 |
| from: http://aminecube.deviantart.com/art/who-am-i-251512536 |
As we begin another school year I’ve tried to rethink some
of my beginning of the year activities. I
have always felt it is important to expose students to the procedures and
routines that are expected within my classroom.
I also think it is essential for students to become comfortable in my
classroom, get to know each other and get to know me. This year I have tried to incorporate all of
these introductory activities into a lesson that allows students to begin
practicing skills that will commonly be used in the study of history while
being exposed to the idea of an inquiry-based approach to learning.
I think it is important to introduce students to the study
of history early in the year. This means
conveying to students the importance of approaching the study of history as a
historian would; piecing together primary sources to try to form a complete
picture of the past.
This year I developed an activity to try and combine these
objectives into an introductory activity.
This activity begins with a quick discussion of how we learn about
history.
Students usually respond by
stating that it comes from a book or from the internet.
Further prompting leads students to begin
listing things such as letters, diaries, documents, etc.
This opens up a discussion to explain the
difference between primary and secondary sources.
The differences between these two types of
sources can be further clarified by the video “
What is a Primary Source.”
The next phase of this lesson allows students to practice
analyzing primary sources in order to form a picture of the past and, in the
process, to get to know more about me as a person. Students are placed in cooperative learning
groups of 2-3 and each group is given a few primary sources that relate to various
aspects of my life. Some examples of the
types of sources I included are my high school diploma, one of my senior
pictures from high school showing the sports I was involved in, ticket stubs
from football games I attend, the program from my college graduation, my
diploma from my master’s degree, my first teaching contract, some of my
favorite books, pictures of my wife and kids, pictures of me camping and
canoeing with my family, and my wife’s school ID that shows she is also a
teacher.
Students work with their groups to analyze the primary
sources, completing a chart to record a description of each source and any
inferences that can be drawn from the source.
These inferences go beyond a mere
summary of the document to draw conclusions based on evidence from the
documents. These conclusions will help explain
something about me as a person. This
allows students practice analyzing sources and considering the significance of
each source in helping to explain the past.
After analyzing each source, students put together all of
their information and inferences to form a complete picture of me as a
person.
Groups will illustrate their
image of me by filling in an
outline
of a human body that represents me.
Students
are instructed to add clothing, accessories, or anything in the background to help
illustrate me as a person.
To promote a sense of community, each group is given a
chance to share their picture of me and explain to the class how they arrived
at their conclusions about me. Students
begin to feel like they know a little about me, but they are left with more
questions. After allowing students to
ask additional questions about me, we discuss the benefits and shortcomings of
primary sources in studying history.
Students have now had a chance to get to know a little about
me, so I transition into an activity that allows me to get to know each of
them.
Each student needs to determine
what is important about them as a person and brainstorm 5 primary sources that demonstrate
these aspects of their life.
Students do
not need to bring these sources to school, but rather just describe them in
writing.
Along with the description of
each source, students include an explanation of what someone could learn about
them by examining the source.
Lastly,
students complete a picture illustrating important things about them as a
person.
Much like the picture they made
of me, this will involve adding details to an
outline
of a human body.
This lesson worked very well to achieve the objectives I had
for an introductory activity. Students
gained experience working with primary sources on an inquiry-based activity,
they got to know a little about me as a person, they were introduced to some of
their classmates as they worked together, and they were exposed to the
procedures and routines I expect them to follow as we work in groups and
complete in class activities. I was also
able learn a little about each of them as they explain primary sources from
their lives and create a picture of themselves.
