The Digital Broadside
News You Can Use
CRC Kids from Wilder at the Richmond Symphony
Twitter: Your Best Source for Everything
Last Monday, I participated in my first #sschat on Twitter for a long time. I forgot how great they are for learning. They are each Monday night at 7pm. Just log in to Twitter and search on #sschat.
If you've never done one, here's how it works:
- Someone has been designated as the moderator. Last night, it was someone from iCivics.
- They will first introduce themselves and ask others to do the same.
- Then they'll ask the first questions, each night is usually 4 or 5 questions. So you'll see, Q1 ... and the question...
- Those in the chat will respond with A1 #sschat and then give an answer. If you're on the #sschat search page, all you'll see are answers. The rest of the Twitter world is filtered out.
- You'll see answers from around the world. Some are ok, but others will inspire you. If that happens, "favorite it" or retweet it.
- Soon, you'll see that someone will have done that to one of your responses.
- Then after about 10 minutes, Question 2 will pop up
This is a great way to meet new teachers from around the world. The connections you can make are invaluable. It's free PD, done at home, and you can even do it while your spouse thinks you're listening to them (shhh!)
Below, you can actually see the whole conversation.
Depth of Knowledge
Webb's Depth of Knowledge is another way to think about critical thinking in the classroom. There's even applications for Social Studies that can help. And this. When it comes to students asking higher order questions themselves, the picture below is a handy tool.
Instructional Planner: A/U/T
This is in Stage 1 of the Instructional Planner. Generally, it means:
Acquire: What do students need to learn? Meaning, what is the content you are teaching. If it's an SOL class, then the content from the framework is all you need.
Understand: What do students need to understand? How do they make meaning of this? Partial help can come from the Essential Understandings column or connections they should make with the content.
Transfer: How will students connect with the content. What historical thinking skills will they use? How will it relate to today's world.
The other day I saw the IB Planner and they broke down A/U/T like this:
Acquire: What's factual?
Understand: What's conceptual?
Transfer: What's debatable
If thinking about A/U/T like this helps you, use it. If not, stick with what you've been doing.
2015 SOLs are Here
The SOLs are still being commented on for change. Ideally, the summer of 2015 is when we'll see a final draft of the Curriculum Framework. Testing on the new SOLs will begin during the 2016-2017 school year.
Co-Teaching in Social Studies
As I observe this year, I am purposefully seeking out classes with co-teachers. One thing I want to see is how the co-teaching experience is unique to the Social Studies classroom. Recently, I found this article that describes co-teaching in specific classroom settings.
Scroll to:
- Page 264 for Middle School Social Studies
- Page 265 for High School World History
Sharing|Drop-a-thon
The first rule is, "Share everything."
As Social Studies teachers in Henrico County, this should be especially true. We all have too much on our plate, so recreating the wheel can waste time. Last year I created a Dropbox account to help us gather good instructional material that we can all share and use. Basically, the rule was: Add stuff. Borrow stuff.
The folders are more organized with specific SOLs. This summer, some of the folders got cleaned up, but it still needs more work.
So please start adding to and using the Dropbox. And don't just add upcoming things. Add instructional materials for second semester, too.
We are low on Civics and Government resources, as well as 11th Grade US History. Right now we have 3.4 gigs of material in the site. For some reason, they don't count items, just size. But it started at zero.
Please add test banks, unit tests, reviews, handouts. It DOES NOT need Instructional Planners.
Teacher Opportunities
Best Book Ever: Cheap!
Bill of Rights Institute
Join the Bill of Rights Institute for five days of enriching professional development in Washington, D.C. This program will give attendees the opportunity to read and discuss the primary source documents surrounding the Constitutional Conference. Attending teachers will participate in scholar-lead round table discussions as well as visit historic sites in the area.
Eligibility: Social Studies teachers of grades 7-12.
They have two programs:
Program Overview:
- Lodging, transportation during the program, and most meals will be covered by the Institute.
- A $400 travel stipend will be provided at the conclusion of the program.
- Participants will be responsible for arranging their own transportation to and from the program sites.
Application Requirements:
- All applicants must complete the online application form.
- Applicants will be notified if they have been accepted to the program by mid-April.
- All applications must be submitted by 11:59 PM EST on March 15, 2015. For questions, please contact: events@BillofRightsInstitute.org
Echoes and Reflections
At the end of the day, each teacher will receive a 10 lesson curriculum book from Echoes and Reflections, a $99 value.
If you're interested, please fill out this form.
There is limited seating for this and teachers from Chesterfield, Hanover, Richmond, and Powhatan have been invited.
Be a Historian!
The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (CHNM) at George Mason University is pleased to announce Hidden in Plain Sight, an asynchronous, online U.S. history course for teachers. The course was developed with funding from the Virginia Department of Education.
Participants in this course work through eight modules. Requirements in each module include writing a hypothesis, exploring historical context, and reflecting on classroom applications. The cost is $40.
Register by January 16, 2015
The Abolitionists at the VHS
See Freedom Speak
High School Student Seminars (by online registration only, two students and one teacher per school) – Day-long instructional activity for students and teachers to gain accurate knowledge, discuss events and engage in conversations with people who were present at history changing events in America. Free.
February 4 (Wednesday) - Vietnam - Lessons Learned
Guest Speaker: BG John “Jack” W. Nicholson, USA (Ret.) – former Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission and Vietnam Silver Star Recipient
March 18 (Wednesday) - World War II Round table
Guest Speaker: Peter Bacque - Army veteran and Staff Writer for the Richmond Times Dispatch along with WW II veterans
Instructional Ideas
#sschat Night Resource #1
iCivics, the host for last Monday night's #sschat shared their updated Drafting Board. This tool isn't just for Civics, but can help students craft arguments for writing. See the video below. Here's the link.
#sschat night resource #2
#sschat night resource #3
- A Google Doc, not sure where it comes from
- From History Tech, writing prompts linked with Blooms
#sschat night resource #4
Digital Exit Tickets
This was one of the themes of the October Staff Development Day: Using 21st Century tools for Formative Assessment so you can informally assess EVERY student.
A simple Formative Assessment tool I saw in an Orlando school recently can be done with a simple Google Form, like this one.
Using this form, you can quickly gauge where your students are in the learning. Use it consistently enough, and it will become a more successful tool for you.
Student Created Timelines
Students just need a Google account, which they all have, and content.
Below is a quick tutorial on how to do this. If you have your kids use this tool, let me know!
PDF Maps at your Fingertips
Just go to the Software Center and download... easy. These are maps for:
- 6th grade US History
- 7th grade US History
- World History 1
- World History 2
- US History
Students can also download these maps. once downloaded, you won't need the Internet. You can also print them out or use them on your Smart Board.
World Digital Library
The World Digital Library hosts more than 10,000 primary documents and images from collections around the world. Sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the mission of the World Digital Library is to promote the study and understanding of cultures. The WDL can be searched by date, era, country, continent, topic, and type of resource.
Government Lessons
12 Years a Slave
Again, if you don't get weekly news from Glenn, you're missing out.
Trivia and Other Balderdash
Trivia 2014 - 2015: Teachers- 2 and Me- 4
This week: For two weeks, I asked: If you retest or re-quiz a student, do you average the grades or give the higher grade?
Of 20 responses, the winner was "Give the better of two grades." There were 5 other options, which were:
- Don't retest or requiz
- Follow the county policy of major tests of 65% max (4 variations of this)
County policy is a 65% max for a re-take. Which means, if you're not re-testing, your going against county policy. Re-quizzing can be whatever grade you want, if you choose to allow students to make up quizzes.
I can go on a huge rant about this, especially the idea of not allowing retests or a re-quiz, but this isn't the place. I'd only say, if you don't allow a re-test, then there probably shouldn't be any excuses for a student not showing growth.
Next Week: Teachers win by proving they participated in Monday night, 7pm, #sschat.
History in the News
- Nothing specific this week, but maybe a lot of set up for the next few months. It appears that the Supreme Court may take up the issue of same sex marriage after ignoring it a few weeks ago. And it seems like the ACA will come up for a second time.
- It will be interesting to see if the same sex marriage ruling will be based on the idea of same sex marriage, or how citizens vote in propositions give to them.
- This time, the ACA case will focus on the Federal role in the state exchange system.
TeacherFit
One part of life that does make things easier is our smart phone. Nearly everyone has one, and there are apps to help make keeping healthy easier.
I have started using one called, Human. It's pretty simple and free. The goal of Human is to get you to move at least 30 minutes a day. Once you download and register, you don't even have to turn it on. It just runs automatically. Most other health apps you have to launch for it to start tracking your activity. Human rewards you with 30, 60, and 90 minute achievements and keeps very detailed data about what you did.
Another app is called, 7 Minutes. This is another free app that works your muscles in just 7 minutes. You don't need machines, just 7 minutes. Surely you have 7 minutes.
There are more, in fact, lots more. Check them out.
Contact Information
Email: mjhasley@henrico.k12.va.us
Website: blogs.henrico.k12.va.us/mjhasley
Location: 3820 Nine Mile Road, Richmond, VA, United States
Phone: 804 652-3752
Twitter: @MikeHasley