Lately I have been posting quotes from the Founders and early American history. Not to sound smart and not to start a fight. I do it because there is a clear line between what they wrote then and what we are living through now. The irony is obvious once you actually read the words. The warnings are sitting right there in plain English. The problem is most of us have drifted so far from those original ideas that we barely recognize where they came from.
As a social studies teacher, that bothers me.
The Founders and reformers already talked about power, justice, education, rights, and corruption. Most Americans have never seen those original words. We often skip the originals and jump straight to watered down summaries. That is how a country forgets where it came from.
This year I made it a point to give students more real documents. We read the Massachusetts Circular Letter. We looked at John Adams describing the Boston Tea Party. We went through the Stamp Act from the British Parliament. We read the Articles of Confederation. We tackled Federalist 68 to understand the Electoral College. We read the Declaration of Independence and analyzed the common sensical words of Thomas Paine. When kids get the real text, they react differently. They ask better questions. They make stronger connections. They see that history was not neat or predictable. It was debated and argued and built by humans.
My co-author and friend Dr. Scott Petri used to joke with me and say, “Do not turn your class into death by a thousand primary sources, Moler.” He was right. You cannot bury kids in documents just because you think it looks academic. But there are documents that spark curiosity and are worth the effort.
The quotes I have been posting on my own page are the same idea. Thomas Paine warned that leaders raised to rule often become arrogant because they do not understand ordinary people. John Adams said government exists for the common good, not for the private interest of a few. Paine wrote that tyranny survives on fear and collapses when people stop being afraid. Jefferson argued that a nation cannot stay ignorant and free at the same time. Frederick Douglass warned that when justice is denied and poverty is enforced, nobody is safe and society starts to tear itself apart.
These writers did not agree on everything. They had flaws. They had blind spots. They also understood how fragile liberty is. They understood how quickly the public forgets, how easily leaders overreach, and how important an informed citizenry really is.
I worry that we are losing that understanding. The decline of civic knowledge is not an accident. The shrinking time for social studies education is not an accident. If you reduce the time spent on history and government long enough, you get citizens who do not know what their country is supposed to be doing. If nobody knows the original arguments, then there is no standard to measure the present against.
This is why I refuse to sugarcoat or sprint through the curriculum just so I can say I reached the Civil War before May. That approach is meaningless. I would rather have students understand why Paine attacked monarchy, why Adams defended the concept of the common good, and why Douglass demanded justice. I would rather have them see how these ideas connect to today. That has value.
The truth is simple. Countries forget. Foundations rot when nobody checks them. Someone always benefits when the public stops knowing how things are supposed to work.
So I will keep teaching primary sources. I will keep posting the quotes. Not because I want to live in the eighteenth century, but because those old words still matter. They are not coming from pundits or influencers. They are coming from people who built the country we are still trying to maintain.
If we stop reading them, we stop remembering. And once we stop remembering, someone else gets to rewrite the story.
I’m learning quickly that my school has a rhythm all its own—one filled with odd schedules, unexpected interruptions, and lots of moving parts. Some days it feels like just when I find my teaching groove, the bell schedule changes or half the class disappears for a shadow day. Other days, Mass, assemblies, or leadership experiences shift the tempo in ways that make planning a clean, flowing lesson nearly impossible. It’s a challenge, but I’m adjusting.
At the same time, I keep reminding myself that these “interruptions” are actually experiences that matter. Students are getting chances to lead, to serve, to worship, to see other schools, and to grow in ways that reach far beyond my classroom walls. So while it can make teaching messy and sometimes frustrating, the bigger picture is that it’s giving kids experiences they’ll carry with them. This week was one of those jumbled weeks, and instead of a day-by-day recap, I’m sharing the themes and highlights of what we managed to pull off in between it all.
Early in the week, we took on a classic history question: Did Columbus die believing he had reached Asia? I used a packet from Mr. Roughton’s site as the backbone, but I also added in a secondary source I thought was interesting. It suggested Columbus probably knew he wasn’t in Asia at all but kept fudging numbers and stretching the truth so the ships, money, and prestige would keep coming his way.
Working Through the Sources
Students analyzed a mix of evidence: a textbook passage that claimed Columbus never realized he had found a new land, letters where he signed himself as “Governor of Asia,” writings from his later voyages describing a “new heavens and new earth,” and even a map drawn under his direction that labeled South America as the “New World.” Adding in the secondary source about him lying for funding gave students a new angle to wrestle with.
Why It Mattered
By the end, the room was buzzing with debate. Was Columbus simply mistaken all the way to his death in 1506, or did he know he had discovered something new but lied to protect his reputation and keep the support rolling? For me, the highlight was seeing students not just memorize a textbook claim but weigh conflicting pieces of evidence, argue their case, and realize that even “famous facts” from history are not always so simple.
Mid Week
By the middle of the week, we shifted focus to how other European powers followed Spain into the Americas. I kicked things off with a map showing land claims from Spain, England, the Netherlands, and France. But I had some fun with it first. I scrubbed off five key details using the cleanup.pictures site, including “1682” from the title, the word “New,” and even Jamestown. What was funny is that in every class, students noticed “1682” last, even though the year was sitting right there in the title. It was a good reminder that sometimes students need to be pushed to read titles and pay attention to the little things.
Big Picture Pinpoint with a Twist
Next, we dove into an EMC2Learning lesson called Big Picture Pinpoint. I broke the reading into four sections, placed our lesson question in the center of a bullseye, and set up four surrounding boxes. Each round, two students rolled dice. The first roll determined how many bullet points they could write, the second determined how many words per bullet point. The dice added an element of pressure and fun, but the real goal was to force students to boil down the text to its most important details. After four rounds, they had a tight set of notes ready to go.
Processing and Comparing
To make sense of the information, students then created a Sketch and Tell-o. Each circle represented one of the four reading sections, and they had to sketch an image tied to the content. After sketching, they circled back to answer the lesson question. The next day, we built on that foundation with a triple Venn diagram. Students compared and analyzed why Spain, France, and the Netherlands colonized North America, identifying both similarities and differences in motives and impacts.
Why It Mattered
This sequence worked because it layered skills: map analysis, summarizing under constraints, visual processing, and finally comparison. The dice game kept things light, but the students still had to think carefully about what mattered most in the text. By the time they hit the Venn diagram, they weren’t just recalling facts. They were analyzing patterns across different nations and weighing how those choices affected Native Americans and the landscape of North America.
Late Week
I think it is important for students to understand and learn how marginalized groups fight back. Too often textbooks gloss over this or only mention resistance in passing. I wanted students to see that Native peoples were not passive victims of colonization, but active defenders of their communities and ways of life.
Doubling Details
We began class with a Doubling Details warm up using the lesson question from 2.6: Why did England, France, and the Netherlands follow Spain into the Americas, and what effects did they have on Native Americans and North America? Students had one minute to respond in exactly eight words. Then they had two minutes to find a partner and build their response into sixteen words. Finally, I gave them four minutes to find two other partners and expand it into thirty-two words. Each group shared, and I picked the best one. This quick routine gave students practice in stretching their thinking and refining their ideas before we dug into new content.
Reading and Questions
We worked through a reading that traced Native resistance from the Taíno in the Caribbean to the Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico, the Powhatan at Jamestown, and Metacom’s coalition in New England. Students saw how different groups used different strategies: revolts, cutting off food supplies, burning towns, building alliances, and even blocking trade routes. The questions in the packet pushed them to think not only about what happened, but why these strategies mattered and how different groups chose different paths of resistance.
Empathy Map
To process what they read, students used an empathy map. At the center of the map was the same North America map we began the unit with, showing the many Native groups that had built their own cultures across the continent. Now students were adding the layer of how those groups fought and resisted when Europeans arrived. Around the edges of the empathy map, students considered what Native peoples might have seen, felt, thought, and done. This activity helped them shift from memorizing events to stepping into the perspective of the people living through them.
Why It Mattered
By the end, students recognized that resistance was a natural human response to being threatened, exploited, or pushed off land. They also started to connect that resistance to larger patterns in history, realizing that marginalized groups have always found creative ways to fight back. For me, the highlight was seeing students connect the map they started the unit with to this empathy exercise, tying together culture, conflict, and agency in a way that made the history feel more alive.
If you follow my blog, you know I’ve been writing a lot lately—reflections, ideas, quick thoughts, lessons, frustrations, the works. And while I’m still posting everything to Moler’s Musings like always, I’ve decided to start sharing on Substack too.
It’s, flexible, I can still write like I always do, and I can also post short audio or video pieces when the mood hits. It’s all in one place, easy to use, and honestly just gives me more ways to share and connect.
I learned about Substack from Jake Carr, and he’s doing some really cool things with it. If you’re into teaching, AI, and new ideas that push your thinking, check out his podcast What Teachers Have to Say—definitely worth a listen.
I’ve been reading Do I Have Your Attention? by Blake Harvard. It blends cognitive science with practical classroom ideas—nothing too wild, just enough to make you stop and rethink some things. One part that really stuck with me was on cognitive load theory, especially the idea of intrinsic and extraneous load. It got me thinking about how I’ve been planning, what I prioritize, and how I sometimes try to do too much when maybe I just need to step back.
So Much Goes Into Planning
When I plan, it’s not just about covering content. It’s about thinking through what I want my students to know and be able to do, what skills I want them to build, what vocabulary they need, how to keep them engaged, and how I’m going to support the students who need more help—all while keeping things moving for the kids who are ready to fly.
And now, I’ve started asking myself: what kind of cognitive load are my students carrying into this lesson? Is this content already hard and layered (intrinsic load)? If so, I probably don’t need to add too much else (extraneous load). But if the content is simpler or more familiar, maybe I can push a bit further creatively.
Easy and Hard Topics in Social Studies
I’ve realized that not all content is created equal when it comes to complexity. Some social studies topics are naturally easier for kids to access, while others require more mental lifting.
Examples of Easier (Lower Intrinsic Load) Topics:
Reasons for European exploration
Life in the 13 colonies
Westward expansion and Manifest Destiny
Types of colonial economies (New England, Middle, Southern)
Comparing daily life in the North and South
These topics are usually centered around people, places, or causes. They’re concrete, familiar, and easier to visualize or connect to.
Examples of Harder (Higher Intrinsic Load) Topics:
The Constitution and its principles (separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism)
The Bill of Rights and application of amendments
Judicial review and landmark Supreme Court cases
Economic systems like mercantilism or capitalism
The causes of the Civil War (beyond just slavery)
These are abstract, layered topics that require deeper processing and strong academic vocabulary. When I’m teaching these, I simplify everything else so students can focus on the core idea.
When the Content Is Hard, Keep It Clean
In those higher-load lessons, I’ve learned that I don’t need to pile on the extras. A Frayer Model to build background, an Annotate and Tell to help break the reading down, and a Thick Slide to wrap it up. That’s enough. I’ve made the mistake of overdoing it before, and kids just got lost in the fluff. The content already asks a lot of them.
When the Content Is Familiar, You Can Stretch
But when the topic is easier to grasp, that’s when I can have some fun and go big with design. That’s where protocols like these come in:
Sketch and Tell: Have kids visualize big ideas and translate them into drawings.
Map and Tell: Great for tracking movement or showing change over time.
3xPOV: When multiple perspectives matter (like Manifest Destiny or American Revolution).
3xGenre: Having kids write in narrative, informative, and argument formats helps them go deep.
These aren’t just fun—these are meaningful ways to deepen thinking when the topic allows for it.
Final Thoughts
I’ve definitely fallen into the trap of thinking more stuff equals better. But lately, I’m realizing the real challenge is in matching the lesson design to the complexity of the content. I can’t always make everything exciting. And not every topic calls for elaborate activities.
Know the content. Know your students. Know the load they’re carrying.
Still figuring it out, but this helps me take a breath and rethink what good lesson design actually looks like.
This year, one of the biggest challenges in my classroom has been students’ limited knowledge of Tier 1, Tier 2, and, no surprise, Tier 3 vocabulary. It’s had a major impact on their ability to learn and engage with content. The textbook we use is packed with unfamiliar words, even in the instructions or basic sentences, which only adds to the struggle.
I believe in challenging students and keeping expectations high, but when vocabulary knowledge is shaky, it affects everything else—reading comprehension, class discussions, writing, and even their confidence. That’s where I’ve had to rethink how I approach instruction, especially when introducing complex concepts like federalism.
Here’s how I’ve been using vocabulary strategies and the Fast and Curious EduProtocol to help students not just survive, but grow.
What Is Working Memory?
Working memory is the space in the brain where students process information they’re learning in the moment. But it’s limited—students can only juggle a few pieces of information at once before their brains become overwhelmed.
How Vocabulary Impacts Learning
If a student is unfamiliar with a term like federalism, which is a Tier 3, subject-specific word, and they’re also unsure about related Tier 2 academic words like authority, system, or structure, their working memory fills up quickly. Instead of chunking the idea into one meaningful unit, they’re stuck trying to decode every word. That’s a recipe for overload, and learning often shuts down.
What It Looks Like in Class
Let’s say you show students this sentence:
“Federalism is a system of government in which power is divided between a national and state government.”
A student who lacks vocabulary support might be thinking:
What’s federalism?
What does system mean here?
Divided how?
What’s a state goverment?
By the time they work through those questions, the main idea is lost.
Strategy: Use Fast and Curious to Build Vocabulary
Start with Fast and Curious. Use a platform like Quizizz to introduce and repeat vocab words daily. It only takes five to seven minutes, and the repetition helps move those terms into long-term memory. This frees up working memory to focus on learning. and helps students feel more confident going into the lesson.
Build a quiz that includes a mix of terms:
Tier 1: law, rule
Tier 2: authority, system, divide
Tier 3: federalism, goverment, Constitution
This supports students at different vocabulary levels and helps build a foundation they can use during lesssons.
Use Visuals and Analogies
Pair federalism with a simple image, like a pizza split between friends or a tug-of-war between state and national goverments. These visual anchors make abstract concepts more concrete and easier to understand.
Make Connections to Their Lives
Connect new terms to students’ own experiences. For example, ask: “Do you have rules at home and rules at school? That’s kind of like federalism—different groups in charge of different things.” When students can relate to the vocabulary, they’re more likely to remember and apply it. And it’s also a good chance to build some trust and engagment.
Repeat and Revisit the Words
Don’t expect mastery after one lesson. Keep using the terms throughout the week—in review games, warm-ups, and writing prompts. Every time students hear and use a word, they build confidence and free up space in working memory for deeper thinking.
Final Thought
When students know the words, they can hold more ideas in their minds. That frees up their working memory to think critically, participate in discussions, and make meaningful connections. If federalism doesn’t stick the first time, don’t give up. Slow down, build vocab intentionally, and give students the space they need to succeed.
This was the last week before Spring Break and I needed to finish the westward expansion unit. The main focus of this unit was having students understand how we acquired territories, the implications of manifest destiny, and the motivations and legacies of groups that went west. A short and simple 3 week unit.
Last Friday I left a lesson about the Trail of Tears while I was making my way to Madison, Wisconsin. The engagement level among all my classes was 85% – to me, this means 85% of students at least opened the assignment and attempted something with it. This does not mean they finished, and I didn’t expect them to finish everything.
As a result, Monday was used to finish the Number Mania about the Trail of Tears. For this activity, I provided a quote to students, “…the sufferings of the Cherokees were awful. The trail of the exiles was a trail of death,” and students had to find 4 numbers from the article to prove that quote true. I love using Number Mania numbers and facts as textual evidence as it gives the students a purpose for the numbers they share.
On Monday, I used a Dr. Scott Petri trick and asked the students to analyze their Number Mania infographics. I extracted all the numbers that could prove the quote true and had the students share the amount of numbers they had correct. I also asked the students to reflect, “How do your chosen statistics and information work together to paint a picture of the suffering endured by Native Americans during this period? Is the overall impact of your infographic powerful and thought-provoking?” I didn’t want this Number Mania to be a one and done activity. I love this extension that Scott does with his students. Overall, the reflections were okay. Considering I’ve only done this a few times this year, I need to make reflecting a regular aspect of my class for the future.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, I asked the question, “What inspired people to go west?” This is a lesson that I took from TCI and wrapped some Eduprotocols around it for more engagement. The materials for the lesson worked perfectly with a Frayer, 3xCER, and a Sketch and Tell comic or Netflix template.
This particular lesson has a combination of secondary source background information paired with primary sources. The sources include:
Thomas Jefferson letter to Lewis and Clark to explore the Louisiana territory.
Excerpts from Josiah Strong’s book, Our Country: Its Future and Its Present Crisis.
An explanation of the Homestead Act and the song, I Will Go West, by JP Barrett.
I like the Thomas Jefferson source because it refers back to the Louisiana Purchase which we have discussed from the perspective of Federalists and Democratic Republicans. We also looked at it from the perspective of Lewis and Clark exploring from the Mr. Roughton Culture Shock lesson.
To begin this lesson, I had students Frayer the Homestead Act. I linked a brief reading that AI created and they had 4 minutes to define it, list 3 characteristics, use it in a sentence, and include a picture.
The next part of the lesson was the 3xCER. At first students struggled with pulling a claim from the Jefferson article and letter to Lewis and Clark. They struggles with this because it wasn’t directly stated – they had to process it themselves and figure it out. After noticing the struggles, we read the article and letter together and I mentioned that 4 possible claims could be pulled from the reading. We discussed as a class and this seemed to help with the other two readings.
The last piece of the lesson was creating a Netflix show description based on an inspiration or creating a Sketch and Tell comic using a Justin Unruh template. For the Sketch and Tell comic students could identify 4 inspirations or create a story about what inspired someone to go west. This was an awesome one day lesson.
Wednesday
Wednesday we built off of Tuesday’s lesson and focused on the groups that went west:
Explorers because it mentioned Lewis and Clark.
Pioneer Women because I like to include women’s history whenever I can.
49er’s because most students understand gold and people trying to strike it rich.
Mormons because it’s a fascinating story.
Missionaries – because it ties to the idea of manifest destiny and expanding religion and forcing natives to convert to christianity.
Students chose one group to read about and they used a Brianna Davis template for an Iron Chef – Archetype smash. Students had to list out the motivations, hardships, and legacies left by their chosen group. They had 20 minutes to read and make their slide – BUT there was a catch. I rolled 4 dice and that’s how many words they could use for their motivations, hardships, and legacies. I like this because it’s fun and the students end up paraphrasing the information. Some classes could use 24 words whereas other classes could only use 8 or 10.
After 20 minutes, students shared their slides through a Google Form. The next phase of the lesson was having the students read about the four other groups they didn’t make their slide about. The different word amounts ended up being a good thing because I mentioned to them, “When you are going through everyone’s slides, you need to be the judge and determine what’s good information versus not. A slide with 8 to 10 words might not be good so find a better source.” The different word amounts created this source analysis piece that I like.
Thursday
On Thursday, after the students read about the different groups, we finished up the lesson with an activity I saw on Twitter from Mr. Cline – Dividing the Pie. Lucas George did this activity for his westward expansion lesson as well.
Students had a pie chart and had to divide the pie chart up into sections based on the different motivations and inspirations for what drove people west. The options were: gold, adventure, new opportunity, spreading christianity, and escaping religious persecution. Based on their percentages, students then had to justify why they divided up the pie for the different motivations. I timed this 25 minutes and collected it after the timer ended.
After the timer ended, it was time to wrap up the unit. I like to do two-part assessments. I asked students if they wanted to begin part one (Quizizz) or part two (Bento Box) of the end of unit assessment. They chose the Quizizz – 28 questions and the same quiz they have been doing off and on for the last three weeks. All class averages combined were 92%.
Friday
Heading into Spring Break I thought an Amanda Sandoval creation, the Bento Box, would be a great way to finish the unit. With the Bento Box students find pictures of icons, artifacts, images, etc and relate the symbolism to things they learned in the unit. It’s like a mini museum curation of items with explanations. I thought this would be great because it would allow the students to share multiple artifacts and open ended enough for students to share anything they learned from our westward expansion unit. I gave the students the entire class period to finish the Bento Box and submit. These turned out awesome…
I’m currently writing this from the O’Hare Airport in Chicago as I make my way to Madison, Wisconsin for the WCSS Conference. I’m looking forward to this conference as I will meet up with my friend, and co-author, Dr. Scott Petri. We are doing multiple sessions on EduProtocols and I’m doing an extra session on utilizing AI within the classroom. I was lucky enough to meet up with Jon Corippo in O’Hare! (Thanks for the popcorn, Jon!!)
This week we continued our unit on Westward Expansion. We began the week with having the students finish their Annotated maps from the previous week. I always underestimate how long it take to complete an annotated map. Then we followed up the maps with Manifest Destiny. I looked at last year’s lesson on this topic and I didn’t like it. I revamped my Manifest Destiny lesson to something I did 10 years ago when I first began teaching social studies.
Following the lesson on Manifest Destiny, I left a mini lesson on the Trail of Tears. I assigned this lesson because some of the readings about Manifest Destiny included references to the Trail of Tears. I assigned this lesson last year and really liked the outcomes of the lesson.
For Monday’s class I noticed many students needed to finish their annotated maps on westward expansion. Some needed 10 minutes while others needed 20 to 30 minutes. In times like this, I always have some supplemental things ready to go.
The best way to include supplemental activities when students finish at different times involve Quizizz, Gimkit, EMC2Learning Penny Pedagogies, EduProtocols, or utilizing AI. In this case, I had a Quizizz ready to go with questions from the previous week’s lesson. I also had a Mad Lib I created with AI.
For the Mad Lib, I got on Claude AI and asked it to, “Write a one paragraph Mad Lib that blends westward expansion with the concept of manifest destiny.” It was a decent paragraph that I copied and pasted to a Sketch and Tell. The students that were able to do the Mad Lib seemed to enjoy it as it was something different. A nice mix up and change of pace. For those of you thinking, “How did they do with the noun, adjectives, and verbs??” The students did great with this because we have been practicing these skills recently with some 8pArts.
By the end of class, 90% of students completed their annotated map, some completed the Quizizz, and some completed the Mad Lib. Below are some examples.
Tuesday
On Tuesday we began the concept of Manifest Destiny. I looked at last year’s lesson and wanted to do something different. I began to think about a lesson I did with manifest destiny about 10 years ago…Below is my sequence…
Wicked Hydra
My lesson started off with a Wicked Hydra. In the middle of a Google Slide I typed a headline that read, “Gap’s ‘manifest destiny’ T-shirt was a historic mistake,” and placed this with a picture of the shirt. I had students working together asking questions about this headline. They have no background on manifest destiny or the Gap. Students were asking questions such as, “Why was it a mistake? What is the Gap? Why were people mad? What is manifest Destiny?” I wanted to see these types of questions. The Wicked Hydra immediately creates interest.
Thin Slide
Next in the lesson was a Thin Slide. I linked a short section of the textbook to thin slide and asked two questions, “According to the textbook what is Manifest Destiny? and If this is all people knew about Manifest Destiny, would they still be mad about the shirt?” Students read the textbook section to quickly gain some background information on manifest destiny. I set this lesson up to visit the textbook section again.
8pArts
For the 8pArts I had students analyze the American Progress painting by John Gast. Students looked through image finding nouns, adjectives, guessing the time period, and the purpose. At the end of it all they wrote a brief summary of the image. We debriefed with a short discussion of the symbolism within the painting. I told the students, “If Manifest Destiny was an image, this is it.” Slowly I was building this idea of manifest destiny in their minds.
Wednesday
On Wednesday we continued our lesson on Manifest Destiny. I was hoping the Thick Slide would have been done on Tuesday, but we didn’t get that far.
Thick Slide
On the Thick Slide I shared a link to an article about manifest destiny. On the slide I included a table that asked students to list 3 reasons people might be offended by the Gap shirt. Students also had to share a quote from the article and explain its connection to manifest destiny. They had to include a picture that related to manifest destiny and they had to redefine manifest destiny from the Thin Slide. The article I included with Thick Slide was a combination of primary source quotes and analysis of Manifest Destiny.
Gap News Article and Compare
Next I had the students read the news article I grabbed the headline from. I paired this with a comparison slide from a CyberSandwich. Students read and compared the news article with the information from their Thick Slide.
Textbook Section
The last part of the lesson I had the students revisit the textbook section from the Thin Slide. I put this on a Sketch and Tell because I was out of town on Wednesday and wanted something to look familiar. I asked the students, “What else could you add to this textbook section to better inform people about Manifest Destiny? Highlight anything new you added.” They did an awesome job adding in more details. By the end of the lesson they had a better understanding of why the Gap t-shirt was offensive.
Thursday
Thursday’s class I began with giving the students an option – finish adding to the textbook section from Wednesday or take the Quizizz I had posted. At the end of 10 minutes we played a game from EMC2Learning called Dublin Details.
In this game I gave the students a topic and they had 2 minutes to write an 8 word sentence about that topic. No more, no less. When the timer went off, they found a partner. In the second round, they had two minutes and combined ideas with a partner to make a new 16 word sentence. For the final round, students created groups of four and had five minutes to combine their ideas into a 32 word mini-paragraph. At the end of of round 3, I had each group submit their mini-paragraph through Socrative. I chose the winning paragraph, explained why, and gave feedback.
This is my new favorite thing from EMC2Learning. We did a round on a random topic. Then we did a round on Manifest Destiny. This was truly an engaging activity.
Friday
On Friday I wasn’t at school as I flew out to Madison, Wisconsin for the WCSS Conference. Again, I wanted to leave a familiar lesson – this is why EduProtocols rock!! The articles from manifest destiny mentioned the Trail of Tears and Indian Removal. So, I left a lesson on the Trail of Tears.
I adapted a lesson from TCI called, The Trail Where They Cried. I copied and pasted the article to a Google Doc and linked it to the lesson. I also provided a differentiated copy of the reading. Plus, I recorded myself reading the article and linked the recording to the Google Doc.
The first part of the lesson I had the students read and put the events from the reading into a sequential order. The second part of lesson students fill out thought bubble from John Ross and Andrew jackson. What were the Cherokees and the American government trying to achieve.
The familiar part of the lesson is a Number Mania. I like to set up Number Mania’s with a quote. I then have the students prove the quote true with number and facts from the article. For this particular lesson, students had to prove true this quote, “…the sufferings of the Cherokees were awful. The trail of the exiles was a trail of death.” This helps focus the students and the information. The students did an awesome job with their Number Manias and this lesson!
This week, we started a new unit on Westward Expansion. Last year at this time, I was ahead of schedule and created a new unit on Andrew Jackson, but I decided not to do that unit this year because I am now three weeks behind schedule compared to where I was last year. To begin this new unit, I took the question directly from our textbook: “How justifiable was westward expansion?” I also added another question: “What role did Manifest Destiny play in westward expansion?” In Ohio, our standard suggests that students need to understand and be able to describe how the United States acquired territories such as Louisiana, Oregon, Florida, the Mexican Cession, and the Gadsden Purchase. My end goal with this unit was to have students continue to work on writing with claims, evidence, and reasoning, as well as be able to summarize and describe how we acquired different territories around the United States.
On Monday, I started off with a Quizizz featuring questions related to the entire unit we are going to study on Westward Expansion. This included topics such as the territories and the people that went out west. The quiz served as a pre-assessment to see where we were and what we knew and didn’t know. The average score across all classes was around 42%. Next, I took the geography challenge from TCI and used some AI to generate additional questions. The geography challenge was a nice way to introduce the students to Westward Expansion, allowing them to see a map and become familiar with the time and space in the context of the unit.
I took the questions from TCI, put them into a Google Doc, and then had AI generate two new questions, resulting in three different levels of the geography challenge for the multiple levels of students within my class. I was really impressed with AI and the questions it came up with for the geography challenge. I had it provide several different quotes from somebody who took a trail out west, and the students had to read the description and mark an X on the map where they thought the person was located. I thought this type of question was creative and pretty awesome. Here was one of the questions: “Read this quote and place a green X on your map at the location where you think it took place: ‘We followed the Oregon Trail along the Platte River for many miles. The landscape was flat and dusty, with few trees as far as the eye could see. The river guided us on, but provided little relief from the harsh prairie winds that parched our lips.'”
After 30 minutes, I collected the geography challenge. While the students were working on the geography challenge, I set up a Great American Race by writing different people, events, and topics on index cards and numbering them. At the end of the 30 minutes, I passed out an index card to each student and had them design a slide with three clues and a picture to set up the Great American Race for Tuesday’s class. This took less than 10 minutes.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, I handed back the geography challenge and told the students we were going to use these maps, so they had to hold on to them and be responsible for them. I also printed off all of the slides they designed for the Great American Race, stapled them together, and had the students get into groups of two to three people. I handed each group a packet of the slides they created, had them get out a piece of paper, and number it from one to 20.
This was a great way to introduce some of the events, people, and content associated with Westward Expansion that the students were getting ready to learn about. It was also a nice extension after the geography challenge. I gave the students 25 minutes to look up and find the answers for the 20 slides they created. Most groups got this done, but some groups did not. It’s always funny to me how they always assume this is easy because they feel like all they have to do is just type something into Google and they’ll get the answer; however, this is not the case. They have to know exactly the important words to type in to find the answer for what they want.
After the Great American Race, I looked at the results of the quizzes from the previous day and noticed that students were having trouble coming up with the answer for the Great American Race slides for annexation and cession. I anticipated this and had Sketch and Tell slides ready to go for these two words. We ended class with a Sketch and Tell on annexation and cession.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, now that we had the geography challenge and the Great American Race complete, it was time to dive a little deeper into the territories associated with Westward Expansion. I reminded the students of our essential question: “How justifiable was westward expansion?” To begin class, we looked up and completed a Frayer model for the word “justifiable.” I gave students three to four minutes to look it up, write a definition, find examples and non-examples, and use it in a sentence.
Next, I used an idea that I saw on the EduProtocols+ Hot Shot Show with Drew Skeeler. I used a geography template that I applied to a Frayer model. I had the students pick a territory from Westward Expansion, and they had to describe its relative location, use a compass to identify what was north, south, east, and west of the territory, find a geographical feature, and list a state that was created from the territory. I had the students use their geography challenge maps to help them with some of this, and I told them we were going to use that map again. This was a great way to help the students become familiar with their territory in a geographical context.
I then stated that the territory they chose was the territory they were going to create a Thick Slide about and share with the class. I had AI generate readings for all six territories and asked AI to provide context and details on how we got these territories and the consequences of each. I also mentioned our essential question in my prompt so AI could generate the readings to help students answer the question of how justifiable Westward Expansion was.
Students read about their territory and created a Thick Slide using the “Somebody Wanted But So Then” framework to retell how we got that territory. They provided two pictures and used some claim, evidence, and reasoning to answer the essential question. Reading and creating the slide took about 20 minutes. Once students were done, they shared a link to their slide through a Google Form, and I compiled all the slide links from the form into a Google Sheet and shared it with all of the classes. The last thing I had students do was take their territory and create a title and show description related to their claim, evidence, and reasoning from their Thick Slide. This was a simple way to end class for the last 10 to 15 minutes and a great way to incorporate some Depth of Knowledge Level 3 with the learning.
Thursday and Friday
On Thursday and Friday, I began class with a Quizizz because I ran out of time from the previous day. We were then going to start an annotated map, which I like to do with this unit because it fits with the standard and learning expectation of being able to summarize and describe how we got the territories during Westward Expansion. With an annotated map, you can either have the students hand draw a map or use a pre-made map and label it and cut it out. In this case, I had the students get out their map from the geography challenge, and I had them finish labeling the map with all six territories. Then, I had them glue the map to the center of a big piece of paper, and around the map, they were going to have to summarize and describe how we got the territories along with the consequences of it. Also, at the top, I had them write, “How justifiable was westward expansion?”
The idea of the annotated map is that you begin with the essential question in mind, work through the lesson, and then circle back to the original question at the very end, using evidence from all of your summaries to answer the essential question. To get their information, the students were going to use the slides that their classmates shared. I like doing this activity as it connects all my classes, and we are learning from each other. Plus, I like this lesson as I tell the students they must evaluate the sources that their classmates have created for them and ask themselves, “Is this a reliable, valid source which is going to give me the information that I need?” If not, then they should move on and find another source that they think is better.
I was hoping the annotated map would take two days, but we’re going to have to use a little bit of class time on Monday to finish them up. On these two days, we also did a little Fast and Curious with Quizizz, and the scores of the classes were really good. Based on the scores that I have seen, I really like this sequence of the geography challenge and EduProtocols for student learning.
This week we continued with the War of 1812. I used a great lesson from Mr. Roughton called “Weigh the Evidence.” I thought this would be a great follow-up from Friday’s lesson about the War of 1812 and how James Madison responded to British impressment. I like this particular lesson because it was a refresher of the War of 1812 and it had students practicing writing a claim, using evidence, and reasoning.
We followed up this lesson with a lesson on the Monroe Doctrine. However, I had to leave town and needed to leave a self-sufficient lesson. I was also out of town Wednesday and needed to leave a familiar lesson. The goal was to end this unit this week so I can move on to something new. Since I was out, I left some hexagonal learning. This is something we have done at least 5 times this year. Each time my focus is getting the students to add more, be more descriptive rather than just restating the concepts in the hexagons. We also finished up the lesson with a Quizizz.
On Friday we wrapped up with a game. I didn’t feel like starting a new unit and then immediately go into the weekend.
On Monday I wanted to keep the War of 1812 lesson going and I found a lesson from Mr Roughton’s website called “Weigh the Evidence.” In this particular lesson, there was a series of slides where I presented six artifacts related to the War of 1812 to the students. I then asked the question “Should the War of 1812 be considered a positive event for America?” I then went through the artifacts with the students and they had to determine which was a reliable source, which was useful, and which was not. They then rated each artifact on a scale from -2 to +2, with 0 meaning the evidence was not useful at all. This was a great lesson to work on analyzing primary sources, secondary sources, and thinking about what was decent evidence versus not.
We began by looking at the Treaty of Ghent, a Wikipedia page, an engraving showing the burning of Washington, statistics from a textbook on casualties, a parody movie trailer, and the song “The Battle of New Orleans” written by Johnny Horton. Students gave each artifact a rating and explained why they rated it that way. At the end, they added up their ratings. If they had a negative number they saw the War of 1812 as a negative event. If they had a positive number they saw it as a positive event. And if they ended up with zero, they had a decision to make.
I really like the structure of this lesson and the numerical rating system really helped students make an informed decision before writing their paragraph using claims, evidence, and reasoning. When it was time to write, I had the students type their paragraphs into a Google form to submit. I then downloaded the paragraphs, put them into Claude AI, and gave whole-class feedback. We discovered that our claims were pretty good as they were definitive. The use of evidence was also really good but our reasoning needed some work – it was often not developed enough or too basic. This was great feedback to give the students the next day.
Tuesday
On Tuesday I was only at school for half the day before I had to leave to catch a plane to New York. The last president we covered was James Monroe. With Monroe, we simply learned about the Monroe Doctrine – my goal is for students to understand its purpose before high school. In this lesson, I had students analyzing political cartoons related to the Monroe Doctrine. There were five cartoons I wanted them to examine. They could walk around viewing printed copies, access them on their Chromebooks, or I stapled packets together.
One by one, students looked at the images and made a prediction about what they thought the meaning or purpose of the Monroe Doctrine was based on the cartoon. After predicting, they watched an EdPuzzle video to check their understanding. I followed this up with a “sketch and tell” activity – students had to draw their own political cartoon showing the meaning of the Monroe Doctrine and explain it. We ended with a Thin Slide: “One thing you learned, one image, one word” to wrap up the remaining 8 minutes.
Wednesday and Thursday
On Wednesday and Thursday, I wanted to wrap up the unit with a familiar activity since I was out on Wednesday attending an AI conference. When I’m gone, I’ve learned students engage better with familiar tasks rather than introducing something brand new. As a result, I left instructions for hexagonal learning. We have done this five times already this year. I like hexagons because the activity is flexible enough to be an assessment allowing students to demonstrate their learning in creative ways. With so many recent absences due to illness, it also works for students at multiple levels – I can tailor it as needed by removing or adding hexagons.
Some students I just asked to connect hexagons, others I asked to connect and share five things they learned. When I returned Thursday, students checked their work against a success criteria checklist I provided. Some criteria included: 3 connections explaining Federalist views, 2 connections showing how a president responded to foreign threats, 2 connections about strengthening national government. I also had a simpler checklist for struggling students: make 5 connections about anything learned.
We also discussed adding more descriptive detail, using transition words like “because” instead of just turning the hexagon text into a sentence. To wrap up, students completed a Quizizz mastery check. They had 10 minutes to earn at least 90% to demonstrate their knowledge.
Friday
On Friday, I found a review game on EMC2Learning rather than start something new before the weekend. The game was like Scattergories. I put up a topic like George Washington, Declaration of Independence, or Bill of Rights. A video scrolled through the alphabet and I stopped it on a random letter. Students had 2 minutes to brainstorm related words starting with that letter. We shared words in groups, some students had to explain connections back to content. It was fun, made them think creatively, and worked on listening skills as groups crossed off duplicate words.
This week we continued with our study of the first five presidents of the United States, exploring this question: “How well did the major decisions under Washington, Adams, and Jefferson live up to the Federalist and Democratic-Republican visions for America?” This week we looked at Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase and James Madison and the War of 1812. A common theme throughout this unit has been having students put themselves in someone else’s shoes and examine different events from other perspectives. This has been a recurring theme throughout the entire unit.
My classes were still a bit uneven, so I did some things this week to get all my classes back on fairly even ground. Between lessons on Jefferson and Madison, I incorporated review with a Resource Rumble and an engaging “culture shock” lesson I adapted from Mr. Roughton, which allowed me to catch all my classes up to the same point again. The main EduProtocols I utilized this week were Thin Slides, Archetypes, CyberSandwich, 3xCER, and Number Mania.
On Tuesday, we did a lesson on the Louisiana Purchase. I asked why Federalists opposed the purchase. First, I provided relevant background knowledge before students could answer. I started with a Thin Slide, asking students to find an interesting fact about Thomas Jefferson to share with a partner. Next, I gave students a section of the textbook on the purchase, enhanced with AI to incorporate more statistics. With Number Manias, I often give a quote for students to support with facts and numbers. The quote: “Expanding the country west was a key goal for Jefferson. So even though it went against some of his usual policies, Jefferson made the daring choice to buy all of Louisiana from France.” Before the Number Mania, students completed a Frayer model for the word “diplomat”—I should have done this last week with the XYZ Affair. Students then had 5 minutes to read and find 4 numbers to support the quote, followed by 15 minutes to design slides.
We then did a 3xCER, answering why Federalists opposed the purchase. I emphasized that although doubling the U.S. size seemed positive, Federalists objected. This ties back to whether these presidents upheld party visions. Students read Hamilton’s editorial, recorded his claim/evidence/reasoning regarding his opposition, then did the same for a Rufus King letter. I think this showed multiple perspectives—on one hand it seemed beneficial, but Federalists opposed it for potentially expanding slavery, weakening federal power, etc. This foreshadows future learning and reminds that Federalists favored centralized power.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, I wanted some classes to catch up while allowing advanced classes to continue progressing. With one class, we used a Resource Rumble to review Washington, Adams and Jefferson’s presidencies. With other classes, we did Mr. Roughton’s “Culture Shock” lesson. This gave a feeling of early 1800’s life while reviewing past learning. It began by having students write the principal about a policy change, but I blocked out harsh language, relating it back to Adams’ Sedition Acts. We did an activity with political cartoons about presidents. We went outside to sketch leaves, then read Lewis & Clark journal entries to guess the animal, which I tied back to the Louisiana Purchase exploration. Students enjoyed this lesson, so I will use similar ones in the future.
Thursday and Friday
On Thursday and Friday, we began examining James Madison and the War of 1812, asking what he should do about British impressment. Since most students didn’t know Madison or impressment, I structured activities to build background knowledge. We started with a Thin Slide about Jefferson’s Embargo Act, efficiently providing/reinforcing information. Before they began, I rolled dice to determine slide phrase length to encourage concise summarization. My goal was to show Britain/France tensions persisted. I asked students the definition of insanity – trying the same thing but expecting different results – which I likened these first 3 presidents’ failed efforts to avoid war. Next was a Madison Archetype Foursquare, then students Frayer modeled “impressment” and “warhawks.”
I then added a CyberSandwich using an activity from Dan Lewer’s website putting students in Madison’s shoes regarding impressment. After a briefing/timeline for context, I simply asked them to decide as if they were president. Last time with Adams, students finished quickly, so I modeled weighing options first. We developed a good pro/con list before writing a speech for the public where I provided framework: summarize the issue since there was no instant media, share their decision, and justify why it was best. After writing, I revealed Madison urged war, now called the War of 1812. We watched a video on the burning of the White House, then I shared more outcomes like stalemate, the Battle of New Orleans, Federalists wanting succession, and the Federalist Party’s end. Students enjoyed considering perspectives and options as if they were president.
We closed with a 5-minute Gimkit review game, then partner discussions before a 4-minute rematch, challenging students to beat their prior scores. Every class scored over 80%, demonstrating learning.
Moler's Musings 