What a week! A short week for me. Students returned from remote learning on Tuesday. These days are usually a cluster as the students are all on different pages coming off of remote learning. Some students do everything, some students do some, and some students do nothing. As a result, Tuesday was a catch up day.
As I mentioned in the last post, students are creating a character that is a Federalist or Democratic Republican and they write a blog criticizing presidential decisions. My website for the unit can be found here: New Republic Quest. This week shaped out like this:
Monday – no school, Martin Luther King Day
Tuesday – catch up day with a Gimkit
Wednesday – Quizizz, Frayer, Whiskey Rebellion Cybersandwich
Thursday – Quizizz, Content Compactor, Empathy Maps (I cannot share these 2 items because they are located on www.emc2learning.com)
Friday – High School scheduling related stuff from the school counselor.
Tuesday
Today was a remote learning catch up day. In my last post, I mentioned that 60% of my students complete everything, 20% completed half of the assignments, and 20% did nothing. On days like this, I use a Gimkit. The best Gimkit mode for a day like this is the Fishtopia mode. This mode works best because I can set it to run for 25 minutes or longer and it maintains students engagement.
While students are competing on Gimkit, other students can work on their missing work from remote learning. I can also focus on helping students while others are playing the Fishtopia mode. I know…..I know….this sounds great and fantastic. However, Gimkit stopped working throughout the day. So, plan B was put into effect. We closed Chromebooks and got out the games – Uno, Jenga, Apples to Apples, and Operation. It turned out to be a great day because many students completed work for Quest 1 while other simply had fun.
Wednesday
Today was an introduction to the Whiskey Rebellion. I don’t like to talk too much if it’s not necessary. So, I introduced the years of George Washington’s presidency and quickly mentioned how a group of farmers challenged the new government. This led into our next activity – the fast and curious Quizizz.
For the Quizizz, I created 9 questions about the Whiskey Rebellion all tied to the I can statements for the lesson. I ran the Quizizz at the beginning of class then gave some quick feedback. Students completed a Frayer and a CyberSandwich. Then Class ended with one more rep of the same Quizizz. Here are the results I tracked throughout the day along with a a side by side comparison of one class period.
After the first rep of the Quizizz, I had students Frayer the word, “Excise Tax.” Taxes are things many 8th graders don’t fully understand. I felt this word was important to understanding the Whiskey Rebellion. Students used the SEE IT model for the Frayer – state the definition, elaborate on the definition, list 3 examples, illustrate, and talk about it. Here is an example of a completed Frayer…
After 4 minutes and quick discussion, students jumped into the CyberSandwich. This was a quick 10 minute read and note taking, 3 minute Discuss, and a 5 minute summary. I had to shorten the discussion and summarizing pieces so we could get one more rep of the Quizizz in before class. We had a shortened class period. After the 2nd rep of the Quizizz, all students and class averages improved significantly. Here are some CyberSandwich examples:
Here is a quick grading tip for everyone – at the conclusion of a CyberSandwich, Sketch and Tell, or any type of writing piece, I have students copy and paste their summary into a Google Form and submit. This way I have all summaries in one space and don’t have to waste time clicking through Slides.
Thursday
The ultimate goal of this quest through the Whiskey Rebellion is to have students analyze the rebellion through the eyes of a Federalist or Democratic-Republican. How would people from these parties feel about the taxes? How would they feel about the farmers rebelling? How would they feel about the use of military force to end the rebellion? The best way to do that is with an Empathy Map from Emc2Learning.
With this lesson I wanted to do more than an Empathy Map so I began class with the same Quizizz. Every class raised their Quizizz class average from the previous day which was awesome! I followed the Quizizz with a great activity from EMC2Learning called the Content Compactor.
Before starting this activity, I had students look at their blog from Quest 1 to remind themselves of the political party they chose for their character. With the Content Compactor, I had students finding a quote from a reading that would show how their character would feel about the Whiskey Rebellion. Students then summarized the quote. Then they narrowed their summary down to 1 word. Here are some awesome examples:
The Content Compactor was great getting students into the mindset of their character. (There are reasons I do certain activities in certain orders. Everything is intentional and has a purpose.) I followed the Content Compactor with the Empathy Map where I had students think about what their character (Federalist or Democratic Republican) would hear, say, see, and think about the Whiskey Rebellion taxes, farmers rebelling, and use of force. This Empathy Map will help students complete a blog, Facebook Profile, or Yelp review for the final project for Quest 2. Here are some examples:
Moler's Musings 