The Annenberg Learning Project offers incredible free resources for schools. Though every subject is addressed, this blog post will focus on the American history section.
With ELLs being mainstreamed in greater numbers this year, teachers will need to supply those students with as much scaffolding as possible to not only learn the content (history from a different culture's perspective-American), but also develop English skills. Such content and language demands initially might be overwhelming for ELLs, but if enough realia (video, focused vocabulary, interaction to process information, word walls/charts, repetition, etc.) is included in the instructional delivery, ELLs will do well.
AMERICAN HISTORY is fairly unique in its layout. Teachers have the option to select from primary or secondary sources. This is important since the new common core standards expect students to work from both to complete independent research (as an end goal). With this material, the teacher can provide ELLs with the background knowledge to differentiate between the two. The artifact reading method is also addressed. This method has students approach historical documents as historians do by posing 5 key questions in evaluating the materials: who wrote the material, where/when was it written/made, for whom was it intended, what was the purpose of the artifact, and how does this document/object affect one's understanding of history. Stanford University also has created a similar site that approaches the teaching of history from the eyes of historians (I blogged on this a few days ago).
The next section covers all the units in the site. All in all, there are 22. Each unit has a chapter for students and a facilitator's guide for instruction. Most of the sites have free instructional videos. Videos are crucial to the ELL. They build some background knowledge to help the student make sense of the content in the lesson. If the ELL has access to the internet at home, s/he can easily review all the instructional material without the time pressure. Each unit also is accompanied by historical documents both primary and secondary. Here the ELL would gather some practice in working with the two enabling him/her to tackle independent research down the road.
To better prepare ELLs to "think like an historian," there is an interactive on the topic where students go through the process of what it is to evaluate such material. One of the items addressed here is how to construct a thesis based on analyzing artifacts or primary sources. Once again, the focus here is enabling students to eventually conduct research on their own and subsequently create an articulate, convincing, credible, and factually accurate argument on paper.
Another visual to support ELLs is the TIMELINE. Such a tool helps the ELLs attach dates to important events. What could be added at the class level are some visuals for each link and brief descriptions of the significance of each time slot. The time periods tie into all 22 units.
This site fits in perfectly with the Common Core Standards in history. It will excite students about learning history:)
Denise
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Showing posts with label primary sources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label primary sources. Show all posts
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Common Core Social Studies--Teaching ALL Students How to Conduct Research Like Historians
Common core social studies will have students exploring key historical events from multiple authentic primary sources. The textbook will be in the classroom as a support tool. It will not drive classroom instruction as it has in the past. Students will be actively engaged in analyzing primary sources to fully understand the impact of major historical events. They will view the events from multiple perspectives and then arriving at conclusions to assigned taskes based on small group discussions.
ELLs have much to gain from this approach. With proper setup from the teacher in vocabulary (KEY academic as well as content but select words only) along with some background information necessary for those who may not have any prior knowledge in the subject area, the ELLs will be prepared to read, analyze, and discuss their findings with their team partners on an equal footing. Once the team has reached a consensus based on research, teams will address the demands of the assignment. Persuasive arguments have teeth with backed up by facts from documents written in the time when the event occurred. Students display an excitement in knowing that they can come to their own interpretations based on their understanding of original historical documents--nothing watered down or oversimplified. They discover that they can read challenging materials and enjoy the process. On the other hand, the textbook reports on events through a score of editors who bring to the text their own bias--it is human trait. It is not a primary resource.
READING LIKE AN HISTORIAN This link shows former struggling readers (ELLs and EOs) praising the new technique. They really felt enthusiastic about sharing their new insight into history. The benefits from this approach extended beyond history class as well in that they found that reading comprehension in all their non-elective classes improved. Their teachers noticed this same new found confidence in their students as well. They became more aware readers
75 LESSONS FOR READING LIKE AN HISTORIAN
I remembered when this source was unveiled to local teachers in on Stanford's campus. It was an evening presentation where Dr. Sam Wineburg delivered a 2 hour on the project to a packed classroom. The already prepared lessons are excellent and will lead to teachers and students viewing history through the lens of primary sources. This approach will lead to rich classroom discussions and that will boost the listening and speaking skills of ELLs. As the listening and speaking skills grow so do the reading and writing skills improve.
TEACHING STUDENTS TO THINK LIKE HISTORIANS
Here is the most recent video of students using Stanford's program. Notice how positive the students feel about their new self-confidence in tackling historical documents.
Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS
Please consider following me:)
ELLs have much to gain from this approach. With proper setup from the teacher in vocabulary (KEY academic as well as content but select words only) along with some background information necessary for those who may not have any prior knowledge in the subject area, the ELLs will be prepared to read, analyze, and discuss their findings with their team partners on an equal footing. Once the team has reached a consensus based on research, teams will address the demands of the assignment. Persuasive arguments have teeth with backed up by facts from documents written in the time when the event occurred. Students display an excitement in knowing that they can come to their own interpretations based on their understanding of original historical documents--nothing watered down or oversimplified. They discover that they can read challenging materials and enjoy the process. On the other hand, the textbook reports on events through a score of editors who bring to the text their own bias--it is human trait. It is not a primary resource.
READING LIKE AN HISTORIAN This link shows former struggling readers (ELLs and EOs) praising the new technique. They really felt enthusiastic about sharing their new insight into history. The benefits from this approach extended beyond history class as well in that they found that reading comprehension in all their non-elective classes improved. Their teachers noticed this same new found confidence in their students as well. They became more aware readers
75 LESSONS FOR READING LIKE AN HISTORIAN
I remembered when this source was unveiled to local teachers in on Stanford's campus. It was an evening presentation where Dr. Sam Wineburg delivered a 2 hour on the project to a packed classroom. The already prepared lessons are excellent and will lead to teachers and students viewing history through the lens of primary sources. This approach will lead to rich classroom discussions and that will boost the listening and speaking skills of ELLs. As the listening and speaking skills grow so do the reading and writing skills improve.
TEACHING STUDENTS TO THINK LIKE HISTORIANS
Here is the most recent video of students using Stanford's program. Notice how positive the students feel about their new self-confidence in tackling historical documents.
Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS
Please consider following me:)
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Primary Source Analysis and Common Core Standards in Social Studies 6th-10th Grade
With the arrival of the common core standards in social studies, students will need to be able to analyze the content of primary sources. Though I have included information on defining primary sources for students in an earlier post, this video by David Jones on VIMEO provides the big picture as to how these documents will be used in writing responses to document based essay questions.
The material addressed here is geared to students ages 12-15 (7th through 10th grades). David Jones does an amazing job at clarifying for teachers how to support students in analyzing primary sources to support their essay arguments. One theme that runs throughout is that teachers need to be careful in what they do to assist students in navigating this material. It can be tricky to do since often times many students (ELLs especially) are poor readers so leaving them to make sense of a document written 700 years ago is a challenge. Can teachers translate such documents for those students? No. If they do, their students will no longer be working with a primary source. This is a delicate balancing act it seems.
He also addresses grading by rubric with writing samples. This section is especially helpful to teachers since it provides a detailed view of what students understood and what they didn't. If students wonder what type of essay is required, they will need guidance from the teacher in putting their analysis on paper. Why not have students work with partners in analyzing their essays? Each one could use and erasable highlighter to select what he/she feels is a support in the partner's paper. If an error has been made, the highlighted section can be erased just leaving the original writing. David Jones provides a quick tutorial on writing in the video as well.
PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS LESSON
Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Incredible PRIMARY SOURCE for World History!
Queen Elizabeth II has offered the world access to Queen Victoria's journals online. This collection covers the years 1832 to her death in 1901. Included with the journals are drawings, sketches, photos, and more. The queen kept writing until she passed away.
Queen Victoria was on the throne from 1837 to 1901 and was Empress of India from 1877. In total, her surviving volumes number over 43,000 pages. This unique record covers the day to day routines and insights of a monarch in her reign over the world's largest empire in the 19th century.
What areas are specifically addressed throughout those 68 years? Culture, empire and exploration, military, politics and society, royal family, science and technology, and sport are all covered in great detail within. Use the timeline to search out specific details for any of those 7 areas.
If you searching for a specific month, day, and year, use the time index. If your world history is studying the British empire, you could assign different dates to students to research (or if they are familiar with the index, let them select the time periods most important to them in doing their research--PRIMARY SOURCE material).
If you wish students to explore science and technology, have them use the timeline to guide them or get them started. On the timeline, they will click on the icon associated with the area they wish to explore. For example, if they want to research scientific advancements over her reign, they would click on the light bulb icon over any year where it is visible (each year or months within a year highlight a new invention).
If you teach art, take a look at the section on her illustrations. It could easily be woven into any art appreciation class. Students could focus on how her skills evolved over time.
This is an overall recap of the online resource:
QUEEN VICTORIA'S JOURNALS
This link provides the overview of the journals:
INFORMATION ABOUT THE JOURNALS
Here you will find an index to all the journal entries:
TIME INDEX TO SEARCH FOR SPECIFIC DATES
Finally, here is an index to all of her drawings:
QUEEN VICTORIA'S ILLUSTRATIONS
As schools move to COMMON CORE STANDARDS in the coming year, the need to be to identify and use primary resources will be the focus of all the non-elective classes. Here is a primary source that spans English language, world history, science, art, and mathematics. It is a gem!
Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS
Queen Victoria was on the throne from 1837 to 1901 and was Empress of India from 1877. In total, her surviving volumes number over 43,000 pages. This unique record covers the day to day routines and insights of a monarch in her reign over the world's largest empire in the 19th century.
What areas are specifically addressed throughout those 68 years? Culture, empire and exploration, military, politics and society, royal family, science and technology, and sport are all covered in great detail within. Use the timeline to search out specific details for any of those 7 areas.
If you searching for a specific month, day, and year, use the time index. If your world history is studying the British empire, you could assign different dates to students to research (or if they are familiar with the index, let them select the time periods most important to them in doing their research--PRIMARY SOURCE material).
If you wish students to explore science and technology, have them use the timeline to guide them or get them started. On the timeline, they will click on the icon associated with the area they wish to explore. For example, if they want to research scientific advancements over her reign, they would click on the light bulb icon over any year where it is visible (each year or months within a year highlight a new invention).
If you teach art, take a look at the section on her illustrations. It could easily be woven into any art appreciation class. Students could focus on how her skills evolved over time.
This is an overall recap of the online resource:
QUEEN VICTORIA'S JOURNALS
This link provides the overview of the journals:
INFORMATION ABOUT THE JOURNALS
Here you will find an index to all the journal entries:
TIME INDEX TO SEARCH FOR SPECIFIC DATES
Finally, here is an index to all of her drawings:
QUEEN VICTORIA'S ILLUSTRATIONS
As schools move to COMMON CORE STANDARDS in the coming year, the need to be to identify and use primary resources will be the focus of all the non-elective classes. Here is a primary source that spans English language, world history, science, art, and mathematics. It is a gem!
Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS
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