molersmusings

The Week That Was In 234

As educators, we are always seeking new ways to make learning meaningful and engaging for our students. This week, my social studies class embarked on a journey to explore the power of stories hidden within artifacts and primary sources. From deciphering the tales behind everyday objects to connecting local history with broader historical themes, our activities aimed to deepen students’ understanding and appreciation of the past. Through a combination of hands-on lessons, creative exercises, and critical thinking challenges, we explored how seemingly simple items can reveal complex narratives about our lives and the world around us. This blog post chronicles our week of discovery, highlighting the strategies, successes, and lessons learned along the way.

Monday – Sources

Tuesday – Sourcing Thick Slide Lesson

Wednesday – 5 Themes of Geography Thin Slide

Thursday – Resource Rumble

Friday – Thick Slide Assessment

Monday

This week, we continued our lesson from Dan Lewer on making sense of artifacts and primary sources, focusing on the stories these sources might tell us. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to begin class with the Town Dump Lesson. I asked the kids, “Does everything have a story?” Initially, they looked puzzled, unsure how to answer. To help them understand, I shared some examples of random objects that might seem meaningless to them but hold stories for me. For instance, I have a globe in my room. When I ask, “Why do I have this globe?” they typically respond, “Because you teach social studies.” While this is true, I explain that the story they don’t know is that it belonged to a colleague of mine who passed away during the middle of the school year. It reminds me of her, which is why I kept it. I then pointed to the student notes on my wall, explaining, “I have these notes because each one tells a story of an impact or time I had with those students.”

Next, I read the story The Town Dump and highlighted how objects in the dump tell the story of the town and its people, much like the artifacts from Dan Lewer’s primary source lesson tell a story about teenage life in 2024. I asked the students to think of an object or artifact they possess that tells a story about them, something they have held onto because it has meaning. After spending 15–20 minutes on this exercise, we finished the lesson on primary sources. I had the students use their descriptions, inferences, and questions to create two claims about teenage life in 2024. I included a 2xCER template on the paper I gave them because they were familiar with the format from the previous week. This was also an effort to incorporate general writing practice into my class. We concluded the class with a Gimkit about the states, where each question featured a picture of a state, and the students had to choose the correct answer. I noticed that our class average was stagnating at 65–70%, so I knew we needed to try something new.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, we started class with the same Gimkit from the previous day. This time, however, I gave the students a blank map of the United States. If they got a state wrong, I had them pause, locate the state on the map, and label it. I also mentioned that I expected a 90% class average by the end of the week, and I would be taking it for a score. Following the Gimkit, I introduced the concept of sourcing to the students. We began with a Frayer model for the word “sourcing.” I’ve been trying to incorporate the use of context clues to help create definitions for words, but the students are really struggling with this skill. I also included “two questions you would ask when sourcing” and examples of “good sources” and “bad sources.”

I took a screenshot of my Frayer, uploaded it to ChatGPT, and had it create a quick, one-paragraph reading to help the students fill in the Frayer boxes. I linked the reading to the Frayer. Afterward, I created an Annotate and Tell activity with some quick newspaper advertisement snippets and related questions. However, I soon realized that I was overwhelming the students with too much information. I wanted the focus to be on reading a secondary source newspaper article about the history of their community, Batavia, Ohio. So, during the second half of the day, I replaced the Annotate and Tell with an 8pArts sourcing template.

The main part of the lesson involved reading an article about the Batavia Bicentennial and creating a thick slide. I used the 8pArts template to guide students in practicing sourcing and breaking down a document. The template included a three-word title, content, contextualizing, sourcing, and communication (author’s purpose). I provided the Batavia Bicentennial article to the students and asked them to scan the article’s title and headings to predict its content by creating a three-word title. We then sourced the article, discussing who the author was and when it was written. We also contemplated why it was written—to celebrate the bicentennial of Batavia.

Once we completed these steps, it was time to read the article. I asked the students how long they thought it should take to read it. Answers varied from 10 minutes to as little as 2 to 3 minutes. I informed them that it should take about 3 minutes, which surprised some and relieved others. Many students tend to overestimate reading time and shut down before they even start. After reading, the students listed three interesting facts under the content/details section. Finally, we contextualized the information and determined it was about Batavia’s Bicentennial. I explained the term bicentennial, breaking down the word into “bi,” meaning two, and “centennial,” meaning 100, to help them understand.

In the middle of the 8Parts template was a space to summarize, but I instructed them to create a Thick Slide as their summary. On the Thick Slide, students included three interesting facts from the 8pArts template, a picture with a caption, and a title. We also reviewed the concept of continuity, a word we studied last week. I asked them to find and list an example of continuity from Batavia, and some identified that Batavia has been the county seat since 1824—great stuff! I also had them list two events that took place in Batavia in 1828 and 1877 and find two other events that occurred in the United States during the same years. Finally, they wrote a topic sentence that captured the main idea of their slide, reinforcing our focus on understanding the main idea.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we focused on the Five Themes of Geography using a Thin Slide activity. Instead of reading about the Five Themes, I decided to use a simple Thin Slide format. Initially, I attempted this on Google Slides, but halfway through the day, I switched to Padlet. I originally created a five-slide deck for each student, but I wanted to switch to Padlet so they could see each other’s ideas.

On Padlet, I set up five columns, one for each theme of geography: location, movement, place, region, and human interaction. I had the students relate these themes to Cincinnati. For example, they shared a city or state near Cincinnati and explained its relative location. Another example was how people in Cincinnati have interacted with and adapted to the Ohio River. Students shared one picture and one word or phrase for each theme, with a time limit of three minutes per theme. After completing the Thin Slides, the students created a personalized geography page where they added their favorite climate, a country they always wanted to visit, their favorite geographical feature, and more. We wrapped up the class with another round of Gimkit on the states, and this time, we achieved over 80% in each class, showing marked improvement.

Thursday

We began Thursday’s class with students finishing their personalized geography pages from the previous day, using the first 15 minutes of class to do so. Next, we did a Resource Rumble, where I asked questions related to historical thinking skills (primary and secondary sources, sourcing, continuity, and the Five Themes of Geography). Students went to the envelopes I had taped around the walls, answered the questions, and had me check their answers. After receiving feedback, they could roll dice and collect Jenga blocks. The team with the tallest tower won a prize from the unimpressive prize box. I had the students keep their answer sheets because they would need them for tomorrow’s assessment. This activity was part of my effort to show students that everything we do serves a purpose. I want them to take ownership of their learning and place importance on every activity. We ended the class with another round of Gimkit for practice before our final attempt on Friday.

Friday

On Friday, we started with a final round of the Gimkit about the states. I reviewed the class averages from the beginning of the week—54%, 50%, 50%, and 59%. I set the Gimkit timer for eight minutes and made a deal with them: if everyone answered 32 or more questions and the class average was 90% or higher, everyone would receive a score of 100%. The results were promising—first bell met the challenge with a 92% average, second bell achieved 89%, fifth bell reached 86%, and sixth bell finished strong with 92%. I’ve always struggled to get other classes above 80%, but looking back, giving the students a blank map to label when they missed a state question made a significant difference.

The next part of our assessment was using a Thick Slide to demonstrate their historical thinking skills. On the Thick Slide, students created a title that encapsulated the main idea of the topic, listed two reasons why it’s important to study the history of Batavia, OH, found a historical image of Batavia and used the caption to source it (by asking questions about it), compared primary and secondary sources, and listed an example of continuity. The students could use their Resource Rumble paper from Thursday’s lesson to help them complete the slide. I gave the students 25 minutes to complete this assessment.

During this assessment, I incorporated a new feature I learned from Jake Carr about using Claude to create artifacts, such as multiple-choice quizzes, short answers, or essays, and to provide feedback. Jake showed me how Claude could generate a code to create an artifact that could be shared with others. This led me to wonder, “Can I create an artifact where students can paste a link to their Thick Slide, and Claude analyzes it and gives instant feedback?” I worked on and reworked a prompt to set this up.

Here is the prompt I created:

“Create an artifact that provides consistent, quality feedback for 7th-grade students’ Thick Slide submissions on historical thinking skills. The feedback should focus on the following areas:

Reasons for Studying History:
- Understanding the past to inform the future.
- Learning from past mistakes and successes.
- Building cultural awareness and empathy.
- Developing critical thinking and analytical skills.
- Preserving collective memory and identity.
Sourcing Questions:
- Who created this source?
- When was it created?
- Why was it created?
- What is the creator’s perspective or bias?
- Who is the intended audience?
Definitions of Primary and Secondary Sources:
- Analyze how accurately students define and differentiate between primary and secondary sources.

Rubric Development:

Design a rubric that includes criteria for evaluating each of the three focus areas (reasons for studying history, sourcing questions, and definitions of primary/secondary sources).
Ensure the rubric provides clear, 7th-grade-level descriptions for each criterion, allowing for objective and consistent grading.

Artifact Creation:

Use the rubric to generate an artifact (such as a feedback template) where students can copy and paste their Google Slide link.
The artifact should automatically provide quality, constructive feedback based on the rubric’s criteria.
Feedback should be designed to guide students in improving their understanding of historical thinking skills while being accessible at a 7th-grade reading level.

Consistency and Quality Control:

Implement measures within the artifact to ensure that feedback remains consistent across different student submissions.
Ensure that the artifact is free from errors and provides accurate, relevant feedback tailored to the student’s work.”

After the artifact was created, I shared the link with the students. It was easy to access and use, and while some students found it helpful, others noted that it inaccurately told them they hadn’t completed certain tasks that they actually had. The feedback was varied, and the Claude feedback was inconsistent, but it’s still a work in progress. There’s a lot of potential here for some cool developments.

AI and EduProtocols

Crafting a Standards-Aligned, Skill-Focused Unit with AI Collaboration

A Step-by-Step Guide to Designing a 5-6 Day Unit on Native American History: A Collaborative Journey with AI

Introduction: As educators, we constantly strive to create units that not only align with educational standards but also address the specific needs and skills of our students—especially those with IEPs. Balancing these demands while keeping lessons engaging and accessible can be challenging. In this blog post, I’ll walk you through how I collaborated with AI (ChatGPT) to develop a comprehensive 5-6 day unit on Native American history, tailored specifically for my 8th-grade students. This unit focuses on student deficits, builds critical skills, aligns seamlessly with Ohio’s educational standards, and incorporates the rich local history of Clermont County.

Step 1: Identifying Student Needs and Establishing the Unit’s Foundation

To start, I needed to ensure that the unit would directly address the literacy and comprehension deficits my students face. Many of my 8th graders have IEPs and are working below grade level, so it was crucial that the lessons be both accessible and skill-focused.

Prompt: “Analyze these literacy skills my 8th graders need to work on and pull out a DELTAS skill that correlates.”
Context & Results: ChatGPT identified that my students needed to work on skills such as finding the main idea and understanding vocabulary in context. It then correlated these skills with the DELTAS framework, which helped me focus the unit on building essential literacy skills. This step provided a clear foundation for the unit, ensuring that each lesson would target these specific deficits.

Step 2: Aligning with Standards

With student needs in mind, the next step was to ensure that the unit was aligned with Ohio’s educational standards for 8th-grade social studies, specifically focusing on Native American history.

Prompt: “Based on Ohio’s standards, what should 8th graders know about American Indians?”
Context & Results: ChatGPT analyzed Ohio’s standards and highlighted key content areas, such as Native American history in the context of colonization, human systems, and geography/conflict. This alignment was crucial in making sure that the unit was not only skill-focused but also met the required academic benchmarks. By tying the lessons to these standards, I could ensure that my students were gaining the necessary knowledge while also working on their literacy skills.

Step 3: Structuring the Unit Around a Compelling Question

To drive inquiry and keep students engaged, I needed a compelling question that would guide the entire unit. This question would be broken down into daily supporting questions, each addressing a different aspect of the topic.

Prompt: “Organize this over 4 days with an overall compelling question for 8th grade; each day needs a supporting question. I teach 8th graders mostly with special needs and IEPs. I also teach 65-minute classes.”
Context & Results: ChatGPT suggested structuring the unit around the compelling question, “How did the Native American tribes of Clermont County, Ohio, adapt to their environment and interact with European settlers?” It then provided supporting questions for each day, which I adjusted to extend the unit to 5-6 days. These questions broke down the overarching theme into manageable daily lessons, each building on the last. This structured approach ensured that students could progressively deepen their understanding of the material.

Unit Overview:

Day 1: What were the distinct ways of life of the Native American tribes in Clermont County, Ohio, before European colonization?
Day 2: How did European exploration and colonization disrupt the lives of Native American tribes in Clermont County, Ohio?
Day 3: How did cultural biases and U.S. policies contribute to the displacement of Native American tribes in Clermont County, Ohio?
Day 4: How did the geography of North America contribute to conflicts between Native American tribes and European settlers?
Day 5 (and possibly Day 6): How can we use what we’ve learned to understand the broader impact of colonization on Native American tribes? (This final day focuses on synthesis and assessment.)

Step 4: Combining Pre-Existing Readings with Textbook Style

I had several pre-existing readings about Native Americans in Clermont County that I wanted to use. However, I needed these readings to be consistent with the style and tone of the McGraw Hill textbook sections my students were familiar with. This consistency would make the materials more accessible and ensure a smoother learning experience.

Prompt: “What do you notice about the style of writing for these textbook sections?” After receiving the analysis, I followed up with, “Take each one of these readings and match the style of the previous readings/lessons. Combine the information from both—I want students to understand how local American Indians adapted to their environment and interacted with Europeans.”
Context & Results: ChatGPT analyzed the textbook style and identified key features such as clear language, bolded vocabulary, and structured headings. It then blended these features with the content from my pre-existing readings about local Native American history. The result was a set of readings that were both consistent with the textbook and tailored to the specific historical context of Clermont County. This approach ensured that students could easily transition between different texts without losing comprehension.

Step 5: Consistent Use of EduProtocols

To build confidence and ensure that students were prepared for the final assessment, I wanted to use EduProtocols consistently throughout the unit. This would allow students to become familiar with the formats and expectations of these protocols.

Prompt: “How can we keep the EduProtocols consistent so that the final assessment can use that EduProtocol to show what they know?” Followed by, “Take Day 1 of the unit and add more details to it—vocab and activities.”
Context & Results: ChatGPT suggested integrating EduProtocols like Thin Slides, Sketch and Tell, and Iron Chef into each day’s lesson. By using these protocols consistently, students had repeated opportunities to practice and master the formats. This consistency helped build their confidence, ensuring they were well-prepared for the final assessment.

Daily EduProtocol Integration:

Day 1: Thin Slides: Students create a slide focusing on how one tribe in Clermont County adapted to their environment. This introduces them to summarizing key ideas visually.
Day 2: Jigsaw Reading and Mapping Activity: Instead of a full Iron Chef, students engage in a Jigsaw reading activity followed by an interactive map session to explore how European colonization impacted specific tribes.
Day 3: Sketch and Tell: Students draw a picture and write a brief explanation about how cultural biases and U.S. policies affected Native American tribes, reinforcing the connection between visuals and text.
Day 4: Thin Slides or Mapping Activity: Depending on student needs, they either revisit Thin Slides or continue with mapping activities to understand how geography influenced conflicts.
Day 5 (and possibly Day 6): Final Assessment – Iron Chef or Sketch and Tell: Students choose between creating an Iron Chef presentation or a series of Sketch and Tell pages that synthesize what they’ve learned throughout the unit.

Step 6: Scaffolding and Success Criteria

Recognizing that many of my students require additional support, I needed clear, plain language success criteria to guide them through the EduProtocols. This would ensure that all students, including those with IEPs, understood what was expected of them and how they could succeed.

Prompt: “Create a simple, plain language success criteria aligned with the compelling and supporting questions that can help students with IEPs understand the Sketch and Tell or Iron Chef.”
Context & Results: ChatGPT provided clear, scaffolded success criteria that were easy for students to understand. This included expectations for each activity, such as ensuring that each Thin Slide had a clear image and word that connected directly to the day’s question, or that each Sketch and Tell page clearly depicted the impact of policies or cultural biases. These criteria helped students focus on the key objectives of each lesson and understand how to achieve success.

Step 7: Reflection and Continuous Improvement

Throughout the unit, I used reflective prompts to ensure that the plan remained focused on student deficits, skills, and standards alignment. I made adjustments based on AI’s suggestions, ensuring that each activity was purposeful and accessible.

Prompt: “Analyze this entire conversation and create a well-written, clear, and concise blog post walking teachers through how to set up this unit.”
Context & Results: ChatGPT provided a cohesive overview of the entire process, reflecting on how each step contributed to the overall success of the unit. This reflection allowed me to ensure that the unit was cohesive, effective, and aligned with both student needs and educational standards. It also emphasized the importance of adaptability and continuous improvement in lesson planning.

Conclusion: Collaborating with AI allowed me to design a 5-6 day unit on Native American history that is not only standards-aligned and skill-focused but also tailored to the specific needs of my students, including those with IEPs. Each step—from identifying student needs to structuring the unit around a compelling question, blending local history with textbook materials, and integrating consistent EduProtocols—was carefully planned to ensure a cohesive and effective learning experience. The clear success criteria and continuous reflection throughout the process further enhanced the unit’s accessibility and impact.

This experience highlights the potential of AI as a powerful collaborative tool in education, supporting teachers in creating units that are both engaging and academically rigorous, while also being responsive to the diverse needs of their students.

AI and EduProtocols

Beyond the Textbook: Strengthening Core Literacy Skills in Social Studies

Last week I gave a Literacy Skills entry assessment. I used AI to analyze the results…

The literacy skills analysis reveals that 8th grade students need to improve in several key areas. Finding the Main Idea remains a challenge, with students struggling to consistently identify central themes across texts. Understanding Vocabulary in Context shows fair performance, but there’s room for improvement in deriving word meanings from context. Students demonstrate moderate ability in Recognizing Important Details, but often miss key information or focus on less relevant points. While Comparing Perspectives is fair to good, students could benefit from more practice in contrasting viewpoints. Making Inferences needs significant improvement, as students struggle to draw conclusions beyond explicitly stated information. Lastly, Making a Claim with Evidence is identified as the weakest area, with students failing to make clear claims or support ideas with specific textual evidence. These findings suggest a need for targeted instruction and practice in these critical literacy skills to enhance students’ overall comprehension and analytical abilities in social studies.

Next, I asked AI to develop some themed days that we could devote to working on these skills. I also had it correlate the skills and themes with EduProtocols. Here is the outcome….

Main Idea Monday (Addressing: Finding the Main Idea)

Thin Slides: Students create one slide with a key image and one word to represent the main idea of a historical event or concept. Present and discuss why each represents the main idea.
Cyber Sandwich: Students read a historical text, discuss with a partner, and write a one-sentence summary focusing on the main idea. Expand to a paragraph summary. Use “What is this passage mostly about?” as a guiding question.

Text Detective Tuesday (Addressing: Understanding Vocabulary in Context & Recognizing Important Details)

Frayer Model: Students complete a Frayer model for key historical terms, focusing on contextual usage and decoding strategies.
ParaFLY: Students paraphrase complex historical quotes or paragraphs, underlining key points and writing margin notes. Use “5 W’s and H” questions to identify important information.

What’s Important Wednesday (Addressing: Recognizing Important Details)

8pARTS: Students analyze a historical image using the 8pARTS protocol, focusing on identifying crucial details and their significance.
Number Mania: Students create infographics highlighting key statistics and facts from a historical period or event. Present and explain why these details are important.

Thinking Thursday (Addressing: Making Inferences)

Sketch and Tell: Students create visual representations of historical events or concepts, including inferred information not explicitly stated. Explain their drawings using “Based on… I can infer that…” statements.
Hero’s Journey: Students map a historical figure’s journey, making and explaining inferences about motivations and challenges not explicitly stated in texts.

Multiple Viewpoints Friday (Addressing: Comparing Perspectives & Making a Claim with Evidence)

3xPOV (Three Times Point of View): Students examine a historical event from three different perspectives:
1. A direct participant in the event
2. A contemporary observer not directly involved
3. A modern historian looking back on the event Students use T-charts or Venn diagrams to compare and contrast these viewpoints.
3xCER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning): Students engage with a historical topic or event using the following structure:
1. Make three different claims about the topic
2. Provide specific evidence from historical sources to support each claim
3. Explain the reasoning that connects the evidence to each claim Students present and discuss their CERs, focusing on the strength of their claims, the relevance of their evidence, and the logic of their reasoning.

TWTW

The Week That Was In 234

Introduction

So far this school year is flying by. I’m really enjoying my new schedule. My day begins with teaching two 65-minute social studies periods, followed by a plan period, co-teaching a reading workshop with an ELA teacher, and ending the day with two more 65-minute social studies classes. It makes for a nice day, allowing for in-depth lessons and sufficient time to transition between subjects.

At the beginning of the year, the name of the game is teaching the process and procedures of EduProtocols. I like to begin the year smart by starting with the following EduProtocols: Wicked Hydra, Frayers, 3xCER, 8Parts, Thin Slides, and Sketch and Tell. These are pretty basic, and I use them throughout the entire school year. They provide a solid foundation for critical thinking and engagement. I will introduce more in-depth protocols as the year progresses, such as CyberSandwich and Thick Slides, which build upon these basic skills.

Monday – Resource Rumble

Tuesday – Fast and Curious on Gimkit

Wednesday – Practice, Sketch and Tell-o

Thursday – Why We Study History

Friday – Sources, Gimkit

Monday

We began the day with no Chromebooks, so I needed a new plan. I had to introduce the syllabus. Last year, I used an escape room, but without Chromebooks, I needed something different. Enter the Resource Rumble from EMC2Learning. I used AI to create some puzzles and questions based on my syllabus related to the rules and procedures. I took the questions created by AI and placed them in 8 “treasure chests” around the room. The students had 25 minutes to complete all the treasure chests and have me check their work. This activity not only introduced the syllabus content but also encouraged teamwork and problem-solving.

A true Resource Rumble involves Jenga blocks, but mine were on the Amazon truck. I switched to a new plan and used dice instead. I have several different styles of dice, including one that has numbers one through twelve. After each group brought up their answer, I had them roll the dice to determine how many points the chest was worth. At the end, I had them add up their points. The winning group got to choose from my Unimpressive Prize Box, which contains small, quirky items that surprisingly delight the students.

Following this activity, we did a quick overview of the syllabus, ensuring everyone understood the key points. We then moved on to some Frayer a Friend, to make more connections. By the end of the day, the students finally received their Chromebooks, setting us up for more tech-integrated lessons in the coming days.

Tuesday

Now that we had Chromebooks, it was great to finally introduce the Fast and Curious. I was surprised at the number of students who had never played Gimkit. Since so many students were unfamiliar with it, I found a 4th-grade trivia Gimkit to introduce the game. I set the time limit for 8 minutes to let them explore, but I didn’t tell them anything – I wanted them to figure it out on their own.

Next, I ran another 4th grade trivia Gimkit round with less time, but challenged them to answer more questions and raise the class average. Following this, we did another round where I introduced the states – 50 questions, 50 states. My goal is to have the students know their states with 90% accuracy. It’s a work in progress, but Gimkit’s game-like structure makes this typically dry subject more engaging.

For another round of Gimkit, I had half the class close their Chromebooks and partner up to work together to answer questions. This variation promotes collaboration and peer teaching. If we had any time left, I had students complete another Frayer a Friend continuing to make more connections and learn the process of using a Frayer model.

Wednesday

We began class with a Dominic Helmstetter special – a great Smart Start for the Sketch and Tell-o with gold medals. I had students choose an Olympic event they would gold medal in and one non-Olympic event they would gold medal in. They had to draw a symbol and provide an explanation for why they would win a gold medal. This took about 20-25 minutes and served as a fun warm-up activity that also encouraged creativity and self-reflection. It also agve me a chance to understand the interests of the students.

We followed this up with another Gimkit on states, continuing to build their geography knowledge. I was ready to move into content and the question of “Why do we study history?” However, I realized I had a problem: we hadn’t really practiced much on Chromebooks. We had done Sketch and Tell and Thin Slides on paper, but not much with Chromebooks. This needed to change to ensure students were comfortable with the digital tools we’d be using throughout the year.

I stopped the lesson and created some practice slides using Justin Unruh templates. I put together a Thin Slide utilizing Google Slides, a Thin Slide utilizing Padlet, and two Sketch and Tells. I wanted to show how Padlet could be utilized for the “I can’t draw” feature, as it uses AI to generate images that can be used for Thin Slides. This introduction to various digital tools will prove valuable as we incorporate more tech-based activities.

For the Smart Start question, I asked, “What is a food no one should eat?” I gave students 3 minutes to create their responses. They put their name as the “subject” and wrote their one word or phrase in the body of the post. After 3 minutes, I selected “freeze Padlet” and then hit the play button, which turned it into a slide presentation. By using Padlet, students can’t mess with each other’s slides, ensuring a smooth presentation process.

Following our Thin Slides, we used a regular Sketch and Tell. The prompt was, “What is a food you can eat every day for the rest of your life?” It became apparent that I had to show them where Google Shapes was located on the toolbar and how to change colors and duplicate shapes. We clearly have some Google tech learning that needs to be done! I chose these specific EduProtocols because I would be using them in the near future, and this practice session helped identify areas where students needed more support.

Thursday

I began class with a Literacy Skills Entry exam from our McGraw Hill book. I noticed two exams – Historical Thinking Skills and a Literacy Skills exam. I decided the Literacy Skills entry exam was what I was going to use. I have every student with an IEP this year, and I wanted an idea of our ability to understand main ideas, inferences, context clues, and perspectives. This baseline assessment will help me tailor future lessons to meet the specific needs of this year’s class.

The original exam was 20 questions, which seemed like overkill. I had AI analyze the entire exam and every question for the skills being assessed. From there, I reduced the 20 questions to 8. This exam took 20 minutes. At the end of the day, I had AI create a rubric for the exam, and then I took all the students’ responses and correlated them with the rubric. The data I received provided good baseline information that will inform my teaching strategies moving forward.

For my original lesson on “Why do we study history?” I had a CyberSandwich ready to go. However, after some thought and knowing the students I had in front of me, I realized a new protocol would be too much. Instead, I put together a Thin Slide with the prompt, “What is an event that families would try to record and retell?” I gave them 3 minutes and stuck to my timer. This activity helped students connect historical thinking to their personal experiences.

Next, I included a Frayer with the word “continuity.” Under the “define” heading, I had AI create a sentence that could be used to help students use context clues to create a definition. The sentence was: “The movie series kept the same main character and story from one film to the next, providing continuity that helped viewers follow along easily.” For the other boxes, students had to find examples, non-examples, and a picture. I was hoping the Frayer would take 5 minutes, but it took about 8 to 10 minutes. This extra time was well-spent as students grappled with this important historical concept.

Following the Frayer, I had two Sketch and Tells ready to go. I linked the section from the textbook and asked, “Why do we study history?” The goal was to create a sketch with Google Shapes based on the reading and explain it with 2 to 3 sentences. Students had 10 minutes to complete both Sketch and Tells. That was a bit of a struggle, but I still had them turn it in. I’m learning I have my work cut out for me this year – I’m trying to help the students own their learning through protocols and timers. This process of productive struggle is essential for developing their historical thinking skills.

Friday

On Friday, I continued our historical thinking skills unit. This new book has a lot to it. It’s overwhelming and, like most textbooks, restricting, but I’m trying to analyze the teacher edition and think about which skills they’re trying to get the students to use. This helps direct my use of EduProtocols and ensures that I’m meeting curriculum standards while using engaging teaching methods.

The new topic today was, “How do historians use primary and secondary sources?” I felt like I had overwhelmed the students yesterday with too much, so I decided to simplify it and stick to a Frayer about primary and secondary sources. I provided a sentence created by AI to help them use context clues to create a definition. This approach allowed us to focus deeply on these fundamental concepts in historical research.

We began class with a Gimkit of 10 questions related to why we study history and primary and secondary sources. The class averages were between 72% and 79%, showing a decent grasp of the concepts but room for improvement. We followed this up with a Frayer on primary and secondary sources, reinforcing the ideas through a different learning modality.

Instead of using the textbook section on historians using various sources, I used a Dan Lewer “History for Humans” lesson. It provides a scenario set in the year 3240, where students are historians looking back on the lives of teenagers from 2024. I provided students with a graphic organizer, and they had to select artifacts or sources from their backpacks, write down observations, make inferences, and ask questions. Students used Chromebooks, phones, Stanley water bottles, pencils, and books as their artifacts. They did an excellent job with this activity, really getting into the role of future historians and understanding how everyday objects can become historical sources.

I also reminded them that they had started thinking like historians last week with a Wicked Hydra, asking questions about pictures related to me. They had also begun this process with the 8Parts activity, analyzing a historical photo. We didn’t finish this historical thinking activity and will continue on Monday, allowing for a deeper exploration of these skills.

We finished class with a Gimkit challenge: get above a 90% class average, and everyone receives 3 PBIS points. The class averages ranged from 82% to 92% – every class raised their average. This friendly competition helped reinforce the concepts we’d been learning all week while adding an element of fun to end the week.

Closing

As I reflect on this week, I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made in introducing various EduProtocols and historical thinking skills. The students are gradually adapting to the new technologies and methodologies, even if there’s still a learning curve. It’s clear that flexibility is key – whether it’s dealing with unexpected Chromebook delays or adjusting lesson plans on the fly. I’m particularly encouraged by the students’ engagement with activities like the Resource Rumble, Gimkit challenges, and the futuristic historian exercise. These activities not only make learning more interactive but also help develop critical thinking skills essential for studying history.

Looking ahead, I plan to continue refining my approach, balancing between introducing new concepts and reinforcing the basics. The baseline data from our literacy skills assessment will be invaluable in tailoring future lessons. As we delve deeper into our curriculum, I’m excited to see how the students will grow in their ability to analyze sources, make connections, and think like historians. It’s been a challenging but rewarding start to the year, and I’m looking forward to what the coming weeks will bring. Onward to another week of discovery in 8th grade social studies!

TWTW

The Week That Was In 234

This week marked the start of a new chapter in my teaching career. I’ve transitioned to Batavia Middle School, where I’m now teaching 8th grade social studies in room 234. While the subject remains the same, I’m facing new procedures, new students, and a new textbook.

Thursday and Friday – Frayers, 3xCER

Adapting to Change

At my previous school, we used TCI History Alive, but now I’m working with McGraw Hill’s Voices of the Past. This change has presented some challenges. Previously, I could easily transfer TCI sections to a Google Doc and link it to activities (like EduProtocol), or directly link TCI sections to activities. However, with McGraw Hill, I can’t transfer content to Google Docs or create links in the same way.

This limitation is particularly frustrating because I prefer using Google Docs for its accessibility. It allows students to quickly access sources with a simple click, which streamlines the class and maintains a good tempo. I’m currently brainstorming ways to work around this issue.

Another adjustment I’m facing is the longer class periods. We now have 65-minute classes, compared to the 47-minute periods I was accustomed to. While this extended time offers more opportunities for activities (as they say in Step Brothers, “There’s so much room for activities”), it’s challenging from a timing perspective. On the bright side, I now only have four periods of Social Studies and co-teach one period of reading workshop with an ELA teacher.

Despite these changes, the first two days flew by.

Thursday: Building Connections

Thursday marked the first day back for everyone. As always, I began by emphasizing the core values of our classroom: respect, value, support, connection, challenge, and empowerment for everyone in room 234.

Although the students won’t receive their Chromebooks until next week, it wasn’t a problem. EduProtocols are versatile and can easily transfer to paper. To foster a sense of value, respect, and connection among the students, we started with a “Frayer a Friend” activity. This exercise included various prompts such as:

Their name and birthday
Four things they like
Four things they dislike
Three items they’d want on a deserted island
A sketch of their dream vacation

I initially set a six-minute timer for the first round, but many students couldn’t finish in time. That’s perfectly fine – it’s all part of the learning process. On the back of the Frayer, I incorporated an idea from Ariana Hernandez: Sketch, Tell, and Connect. Students sketched something they noticed during their interview, wrote a quick sentence about it, and then explained how it might connect to them personally.

We followed this with another round of Frayer a Friend, this time reducing the time to five minutes. Impressively, 90% of the class finished this round. I used this as an opportunity to reinforce our class goal: improvement with each repetition, doing a bit more each time.

Next, we moved on to a REPP (Random Emoji Power Paragraph) activity with their partners. This is always a hit, bringing great energy and laughter to the classroom. It’s one of my favorite EduProtocols.

To wrap up the day, since we didn’t have Chromebooks, I introduced the Marker Game. Students found a new partner, and each pair received a dry erase marker to stand up between them. I read True/False statements about the syllabus and my class. If they thought the statement was true, they grabbed the marker; if false, they left it alone. This game was a blast and a great way to review important class information.

Overall, it was a successful first day, though I’m eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Chromebooks.

Friday: Deepening Connections and Introducing Myself

On Friday, I wanted to maintain the momentum we’d built. We started with another Frayer a Friend activity, this time partnering students with someone from a different table. I set a four-minute timer, and everyone successfully completed the task.

Next, I introduced the Wicked Hydra activity. I had prepared five images related to me and my life, taping them to poster paper or whiteboards around the room. These images included:

A picture of my family
Me receiving the OCSS MS Social Studies Teacher of the Year award
A photo from my NKU tennis days
A Zach Bryan concert where Bruce Springsteen made a surprise appearance
A picture of Dominic Helmstetter and me presenting at NCSS (interestingly, two classes thought Dominic was Ronaldo and were impressed that I had “met” him!)

The goal of this activity was to introduce myself through questioning strategies while simultaneously developing students’ historical thinking skills of observation and questioning. I rotated all groups through all pictures in 15 minutes.

Following this, I combined a 3xCER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) with the Wicked Hydra activity. I emphasized that everything we do in room 234 serves a purpose. In this case, their observations and questions would help them create claims about me. After explaining claims, evidence, and reasoning, I gave the students 10 minutes to come up with claims about me based on the images they had observed.

We concluded the activity by having students share their claims. I answered their questions and shared more about myself, creating a wonderful opportunity for connection and engagement.

This class period was a resounding success, and I’m definitely planning to use this activity again in the future.

In conclusion, despite the challenges of adapting to a new school environment, these first two days have been incredibly rewarding. I’m excited to continue building connections with my students and helping them develop crucial skills through engaging, purposeful activities.

AI and EduProtocols

The Power of AI as a Personal Assistant for Teachers

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly become an invaluable tool in education, transforming how teachers plan, instruct, and assess their students. Here’s an in-depth look at how AI can serve as a personal assistant for educators and the importance of editing and the 80/20 rule in maximizing its effectiveness.

Lesson Planning and Curriculum Development

AI tools, such as ChatGPT, are revolutionizing the way teachers approach lesson planning and curriculum development. These tools can generate lesson plans, create outlines, and provide a wealth of resources tailored to specific subjects and grade levels. Here’s how AI can streamline this critical process:

Generating Ideas: AI can help teachers brainstorm innovative lesson ideas. By inputting a general topic or theme, AI can suggest various activities, discussion points, and multimedia resources that can make the lesson more engaging and comprehensive.
Creating Outlines: Once a lesson idea is generated, AI can assist in organizing the content into a coherent structure. This includes breaking down the lesson into segments such as introduction, main content, activities, and assessments, ensuring a logical flow that enhances student understanding.
Producing Full Lesson Plans: AI can take the outlines and expand them into full-fledged lesson plans. This involves detailing each segment, including step-by-step instructions, necessary materials, and timing. Teachers can then review and tweak these plans to suit their specific classroom dynamics.
Resource Compilation: AI can compile relevant resources such as articles, videos, and interactive activities that align with the lesson objectives. This saves teachers significant time and effort in searching for high-quality materials.

Differentiation and Personalized Learning

Differentiating instruction to meet the diverse needs of students is a critical aspect of effective teaching. AI tools can significantly aid in this by providing customized learning materials and activities. Here’s how:

Tailoring Reading Levels: By inputting specific reading levels, AI can generate texts that are appropriate for students’ comprehension abilities. For example, creating a 500L reading passage ensures that even struggling readers can grasp the content without feeling overwhelmed.
Adapting Learning Styles: AI can create materials that cater to different learning styles, such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. This includes generating visual aids, audio recordings, and hands-on activities that make the content accessible to all students.
Providing Multiple Formats: AI can produce various formats of the same content, such as summaries, detailed explanations, and interactive quizzes. This allows students to choose the format that best suits their learning preferences and needs.
Creating Adaptive Assessments: AI-driven assessments can adjust their difficulty based on student responses, providing a personalized evaluation experience that accurately reflects each student’s understanding and progress.

Student Engagement

Engaging students is one of the most challenging aspects of teaching. AI can enhance student interaction through innovative and interactive activities. Here are some examples:

Factual Scavenger Hunts: AI can create scavenger hunt activities where students search for facts within provided materials. This not only makes learning fun but also encourages active participation and critical thinking.
Argumentative Writing Prompts: AI can generate prompts for argumentative essays, helping students develop their writing and reasoning skills. By providing diverse and thought-provoking topics, AI can stimulate deeper engagement and discussion.
Q&A with Historical Figures: Tools like storyfile enable students to interact with virtual representations of historical figures. Students can ask questions and receive answers based on historical data, making history lessons more immersive and engaging.
Interactive Simulations: AI can develop simulations and role-playing scenarios that allow students to experience historical events, scientific processes, or mathematical concepts in a hands-on manner, fostering a deeper understanding of the material.

Assessment and Feedback

AI can transform how teachers assess student performance and provide feedback. Here’s how:

Automated Quiz Generation: AI can quickly generate quizzes and tests that align with lesson objectives. These assessments can include various question types, such as multiple-choice, short answer, and essay questions.
Instant Feedback: AI tools can provide immediate feedback to students on their assessments. This helps students understand their mistakes and learn from them in real time, enhancing the learning process.
Data-Driven Insights: AI can analyze assessment results to identify patterns and trends. This enables teachers to pinpoint areas where students are excelling or struggling, allowing for targeted interventions and support.
Formative and Summative Assessments: AI can assist in creating both formative assessments, which monitor student learning during the instructional process, and summative assessments, which evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit.

Organizing and Analyzing Data

Managing and analyzing educational data is crucial for informed decision-making. AI can assist teachers in this area by:

Organizing Student Performance Metrics: AI can compile and organize data on student performance, making it easier for teachers to track progress over time. This includes grades, attendance, and behavioral records.
Curriculum Alignment: AI can ensure that lesson plans and assessments align with curriculum standards and learning objectives. This helps teachers stay on track and meet educational requirements.
Identifying Learning Trends: By analyzing data, AI can identify trends in student learning, such as common misconceptions or frequently missed questions. This information is valuable for adjusting instructional strategies.
Generating Reports: AI can create detailed reports that summarize student performance, highlight areas for improvement, and suggest next steps. These reports can be shared with students, parents, and administrators to support collaborative efforts in improving education.

The Importance of Editing

While AI is a powerful tool, it is not infallible. It is crucial for teachers to edit and review the output generated by AI. Here are key reasons why:

Accuracy: AI may produce content that includes factual errors or outdated information. Teachers must verify the accuracy of this content before using it in their classrooms.
Relevance: The content generated by AI should be relevant to the specific context and needs of the students. Editing ensures that the materials are appropriate and tailored to the class’s current learning objectives.
Quality: AI-generated content might lack the nuanced understanding and creativity that human teachers bring to their work. Editing helps to polish the material, making it more engaging and effective.

The 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, is particularly relevant when using AI in education. It suggests that 80% of results come from 20% of efforts. In the context of AI as a personal assistant:

Focus on High-Impact Tasks: Teachers should leverage AI for routine and time-consuming tasks, such as grading and lesson planning, which frees up more time for them to focus on the 20% of activities that have the most significant impact on student learning and engagement.
Maximize Efficiency: By allowing AI to handle the bulk of administrative tasks, teachers can dedicate more energy to innovative teaching methods and personal interactions with students, which are crucial for fostering a positive learning environment.

Conclusion

AI is not a replacement for teachers but a tool that, when used effectively, can enhance their capabilities and improve educational outcomes. By understanding the importance of editing AI-generated content and applying the 80/20 rule, teachers can make the most of these technological advancements. Embracing AI with intentionality and purpose will ensure that it serves as a valuable assistant in the modern classroom, empowering educators to focus on what they do best: inspiring and educating the next generation.

AI and EduProtocols

Boosting Productivity with Keyboard Shortcuts on Mac and Windows

As educators, time is precious, and maximizing productivity is crucial. Whether you’re using a Mac or a Windows computer, keyboard shortcuts can save you time and streamline your workflow. These shortcuts are particularly helpful when integrating EduProtocols into your classroom activities. Here’s a handy guide to some essential keyboard shortcuts and how they can enhance your use of EduProtocols.

Copy and Paste with Command+C and Command+V or Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V

The basic shortcuts for copying and pasting are Command + C and Command + V for Mac users, and Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V for Windows users. These are fundamental for a variety of tasks:

Copying Text and Images: Quickly transfer text and images between documents and slides.
Organizing Information: Easily move elements within your EduProtocols templates.

Duplicating Shapes and Text with Command+D or Ctrl+D

One of the frequent tasks in activities like Sketch and Tell or Thick Slides is duplicating shapes and text. On a Mac, you can use Command + D, and on Windows, you can use Ctrl + D. This shortcut makes it easy to create multiple copies of an image, shape, or text box, speeding up the design process. For example:

Sketch and Tell: Quickly duplicate images to create multiple illustrations.
Thick Slides: Duplicate word art fonts to maintain consistent styles across slides.
Iron Chef: Clone elements to create uniform layouts for collaborative work.

Selecting All Text with Command+A or Ctrl+A

When you need to select all the text on a page for copying and pasting, Command + A (Mac) or Ctrl + A (Windows) is your go-to shortcut. This is particularly useful for:

Copying Text for AI Integration: Select all text on a webpage or document to easily copy and paste it into AI platforms for processing.
Organizing Information: Gather all text from a source to ensure no details are missed when transferring information to your EduProtocols templates.

Finding Specific Items with Command+F or Ctrl+F

Searching for specific terms or phrases within a document or webpage is made simple with Command + F (Mac) or Ctrl + F (Windows). This shortcut is indispensable for:

Research and References: Quickly locate key terms or facts on a webpage or document.
Text Analysis: Help students find and highlight important information during reading activities.

Inserting Hyperlinks with Command+K or Ctrl+K

Hyperlinks are essential for connecting resources and references. Use Command + K (Mac) or Ctrl + K (Windows) to insert hyperlinks efficiently. This can enhance:

Thick Slides and CyberSandwiches: Link directly to sources, ensuring students have access to relevant information.
Resource Compilation: Create interconnected documents and slides for comprehensive study materials.

Commenting on Google Docs and Slides

Adding comments in Google Docs or Slides is crucial for collaborative work and feedback. Use Command + Option + M on a Mac and Ctrl + Alt + M on Windows to quickly add comments. This is especially useful for:

Feedback and Collaboration: Easily provide feedback on student work.
Peer Review: Facilitate peer review processes by enabling students to comment on each other’s work.

Other Essential Keyboard Shortcuts

Here are a few more shortcuts that can further streamline your tasks:

Reopen Closed Tabs with Ctrl+Shift+T: Accidentally closed a tab? No problem. Ctrl + Shift + T (Windows) or Command + Shift + T (Mac) will reopen it.
Paste Without Formatting with Ctrl+Shift+V: Need to paste text without bringing over unwanted formatting? Ctrl + Shift + V (Windows) or Command + Shift + V (Mac) will do just that.
Undo with Command+Z or Ctrl+Z: Made a mistake? Quickly undo it with Command + Z (Mac) or Ctrl + Z (Windows).
Redo with Command+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Shift+Z: Redo an action with Command + Shift + Z (Mac) or Ctrl + Shift + Z (Windows).

Teaching Students Keyboard Shortcuts

Teaching students these shortcuts can significantly boost their productivity and digital literacy. By mastering these tools, students can:

Work More Efficiently: Complete assignments and projects faster.
Enhance Learning: Spend less time on technical tasks and more time on critical thinking and learning.
Develop Digital Skills: Build essential skills for future academic and professional success.

Conclusion

Integrating these keyboard shortcuts into your daily routine can significantly enhance your productivity and effectiveness, especially when using EduProtocols. By mastering these simple yet powerful tools, you can focus more on teaching and less on navigating through software. Happy shortcutting!

AI and EduProtocols

Creative Enhancements for Iron Chef and Thick Slides

As educators, we’re always on the lookout for ways to make our lessons more engaging and effective. One strategy that stands out is using the Iron Chef EduProtocol along with thick slides. But how can we enhance these tools to maximize student engagement and learning? Let’s dive in!

Top 10 Ways to use the Secret Ingredient in the Iron Chef

Adding a secret ingredient to the Iron Chef EduProtocol can spice things up and get students thinking creatively. Here are my top ten ways to change up the secret ingredient and why they work so well:

Analogy or Metaphor: Create a one-sentence analogy or metaphor that explains the topic. This encourages students to think abstractly and make connections to other concepts.
News Headline: Write a news headline that captures the essence of the topic. Headlines are catchy and force students to distill information to its most important elements.
Interview Question: Come up with one interview question you would ask an expert on the topic. This gets students thinking about the topic from an investigative perspective.
Tweet: Compose a tweet (280 characters) summarizing the main point or an interesting fact about the topic. Tweets are concise and make students focus on clarity and brevity.
Visual Representation: Draw a quick doodle or icon that illustrates the topic. Visuals help students remember and understand concepts better.
Personal Connection: Write a one-sentence connection to your own life or experience. Personal connections make the learning more relevant and memorable.
Concept Map: Sketch a simple concept map showing how the topic connects to one other idea. Concept maps encourage students to see the bigger picture and how ideas interrelate.
Soundtrack: Choose a song that represents the topic and explain in one sentence why you chose it. This taps into students’ emotions and helps them connect with the material on a deeper level.
Advertisement: Create a short slogan promoting the topic. Slogans are fun and make students think about the topic in a persuasive way.
Historical Context: Write a sentence that places the topic in a historical context. This helps students understand the importance and relevance of the topic over time.

These secret ingredients can be tailored to any subject or grade level, sparking creativity and encouraging students to delve deeper into the material.

Top 10 Ways to Change Up Thick Slides

Thick slides are a fantastic tool for organizing and presenting information. To make them even more effective for note-taking, consider these top ten ideas and why they’re so effective:

Cause and Effect: List the causes and effects related to the topic in a simple diagram or table. This framework helps students understand relationships and consequences.
Pros and Cons: Create a table listing the pros and cons of a particular event, decision, or idea related to the topic. This encourages critical thinking and balanced analysis.
Timeline: Create a mini-timeline with 4-5 key events related to the topic. Timelines help students visualize sequences and historical context.
PEEL Paragraph: Have students write a paragraph using the PEEL structure: Point, Evidence, Explanation, and Link. This method strengthens their argumentative writing and analytical skills.
Problem and Solution: Describe a problem related to the topic and propose possible solutions. This approach encourages problem-solving and creative thinking.
Fact vs. Myth: Create a table or list that distinguishes facts from common myths about the topic. This helps students develop critical thinking and discernment.
Hero’s Journey: Smash thick slides with the Hero’s Journey and include the call to action, threshold, helper, abyss, transformation, and return. This narrative framework deepens students’ understanding of storytelling and personal growth.
Mind Map: Create a mind map that shows the connections between different aspects of the topic. Mind maps foster holistic understanding and recall.
RACES Paragraph: Write a paragraph using the RACES strategy: Restate the question, Answer the question, Cite evidence, Explain the evidence, and Summarize. This method ensures thorough and structured responses.
SWBST (Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then): Use the SWBST framework to summarize a story or historical event. This helps students identify key elements and understand the narrative structure.

By integrating these frameworks into thick slides, educators can enhance students’ note-taking skills and ensure a deeper understanding of the material. The combination of creative secret ingredients and structured note-taking strategies makes learning more engaging, interactive, and effective.

Give these ideas a try in your classroom and watch your students thrive with the Iron Chef EduProtocol and Thick Slides!

AI and EduProtocols

Racking and Stacking EduProtocols: Maximizing Student Engagement and Learning

As educators, we’re always looking for ways to make our lessons more engaging and effective. One powerful strategy I’ve found is “racking and stacking” EduProtocols. But what exactly does this mean, and why is it so beneficial? Let’s dive in!

What is Racking and Stacking?

“Racking and stacking” refers to the practice of sequencing multiple EduProtocols within a single lesson or unit. It’s like creating a playlist of engaging activities, each building upon the last to deepen understanding and reinforce key concepts.

Why Rack and Stack?

Maintains high engagement: By varying activities, you keep students interested and focused.
Addresses multiple learning styles: Different protocols cater to visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.
Scaffolds learning: Each activity builds on the previous one, reinforcing and expanding knowledge.
Encourages deeper thinking: Students revisit content in different ways, promoting higher-order thinking skills.

A Racked and Stacked Lesson Example: Manifest Destiny

Let me walk you through a recent lesson I taught on Manifest Destiny, where I racked and stacked several EduProtocols. This particular rack and stack was designed to span two days, allowing for deeper engagement with each protocol and the content.

Wicked Hydra
Why I started here: This protocol activates prior knowledge and curiosity. I displayed a headline about a controversial “Manifest Destiny” t-shirt, prompting students to generate questions. It immediately created interest and set the stage for deeper exploration.
Thin Slide
Why it came next: After piquing their curiosity, I wanted to provide some basic background. The Thin Slide allowed students to quickly process a short textbook excerpt on Manifest Destiny, giving them a foundation for further analysis.
8 Parts of Speech (8pArts)
Why I used this third: Now that students had some context, I had them analyze the famous “American Progress” painting. The 8pArts protocol encouraged close observation and descriptive language, deepening their understanding of Manifest Destiny’s visual representation.
Thick Slide
Why it followed: Building on their growing knowledge, the Thick Slide pushed students to engage with a more complex article. They had to extract key ideas, find relevant quotes, and make connections – all higher-order thinking skills.
CyberSandwich (Compare)
Why I placed it here: At this point, students had multiple sources of information. The compare component of CyberSandwich allowed them to synthesize their learning, contrasting the news article with their Thick Slide findings.
Sketch and Tell
Why I ended with this: As a final reflection, students revisited the original textbook excerpt, adding new information they’d learned throughout the lesson. This protocol encouraged metacognition and allowed students to visually represent their expanded understanding.

This Rack and Stack can be found here.

The Power of the Stack

By racking and stacking these EduProtocols over two days, I created a dynamic learning experience that allowed for both breadth and depth. Students had time to fully engage with each protocol, building their understanding step by step. This extended approach also allowed for more meaningful discussions and reflections between activities.

Racking and stacking EduProtocols isn’t just about using multiple activities – it’s about thoughtfully sequencing them to maximize learning. When done well, it creates a lesson that’s greater than the sum of its parts, leading to deeper understanding and more engaged students.

Learning from the Masters

When it comes to racking and stacking EduProtocols, one educator stands out as a true master of the craft: Justin Unruh. His innovative approaches to combining protocols have inspired countless teachers, including myself. If you’re looking to dive deeper into the world of racked and stacked EduProtocols, I highly recommend checking out Justin’s templates. They offer excellent “grab and go” options for easy implementation in your classroom, perfect for both newcomers to EduProtocols and experienced users looking for fresh ideas.

So next time you’re planning a lesson or unit, consider how you might rack and stack EduProtocols to create a truly powerful learning experience. Whether you’re spreading it across multiple days like my Manifest Destiny lesson or creating a single power-packed session, the possibilities are endless!

AI and EduProtocols

Using AI to Bring Local History to Life in the Classroom

As social studies teachers, we’re always looking for ways to make history more engaging and relevant for our students. One powerful approach is incorporating local history into our lessons. However, finding and using primary sources from our communities can be challenging, especially when dealing with old documents that are difficult to read. This is where AI can be a game-changer.

Recently, I experimented with using AI to help extract and modernize text from a local historical newspaper, making it more accessible for my students. Here’s how I did it:

Step 1: Find a Relevant Primary Source

I discovered an 1838 issue of “The Philanthropist,” an anti-slavery newspaper published in our town by local abolitionist James G. Birney. The front page contained an article about citizens in nearby Sardinia, Ohio protesting the arrest of a reverend who had helped enslaved people escape.

Step 2: Capture an Image of the Text

I took a screenshot of the newspaper article. The text was faded and in an old-fashioned typeface, making it difficult for students to read.

Step 3: Use AI to Extract and Modernize the Text

I uploaded the image to Claude, an AI assistant capable of analyzing images. I asked Claude to transcribe the text into modern English while preserving the original meaning and tone. Within seconds, I had a clear, readable version of the article. ChatGPT or Gemini can also be used as well.

Step 4: Verify and Edit the AI Output

I quickly scanned the AI-generated text to check for any obvious errors or misinterpretations. In this case, the output looked accurate, but it’s always important to review AI-generated content.

Step 5: Create an Engaging Lesson

With the modernized text, I developed a Cybersandwich lesson asking students to identify specific details about the tensions surrounding slavery in our community in 1838. This brought a powerful piece of local history to life in a way that was accessible and engaging for my students.

Benefits of This Approach:

Makes difficult-to-read primary sources accessible to students
Saves time compared to manual transcription
Allows incorporation of more local history into lessons
Engages students with relatable, place-based historical content

By leveraging AI in this way, we can open up a wealth of local historical resources that might otherwise remain unused in our classrooms. This approach not only makes history more relevant to our students but also helps them develop a deeper connection to their community’s past.

Have you tried using AI to bring local history into your classroom? I’d love to hear about your experiences and ideas in the comments below!

Citizens of Sardinia CyberSandwich Lesson Link