History teacher at New Richmond Middle School. Tennis coach at SUA, Beechmont Racquet and Fitness, Lunken Playfield, and KCC. Striving to learn, create, and innovate one day at a time.
“What if they don’t do it correctly? I’m going to have to take an entire class period to go over their slides,” a colleague said to me.
I replied, “They’ll be fine.”
They replied, “What if they forgot something? I would have completed everything in the directions.”
To which I replied, “I have a Masters degree. You have a Masters Degree. They’re all 11 and 12 years old. We would make the most creative slides the world has ever seen. We would follow every direction. They’re learning a process.”
I share this conversation because too often we get caught up in the day to day content and compliance of learning. We all want to do better for our students. We all do so much and are called upon to do more. At times it’s the weight of the world pushing down at us and it’s stressful. However, we must remind ourselves about the core of any classroom – the human child.
The children who come to our classrooms are all from different walks of life. I’ll never forget when a student questioned my teaching and use of a worksheet. Rather than be offended, I began to reflect. Ultimately, I asked myself this question, “What experiences am I creating for my students?” My classroom ran like a “one size fits all” machine which didn’t place the emphasis on each individual student.
We are all unique individuals with unique skills and talents. My job as an educator is to discover students strengths and talents and bring them to life. As a result, I created a classroom based around students and creating, critically thinking, collaborating, and communicating (The 4 C’s). However, while students are creating, I’m walking around giving feedback. I’m talking. I’m joking. I’m teaching students.
When I revamped my classroom, I took a major risk and it began with creating lessons where students were creating their own learning. I stopped assigning textbook sections with comprehension questions. Instead, I changed it to students reading a textbook section, finding 5 important facts, discussing and comparing their facts, and then creating a summary of their learning. I will run this framework around fifteen times a year. This repetition allows students to grow and get better throughout the year.
My classroom is also a place where students are creating learning artifacts to share with each other. I really wanted students learning from each other. Oftentimes, my students are designing slides to help them learn new information. These slides are unique to them and their own strengths. They are also sharing these slides with their peers and across all my class periods. Students should not hide behind Chromebook screens. We should be leveraging technology to get students sharing knowledge, and giving feedback, to each other.
Since I switched to a student focused classroom, I noticed several changes. Students were happier and more confident. With the design and repetition of lesson frames, students were able to recognize their growth and learning through the year. This made me a happier teacher as well. I no longer am the teacher that states, “This week is moving so slow.”
Now I’m back to my conversation from above. The entire focus was on every student having correct slides and following directions. The focus was on content and compliance. My focus is on individual students. How did I help ease my colleague’s mind? I had every student partner up and they gave feedback to each other. They had one minute to tell each other something they liked about their slides. Then students had one minute to tell each other something they would change on their slides. As a result, students helped each other find missing quotes or misinformation. Students did the work. Students did the learning.
Why does this work for me? I began trusting my students and helping them understand their unique strengths, talents, and skills. I didn’t sign up for teaching so I could brag about being the first to get through a textbook. I didn’t sign up to talk at students all day. Rather, I chose this profession because I want to help make a difference in the lives of students and create change for everyone.
Year 10 in the books! What a year it was in 505 – I made some changes and set a goal to teach Reconstruction by the end of the year. Throughout the year, I made some small changes to units and lessons and achieved the goal. Here are my units with some thoughts:
Unit 1 – Exploration of North America
Unit 2 – Road to the Revolution
With these 2 units, I can get carried away with Jamestown and Plymouth, French and Indian War, and all the little acts and taxes that were passed by British Parliament. I cut out all the small details and focused on the important pieces. For example, I focused on who fought the French and Indian War, the debt that was accrued, and the Proclamation of 1763.
Unit 3 – Constitutional Convention
Unit 4 – The Constitution
These are 2 of my favorite units. I rarely teach the same way year to year, but I really like and reuse a lot of the lessons. Government and the Constitution are passions of mine, and I try to make these lessons as hands on as possible. I cut down Units 1 and 2 so I could focus more on the Constitution.
Unit 5 – The New Republic
Unit 6 – Westward Expansion
These 2 units I’m always trying to tinker with and perfect a bit more. I really enjoyed the blogging aspect of the New Republic Unit, but it needs something else (what that is, I don’t know yet). I focus on the first 5 presidents which covers a lot of material and takes us to Westward Expansion.
Once I begin westward expansion, I begin to think, “Should I include Andrew Jackson?” He’s intriguing, engaging, interesting – but is it important?
Unit 7 – Industrial Revolution and Reforms
Unit 8 – Civil War
Unit 9 – Reconstruction
Despite me questioning whether I should teach about Andrew Jackson, Westward Expansion is a nice transition to the Industrial Revolution and reform movements. Westward expansion and reform movements are a nice transition to the Civil War.
3 Positives
1. EduProtocols
EduProtocols are constantly evolving from year to year. I love it. These lesson frameworks are engaging, familiar, and are easily adaptable to different levels of students. The creativity and collaboration among students was at an all time high in 505. Here are my top EduProtocols this year:
CyberSandwich – I love this protocol because it can easily be created and scaffolded in a variety of ways. This year I used a Main Idea note taking strategy:
Students partnered up and read to each other. As one student read, the other student took notes. After both students read and took notes, they discussed their notes. The summary at the end of the CyberSandwich was a newspaper article creation.
Another way I used CyberSandwich was through Nearpod. This was a great way to control the pace of the CyberSandwich and provide scaffolding strategies. I often used the Nearpod CyberSandwich in my class with a high percentage of students with IEP’s. Here is what I did to set this up:
The 10 minute reading was set up as an open ended question. I linked the reading and had students take 6-8 important facts/notes. I also added a 10 minute timer in Nearpod.
Next I had students add important notes to a collaboration board. This was followed up with a brief discussion.
Finally, I had students summarize their learning with an open ended question. I also added a 10 minute timer to this slide.
Thick Slides
My favorite EduProtocol this year, hands down, was the Thick Slide. This protocol is so versatile with any lesson. I used Thick Slides to help students form and create an essay. I used Thick Slides as a way for students to share and learn from each other. I used Thick Slides as a way to just be creative. Here are some awesome student examples:
Here are the ways I used Thick Slides:
Monroe Doctrine – this was used as a way for students to develop a thesis statement, and write a small essay. Out of the EduProtocols students used for helping them write their essay, most enjoyed the Thick Slide.
Abolitionists – students created this Thick Slide, changed the share settings, and shared their slide with other classmates through a Google Form. I gave students a Frayer model and they used each other’s slides to learn about other abolitionists.
Civil War – students used the Thick Slide to help them collect information about a battle that a local Civil War veteran fought in. This was used to help create a tribute to that Civil War Veteran.
Reconstruction – students used this Thick Slide to collect information. I had them give each other feedback about their slides. Then I had students reflect on which information was important versus not important. They used this to help them create a news story about Reconstruction.
2. Civil War Veteran Project
For the longest time I was obsessed with the cemetery near my school. It was one of the original village cemeteries with numerous old gravestones. I was always curious about the names, people, and gravestones. However, I never knew where to start or where to look. I just let it go until this year……
I had a student teacher who informed me what a Civil War veteran’s grave stone looks like. In 1879, Congress passed a bill that would honor Civil War Veterans throughout the United States. Their grave stones would be made of white marble, rounded top, with a Union Shield, and contain the veteran’s name, company, and rank. With that bit of information, I knew it was time to do the project. With EduProtocols in my back pocket, the project was easy to plan and design.
To begin the project, we walked to the cemetery and collected names. I had students write down the full name, company, rank, and years for 3-4 veterans. When we went back to the classroom, we began searching Ancestry.com, Civil War Index, NPS database, and other Civil War databases. Students created an Iron Chef, Thick Slide, and recorded a tribute to a local Civil War veterans on FlipGrid. It was a great way for students to connect history to their community. Here are some examples:
3. Lifelines and Messages
I have mentioned this before – I don’t care about Social Studies. I’m not driven by content. I’m not driven by pacing guides. I’m driven by anyone who steps foot in room 505. I care about the success and well being of anyone I’m around.
It’s important to me to talk with every students 2 or more times per class. It’s important to me to begin every class by asking students how they are doing. It’s important to me to show kindness and gratitude.
I grabbed an idea from Monte Syrie – Lifelines. I handed out a lifeline to every student this year. The lifelines were used by students when they were having a bad day and couldn’t possibly focus on work. As a result, they could use a lifeline and trade the class period for time to rest, reflect, and do nothing. However, they knew they had to make up the work. Most teachers would be apprehensive about this, but it’s important to me to show a little grace. The students did not abuse this, and I was amazed at how responsibly they handled the lifeline.
Students often love the daily messages I write on the board. I don’t bring attention to them. I simply write them and let the students read them on their own. Occasionally, I will leave the board blank to see their reaction. A blank board is often met with disdain and a lot of questions. Here are my messages from the last week of school:
Needs to be Better
Everything needs to be better. It never feels like enough and I have a drive to make 505 better and better. Here is my list of finding better:
More student to student feedback.
More positive contacts home. I always begin the year doing great with this, and then it drops off.
More student created assessments.
More writing skills (we write ALL THE TIME), but more revising and editing techniques.
More “in the moment” feedback from me.
Despite it never feeling like enough, please take time to read a Letter of Recommendation a student wrote for me. Yes, this is a talented 8th grade student…..
To whom this may concern,
I am writing to recommend Adam Moler for Ohio Teacher of the Year. It was a pleasure to have him as a teacher for the past two years, and having him as an educator is surely a blessing to any student.
Mr. Moler has an aptitude for improvisational teaching during challenging circumstances, and has the natural ability to make students feel heard and appreciated while being in class. For instance, he holds a “Friday Check In” once a week to listen to the needs and thoughts of his students, while fully understanding feedback with a non judgemental understanding. If he finds that a particular lesson may not be thoroughly understood by everyone, he modifies the lesson according to the students needs.
For example, students are able to pick their pathway of learning by completing work that leaves leeway for creativity. In the document 5.3 Assessment Options, the following are represented:
contemporary themes for assessment items that cater to younger generations, to better advocate the educational subject with his audience
A concise expectation of what items should be included (allows for the student to better reflect on learning expectations)
Rhetorical questions that grant a deeper thinking
Many assignments also require creativity and adapt to the needs of those with Neurodivergency (having conditions such as ADD, ADHD, ASC, ect.) by recognizing strengths and allowing for diverse skills found in these disorders to be utilized. In The Great Western Race Assignment, Mr. Moler gave myself and fellow students the ability to define concepts with the input of our own knowledge and way of thinking.
To further prove that his teaching skills are astonishingly effective, the Learning Statistics document records my personal increase in knowledge, commonly grown by 40%-61% from the first attempted quiz.
While being skilled in the education department, Mr. Moler has an inclination for being an inspiring and knowledgeable role model in the lives of many, by writing words of guidance and support to his students. Some of many of these quotes can be found in The Inspiring Quotes of Adam Moler documentation.
After being a student of Adam Moler for 2 years, my fellow students (see Student Feedback Link for more information) and I can confidently recommend him as the Ohio Teacher of the Year.
This week we moved into the 2nd week of the new unit about Reconstruction. Again, I’m using this unit to explore some of the topics to gain a better understanding of how everything works together. Next year, I’ll have a better understanding of the content and hopefully create an intriguing essential question.
I wanted the main focus of this unit to be on Reconstruction plans, Reconstruction Amendments, people and groups involved, and the Compromise of 1877. This week, we focused on Reconstruction Amendments, people, and the Compromise of 1877.
Aside from the content, I wanted to focus on using EduProtocols as LEARNING ARTIFACTS. I liked this terminology used by Dr. Sonny Magana. It gives the work a purpose. The EduProtocols allow students to develop their own knowledge, have conversations about the content, give each other feedback, and create. Protocols win against crappy question worksheets any day of the week.
Friday – Final Project of the Year – News Frenzy (EMC2Learning)
Monday
Monday I was absent, but I wanted the focus to be on the Reconstruction Amendments. An easy go to lesson for me when I’m absent is a Sketch and Tell. Students are familiar with it and stay engaged with it. I put together a quick Sketch and Tell that focused on the ratification year of the amendments, definition of the amendments, and effects of the amendments. I paired a 3 minute video with the Sketch and Tell. The video was ideal because it was short, it began with information students previously learned, and it did an excellent job of explaining the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.
The fast and curious I set up was through Gimkit. The Gimkit included 30 questions about Reconstruction Plans, amendments, and people. I like to mix up the platforms I use for fast and curious. Quizizz is great, and, in my opinion, provides more accurate results. Gimkit is good, and a nice mix up as it provides lots of reps with questions. However, the students get caught up in the game aspect of Gimkit and don’t focus as much on the content. You definitely need to coach them through using Gimkit properly and be able to explain the purpose of Fast and Curious. The fast and Curious scores were as follows: 62%, 52%, 63%, 51%, 56%.
Tuesday
Based on the Gimkit results from Monday, and being absent, I needed to get everyone on the same page. I found 2 great Peardeck presentations from a teacher in Virginia named Cory Walker (@corywwalker). Going into class Tuesday, I had several goals:
Get the students on the same page.
Reteach the Reconstruction Plans.
Go over Amendments.
Discuss and analyze the loopholes in the language of the amendments.
I copied the 2 presentations I found from Cory and combined them into 1 peardeck. I rearranged the slides to show how southerners responded to the 13th amendment with Black Codes, 14th Amendment with Jim Crow laws, and the 15th amendment with voter restrictions.
What’s sad to me is the entire time I was teaching about the amendments, I felt like I was breaking some sort of rule or law. This is the sad nature of our country now.
After I combined the 2 presentations, I lectured the entire class. The Peardeck aspect of it made it interactive. It’s unlike me to lecture, so I started off class apologizing. As I lectured, I was inspired by this 15 Minute History podcast on Reconstruction that Dr. Scott Petri shared with me.
After my lecture, did I bore students? Yes. However, many students said they actually liked that I took time to lecture. I shared a Google Form asking students why they liked me taking time to lecture. Here are some responses:
“You made some things clearer.”
“You’re really good at telling stories.”
“You explain history really well.”
“I like the stories.”
“It reminded me of story time.”
“I feel I learn better this way.”
“We didn’t have to really do anything.” – 🤦
The only class that had time for the Fast and Curious Gimkit was 5th period. They raised their class average from 63% to 85%.
Wednesday
On Wednesday we got back to creating “learning artifacts” for the Reconstruction unit. I wanted to do a follow up with the lecture from Tuesday with an article I found on NewsELA entitled, What everyone should know about Reconstruction 150 years after the 15th Amendment’s ratification, written by Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, PhD, a professor at West Virginia University. I liked this article because it added new information to my lecture from the previous day, and it covered much of the same content. I paired this article with a Thick Slide.
On the Thick Slide, I had students include a picture with a caption, 5 important things to know, a meaningful quote, and I included a review of southern responses to the amendments. As students were working I was giving feedback on their 5 important things to know. A lot of their information was stuff they already knew. I wanted the students to focus on new information. Some students included information about the 19th amendment ratification in 1920. We discussed the 19th amendment as being important, but it might not be relevant to notes on Reconstruction. Ultimately, I was trying to help them understand how to choose relevant information.
We finished class with a Fast and Curious Gimkit. The scores were as follows: 72%, 71%, 77%, 78%, and 68%.
Thursday
Today was reserved for the Compromise of 1877 and the end of Reconstruction. I gave students a choice for learning about the compromise – a reading I found on NewsELA or an EdPuzzle featuring a segment from the CBS Sunday Morning Show. (I love the segments from the CBS Sunday Morning Show featuring Mo Rocca!!!) Students also had a choice to create their learning artifact – Somebody – Wanted – But – So – Then, or Fact Mania. Most students chose Fact Mania. I had students focus on the who was running for president, what was the compromise, and why did the compromise end Reconstruction? For the Fact Mania, students had to choose 5 important facts to highlight, include pictures, and add a title.
We concluded class with another Fast and Curious Gimkit. The class averages were: 76%, 74%, 79%, 79%, 71%. The questions missed the most were questions from the Reconstruction plans. Upon review, I noticed the 2 classes with the highest averages we focused on the Reconstruction plans the longest. The other 3 classes I rushed through Reconstruction plans. The other aspect to this is the amount of absent students lately. It seems Covid is making a comeback and more students are getting sick.
Friday
Today was used for finishing up the Compromise of 1877 and beginning the final project. I thought about giving students a choice, but I kept it at one thing – The Fake News Frenzy from EMC2Learning. I cannot share this file, so check it out on their site.
I explained to students that they made learning artifacts to go back to and use for their final project. I prefaced everything with this, “If Reconstruction were featured on a news show, which aspect of Reconstruction would be highlighted?” This seemed to help students with the open-endedness of the project.
I love the News Frenzy file because it has students creating headlines, using social media posts, creating interviews with people, and creating tabloid headlines. A lot of creativity and thought must go into their creation.
Student Feedback
I shared my final Friday check-in with the students and I asked this question, “What advice can you give me about how to be a better teacher?” Here were some responses:
“I think you’re a pretty good teacher already. The only piece of advice I can give to teachers is to try and understand the kids. Try and understand why they didn’t get their homework done or why they were sleeping in class. Being a student isn’t the easiest thing so having a teacher who understands makes all the difference.”
“Not much. In my opinion you are an amazing teacher and there isn’t really a lot to grow off of. As a teacher you are great at most things you do.”
“Be patient with us you are already an amazing teacher but we have a lot going on throughout middle school that is stressful and hard to explain but please just be patient.”
“I think you could maybe teach a little more to the whole class out loud because when you explain things out loud it becomes clearer than reading a paper sometimes.”
“I really cant think of anything you can do better. You are the best teacher i’ve ever had and you are the most understanding and funniest.”
“nothing because honestly I need to be a better student and you have been so good to us”
“i don’t think i can, you already are by far the best teacher i’ve had”
“None, you are one of the best teachers I have had.”
“there is no advice i can give when you’re already best teacher at teaching in this school, at least in my opinion”
“Create more material so that some activities are repeated as much. Like less number manias and Iron chefs.”
“No advice. You are single handedly the best teacher I have ever had throughout my educational journey.”
My goal this year: cut out the fluff, get to the point, and reach Reconstruction. In my 7 years of teaching Social Studies, I have reached Reconstruction one time. I rushed through it in 3 days. It was pointless. This year, I gave myself 12 school days for Reconstruction (2 1/2 weeks).
This is unchartered territory for me. Honestly, it’s something I don’t remember much from school. The lessons I am designing for the unit are meant to help me figure out how the topics/content are connected. Furthermore, the lessons are designed to help the students gain some background information.
I wanted to begin the unit by having the students research and define the Reconstruction Era. I learned from my good friend, and co-author, Dr. Scott Petri that we often don’t focus on helping students understand and define historical eras. From here, I wanted to focus on these topics:
Reconstruction Plans – Presidential and Radical.
Reconstruction Amendments and Southern Responses.
Black Codes
Jim Crow Laws
Voter Suppression
People from the Reconstruction Era.
I need to think of a better way, and a better essential question for this unit. There are some awesome Reconstruction units I have seen, and would like to use. But, for now, I’m content with myself, and students, finding their way through new territory.
Today I used class to introduce the Reconstruction Era. The first we completed in class was a Fast and Curious with Quizizz. After the Quizizz finished, I had students leave the questions and answers up on their screens. They were going to use the questions and answers for their Iron Chef on the Reconstruction Era.
Next, I shared an Iron Chef slide for students to design. In the speaker notes, I copied and pasted a brief introduction on Reconstruction. The secret ingredient question was, “What was an important event from Reconstruction?” We read the brief introduction and discussed. Then I had students take 20 minutes to share 4 characteristics of the Reconstruction Era, a relevant picture with caption, and an important event. They could use the information from the Quizizz for help.
Introducing historical eras is something we often overlook. It helps place events in context and helps with sequencing. After students completed their Iron Chefs, we switched to a Thin Slide.
With the thin slide, I simply had the students share 1 characteristic and 1 picture related to Reconstruction. This was meant to help students add any information they may have missed, clear up misconceptions, and give students a chance to discuss Reconstruction in their own words. After our Thin Slide, we finished class with the same Fast and Curious Quizizz.
Here are some student Iron Chef examples:
Wednesday
Tuesday night I have a Zoom meeting with some educators – Dr. Sonny Magana, Marlena Hebern, Jacob Carr, Ariana Hernandez, Gabor Kertesz, Jen Goodman, Dr. Scott Petri, etc… We talk about ideas, student learning, effect sizes, and everything education. A great discussion with great ideas. In this particular meeting, Gabor Kertesz shared shared an activity completed by a student that was called Fact Mania. No numbers, just facts, pictures, and a title. This caught my eye and had my mind churning.
When Wednesday’s classes began, I started with the same Fast and Curious Quizizz. After the quiz, I asked students, “We are going to learn about Reconstruction plans. How do you want to learn it?” I shared a Mentimeter with 3 options – Fact Mania, Iron Chef, or CyberSandwich with Nearpod. A majority chose Fact Mania.
I created the assignment right there in class. Think about that for a second… I’m not completely comfortable teaching Reconstruction (because it’s been forever), I asked the students how they wanted to learn, and developed the assignment in class. That is the power of EduProtocols. Students reflect and decide how they want to learn. Students create “learning artifacts” and do the work. As a result, Fact Mania was born….
I shared a blank Google Slide and a Newsela Article on Reconstruction Plans.
Students needed to think about 4 BIG (important) facts related to each plan. I framed it with, “If you need to fully understand this topic, what are 4 main facts that you would need to know?
Design a slide – add pictures, title, 4 facts for each, and organize it. Be creative.
That’s it. I admitted to the students that I was developing this as I went. That’s usually how I roll – I fly by the seat of my pants. Students are used to it. I’m used to it. It’s all good. However, I needed something more with this lesson…
Friday
What more did Fact Mania need? I love when students collaborate and communicate their learning with each other. I love creativity. I love games. It hit me…
Have students reflect on their important facts and share them through a Google Form.
Have students create questions using the Gimkit Kitcollab.
When class began, I set a timer for 15 minutes to finish up the Fact Mania slides. I also asked the students to share 2 facts from their slides. For this process, I created a Google Form where students could select which Reconstruction plan and type their fact to share. Then I created a Google Sheet of information and shared with the students. I like having students share their learning because it makes for nice discussions, feedback opportunities, and helps other students who might be a bit behind.
After 15 minute timer ended, I created a new Gimkit quiz, but I didn’t create any questions. I hit the Kitcollab option and it generated a link I could share with students. This link allowed students to create Gimkit questions to make a class Gimkit quiz. The Kitcollab allowed me to accept or reject questions. Plus, I could provide feedback in real time on the questions, wording of questions, and answer choices. This was super cool!! Onl 1 class was able to play the Gimkit, and they did a nice job with a class average of 83%.
Have you ever had a lesson idea only to kick it aside and do something else? This happens to me all the time. However, I write these ideas down and sit on them for a while and the time is right. Or, until the lesson is ready. The time was right on Monday. I could have easily taught about some Civil War battles, the Anaconda Plan, strengths and weaknesses of the North and South. Why though? It’s the end of the year and I wanted something new and engaging.
There is an old cemetery next to my school named Watkins Hill Cemetery. This was the original cemetery created for the village of Susanna before it was merged into the village of New Richmond. It’s a historic cemetery and I have always been interested in the people buried there. The cemetery contains a few Revolutionary War veterans, Civil War veterans, WW1 veterans, etc. However, I never knew where to begin with uncovering some of the stories surrounding these people. I didn’t know how to spot Civil War veterans buried in the cemetery.
All of the above was true until I learned a few things from the student teacher in 505. We took a trip to the cemetery and he pointed out some gravestone commonalities for students.
For Union soldiers, he pointed out to look for marble headstones containing a shield. We also discussed Co. C stands for Company C. The 2nd Ohio H.A. stands for 2nd Ohio Regiment, Heavy Artillery division. This was an awesome learning experience for everyone and we visited the cemetery with a purpose. This was the start we needed to shed some light on these Civil War veterans and tie some local history into the Civil War.
To begin the Civil War, and out local history research project, I created a Fast and Curious Quizizz with some basic information. In the quiz I included terminology such as Company, Regiment, mustered, and basic information about the Civil War. Students took the Quizizz and all classes ended up with a low 40% class average. I gave some feedback and we took the Quizizz immediately and raised class averages to 60% or a bit higher.
After the completion of the Quizizz, we took a class trip to the Watkins Hill Cemetery. Here we asked students to find Civil War veterans. The goal was to write down 3-5 names and all of the information from the gravestone (company letter, regiment number, etc). After 20-25 minutes, we returned to the classroom with information to begin research on Tuesday.
Tuesday and Wednesday
Now that students had their 3-5 names, we began research for people. WE used the National Park Service site (NPS), Ancestry, and Civil War Index. I encouraged students to find as much information as they could – enlistment date, age at enlistment, rank, discharge date, battles they fought in. I explained the ultimate goal was to explain how this local Civil War veteran contributed to the Civil War.
At first, students were caught up in only using one site. Some were confused by the terminology. Other were bound and determined to find something out about 1 soldier. We encouraged students to try another soldier, try another site, or ask questions. When this entire project began, I knew as much as the students knew. As a result, this experience created a collaborative environment for the students and me. We worked together researching and sharing information with each other. It was fun as we tried to unravel some mysteries.
During this process, here are some cool things we discovered:
Some of these veterans never fought in battles.
Some veterans signed up near the end of the war for a $100 enlistment check.
One veteran had the rank of musician.
One veteran’s brother was captured and died at Andersonville prison.
One veteran was wounded in the Battle of Shiloh.
Once students collected 8-10 facts, I had them rank their facts from the most interesting to the most boring. The goal was to use some boring facts to set up the veteran’s life, but use the interesting facts to enhance the bio. It was cool to watch this experience play out and to discover new information about local veterans. Here are some biographies typed up by some of the students:
Thursday
After finding some enlistment and discharge dates, it was time to figure out how these Civil War veterans contributed to the Civil War. To do this, I created a Thick Slide with places to include basic battle info, numbers related to the battle, a relevant picture, and a quote.
As the research continued, we discovered that many veterans fought in the Battle of Shiloh as many men from New Richmond fought in the same regiment. Some of the men only fought in minor “skirmishes” in Tennessee. In order to learn more about these battles, a great site we used was American Battlefield Trust. After students researched a battle and completed their Thick Slide, they went back to their biography and added a new paragraph.
Once their 2 paragraph bio was complete, I had the students revise/edit and think about recording a tribute to their veteran with Flipgrid. Here are some Battle Thick Slides:
Some students asked what to do if their veteran didn’t fight in any battles…..here was my suggestion, “Change the heading on the Thick Slide to make it work you.” They followed my suggestion and did an awesome job!
One idea I changed during this project was a paraphrasing idea. I originally had the idea of students paraphrasing their original biography paragraphs. However, they were cutting out too much information and important details. I stopped paraphrasing and focused on having them record a tribute on Flipgrid.
Friday
I hoped research and biographies would be finished for Friday. I set up a Flipgrid so students could record a tribute to these local Civil War veterans. Here is that link: https://flipgrid.com/b79d05a5
It’s amazing how we started with a simple gravestone, researched some information, and created a small story about these local Civil War veterans.
This project is something I’ve had on my mind for years and I finally made it happen. I love flying by the seat of my pants and trying things out. It’s exciting and I plan to add more to this project in the future.
My role is not just about teaching social studies content or preparing learners for state tests. In fact, one of my daily messages I write says, “I”ve come to terms with the fact that you will forget most of what I taught in 505. However, you will always remember how you felt. When I’m faced with content and connections, I will always choose connections.”
As a teacher, I see my role as motivating the learners in 505 to develop their abilities and aspirations to learn. My role involves inspiring students to change and develop their personal, social and professional skills to the best of their abilities. My role is to help learners to understand how to own their learning and development. I fulfill these roles by planning and preparing teaching and learning activities that take into account the needs and well-being of each individual student.
As a former special education teacher, I’m not a fan of labels. I understand the purpose of labels in education – to help provide services, to gain a better understanding of the student, etc. However, once a label is applied, teachers tend to focus on the disability instead of the child. They focus on the students’ limitations and not their strengths. In the case of gifted students, we tend to see the student as a straight A, intelligent, hardworking student rather than a student.
Yes, I read IEP’s and WEP’s. However, I do not read these documents until a few weeks into the school year. I want to get to know every student for who they are instead of what some paper is telling me. Maybe that’s not the best approach, but it works for me.
I’m going to go back to my role as an educator – motivating the learners in 505 to develop their abilities and aspirations to learn. I will accommodate and modify for any student at any time to help them learn. I will do whatever I can for any student because they will always remember how they felt in 505 when the year ends.
This week wasn’t much of a week with all kinds of different things happening. With the end of the year fast approaching, many interruptions are taking place week to week.
Monday – Guidance Counselor came in to do career stuff.
Tuesday – Guidance counselor came into to finish career stuff.
Yes, I had 43-50 minutes of instructional time all week. Thursday, we did a simple lesson on Uncle Tom’s Cabin and I planned some other lessons that I will share with you here.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Thursday was a perfect day for this mini Uncle Tom’s Cabin lesson I put together. Many times we teach about Uncle Tom’s Cabin as contributing to the Civil War. We discuss the author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, at great length. However, how many of our students (or teachers) have actually read excerpts from the novel?
In this lesson, I begin by discussing how the novel acted very much like the television in the 1950’s and 1960’s bringing Southern segregation and treatment of blacks into people’s living rooms across the country. The novel brought slavery into the homes of people all over the country.
After my brief introduction, we did a Fast and Curious about the characters and basic facts regarding the novel. After the fast and curious, I gave some feedback and then we hit again right away.
After 2-3 rounds of quick Fast and Curious, students could choose from 3 chapter excerpts to read:
A Mother’s Struggle
Slave Auction
Cassy
As students read their selected chapter, they designed a slide about that chapter. They focused on retelling the events from the chapter, sharing and analyzing a quote, adding a relevant picture, and analyzing why this would contribute to the start of the Civil War.
I don’t teach 6th grade, but I help out our 6th grade teacher with designing lessons and incorporating some EduProtocols. I designed this lesson for Lesson 19 – The First Emperor of China using History Alive.
Day 1
Thin Slide – add one picture, one word to show what makes someone an effective or ineffective leader. This was to get students thinking about the overall question they were trying to answer – Was the emperor of Qin an effective leader?
Sketch and Tell – to me, three important vocabulary words for students to understand in this lesson are Great Wall, Legalism, and Qin Shi Huangdi. The Great reflects Qin major accomplishment. Legalism reflects his ruling style, Qin himself is important for students to create a representation based on some basic information they learned about him.
Fast and Curious Quizizz – try to run this once or twice during the class period.
Iron Chef – the Iron Chef was designed for students to create a character profile about Qin Shi Huangdi. Students read the section about him and list adjectives and facts related to his life and leadership. Students will then partner up for some Glows and Grows – what is one thing you ike about your partner’s slide? What is one thing they need to improve on their slide?
Day 3
Fast and Curious – run this at least once during class.
Thick Slide – students choose one of the sections related to Qin and his highlights, or lowlights and design a thick slide. The options are – Standardizing culture, the Great Wall, removing opposition, and his death.
Frayer – this is done on paper. Students share their Thick Slides with each other and collect notes in a Frayer model. The slide links are shared through a Google Form that in convert to a Google Sheet.
Day 4
Frayer – students finish the Frayer and use their notes for the final project.
Archetype – the archetype lesson is from the upcoming Eduprotocols Social Studies book that I co-authored with Dr. Scott Petri. Students will apply an archetype to Emperor Qin to decide if he was effective or ineffective as a leader. They will use their frayer information to defend their choice.
Civil War Lesson
Near my school is an old cemetery – Watkins Hill Cemetery that was one of the original burial grounds created for the village of New Richmond. In fact, one of the founders of New Richmond is buried there. It’s a cool spot to take the students and we look at the grave stones, discuss the history of New Richmond, and I teach them the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard. (Do you know the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard? Give my history, this is seriously not a dad joke.)
One thing I always wanted to do was figure out who some of these people are, but relate it to a current lesson. However, I didn’t know how to go about looking people up. This was the case until my students teacher showed me the national archives site for looking up veterans. (If anyone else knows another way, please help me out! I would love some feedback and more sources.) This cemetery has several Civil War veterans and this National Archives site is a great way to get us started.
Here is my plan that was inspired by a lesson design from Dr. Scott Petri:
Day 1
Great American Race – to teach about Civil War Battles, people, basic terms. Examples include: Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, The Union, Confederate States, Secession, etc…
Frayer – (Amanda Sandoval template) the Frayer is used for students to learn some vocabulary.
Fast and Curious – to learn some basic military terms – company, infantry, general, private, etc…
Day 2
On this day, we would head to the cemetery looking for Civil War Veterans. I would have students try to writ down 2-3 names and the information from the grave stone. We would then head back to class and I would have students submit names through a Google Form.
Day 3
On this Day I would have students list 10 facts about their veteran. Then I would have students list the facts from interesting to boring. Then I would have them design an Iron Chef slide about their veteran. The Secret Ingredient would have the students list the battles the veterans fought in during his service in the Civil War.
Day 4
Design a Thick Slide about a battle or battles the Civil War Veterans fought in. Take the battle information and add it to the Iron Chef to complete a better picture of this veteran.
Day 5
Have students take their paragraphs from the Iron Chef and paraphrase their words down into an easy to read format. For example, if they had 200 words, shrink it down to 160 words or something. Finally, have students record their paraphrased tribute through Flipgrid.
I wish I had more to share in the way of links for some of these lessons, but I was literally thinking out loud and typing. More to share soon….
Sorry for the late post – I have a lot going on right now:
I had a small part in the school musical, Newsies.
I am taking a gifted class.
I am also taking another class on the T3 Framework.
I am teaching tennis again.
The ins and outs of teaching 8th grade.
That is my shortened list (not kidding). This week we continued state testing and we began a new unit on the causes of the Civil War. As I mentioned in my last post, I have a student teacher I have been working with since January. He really like the structure of a Group Playlist (inspired by Catlin Tucker and Amanda Sandoval). He also wanted the students to understand that slavery was a cause of the Civil War – not states’ rights, not secession. He also wanted to work in some local history because Harriet Beecher Stowe has ties to Cincinnati and the New Richmond area (her brother was a preacher in the New Richmond Village right down the hill from my school). The resources put together in the playlist represent these topics:
Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850.
Kansas Nebraska Act
Dred Scott
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
This post will not follow the typical Monday, Tuesday pattern because each class started on a different day. With testing, field trips, and fun days planned, every class is off schedule. I was so excited to begin the Civil War in April because I usually start it in May. Starting in may means I rush through it and don’t have time for Reconstruction.
You would think since I started the Civil War on April 18th that I would have time to get to Reconstruction – nope. It’s not looking good. Think about that for a minute – 30 days of school left and I don’t have time to get through Causes of the Civil War, Civil War Battles, and Reconstruction. That’s how many interruptions take place the last days of school.
The student teacher I’ve been working with loves the idea of Group Playlists. He put a playlist together for the causes of the Civil War. With each playlist the students focused on reading, listening, and watching various sources to help them fill out graphic organizers. The students used their information to help them make connections between events related to the causes of the Civil War. Here are the questions for each playlist:
How did the issue of western expansion and the extension of slavery help spark war ?
What did popular sovereignty and the Kansas-Nebraska Act reveal about U.S. sectionalism?
How did political divisions over slavery spark war?
How did the exposure of slavery lead to war?
Directions
Let use Playlist #1 for this example – students read and watched about the Missouri Compromise and Compromise of 1850 as they took notes in a Venn Diagram. He also included a couple of questions for students to evaluate the topic of compromises. When students finished, they made a copy of the collaborative task which had them make connections between events. Students would discuss and summarize what they learned about the Compromises in the Playlist 1 box. Then they would move onto Playlist 2 (Kansas Nebraska Acts).
Students would complete the graphic organizers to learn about the Kansas Nebraska Act. Then they would go back to their collaborative task. Now they would discuss and summarize the Kansas and Nebraska Act in the Playlist 2 box. Now that students have 2 events summarize, they would find 1 to 2 connections between the events.
In the end, when the collaborative task was complete, and connections were made, students would use their information to respond to this prompt, “Provide a summary. Ultimately, what led to the Civil War?”
Here are some examples:
My Feedback
I personally liked the layout of the lesson. However, I would have mixed it up with more EduProtocols (I’m a protocols guy). For example, I would have added these protocols to each playlist question:
CyberSandwich to compare the compromises – How did the issue of western expansion and the extension of slavery help spark war ?
Thick Slide for info on one event – What did popular sovereignty and the Kansas-Nebraska Act reveal about U.S. sectionalism?
Frayer – How did political divisions over slavery spark war?
Iron Chef to create a slide about a chapter from Uncle Tom’s Cabin – How did the exposure of slavery lead to war?
OR run a stack:
CyberSandwich – How did the issue of western expansion and the extension of slavery help spark war ?
CyberSandwich – What did popular sovereignty and the Kansas-Nebraska Act reveal about U.S. sectionalism?
CyberSandwich – How did political divisions over slavery spark war?
CyberSandwich – How did the exposure of slavery lead to war?
I also gave feedback on question 2 with sectionalism. Many students finished the playlist not knowing what sectionalism meant. It would be good to throw it into a Fast and Curious or run a quick Frayer with it.
I also mentioned that I would drop 1 source from some of the individual tasks. It seemed overwhelming, or too much for some of the playlist. For example, either drop the Edpuzzle on the Kansas Nebraska Act or the reading.
My point with this feedback was simple – teaching and education is a constant reflective process. As Monte Syrie states, “Do. Reflect. Do Better.” I have embraced this quote and use it each day. Teaching and learning should be an ongoing reflective process class after class, day after day, year after year.
I’m currently writing this on Good Friday. However, I could call this day Bad Friday:
3:00 AM wake up call from my 2 year old daughter who puked.
I drove my 5 year old daughter to the bus stop and my front axle broke.
Ran the 5 year old to the bust stop.
A marker found its way into the laundry and ruined 2 pairs of my pants and a shirt.
I had all these plans to work on 2 classes I’m taking and memorize my lines for the school play ONLY to do none of it.
If I write this with a bit of extra snark then I have 5 reasons listed above.
If I covered all of the standards laid out by the state, I could cover it all, but I could only do a mile wide and an inch deep. Why am I going to cover content just to say I covered it? That’s stupid. I’m going to cover important topics and cut out the unnecessary stuff. Last week we covered the different methods Abolitionists used to push for an end to slavery. I had a choice – so I switch to the women’s suffrage movement or go into resistance to slavery? After a discussion, we (my student teacher and I) decided to move into resistance to slavery.
Side note: I rarely teach the same stuff year to year because I would get bored and probably quit. This is why I quit teaching tennis – the feeling of doing the same lessons over and over, saying the same stuff over and over day after day. Awful. As a result, I mix up my lessons year to year. Sometimes I change how I teach. Other times I change what I teach.
The Resistance to Slavery lesson is a C3 Inquiry Unit on www.c3teachers.org. (Even though it says grades 3-5, it doesn’t matter. It can be used with any grade level 3-9, in my opinion). Every C3 unit has a “stage the compelling question” activity. With this particular unit, I turned the compelling question into a Number Mania. The unit itself was broken into 4 questions:
What about the daily life of enslaved people would have prompted resistance?
What were the means of resistance to slavery?
What were the risks of resisting slavery?
What were the results of resisting slavery?
I like the C3 units because they usually have great formative assessment tasks, EduProtocols can easily be incorporated into them, and they are very adaptable to different formats.
Monday was a day with all kind of stuff happening. Some students were finishing their assessment choices from the Abolition lesson.
Other students began the new C3 lesson on resistance to slavery. I wanted to begin this lesson with some little known statistics about slavery. The statistics that textbooks won’t tell you. I found an article written by Henry Louis Gates (I shortened it down a bit for 8th grade). We turned this into a Number Mania. Students read the article for 10 minutes, and shared 2-3 numbers and facts with the class through a Google Form. I created a Google Sheet with the Form data and shared with the class.
Once I shared the Google Form Data, students had 15 minutes to design their Number mania slide. However, I framed the lesson like this, “When you select your numbers and facts, think of how you can tell a story with your infographic.”
The students did a really nice job with their infographics. They put a lot of thought into their creations. Many of them were surprised to learn that enslaved women had an average of 9-10 children. They were also surprised to learn that 75% of white families in the south didn’t enslave people. All in all, this was a powerful way to introduce the Resistance to Slavery C3 unit.
Tuesday-Thursday
I mentioned earlier the C3 Units are adaptable to any formats. When I was at Spring CUE in Palm Springs, I learned of the Group Playlists from Amanda Sandoval. These PlayLists are a modified version of the Playlists created by Catlin Tucker. I like these Group Playlists because they have students working individually, have self checks, and provide opportunities for students to collaborate. Here is an example (@historysandoval template):
When I created these Group Playlists, I used similar sources the original C3 unit had linked. However, instead of youtube videos provided, I found the same videos on EdPuzzle. I also included primary and secondary sources into the individual tasks.
For the Self-check part of the Playlists – I made mini organizers on a Google Doc and made copies. I also made a Frayer model for students to collect notes. Some students really liked the Frayer. Other students really liked the mini organizers.
The goal for the individual tasks and self-check are building background knowledge with DOK 1 and 2 tasks. The collaborative task should be a DOK 3 or 4 with students applying, or creating, with their knowledge. I thought and thought about this for a day and a half. Then I thought of a great application strategy – hexagonal learning. Here were my thoughts:
Share a blank hexagonal learning slide deck (have a paper version too).
The blank slidedeck has 16 blank hexagons (4 for each playlist).
At the end of each playlist, the students add 4 different ideas to 4 hexagons. The idea is to think about the answer to the playlist essential question.
When all 4 playlists are completed, the students pait the hexagons and make connections.
Finally, students find connections to people, narratives, and events they learned about from the playlist primary and secondary sources.
I didn’t know how this would turn out, but the students did awesome! They started from scratch and created their own learning and connections. I give credit to the clear learning objectives and goals for the awesome students creations.
The other part to C3 Units that I like are the extensions to learning. The extensions have students connecting their learning to today. In this particular unit, it wanted students to research a modern day resistance movement and make comparisons to slave resistance. When I read this, my mind went right to a Thick Slide idea.
This week we started state testing – “yeah” (sarcastic voice). Thursday and Friday were shortened days as students completed parts 1 and 2 of the Ohio ELA test. Classes were 22 minutes in length. As for social studies, Students finished the comparing the Northern and Southern United States during the Industrial Revolution with an annotated map.
After this lesson, I have a student teacher who designed a mini-lesson on the abolitionist movement to end slavery. The focus for the lesson was teaching students about different abolitionist, tying in some local history, and the methods abolitionists used to ends slavery.
Today was used for students finishing their annotated maps showing differences between the Northern and Southern United States during the Industrial Revolution. I offered two options – a digital version on Google Drawings or a hand drawn map on paper.
With the rubric, I had students adding symbols to represent the differences in geography, economy, and transportation. They had to include 2 geographical differences, 3 economic differences, and 1 transportation difference. After their map completion, students answered some basic geography map analysis questions I got from Robert Mayfield:
What is the purpose of the map?
What patterns do you see?
Why was that pattern created?
What can you conclude?
Here are some completed student maps (I forgot to take pictures of the hand drawn maps, but they are incredibly well done):
The completed maps were awesome, but I ran into a problem on Monday. Some students missed a lot of days and there was no way they were going to make some of this up. This is where my special education background kicks in and I excel – adapting, accommodating, and modifying things on the fly. I remembered another idea I got from Robert Mayfield – a Mapwich.
I took the original Google Drawing map template from above and added a premade map. I kept the questions the same, but changed the map. Here are those results:
Tuesday
Today was the start of the mini-lesson created by my student teacher. I shared the standards about reform movements with him and here is the lesson he created:
Thin slide on Nearpod – what does it mean to reform something?
Thin slide graffiti board – Without looking it up – can you name an Abolitionist?
Fast and Curious Quizizz
Thick Slide – a focus on abolitionists and their motivations and methods used to bring an end to slavery.
Share the Thick Slide link through a Google Form
Create a Frayer – collect information on 4 other abolitionists
Create a Brochure about Abolitionists and their methods.
We ran a test run of this mini lesson in 2nd period and made adjustments. Going from a Nearpod to Graffiti Board to Quizizz to Google Classroom to a Thick Slide – whew, too much!! So, we changed the “Name and Abolitionist” graffiti board to a Nearpod collaborative board. That small change made a huge difference.
Then we adjusted the “Name and Abolitionist” discussion after the Fast and Curious. We did this because the Fast and Curious gave some ideas for Abolitionists. Many students listed Abraham Lincoln as an abolitionist which led to a great discussion.
The Fast and Curious results ranged from 40% to 53% class averages. The questions and answer choices were well done and related to the topics. Some of the questions were vocabulary related, with the main question being, “What is the best definition for abolition?” After the first lesson test run, I asked my student teacher, “On Quizizz, does your definition for abolition contain the word reform?” I asked this because we started with the word reform, but it the word appeared again the rest of the lesson or throughout any reading. We made that small adjustment and we were set.
Next, students rolled dice to determine their abolitionist to study for the Thick Slide. The Thick Slide was set up for students to include background information, motivations, conflict, and methods of reform. Plus, it included a space to define abolition and include a picture with a caption. This is the 5th or 6th Thick Slide completed by students and each one gets better. Here are some examples:
A couple of teachable moment from the Thick Slide – addressing background information. For example, students would say to me, “Mr. Moler, I don’t see where he/she is from for the background information.” I replied with, “Does background information always mean where someone is from? Are you only defined by where you are from?” It led to a nice discussion.
We finished the day with another Fast and Curious and the class averages were raised 30% to 35%. Feedback and the Thick Slide are powerful tools for student learning.
Wednesday
The next day, we began class with a Fast and Curious again for a third rep. Class average remained the same or went a bit higher – 85% to 90%. Following the Fast and Curious, we shared a Google Form for students to share their Thick Slide. From the form we made a Google Sheet with the slide links and shared with the students. During this time, I highly recommend to teach your students how to change the share settings on a Google Slide.
Originally, we were going to have students use a Frayer on a Google Slide and then I suggested using paper. I suggested this to limit copying and pasting. Students made a Frayer on paper and chose 4 abolitionist to study. They collected background information, motivations, conflicts, and methods used for each abolitionist. Students were going to use this information to make a brochure.
Thursday and Friday
The final part of this mini lesson was making a brochure highlighting the abolitionists and their methods to end slavery. I was going to stay out of it, and not suggest anything. However, I can’t help myself. I remembered an Amanda Sandoval template and suggested a Dinner Party – choose 4 abolitionists to send to a dinner party and place them at the table. Then think about these questions:
Why did you seat them next each other?
What would they discuss or debate?
To me a brochure is great for a hands on project if the internet is down. But the dinner party takes critical thinking and creativity to a new level. What was awesome is my student teacher created conversation starters to scaffold the dinner party.
As students began the dinner party, they struggled to include details and the answers were basic. Was this from taking a 2 part ELA test? Was it from lack of knowledge? We pushed the students for more and they ended up doing a great job.
In typical Moler fashion, I didn’t stop with the dinner party, I decided to create a list of assessment options for all students. I ended up offering a dinner party, sketch and tell, Instastory, or Somebody – Wanted – But – So – Then. Here are some students exmaples:
Moler's Musings 