurors. The assignment becomes tiered with lawyers and witnesses eligible to earn A grades, judges and court reporters B grades and jurors C grades. Due to increased interest in witness level roles, I have created several new witness roles this past year. Originally there were 14 total, but I now can include 21 total.

The trial takes between 5-7 days depending on the number of witnesses, preparedness of the lawyers and number of times lawyers need to take breaks to meet with their witnesses. We start on day one with opening statements from the lawyers and then move right into prosecution witnesses. The witnesses for the prosecution include Premier Joseph Stalin, President Dwight Eisenhower, Ambassador Joseph Grew, Scientist Leo Szilard and Japanese Cabinet Member Hitsasune Sakomizu. Once all witnesses for the prosecution have gone, then the defense presents its case. Witnesses for the defense include Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and Japanese Minister Shigenori Togo. The final day includes closing statements and then the jury deliberates and votes.Throughout the trial, lawyers are encouraged to present primary sources related to the trial as evidence. This includes photos, maps, letters, etc.

The final assignment for the trial is an essay where students are asked to evaluate President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I take photos and video throughout the trial and make a video each year that I present to the next year's students as a teaser for the trial.

Loving LiveBinders

While I like One Tab for collecting various websites that I open up, it is not something that I can transfer from computer to computer. I was tired of finding a great website at home and having to email the link to myself so I could access it at school. Now I don't have to thanks to LiveBinders. What a wonderful tool for someone with hundreds of bookmarks like me!

The beauty of LiveBinders is that you can visit a website that you like and instead of bookmarking it, you can "LiveBinder It" and into an online briefcase it goes. Then when you are ready to access it again, simply go to your LiveBinder and click the link. It opens the website in the folder so that you can navigate without having to open any new windows. 

At first I was using it to bookmark websites for my students to use for research, such as this one for our Truman Trial or this one for our Cold War March Madness. Now I am even using it as a resource for unit planning with the US History Team at my school. I feel so much more organized and know I can easily find resources instead of wondering where I bookmarked them or what the website was called.

March Madness Cold War Style

I recently attended a seminar by Dave Burgess on how to Teach Like a Pirate. One of the ideas that was mentioned in this seminar was how to take sporting events and current issues and bring them into your classroom. The idea was presented about repurposing March Madness and that is exactly what I have done! My students are going to compete in regions to determine the most influential event of the the Cold War.

I started with 64 Cold War events and programs, grouped them into categories and created the tournament brackets. Students were then divided into four regions and are responsible for researching the 16 events in their region. Each student has two events to research in most classes due to my class sizes. They are working collaboratively using Google Docs to create summaries to share with the whole class and are also completing a paper with "talking points" that they can use while discussing/debating in each round.

To make their research easier, I have used a great program called Livebinders to store websites on all 64 events. If you haven't yet checked out Livebinders, visit my Cold War Binder to see how it can be used.

After their research is complete, regions will work together to choose which events make it to the Sweet 16 and then it will become a whole class discussion. Each round adds new tasks and regions will be making presentations, posters and promoting their events. I also plan on inviting in guests to question students in the Final Four and Championship rounds.

Here is the link to my Weebly site with the instructions and documents. After the activity is complete I will be sure to update!

Teach Like a PIRATE

Do you have a lesson that you could sell tickets to? If students did not have to come to your class, would you be teaching to an empty classroom? These two questions were presented to me at a recent seminar by US History teacher and author Dave Burgess. Dave's book, Teach Like a Pirate, has become a highly recommended book in the educational world and there is even a Monday night chat on Twitter called #tlap. The focus of Teach Like a Pirate is student engagement. Pirate is an acronym that stands for Passion, Immersion, Rapport, Ask & Analyze, Transformation and Enthusiasm.

The strategies and ideas presented in Teach Like a Pirate help teachers of all subjects and grade levels become more creative and find new ways to engage their students in content. Since joining the Twitter Monday night chats and attending two of Dave's seminars, I have been working to add more creativity into my lessons. Thanks to inspiration of Teach Like a Pirate, I have turned my classroom into a 1920s Speakeasy, created a Cold War March Madness tournament and am planning a couple of Decade Days. My students are responding with increased enthusiasm as they are tired of the same old lectures, worksheets, document analysis of their educational careers. Students are not only engaged, but are thinking critically and are more likely to remember the content years from now.