Telling Stories and Seeing That Look!

When you ask a teacher "what is the best part of your job?"  You're likely to get an answer that attempts to convey the way it feels when a student finally grasps a concept they've been struggling with or some sort of "look" that a student gets when they surprise even themselves with what they are capable of doing.

Truth?

I rarely get that "look."

Not because students don't learn things or have success in my class.  They do.  But social studies isn't like math or science, where kids really need to focus, study, and practice to grasp new concepts. There are very few "Ah-hah moments." 

I have always thought social studies was more about the "social" part and not as much the study. Many times it can be confused with just learning about important events and memorizing dates.  But to me it's more than that.  Social studies is about the people.  The stories of the people who lived through, participated in, and impacted these events that we study.

Today my 7th graders got to hear stories.  Stories of a man who was a captain during World War II, a jeweler who designed jewelry for a princess, a family man who liked to fish and do impulsive things, and part of the "history" we all study.  

And got "that look."  The look of complete awe and amazement at finally coming to realize the important connections that are made by looking into our past.  

This lesson is called The REAL History in a Bag.  It is the finale (or kick-off, depending on how I organize things each year) to my Training Future Historians introduction.  The previous class period had the students participate in a History in a Bag - Teacher Edition, which I wrote about here.  That was practice.  

Today students would be challenged to analyze five artifacts that belonged to an individual that died over 40 years ago.  By studying the artifacts the students should be able to answer these questions...

1. Was the owner of these items male or female?
2. What was his/her name?
3. Where did he/she live?
4. What did he/she do for a living?
5. What were some of his/her hobbies?

The artifacts were set out at four different stations.  I held one back to give out for the end.  Students were divided into groups and sent with an artifact analysis sheet and set off to study the sources.  

They are...

1. Jewelry

2. Letters

3. Tackle Box

4. Sewing Box

 Finally once the little historians were through each of the 4 artifacts, I passed out the last one.  A newspaper article.  I save this one for last for two reasons.  One, it is longer and would take longer to go through than the other stations.  Two, it gives most of the answers to the above questions.

After giving them some time with the newspaper article, I ask them if they can answer all 5 questions.  They can.

And then I get to tell the story of Paul A. Lohmeyer.

1. Jewelry:  Mr. Lohmeyer was President of the Green Company Inc.  He made these two pieces out of a thimble cut in half and dipped in gold.  The flowers were old tie pins that men used to wear to hold their ties in place on their shirts.  These pins were a gift for his wife.

2.One of my favorites!  Mr. Lohmeyer had many high profile clients.  He designed and sold a charm to Princess Grace of Monaco, more popular in the U.S. for her movie films such as "To Catch a Thief."  Grace Kelly.  This is the thank you letter she sent him.  **At the start of class I showed a short video clip that was a brief biography of Princess Grace. They are too young to know who she was.  This gave them some background knowledge. Watching the students try to figure out the signature was great!  .

3. The tackle box:  No real mystery to this one.  Paul liked to fish in his free time.  One of his hobbies.  He had a collection of antique fishing lures that I didn't have for the kids to look at today.

4. The Sewing box:  Mr. Lohmeyer also served in the Army during World War Two.  He raised to the rank of Captain and was placed in charge of a German Prisoner of War Camp.  His treatment of the prisoners respectful and fair.  To thank Captain Lohmeyer, the POW's made this box for him.  Without tools.  The screws were inserted with a can lid.  Even some of the pieces were fashioned out of a can.  

 5. The Newspaper Article:   Mr. Lohmeyer stopped off at an animal auction one day, just for the fun of it.  With all the bidding excitement he joined right in and ended up buying a Hampshire Lamb, and taking it home in the back seat of his car (can you imagine his wife when he got home???)  The lamb lived in his back yard and his two daughters would walk the lamb on a leash up and down their suburban street.  The neighbors must have been entertained!

The Conclusion:

Mr. Lohmeyer bought that lamb in October of 1967, little over a year later on December 3, 1968 he was killed in a car accident on his way home.  He was 55 years old.  This picture is a school photo of his youngest daughter in 7th grade, less than a year after he died.  Her name is Julie.

And then I move to the last slide of the presentation.  A picture of Julie today.  And I wait.  I don't say a word.  I just watch them and wait for...that look!

You see...I, along with my sister, is pictured standing here with Julie.  My sister also teaches at the school, so these kids are familiar with her.  It doesn't take them too long to put it all together...

WAIT!  So you're related to her?!?  That makes Paul Lohmeyer your grandpa!  

Yep.  

Stories people...hook your students with stories.  Tell them about the people who lived through these dates and events that shaped our country.  Because it is in the people and their stories that real history lives. 

History in a Bag - Teacher Edition

This activity is part of my "Training Future Historians" Boot-Camp to prepare incoming 7th graders of the changes they need to make in order to analyze history instead of just read about it.  History in a Bag is something I have done before, but this year I changed it up some.

Change is good.  I truly believe that allowing for the possiblity of change to even some of my best activities have opened up the possiblity for those to become even better.  Sharing and collaborating with my PLN on Twitter has provided major ideas that require minor adjustments and create awesome learning opportunities for kids.

This minor adjustment came from @Iola_L4Ri and his take on the lesson idea called History in a Bag.  (Click here for the version from @Iola_L4Ri and click here for the original idea from Glenn Wiebe's History Tech blog)  The idea was just too good to pass up!

*************
About a week ago I sent out an email to the teachers in the middle school asking for their help.  I was hoping to get 5-6 people to agree.  I had TEN!  Just goes to show how AWESOME the staff here is at supporting each other and the things we do in the classroom!

The purpose of this activity is to have my students put into practice those historical thinking skills they've been learning about.  This allows for students to identify, analyze, corroborate and contextualize artifacts, make a conclusion and support it with evidence.  It is an awesome thinking activity that engaged every single one of the students today.

I paired up my students, gave them a record-keeping chart and sent them off to their first station.

The conversation throughout the day was fantastic!

"Mrs. Weber, this is hard, but I like the challenge."

"I think I know this one, but I'm not sure the other artifacts support my idea."

"Ohhh...this bag has to belong to a female.  Look at the name on the dog-tag, we don't have any teachers here by that name, so that means she must be married and have a different last name." - - WOW!

"This one is belongs to a girl, I know it because the t-shirt size is medium and that's too small for any of our guy-teachers."

"This one could be the band teacher, but the pretty cross is from the Methodist church which is my church, the band teacher doesn't go to my church, so it must be someone else who plays the drums."

This was such a great day in class and I'm so proud of the way my 7th graders worked!  They were all mad when I told them they had to wait until next week to find out the answers!  I gotta have them wanting to come back!

Plus...this is just the "warm-up."  The REAL History in a Bag is next Tuesday, and THAT is something to see!

Debating, Creating, and Having a Say

I have about a million things I should be doing.  My to-do list is getting a little scary.  BUT today was just too great for me to sit down and work on sub plans.  I am so pumped with the way this activity worked out today that I have probably told everyone I've seen.

I have 3 blocks of 8th grade students.  We meet for about 75 minutes every-other-day.  Last class period we reviewed the Legislative branch and the steps it takes for a bill to become law by utilizing some awesome Kagan strategies, sequencing cards, and the classic "I'm just a Bill" video from Schoolhouse Rock.  It was a great day full of movement, teamwork, and songs stuck in everyone's head.  But it was just a warm-up for today.

Today is the real deal.  Today the 8th graders had the opportunity to create my classroom policies for the school year.  Their ideas will become "law" if they are able to complete the steps, complete with the fear of a Presidential Veto (I get to be the President!) and the possibility of overriding that veto.

I divide the class into a small group for the Senate and a larger group for the House of Representatives.  I provide them a proposed bill filled with 10 rules for Mrs. Weber's classroom.  They work in their separate houses to revise and create their own version of the bill.  They do have to stick to the "theme" of each 10 laws that were presented.   I do this mostly based on time.  I need to give them a starting point.  If I just give them a blank piece of paper to start from scratch, they'll never get done (at least not in the one class period time limit that I give them).

Once each group has their rules created, they come together for a joint session of Congress.  Each house presents their version of the bill to the other.

Then they get to debate.  They have to come up with a compromised bill to vote on and present to the President.  They have to consider each others ideas.

But here's what made today awesome!  One of the three blocks did not pass their laws.  And not because they ran out of time...because the vote count in the Senate was not a majority.  In fact, not one senator voted for the proposed bill.  They were mad because they didn't feel like the "compromised" bill included enough of their ideas.  They refused to vote for a bill that was controlled mostly by the House of Representatives.

I. LOVE. IT.

Kids walked away from class M-A-D.  From both houses.  The Senators stuck to their guns and their reasons for refusing to pass that bill and the lead vocalists of the House just couldn't understand why the Senate would refuse to pass it.

It doesn't get much more "real-life" than that!

Oh but wait... it does.

The two previous class periods who were successful in passing the laws added a BONUS law to their list. These kids added a "special interest" rule onto their bill.  They participated in pork-barrel politics without even realizing it!

I. LOVE. IT.

And last but not least they argued and debated over many of the same topics in education that teachers face today.

• Should there be a seating chart, yes or no. The arguments they had for and against were the exact same ones teachers make.
• Should they get to leave class for bathroom breaks, how many is acceptable, is it anyone's business, can they be trusted to just go when they need and come back without "permission."
• Should they have detentions AND a % taken off assignments for late work?  What is the purpose of detention, punishment or a place to get the work done?  Should they still have to serve a detention if the late work is completed before the scheduled detention? 
• Should an assessment at the end of a unit consist of a test or project, what about student choice?
• What happens to papers without names? 

I just loved watching these kids in action today.  And yes, I had to calm them down a couple times, I had to encourage some who were sitting back and keeping quiet to speak up, and I had to flat out say "that will NOT happen" once or twice.  

In the end they were successful.  I will be presenting a combination of 1st and 2nd block rules to all of my classes next week.  

Seriously...kids have good ideas.  Allow them the time to debate, create and have a say...you may just be surprised!  The following laws are a combination of the two classes who successfully passed their laws.

#11 is their "special interest" law.  They wanted a way to have some choice in where they sit.

As President, I did sign these into law.  I didn't feel that I needed to veto anything because their ideas were reasonable.  And...we ran out of time. :) 

Training Future Historians

This is a long post, mostly because I tried to give a good view of what my class looks like the first few days, but also because I included pictures.  

Each school year I start with a new crop of 7th graders who I know are about to experience Social Studies in a completely different way.  In my classroom...

• There is no textbook to lug around.  We use one periodically, but rarely.  I keep a class set in the room.
• Very few, if any, multiple choice questions.  A lot more writing.
• Less and less "worksheets."  A lot of collaboration with peers.  
• More projects.  Technology integrated into the subject.  
• Every day vocabulary such as primary sources, contextualize, corroborate, bias, artifacts, inference.
• Questions that don't have one right answer.  Having to defend their answers with evidence.
• And learning to "Think like historians."

This takes training.  Students don't just come in knowing how to do this.  I take a good amount of time at the beginning of the year introducing my students to the process of historical thinking.  This is what I do...

Day 1:
Discussion about sources.  Primary vs. Secondary sources.  Sometimes there is a student who knows the difference, but they are in the vast minority.  We explore the difference between primary and secondary sources and talk about what it means to infer..  We brainstorm the different types of primary sources.  I have done this differently every year, usually by Googling "primary and secondary source lesson plans" and piecing together what works for me.  This year, I came up with these which were mostly taken from this lesson plan.

These are recorded in a notebook that is my take on an interactive notebook.  I call them HIT (Historians In Training) books.  These books are used to collect information from a variety of sources and determine the accuracy of that information.  (Click here for a post that goes into more detail on my HIT books).

Day 2:
Application of the discussion from day 1.  I usually have a variety of stations (10-12) that have either scenarios or actual objects for students to travel to, in pairs, and decide if it is a primary or secondary source.  The scenarios often come from the powers of Google.  The process of students moving through stations is a teaching strategy that I use OFTEN.  Such a great way to get kids up and moving, AND have them experience a variety of things in one class period.

This year I had 10 stations, each with a scenario card that they pasted into their HIT book and selected whether it was a primary or secondary source.

**The scenarios and base lesson plan I used for inspiration can be found here

Day 3:
Historical Thinking Day.  Students learn some big words today.  Sourcing.  Contextualize.  Corroboration.  Close Reading.  I am a huge fan of SHEG (Stanford History Education Group) and their website.  They have so many awesome lesson plans for teachers to use.  I am a frequent flier on their site!

I created these posters using PowerPoint, printed them off and laminated them together for the students to use.  The information for these posters comes from SHEG and Gilder-Lehrman (another go-to website for social studies teachers!)  Students are placed into 4 teams.  Each group spends time with each term and students are required to fill out the charts about each word based on the information they discover.  These charts are then cut out and pasted into their HIT notebooks.  We have a brief whole-class discussion on the terms and I talk about how important it is to start with "sourcing."

And we move on to an exercise in sourcing.  I call it "All Sources are not Created Equal."  Again, the premise for this activity comes from SHEG.  I took their idea and made a few changes.  I create 6 different "Historical Questions" and then provide two types of sources.  Students have to identify which sources are the most reliable based on the question.  These are set up as different stations.  Working in teams and rotating through stations, kids fill out these charts and paste them in the HIT notebooks.

**The point of today's lesson is to teach them that just because something is a primary source, it doesn't mean that it is truly accurate.  By this point, my 7th graders think that a primary source is GOLD and cannot be wrong.  This activity attempts to have them detect bias. I will have to refer back to this activity throughout the year.  They LOVE primary sources!

Day 4:
Lunchroom Fight Part I and II

**Both of these are taken directly from SHEG**  Click this link to create an account and access the lesson plan. (You'll be glad you did!)  I made no changes to this one.  The kids love it!  BONUS...it may help provide a little empathy for the tough job Principals have when it comes to figuring out who to discipline when disputes happen!

Day 5-6ish (depending on the unforeseen variables that tend to "pop up" at the beginning of the year:
History in a Bag.  This is without a doubt my FAVORITE lesson of the whole Historical Thinking Training that I do at the beginning of the year.  I split this up into two different days.  Usually PART 1 won't take an entire class period for me (75 minute classes), so I'll tack it on to the end of the previous one.  You can read the entire lesson for PART 1 by clicking here.

Part 2 is really the one to get to.  The shortened version is that I fill a tub with primary sources that all center around one person.  Students analyze the artifacts and are able to determine who the person was, what he/she did for a living, where he/she lived, and some of his/her hobbies.  Plus, there is a fun secret fact they figure out by the end of the day.  The kiddos mention this each year as one of their favorites!  Read the lesson for PART 2 here.

And there you have it.  A new crop of 7th graders who have been trained in the art of historical thinking.  They will spend the remainder of the year using the skills they learn in these first 5 to 6 days of my class.

**I do work in a middle school that uses a block schedule, so my class periods are about 75 minutes long.  Each day can be split into two traditional 50 minute classes.  There is definitely room for cross-over between days and time to add it technology "how-tos" that are necessary at the beginning of the year.  Flexible is the way to be!**

Teachers reading this, or saving it to read for later, feel free to steal, borrow, copy, and use whatever you want.  Don't hesitate to comment or contact me through Twitter (@JillWebs) if you have questions!

Olympic Inspiration

I love the Olympics.  I join millions of people waiting for the latest news on athletic triumphs, upsets, and records.  But it's more than just entertainment.  Each time the Olympics is on, we are give stories of inspiration.  People who do extraordinary things to reach long-held goals.

I think my favorite story to come out of Rio so far is Michael Phelps winning the silver medal.

Wait a minute Mrs. Weber...your favorite story is one of 2nd place??

Yup.

Michael Phelps is someone who can teach us a lot about perseverance, attitude, drive, and the list can go on.  He has been controversial, but I can bet you that if each of our lives were played out in front of the nation, ours would be just as controversial.  That's not my point of this story anyway.

My point is inspiration.

You see, Michael Phelps was awarded the silver medal in the 100m Butterfly because he was beat by Joseph Schooling of Singapore.  Schooling is a long-time fan of Phelps.  So much so, that he had his picture taken with the star swimming before the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Photo Credit: The Telegraph

I just love it.

Michael Phelps was so inspiring to this young boy in 2008, that he eventually grew up to better Phelps in his signature event.

Wow.

In my opinion, this is the story of the year.  This is the story to use in your classrooms.

Be so awesome.  Be so great.  Be so inspiring that you inspire someone to become better than you! 


If imitation is the best form of flattery, then let's try to imitate awesome!  Whether you teach Kindergarten, High School Band, Chemistry, or coach a sport.  You see, teachers have a unique opportunity.  We have the chance to touch thousands of lives throughout our career.  How awesome would it to be so inspiring to young people, that together we help create a world filled with the best!

H.I.T. Notebooks: A Different take on Interactive Notebooks

BLOG UPDATE: So many people have contacted me for the resources I have for my HIT notebooks. I am more than happy to share what I have... Please click HERE for the link to the Google Folder. This is what I have made and it is yours to use (please do not try to sell it). I have changed jobs this last year and don't have access at the moment to anything other than this folder. I hope this helps keep up with the interest in a timely fashion! 

I used Interactive Notebooks in my social studies class for eight years.  The majority of the students loved them.  I had a serious love/hate relationship with them.  After taking a long look at the pros and cons of the books and my current curriculum, I decided not to continue with the interactive notebooks last year.

While I found a relief not having to keep up with the grading of 60+ notebooks, there was something missing from my class.  I had a number of kids ask me why we weren't doing them anymore, and others who were disappointed that the "hands on" cutting, pasting, and creativity was replaced with more writing assignments.  I felt guilty that my answer was "because I just couldn't keep up with all the grading."

That got me thinking on ways that I could bring the interactive notebooks back without having all the copious grading that went with it.  I talked with our language arts teacher, who uses her interactive notebooks as tool to keep materials and doesn't grade it at all.  I liked that idea.

But I wanted more.  I wanted a way to hold kids accountable.  I wanted them to take pride in the organization and appearance of the book.  And, most of all, I wanted it to be used as something more than a storage device.  I want it to be something they will reference throughout the year.

The Idea:
Then an idea started to take form.  An idea to use the notebook more like a detective's note book when trying to solve a crime.

So this year, we have:  Historian In Training Notebook, or HIT books. (HIT is a cool name for a middle school activity, right? )

The HIT notebook will be designed as sort of a history detective notebook that we'll use to identify historical thinking techniques, analyze primary sources, keep information over specific historical questions, and refer back to skills learned throughout the year.

A few examples of pages ...

8th Grade book.  Pages 6 and 7 -- Review from last year on how to think like a historian.

8th Grade book.  Choosing between two sources as to which is more accurate.  Pages 8-9

7th Grade HIT Book. An introduction into primary and secondary sources.

7th Grade book.  Application of primary or secondary sources.  

The Grading.
This was the difficult part, but I will admit, it is the part I'm most looking forward to seeing how it turns out.  The grading will be all self-assessed by the student themselves.  The reason for this is really two-fold.  1.) It adds in some of the evaluation piece for the students.  They MUST be familiar with the rubric and hopefully start to recognize what "quality" work looks like.  2.)  To make the grading process for me more simple.  The kids are still held responsible for the work, but I don't have to collect and score 130 notebooks!

I created a standard rubric that can be used for each section of the HIT book. (And each grade...) This gets pasted at the start of each separate section of the book.

A very basic rubric that can be used for all grade levels and content units.

When it comes time for their self-evaluations students may reference my book as an example of what "3" scores should include.

Ready for the best part?  Students then briefly meet with me to discuss their self-assessment and explain their reasoning.  We'll discuss what they did well in the book and what they could improve on in the next section.  At the very end, to earn the last point, students must tie something in their book to P.R.I.D.E. our school's core values. (PRIDE stands for Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Dependability, and Empathy).

I believe this will be a way to give me the things I loved about using interactive notebooks as well as combat some of the issues I had with grading.  I am excited to see how the student-self-assessments will look and the skills that my kids will gain throughout the year.

Welcome to Mrs. Weber's History Class!

I used to want to be Indiana Jones.  Seriously.  I even met with the guidance counselor my Freshman year of high school to find out what I needed to do and where I needed to go to college to make this happen.  As I was sifting through the pamphlets he gave me that I realized Dr. Jones spent the majority of his time researching in the library and not actually out exploring ancient ruins.  Boring! That's not what I wanted.  I wanted to "do history,"  not read about it.

So naturally I decided to be a history teacher, right??  Well, not exactly.  But that's another story for another day.

Now that I am a history teacher, I attempt to try to create a classroom that allows my students to "do history."  To experience history in a different way while incorporating hands on activities (that are inspired by Indiana Jones), incorporating technology, and changing the way they think about what "history" is.  I consider myself very lucky to be working in a school district that allows me the freedom to make the class "my own" and try new and different ways to learn.

So, for the parents of the kiddos about to enter my room, it will be different.  It won't be the social studies classroom that you remember growing up.  Hopefully your child will come home telling you more about their day than the old standby, "it was fine."  They may love it.  They may find it difficult at first.  That's OK.  And if they don't??  Follow me on Instagram (@jillwebs) and Facebook (Jill Weber-cms) for updates and links to this blog that tell about our days.

For the Students who are about to walk through my doors.  Be ready.  Be ready to think differently.  Be ready for challenging questions that don't necessarily have a right or wrong answer.  Be ready to choose a side, support your answer with evidence, and write.  Be ready to work with a team to gather evidence and then complete tasks on your own.  Be ready to have an opinion about what and how you like to learn. You have choices in my classroom and I will listen to your suggestions.  That doesn't mean I drop everything to do whatever you want, but if you have a something you enjoy...tell me.  We'll see if we can't figure out a way to squeeze it in.

Most importantly, be ready to DO History!