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This week my school switched to remote learning Tuesday through Friday. Monday, obviously, was an in-person day. (I thought about typing ‘in-person, normal day’ – but there really aren’t normal days in middle school). This week was a continuation of our Quest Unit through the Early Republic. The unit can be found on my website here: newrepublicquest.weebly.com.

Students were finishing up learning about Federalists, Democratic Republicans, and creating a character/avatar for our quest before we switched to remote learning. As a result, I had to slow things down and switch up the lesson a bit to make things less stressful.

1. Monday – finish up the Federalist/Democratic-Republican Choice Board and create a character using the Hero Builder.
2. Tuesday – first day of remote learning – Create a Google Site.
3. Wednesday – choose to write a blog (rubric and scaffold) or design a Facebook profile from your character’s perspective.
4. Thursday – finish writing blog or designing Facebook profile.
5. Friday – finish writing blog or designing Facebook profile OR begin Hamilton’s Financial Plan lesson with a Quizizz.

Even with remote learning, I like the way this lesson and unit are going. My goal throughout this unit is to find a way to incorporate some more games and gamification from EMC2Learning. The gamification element works perfectly with the Quest idea and EduProtocols.

Monday

Monday was a continuation of some students finishing the Federalist vs. Democratic-Republicans choice board. However some students were creating characters/avatars for the Quest Unit. ^{_{(Again my goal with this unit is to have students create a character that lives during the New Republic with the first 5 presidents. Their character is either a Federalist or Democratic-Republican and critiques the decisions of the first 5 presidents through a blog post, Facebook post, or Yelp review).}}

I really liked the Hero Builder (character creator) lesson from EMC2Learning. At first I was unsure how this would fit into the lesson, but it made sense and worked out. Students that created a character with the Hero Builder really loved the idea and were super engaged. Anything that involves dice is always engaging. Students really liked rolling the dice and having to weigh, or apply, values to their beliefs as a Federalist or Democratic-Republican. As a result, they really got into creating their characters. Here are some examples:

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Tuesday was out first day of remote learning. My plan for remote is to keep things as simple as possible. When your expectations are the same as in-person learning, things can get out of hand quickly. As a result, if I think something would take 1 class period with in-person, I will give 2-3 days for completion during remote learning. I will share some more thoughts on remote learning at the end of this post.

Tuesday

Tuesday was a simple day – create a Google Site and add titles and pictures. That’s it. The Google Site will be used a portfolio to write blogs or embed Facebook profiles or Yelp Reviews throughout the unit. In order to teach this, I created a screencastify video where I walked the students through creating a Google Site and using the Google Site template tools.

I decided to cancel the Hero Builder (character creation) assignment. Many students needed some guidance with this activity and it would have been to overwhelming for remote. So, I would just have students create a character, using a rubric, within their blog or Facebook profile choice.

Wednesday and Thursday

Once Google sites were created I used a couple of Google Meets to walk students through the project choices for our first Quest. Students had 2 options:

1. Write a blog from there characters perspective. Students had a rubric to follow. Click here for the rubric. I also included a scaffolded blog writing to help guide students through organizing their information. Click here for the scaffold.
2. Facebook profile template – students could create character through a Facebook template. They create posts and add images related to their character and their associated political party. I wish I could remember where I got this template from, but I like this particular template because it’s easy to use and change.

I had a Google Meet Wednesday and Thursday to go over how to use the rubric to create a blog or use the Facebook template. In addition to the Google Meet, I also made videos using Screencastify going over directions for the assignments. For 2 days I worked so hard trying to give feedback, answering questions, and trying to get students to turn things in. In the end, 60 students completed a blog or completed a Facebook profile. With simple math, this is about 60% engagement. Compared to things I have heard from others, 60% engagement is average. Here are some student examples of blogs and Facebook profiles. What I love about this “Quest” unit is it allows for student creativity to shine…

Friday

Friday’s remote learning day had it all going on – students finishing blogs or Facebook profiles and turning them in. Students that were finished moved onto the Hamilton’s Financial Plan lesson. I didn’t want to do this lesson, but I felt like my choice board didn’t cover the national bank, loose/strict interpretation of the Constitution, or Hamilton’s plan to get rid of debt very well.

I used this lesson last year during remote learning and I designed it using a template from Amada Sandoval. This lesson includes the following:

1. Background information and context.
2. Short videos where I explain parts of Hamilton’s plan.
3. A video where I explain the compromise over Washington D.C.
4. A slide where students sort statements into correct categories.
5. A final slide where students add thought bubbles to Jefferson and Hamilton to show their thinking about the national bank.

All in all it’s a pretty simple lesson and perfect for a remote learning day. Along with this lesson, students took a Quizizz twice.

My Messages for the Week

Remote Learning

I’m not some remote learning expert and there are many ways to do it. However, I want to share 2 things that make my life easier during remote:

1. Screencastify – I love this tool for remote learning. I gladly pay for my subscription. I make direction videos ALL THE TIME. These direction video cut down on questions a lot. I also use Screencastify to give feedback to students. I really dislike typing the same thing over and over again. So, I record my screen and make quick 30-60 second videos giving students feedback on blogs or projects. Students have told me they prefer the feedback videos over the typed comments. You can even set up videos to track who watches them which could be good for taking attendance. Lastly, you can add questions into your videos now as well.
2. Have a separate Google Meet running – In Google Classroom I have an assignment titled, Resources To Help You. Under this assignment I have a copy of our remote schedule, a picture of my room message, and a Google Meet link that is open all day. Next to me I have a separate Chromebook open with the Google Meet running. Students join into the Meet whenever they need help throughout the day. When I’m away, I share my screen with a message that says, “I’ll be back shortly.”

Every remote learning experience is different, but these two things have made my life a bit easier during this time.

It was a decent Winter break and I returned to a teacher workday on Monday followed by students returning on Tuesday. I will fully admit right now – I was not prepared for Tuesday. However, I began a new unit.

The new unit I was starting is simply called, “The New Republic.” Despite my unpreparedness, I thought about this unit all winter break. I am my own worst enemy sometimes – I think too much. My ultimate goal is to create the best possible lesson I can for all students. As a result, I think of one way to teach a lesson, then I think of another, then I see another idea. Ultimately, I go down a rabbit hole of lesson planning and have nothing ready to go. Despite this, I do have a lot of resources I have collected over the years and I decided to fall back on a unit I created 5 years ago.

Five years ago I wanted to recreate how students learned about the first 5 presidents and the new republic. Rather than a typical president by president unit, I wanted something more engaging, something better. As a result, the Quest was born.

In short, the New Republic Quest is made up of 6 quests (not lessons). The first quest has students learning about the Federalists and Democratic-Republican parties. When the quest concludes, students design and create a character that belongs to one of these political parties. After students design a character, they blog from that characters perspective and create a backstory. Quests 2 through 6 have students using their character’s political party beliefs as they create a blog and critique decisions from the following presidents:

1. George Washington – Whiskey Rebellion response
2. John Adams – Alien and Sedition Acts
3. Thomas Jefferson – Louisiana Purchase
4. James Madison – War of 1812
5. James Monroe – Monroe Doctrine

For example, if a student chose their character to be a Federalist they might say Jefferson’s Louisiana Territory Purchase makes him hypocritical as a strict constructionist. They also might say it weakens the national government because the United States is too big. Whereas, a student whose character is a Democratic-Republican would praise Jefferson’s Louisiana Territory purchase.

I love this unit and the creativity that can be used and adapted to the individual quests (lessons). You can build Eduprotocols or resources from Emc2Learning into each quest. This entire unit I described is located here.

Monday – teacher workday

Tuesday – Introduction to the New Republic Unit and Splashed Vocabulary

Wednesday – Choice Board

Thursday – Choice Board and Character Creation

Friday – Snow Day!!!

Tuesday

Tuesday I came in unprepared, but with Eduprotocols, lesson planning is a bit easy. To begin the unit on the New Republic, students listen to 2 songs – “Hail Columbia” and “Fair and Free Elections.” Students listened to these 2 songs and completed a Thin Slide – 1 picture and 1 word to reflect the mood of each song. Then I had students share what they thought changed in an 11 year period between the songs (1789-1800). Here is an example.

Following our Thin Slide, we switched to a splashed vocabulary activity. What this means is vocabulary words are “splashed” around a paper (slides, doc). The first step is having students pair up and look for words they might know. Take 5 minutes and have students predict what some of the words might mean. The second step in the process is having students drawing lines between vocabulary words they think are connected. This is followed by a class discussion. After the splashed vocabulary, I had students Frayer the words Democratic Republican and Federalist to help us transition to our first Quest with the new unit.

Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday I was better prepared to begin Quest 1 – Join the Party. This quest had students comparing the Federalists to Democratic Republicans (Hamilton vs. Jefferson). In past years, I had a couple of lessons put together which were good, but I’m always searching for better.

My focus this year is on differentiating more and better organizing my units. To stay with this focus, I created a choice board for this unit. The choice board can be found here. When I make these choice boards, I just don’t think of random activities and throw them anywhere on the board. I sit and think about which activities meet the needs of different student processing tendencies to place in a row. The activities in the choice board include:

1. Concept sort – hands on, manipulatives
2. CyberSandwich – a great Eduprotocol that allows students to work with each other and discuss the content.
3. EdPuzzle video with 3 different note taking strategies (venn diagram, sketchnotes, or bubble map).
4. Textbook – Read 2 sections and answer the questions for students who need more structure.
5. Frayer model – Frayer a historical figure based on a video about Democratic Republicans and Federalists.
6. Primary Sources – read 2 letters from Jefferson and Hamilton to get a sense of the differences between these two men.
7. Fast and Curious – Quizizz that students can take up to 3 times.
8. PearDeck – students paced Peardeck where students analyze Cabinet Battle #1 from the musical Hamilton.

Here are some student examples from the choice board:

Character Creation

After the choice board completion, students create their character. Some students reached this point in the lesson, while others had 1 activity left to complete from the choice board. In the past I would create a graphic organizer for students to create their character. However, I found the perfect activity from Emc2Learning for this – The Hero Builder.

To keep this short and simple – students got a Hero Builder paper. They decided their characters age, name, occupation, and political party. Then students wrote their beliefs around a web graph. The goal was for students to refer to their notes when writing out their beliefs. Then students rolled a 6 sided dice six times – 4-6 meant strong belief with a 1-3 a weaker belief. Students had to decide which numbers to apply to their beliefs. I tried to make the point that not all Republicans and Democrats carry the same beliefs. For example, not all republicans support the 2nd amendment. Not all democrats support the right to choose.

All in all, this Hero Builder was much more engaging and the students loved creating their character this way. Students were looking up common jobs from the late 1700’s, and common names from the late 1700’s and 1800’s. The creativity was awesome and can be endless with the Hero Builder and this New Republic Quest unit. Here is one students example from Thursday:

The next step in this quest is writing a blog. Students will create a Google Site and blog from their character’s perspective. I also added 2 more options this year – creating a Facebook profile or writing a Yelp review from their characters perspective. These options fall in line with my focus this year – improving my lessons with more differentiation for students.

My Room Messages

You can hear a pin drop in my room when students are reading and taking notes. Why? It’s the CyberSandwich (Here is a template). This year I have used this EduProtocol more than ever; even more than a Sketch and Tell. It’s efficient. It’s effective. It’s working. But, why is it working?

The main reason the CyberSandwich is working is consistency. I have many of the same students I had last year. As a result, I don’t have to waste time explaining or teaching the CyberSandwich process. They recognized the name and already know the process. This idea is similar to tennis instruction where I announce to a large group, “We are playing Rush and Crush,” and everyone in that group knows exactly how to play that game.

The other piece to consistency is trying to run the CyberSandwich 4-5 times per quarter. I’m pretty sure we have completed around 10 CyberSandwiches during the first semester of the 2021-2022 school year.

What is it?

The CyberSandwich is a teaching strategy where students will read and take notes for 10 minutes. Students then discuss their notes and what they’ve just read for 5 to 10 minutes (With Middle Schoolers I prefer 5 minutes). Then students use 10 minutes to write a summary or create something to show what they’ve learned. Here is a basic example.

In my example linked above, and in the slideshow, I established clear expectations with the note taking – type 6 or more important facts from the reading. When the 10 minute timer ended, I shared my notes with the students as a way to clarify misconceptions and do some direct instruction. For the summary part of the CyberSandwich, I set an expectation of 5 or more sentences for a summary. I would not give students 10 minutes to write 5 sentences – this is setting the bar extremely low and calling for disaster in a middle school classroom. I also provided sentence starters for all students. Even though some students may not need this help, I have the belief that what’s good for some is good for all.

Suggestions

First Time?

If you are doing a CyberSandwich for the first time, keep it simple. Don’t use content, or in-depth content, the first couple of uses. Find a simple, high interest article to teach the process. Do this a couple of times before using with regular content.

Timing

Establish time guidelines and stick to it. If you want a 10 minute timer, or a 15 minute timer for reading, it doesn’t matter. Just pick one and stay consistent.

Reading

The original CyberSandwich call for a comparison of 2 articles. For the longest time, I was caught up in trying to find 2 articles. Then I asked myself this, “Why? Why can’t students just read 1 article and discuss?” From that point on, students in my class read one article and discuss. This seems to work best for middle school students.

When it comes to a reading, try to find a quick, informative, one page reading. Sometimes I will write my own articles for students to make this work. As the school year goes on, I will gradually have longer readings, but no more than 2 pages in length.

Variations

If you use a CyberSandwich regularly, then these variations are great to add in for students.

Vocabulary

Before a CyberSandwich, have students skim a reading and find unknown words. Have students find 3 unknown words submit them to a Mentimeter Word Cloud. The words submitted the most will appear larger on the screen. Here is an example:

After all students submitted words, you can discuss as a class, run some of the words through a Frayer, or do a Sketch and Tell. This is a great way to build some background knowledge going into a reading.

Keyword Predictor

I wanted students working in small groups discussing the idea of popular sovereignty – even with no knowledge of the word. I found a piece of paper and wrote Popular Sovereignty in the middle. Around the word, I pulled out key phrases and words from the CyberSandwich article (I love this article because it hits on everything students should know about popular sovereignty). Students discussed and made connections with the main words and phrases from the article. This was to help build background knowledge before reading. Here is the CyberSandwich the students completed after the Keyword Predictor.

Notes

Mix up the notes that students take. You can leave this open ended such as this example:

You can even structure the notes with a main idea strategy seen here:

You can add the comprehension questions straight from the book as seen here:

The possibilities are endless with the CyberSandwich. Mixing it up can be a great way to keep students engaged throughout the school year.

Mix Up The End Summary

Sometimes it’s best to have students create rather than summarize. In the first example, I combined a Sketch and Tell with a Cyber Sandwich. Students created with Playdoh, Legos, or Google Shapes and wrote a summary.

In the next example, students completed a CyberSandwich comparing North vs. South before the Civil War. They created a map as their summary:

In the last example, students labeled a geographical picture as they summarized their learning.

No tech? Internet stopped working? No problem – CyberSandwich can easily transfer to paper.

Pair with a Fast and Curious

I love pairing CyberSandwich with a Fast and Curious Quizizz. When I pair these 2 together I have seen an average of 32% growth in one class period. Here’s how this works:

1. The first 5 minutes of class run a quiz related to the CyberSandwich reading. (Use Quizizz, Gimkit, or Blooket)
2. Give feedback to the students.
3. Have students complete the CyberSandwich.
4. Run the same quiz again.

I love this pairing for 2 reasons – it builds student confidence and increases student engagement. Students see the results and are excited. They attach this excitement and confidence to a CyberSandwich which helps with students engagement. Here is an example of the Popular Sovereignty results:

Give the CyberSandwich a try, but don’t start off too big. Keep it simple and gradually work your way toward some variations. Visit the EduProtocols site for a template.

The fastest semester of my life just ended. Let me add this – it’s amazing the amount of teachers that say their days go slow and weeks go slow, but say the semester went fast. That doesn’t make much sense to me. Anyhow, with EduProtocols and just having fun teaching, this truly was a semester that flew by.

The Units I Covered:

1. Unit 0 – Thinking Like Historians
2. Unit 1 – Exploration and Colonization of North America
3. Unit 2 – Road to the Revolution
4. Unit 3 – Constitutional Convention
5. Unit 4 – The Constitution

This semester I focused on cutting out the fluff so more focus could be placed on important events such as The Declaration of Independence, Constitutional Convention, and the Constitution. As a result, we spent about 8-9 days on the Declaration, 15 days on the Constitutional Convention, and 15 days on the Constitution. I cut out things like 3-4 days on Jamestown and Plymouth, 5 days on explorers, and 3-4 days on colonies. Will lives forever be changed focusing, or not focusing on these topics? No.

In this post I want to focus on Better and Could Be Better. I say to the students all the time, “There are no wrong answers, right answers, good answers, or bad answers – just better answers. Find better every day.”

Better

Vocabulary

Vocabulary. I know it’s important, but it’s something I have neglected the past few years. I dedicated myself to finding good research based practices to use with vocabulary. I easily could tell students to copy down definitions and draw a little symbol, but that’s not effective. I love reading and I love podcasts, and as a result, I tried some good vocabulary strategies.

1. Vocabulary Assessment – give students a list of important words from the unit. Let them quickly go through and assess their knowledge of the word – Know It, Not Sure, Don’t Know It. If the students Know it, then they can write a definition quickly, without Googling up the word. If the students are Not Sure, they have seen the word, but don’t know how to write a definition. If the students Don’t Know It, they have never seen the word before. Throughout the unit, keep coming back to the vocabulary assessment. Here is an example.
2. Splashed Vocabulary – splash random vocabulary words around a Google Slide or write them on paper. Make copies and hand out to students. Have students work in pairs and discuss what they think the words mean. Have a class discussion about the words. Then have students draw lines between words they think are connected. Then have a class discussion as to why they think those words are connected. Pair this with a Frayer model or a Sketch and Tell. Here is an example.
3. Skim a Reading – before starting a Cyber Sandwich, I like to have students skim the reading and look for unknown words. Students underline their unknown words and submit them to a Mentimeter Word Cloud. The words in the word cloud get bigger the more often they are submitted. We take the 3 largest words and Frayer them before starting a CyberSandwich. I like to use this before readings that I know will give students trouble – articles on religion or articles on government.

CyberSandwich

The CyberSandwich is becoming my new favorite EduProtocol. So far for this semester, I have used the CyberSandwich ten times – a mixture of paper and online. I have been adding note taking strategies to the notes slides as well. For example, I used a main idea note taking strategy where students read an informational article or textbook excerpt (try to keep it to one page) and answer the who, what, where, when, why questions. I added in some essential reading questions. I have also used some organizers for note taking strategies. One final strategy I used for note taking was a reading strategy. Students 1 read the article as student 2 took notes. Then students 2 read the same article as student 1 took notes. I try to keep this reading and note taking to 10 minutes. When it’s finished, I like to model the notes I took to help the students fill in any missing information.

The discussion piece of the CyberSandwich is super important. Keep the discussion and notes comparison to 5 minutes. It came to my attention this is important when I tried an experiment with my 7th bell with our popular sovereignty lesson. I decided to go from note taking to summarizing with no discussion. They only raised their class average from 55% to 75%, which was the lowest percentage raise on the day. Some teachers might feel if students aren’t discussing a topic for a full 5 minutes, they aren’t engaged. Not true. I bet if my 7th period discussed popular sovereignty for 30 seconds, the class average would have been higher.

Here is an example of a CyberSandwich with a Main Idea strategy.

At the conclusion of a CyberSandwich have students summarize or complete another activity. If I want students to write a summary I will provide sentence stems for guidance. Sometimes I will have students complete a Sketch and Tell for their summary (An example is here). Other times I will have students create something such a newspaper article for a summary (An example of this is here). Mix it up from time to time for student engagement.

CyberSandwich with Fast and Curious

If you are running a CyberSandwich by itself, stop it, and try pairing it with a Fast and Curious. Create a Blooket, Gimkit, or Quizizz based on the reading you are using. Then run a Fast and Curious the first 5 minutes of class. Begin your CyberSandwich – 10 minute read and note taking, 5 minute discuss, 10 minute summary. Then finish the last 5 minutes of class with the same Fast and Curious. I have seen an average of 28% growth in one class period. Plus, when you pair the CyberSandwich with a Fast and Curious and students see their scores increase – you build confidence and build excitement and student engagement with the CyberSandwich.

Choice Boards

Differentiating is a huge part of the 505 classroom. My message to teachers is simple – you differentiate all the time, you just don’t realize how much you differentiate. You can differentiate based on student proficiency. You can differentiate based on student processing styles. I choose the latter to drive my differentiation strategies. Check out Doable Differentiation by Jane Kise. This is an amazing book that gave me a new perspective on students and instruction.

Due to this great book, I have placed a more intentional use of choice boards. I just don’t throw choice boards together and say, “Here you go. Choose 3 things.” The activities and lessons within the choice board intentional based on students processing styles. I focus on creating activities for students who need structure, students who question things, students who need movement, and students who create ideas in their ind and explore. The student engagement with the choice boards I have used this year was incredible. Here 2 examples of my choice boards:

1. Federalists vs. AntiFederalists
2. Separation of Powers

I also used choice boards with assessment strategies as a choice. Two examples include a choice summative assessment at the end of the Constitutional Convention Unit. The other option was a choice formative assessment at the end of the checks and balance lesson. My approach for the assessments was addressing different processing styles. Here are those examples:

1. Constitutional Convention Summative Assessment
2. Checks and Balances Formative Assessments

Hexagonal Learning

I’m a huge fan of Hexagonal Learning and I have committed to using it more often this year. So far this semester we have used Hexagonal Learning twice. If you are unfamiliar with hexagonal learning, students make connections between concepts written/typed on hexagons. Any time hexagons touch there has to be some type of connection.

I love how it can be used as a hands on activity for groups of students. It can be used as an online tool as well. I used hexagonal learning in the American Revolution unit in class. I also used this strategy for remote learning during the Constitutional Convention Unit. As you can see it’s versatile and easily adaptable. I’m glad I have used it twice and I would like to use it a few more times in the new year.

Could Be Better

Thinking ahead – what could be better? Honestly, everything. As a perfectionist. As a tennis player who grew up constantly being criticized. It all could be better. I had a conversation with 2 educational consultants the other day and they asked me, “How did you get your classroom to this point? The fast and curious. The CyberSandwich. The student engagement. It’s incredible.” To which I replied, “I honestly think I suck at what I do. That’s what drives me – not sucking at what I do. I seek better for me and the students.” That is truly my mindset – I suck. I don’t do enough.

As a result of this, I read and listen to podcasts. I know it’s impossible, but I strive to improve every aspect of my teaching – formative assessment, summative assessment, instructional strategies, student engagement, classroom management, differentiation, UDL, and the list can go on and on. However these are the things that could be better going into the 2nd semester:

1. Parent communication – I’m awful at this. I tried to send 2 positive emails a day the first quarter and I was successful, but I haven’t done this in 3 months.
2. Feedback – I need to improve giving timely feedback. Last semester had some flashes of good “in the moment” feedback, but I need to find ways of doing this more often.
3. Gamified Unit – I want to create a gamified unit. Possibly with the New Republic unit. This is my goal over winter break – sit down and think of a story and create a gamified unit with the first 5 presidents. I created a Quest for this unit, but I think it needs to be more.
4. Consistency – sometimes I wonder if I need to be more consistent with vocabulary strategies, reading strategies, or note taking strategies. However, I like to mix things up. Maybe I mix it up too much – I don’t know, I”m just thinking out loud.
5. Emc2Learning – I need to incorporate more ideas from www.emc2Learning.com. This is a great site that could give me ideas for a gamified unit next year. One thing I love from this site is the Resource Rumble and the 12 topic Stitch up. However, I need to use more.
6. Self Care – I’m worn the hell out. I need to take better care of myself. That is all.

My Final Message

Cool Moments

A parent sent me a text with a picture of an acrostic poem I wrote before a tennis match. She found this poem in her daughter’s coat pocket….

I wrote that poem 3 years ago. You never know what sticks with someone. Take a chance. Be a positive light in someone’s life.

I shared a Google form with students so they could write a teacher shoutout. I told them from the start, “This is not for me. Please give another teacher a shoutout.” However, here are 2 shoutouts written to me:

Once again, you never know what impact you might have on a students. Maybe it’s a lesson, a poem, a high five, anything.

Last but not least, this was super cool as I was checking out the Eduprotocols Worldwide Conference 3 (sign up here):

One of my goals since college was to write a book. Soon I will be achieving that goal.

This is the first time I felt this way all school year – what a loooooooong week. The infamous week before winter break. We used this week to finish our unit on the Constitution. I was hoping to cover more content – how a bill becomes a law and electoral college stuff, but I never made it that far. As a result, I focused on covering the basics really well. By basics, I mean: popular sovereignty, federalism, individual rights, separation of powers, checks and balances, and judicial review.

My plan for this week was to have everything finished by Thursday. The reason for this being that Friday is a crazy day with a potential for many absent students. Three weeks ago when we started this unit, I started with a citizenship test. The goal with the citizenship test is to answer 12 out of 20 questions correctly. When we began the unit a grand total of 4 students received a 12 or higher. I looked to Thursday as the day to finish the unit with the citizenship test and hoped more than 4 students would get a 12 or higher.

Monday – Finish separation of powers superheroes and/or begin checks and balances.

Tuesday – Finish checks and balances.

Wednesday – Finish checks and balances, review for citizenship test.

Thursday – Citizenship test.

Friday – A day for missing assignments and games.

Monday

When I begin most weeks, I kind of, maybe sort of, have an idea of what to do. I have some things ready to go, but I let the day begin, get a read on the room, adjust, and adapt from there. Today was a perfect day to finish the separation of powers superheroes and possibly begin the checks and balances choice board.

I’ve had many people ask me for directions on the branches of government superheroes. The directions are simple:

1. Choose a branch of government (Legislative, Executive, or Judicial).
2. If your branch of government was a superhero – what would it look like? What powers would it have?
   • Give your superhero a name
   • Include 3-4 symbols to represent the power.
   • Label those powers. 
   • Write a brief paragraph explaining your superhero and the powers they have.

That’s it. I kept it simple to let students show some creativity and these students knocked it out of the park this year! Amazing, creative work compared to past years. I think the major difference was making the superheroes assignment an application activity after students went through a choice board. They went into the project with good, solid background knowledge on the branches of government and their powers. Another great thing from this year was the mix of government branches. Students did a great job of balancing out their branch choices. In past years I would get a TON of the executive branch. However, not this year. I got a lot of legislative and judicial branches. Here are some awesome examples:

Tuesday

Naturally, checks and balances should come after the separation of powers. When I introduce checks and balances I do two things:

1. We have a rock, paper, scissors tournament. I follow this up with an explanation of how that game relates to checks and balances.
2. I also explain to the students that checks and balances is related to the superheroes using their powers to prevent or help other superheros from doing their jobs.

These ideas seem to help students connect with the abstract idea of checks and balances. This year I put together a choice board for checks and balances. Instead of students choosing how to obtain background knowledge (separation of powers), they could choose their assessment. I gave each student this graphic organizer showing the directions of checks and balances. Students could choose to read, watch, or study checks and balances to help them fill out the organizer.

For the assessment choices, students had 4 options:

1. Sketch and tell.
2. Rewrite a song about checks and balances.
3. Find a news article and create a Thick Slide.
4. Walk around the classroom, read checks and balances scenarios, and decided which branches are involved.

Most students chose a sketch and tell because this is what they are familiar with. The second most popular option was walking around the classroom and reading scenarios. Here is some of the work submitted by students:

Wednesday

Wednesday was a day to finish the checks and balances choice board and do some review for the Citizenship test. With some students finished and some students still doing checks and balances, the best solution is the Fishtopia Gimkit. This mode works best in this scenario because Fishtopia is better when it runs for 30 or more minutes. This amount of time gives students a chance to finish checks and balances and still join the game for review. Plus, the Fishtopia game mode is super engaging. However, beware of the law of diminishing returns – students will get tired of it if you do it too much. After doing some review the class averages from Gimkit were as follows: 72%, 75%, 75%, 80%, 71%.

Thursday

Today was the big day of the Citizenship test. The goal was to answer 12 out of 20 questions correctly. I ask the 20 questions out loud and students write their responses on a piece of paper.

The first time we did this test 4 total students answered the necessary 12 questions to pass the test. I asked them if they knew it and they all responded with, “I’m a good guesser.” Here are the results from the first time:

As you can see the class averages ranged from 20 to 30% and as I stated before, 4 students passed. After 3 weeks of Eduprotocols, choice boards, and hands on activities, we were ready for the test again. Here are the results:

The class averages ranged from 63% to 85% and this time 70 students passed with 12 or more correct answers. Here is a quick breakdown:

1. 20 students answered 19 to 20 questions correctly.
2. 12 students answered 17 to 18 questions correctly.
3. 11 students answered 11 questions correctly and obviously missed 12 correct questions by 1.
4. Ultimately, 70% of my students passed compared to 4% the first time.

Going from 4 students passing to 70 students passing is a significant increase. However, I don’t know if this is good compared to how students should do on tests.

Friday

Honestly, there is no sense in talking about Friday. I will offer up this advice – have games in your room. Invest in simple games such as:

1. Uno
2. Jenga
3. Bananagrams (my favorite)
4. Operation
5. Apples to Apples

The best days are the game days. Put away chromebooks. Interact with other humans. Have fun.

Happy Holidays.

My Messages for the Week

Every day is not perfect. Every day isn’t a great day. The tweets I see and the tweets I post make it seem otherworldly. But it’s not. These tweets never tell the whole story.

I have a lot of great days. My weeks move quickly. But this is why it works for me….most days – I care about the success and happiness of the students who come into room 505.

What does this look like?

1. It starts with me saying, “I don’t care about social studies. It’s secondary in here.”
2. Starting most class periods by saying every students’ name and asking them how they are doing.
3. Writing a new message on the board every day.
4. Occasionally discussing these ideas: trust, respect, empathy, and finding better.

It seems a bit odd to say to students that I don’t care about social studies. But, I truly mean it. What are they going to remember 5 years from now? They certainly won’t remember the Whiskey Rebellion, the Era of Good Feelings, or the Oregon Trail. Rather, students will remember how they felt day after day, minute after minute in 505.

It’s no coincidence that Starbucks says your name out loud after they complete your drink. Hearing your name kind of perks you up a bit. I try to speak every student at least twice in a class period.

I was inspired by Monte Syrie’s room message tweets and started writing my own messages. Most days I arrive at school by 6:00 AM and the first thing I do is put a marker to the board and start writing. I don’t know where the marker, or my mind, will take me. I just start writing. At times I have wondered if students read them. They do. Reading my messages are an important part of their day.

My class is based around trust and respect. I trust students to do the right thing. I don’t treat students like little kids and they know that. They respect that. For me, this is why it works in 505. This is what’s missing from the tweets. This is what it’s all about.

– Moler

This week we continued learning the principles of American government. We continued the Bill of Rights and focused on Federalism and the Separation of Powers.

Monday – Bill of Rights scenarios Resource Rumble and Bill of Rights Review for absent students.

Tuesday – Federalism with a sketch and tell

Wednesday – Makeup work and review day with a checklist

Thursday – Separation of Powers Choice Board

Friday – Separation of Powers continued

Monday

Coming off the excitement from the Bill of Rights mnemonic device lesson from Friday, Monday was used for looking at Bill of Rights scenarios. We started class with a Quizizz and I reminded students to remember the mnemonic device used for remembering the amendments. All classes averaged together was an 81% which is great considering it was a Monday.

Friday had many absent students so I created a Bill of Rights review. The Bill of Rights review contained some ideas I picked up from Amanda Sandoval and Dominic Helmstetter on Twitter – amendments concept sort and defining the 10 amendments with emojis. I also included some Bill of Rights scenarios that involved some Supreme Court cases.

The Resource of Rumble contained 8 treasure chests set up around the room. Students worked together, would read a Bill of Rights scenario from a real supreme court case. Students discussed the decision as a group and determined if it was a Fact or a Fib (I got this idea from Amanda Sandoval as well). After students decided if it was a fact or fib, they could roll 2 dice for correct answers or 1 dice incorrect answers. After rolling dice, students collected legos to build a monument related to an amendment. I gave students 35 minutes to complete as many treasure chests as possible and build their monument. At the completion of the timer, students had to explain their monument and how it related to an amendment.

All in all it was a great day with students – the Bill of Rights review helped absent students and provided the same learning opportunity as the Resource Rumble.

Tuesday

Tuesday was used for Federalism and is one of my favorite lessons. I began class with a fast and curious Quizizz over expressed, reserved, and concurrent powers. The class averages were as follows: 57%, 59%, 58%, 56%, 53%. Some students got 7/8 or all 8 questions correct to which i asked them, “Do you feel like you know this?” All of the students replied, “No, I felt like I guessed the whole time.”

The next part of the lesson was a mystery box lesson. I place Oreo cookies in a mystery box and I use direct instruction to teach federalism. I provided 4 kinds of notes sheets for different processing styles – venn diagram, frayer, bubble map, or sketch notes. Students chose their notes and I began teaching Federalism.

Throughout my instruction, I drop hints to what’s in the mystery box. My hints are: 3 layers, blue, filling, stuff, milk, and Sam Porcello. Eventually students pick up on and guess that Oreos are in the box. Then I ask students, “Why do you think Oreos reminded me of federalism?”

The next step in the lesson was having students show federalism with an Oreo. When I ask students to do this they look at me like I have 5 heads. I don’t show an example and let them think for a little bit. When I show another student example too early, they all want to do the same thing. I share a sketch and tell template with the students and let them create. Here is an example. Here are some samples:

At the end of the lesson we came back with the same Quizizz and here are those results:

Wednesday

Wednesday was a good day for makeup and review. I put together a checklist of every lesson, every assignment, and a link to every quizizz so students could check off their completed work. They could also access the old quizzes and redo them for a higher score if needed. Here is that checklist. For the students that were caught up, we played the new Gimkit Fishtopia – a 2D review game that was AWESOME! The Fishtopia game has students as little blob figures walking around, answering questions to accumulate bait. Then you can take the bait and fish in a pond. Then students could sell the fish and collect money to earn better gear or earn special trips to ponds with better fish. The students told me to set it for 30 minutes or longer because that amount of time would allow them to actually accumulate enough fish, money, and objects. I joined in with the game and had a great time.

Thursday and Friday

Thursday brought our next principle of the Separation of Powers. Before this lesson, I borrow the tug of war rope from the PE teacher and set up my room for the day. About 6 years ago, I learned this idea from Dave Burgess – I saw a picture on Twitter of a rope and some papers with words on them and I sat and I thought about what was happening. It finally occurred to me what he did with that rope and papers….

When students walked in 505 Thursday, the desks were cleared out of the way and I had a large tug of war rope running diagonally corner to corner. On the ground I had papers with the words, “Greed, Tyranny, Despotism, and Corruption,” written on them. Right away students are interested.

I ask the students, “Are the words on the ground negative or positive words?” Then I have them look up Despotism and Tyranny. I also remind them forms of the words Despotism and Tyranny were used in the Declaration of Independence. Then I ask, “Who thinks they can lift this rope off the ground, by themselves, out of the negativity? You can’t bunch it up, rest it over objects, or stretch it out.” I have a student come up and they realize they can’t do it alone. Then I have another students come up and they begin to think it’s possible, but it’s not. Then a third students come up and they get it done. I explain that power divided among three people, or three branches is what allows this rope to lifted out of the negativity. It’s a perfect demonstration for the Separation of Powers.

After the demonstration, we go into the Separation of Powers choice board. On the choice board I included activities that would appeal to students with different processing styles. Examples include:

1. Concept Sort
2. Studying with Quizlet
3. Design an Infographic
4. Go on a virtual tour of Washington DC and learn about the branches of government.
5. Frayer models and Sketch notes

On the choice board students can choose 3 activities horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, but they can’t repeat the same activity. I encourage the students to not focus on what’s easiest, rather, focus on what’s best or better for them.

The application activity for the choice board is turning one branch of government into a superhero. Here was my criteria:

1. Choose a branch of government (Legislative, Executive, or Judicial).
2. If your branch of government was a superhero – what would it look like? What powers would it have?
   • Give your superhero a name
   • Include 3-4 symbols to represent the power.
   • Label those powers. 
   • Write a brief paragraph explaining your superhero and the powers they have.

Here are some examples from students who finished:

505’s Daily Messages

This week we began our 4th Unit, and my favorite, The Constitution. I love government, how governments function, and the Constitution. It reminds me of 7th and 8th grade year when I wanted to be a lawyer and a politician. I’ll never forget one Halloween my costume was a “Young Republican.” My goodness how times have changed.

The first thing I always mention to the students is this – “We will be discussing government with many abstract ideas. You will hear a lot of terms and phrases that are not used in everyday conversations. For example, you don’t say to someone – ‘Hey! how about those checks and balances!'” As a result, I try to make the Constitution unit hands on and as much fun as possible.

Throughout this unit, I like to focus on 6 principles of government in the Constitution:

1. Popular Sovereignty
2. Federalism
3. Separation of Powers
4. Checks and Balances
5. Individual Rights
6. Judicial Review

Throughout the unit, we focus on how these principles limit the power of government. Before I begin with principle, I give a Citizenship Test and ask 20 questions. Then I like to begin with the principles with Popular Sovereignty as it’s the basis of a democracy and found in the first 3 words of the Constitution – “We the people.” From there I let the students decide what to study next. However, I keep the Separation of Powers together with Checks and Balances. I also keep Individual Rights together with Judicial Review.

Monday – Citizenship Test – 20 questions

Tuesday – Parts of the Constitution (Resource Rumble or Choice Board)

Wednesday – Vocabulary Self-Assessment

Thursday – Popular Sovereignty (Fast and Curious, CyberSandwich with Sketch and Tell)

Friday – Bill of Rights (Mnemonic Device with Sketch Notes)

Monday

To begin the Constitution unit, I always ask questions from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services civics test study guide. I verbally ask 20 questions related to our unit from the study guide and students write their responses. The goal is get 12 out of 20 correct (60%) – the same percentage required with the real citizenship test. After I ask the questions, I read the answers and students mark their tests. I usually have 2-3 students reach the required 60%, but the scores are usually not good. This year was no different – I had 3 students reach the 60%. At the conclusion of the test, I had students submit their correct number of responses through a Google Form and I calculated the class average. Here are those class averages: 24%, 20%, 24%, 30%, 26%.

Are the students frustrated? Yes. But, I remind them that it’s okay to not know things because we will learn them. I also remind them that everyone will reach the 60% (or higher) mark when we take the same citizenship test again at the end of the unit.

Tuesday

Before diving into the principles of the government and the Constitution, I feel it’s important for students to understand the Preamble and the Articles. I like to keep it simple and just have students focus on the Preamble and Articles 1, 2, and 3. These sections of the Constitution relate to the principles we will eventually discuss.

Teaching the sections of the Constitution is not exciting. However, I’m always thinking of ways to engage the students. I wanted to offer 2 options for students to earn the sections of the Constitution – a Resource Rumble or a Choice Board.

I cannot share the Resource Rumble because it’s a file on Emc2Learning. This is one of my favorite activities as it gets students up and moving and competing as they are learning. In short, I tape up 8 treasure chests around the room with questions with questions related to the sections of the Constitution. I paired this with a lesson from ICivics called, Anatomy of the Constitution. Students had 35 minutes to complete as many treasure chests as possible. After they completed the a chest, I would approve their answer which granted them access to roll dice and choose a specific number of legos from a bin. Students used their legos to build something related to the Constitution. When time was up, I had students explain how their Lego creation related to the Constitution and this is how I chose a winner. It’s a student favorite.

What about the students that weren’t feeling social or competitive? I had a choice board ready to go. This choice board contained the same ICivics reading and a video option. I also gave 3 types of graphic organizers with it – sketchnotes, Frayer model, or a bubble map. Finally, students had a choice of showing what they learned by creating a digital poster or a bento Box. The options available with this choice board helped with student engagement.

All in all this was an awesome day for me as all students had something they wanted to do – compete as a team and learn or be alone and learn. It worked out great as I noticed some students weren’t having the best of days – it’s middle school you know!

Wednesday

Wednesdays we run a 1 hour delay schedule so classes are 5-6 minutes shorter than normal. This was a perfect day to do a vocabulary self-assessment. I like to use vocabulary assignments we often refer back to where students create their own definitions based on their learning.

The vocabulary self-assessment, that I have linked at the top of this post, has all of our important words for the unit. I have students review the words and assess their knowledge of the words based on these 3 options:

1. Know it – if students know a vocabulary word they should be able to write a definition, in their own words, in 10 seconds or less.
2. Not sure – students have seen the word but they are unable to put a definition into words.
3. Don’t Know it – students have never seen the word at all.

Students are genuinely honest when we do this exercise. After 5-10 minutes, I go through each word and take a survey. I do this to clear up any misconceptions. For example, I discovered that many students confused Federalism with Federalist. I also discovered that many students thought Checks and Balances dealt with money and balancing checkbooks. Nevertheless, this self assessment tool is a great way to begin a unit.

After this vocabulary activity, I wanted students to build background knowledge for the popular sovereignty CyberSandwich. I put together a quick activity called Keyword Predictor. To learn more about the Keyword Predictor, please visit this blog post I recently wrote.

Thursday

Thursday brought one of my favorite Eduprotocol smashes – a fast and curious Quizizz paired with a CyberSandwich followed up with one more rep of a fast and curious Quizizz. Popular Sovereignty is a hard concept for a students to understand, and here are the learning goals I posted:

1. I can define popular sovereignty
2. I can create a representation of popular sovereignty.
3. I can explain how popular sovereignty limits the power of government.
4. I can identify an example of popular sovereignty in a founding document (Constitution or Declaration).

The Quizizz I constructed had questions that focused on these I can statements. Everything I do is intentional – this is important for every class. Design lessons intentionally. When I ran the Quizizz for the first time the class averages were as follows: 53%, 56%, 64%, 69%, and 55%. The last 3 percentages are classes where they did the Keyword Prediction.

Next we went into a CyberSandwich combined with a Sketch and Tell. Students read an article from Annenberg Classroom – Popular Sovereignty. I really like this article because it covers all of the I Can statements listed above. A differentiation strategy I used with this article is I copied and pasted it to a Google Doc and added subheadings to create more organization and structure. Students read and took notes for 10 minutes, they completed a 5 minute discussion, and then completed a Sketch and Tell for the summary.

I like to use Sketch and Tell for some of these government concepts because students take the abstract and explain it with more concrete sentences. Students could use Legos, PlayDoh, or Google Shapes for their popular sovereignty creation. Here are some examples of students sketch and tells for popular sovereignty:

After 15-20 minutes, we took the Quizizz again and raised out scores across all classes. The class averages were: 86%, 80%, 87%, 91%, 75%. Here is a picture from the board:

The class with a 75% average, I cut out the discussion piece from the CyberSandwich. I learned from that the discussion is piece is important Even if students discuss for 30-60 seconds, it’s important.

Friday

At the end of class on Thursday I let students vote, through Mentimeter which lesson they wanted to learn next. They chose my favorite lesson – The Bill of Rights. During this lesson I use a Mnemonic device to help students remember all 10 amendments and it’s pretty successful. I took some ideas from Dave Burgess and I added in some of my own mnemonic devices. Here is my presentation I share.

I post the I can statement, “I can identify all 10 amendments that make up the Bill of Rights.” Then I start off class with a Quizizz over the 10 amendments. Students usually get the first 2 amendments and it goes downhill from there as you can see:

I then act out all 10 amendments. It gets crazy. It gets goofy. But students are engaged as they are sketchnoting through the whole presentation. Then we take the Quizizz again and here are the results:

On Fridays I always do a Friday check in and ask how the students are doing. I also ask random questions – intentionally. This week I asked, “Write about a snowman.” They thought it was a weird question, but here are 2 examples of responses I got:

1. They are made of snow, tall, have a carrot nose, sticks as arms, buttons, and are cold.
2. A snowman was lost in the woods. He had been lost for years and years and couldn’t find his way out of the thick forest, until he met another snowman. The other snowman led him out of the forest so he wouldn’t be so lost anymore.

You will have 2 kinds of students – Sensing students who are to the point. Intuitive students who go the creative route. Next time you start to feel like students aren’t listening to directions, or you “told them 3 times,” REMEMBER, perhaps they are listening but it’s wherever their mind goes first that may take them another direction. We all think differently. This chart is why I asked students to write about a snowman:

My 505 Class Messages

Today was a weird schedule day with shortened class periods. But, a weird day because I was starting a new unit and the timing of certain activities wasn’t working out. For example, I had students assessing their knowledge of vocabulary for our Constitution unit based on 3 categories – Know It, Not Sure, Don’t Know It. Throughout the unit, we keep revisiting the vocabulary and reassessing. (If this sounds interesting to you then here is a link) This activity took 10-15 minutes and didn’t leave much time to begin a CyberSandwich.

To fill the time, I through in a 5-8 minute Blooket, as well as a graffiti board. However, these things weren’t that great. So I began thinking, “How can I set them up for our CyberSandwich on Popular Sovereignty for tomorrow?” An idea entered my head that I saw in the book Doable Differentiation by Jane A. G. Kise…

I wanted students working in small groups discussing the idea of popular sovereignty – even with no knowledge of the word. I found a piece of paper and wrote Popular Sovereignty in the middle. Around the word, I pulled out key phrases and words from the CyberSandwich article (I love this article because it hits on everything students should know about popular sovereignty). Here are the key words and phrases:

The first class I did this with, I asked them to make connections and predictions about popular sovereignty and the key words and phrases. Students would then see if their predictions were correct when reading the CyberSandwich article. For example, I asked, “What do you think is the connection between Popular Sovereignty and voting?” However, my plan backfired because they had no clue what popular sovereignty meant. On top of this they were focused on wrong versus correct answers. I wasn’t discouraged by this as I will find a way to make things work because this is what teaching and learning is all about.

The next class I put them in groups of 2-3 and gave everyone a paper. This time, however, I asked them what the most common words and/or themes were around the idea of Popular Sovereignty. The responses were, “People. Government. Laws. Power.” Then I asked, “Based on your responses about themes, what do you think Popular Sovereignty means?” Students stated, “Government has power from people. People give government power. People have the power to make laws. So forth…” This was the key moment that made this successful. After this, group discussion, predictions, and connections were awesome! Here was my setup:

1. Students got into groups of 2-3.
2. I had students find common themes and words to help them better understand the main idea.
3. I gave groups 7-8 minutes to discuss and connect key words and phrases to the main idea.
4. Same day (ideal) or next day, pair this Keyword Prediction up with a reading from a CyberSandwich or a reading in general to help with checking their predictions and building background knowledge.

We have a shortened week in 505 with the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Monday and Tuesday for class. That’s it. Then a much needed break. Despite the shortened week, it’s a weird week because we are coming off of remote learning the last 3 days.

During remote learning, I asked students to complete 3 assignments. Here are the results of student engagement from those assignments (I simply measured student engagement from the percentage completed – I have 102 students):

1. A 12 question Quizizz related to vocabulary terms from the Constitutional Convention. – 85% student engagement
2. Hexagonal Learning – 70% student engagement
3. Final Assessment Project Choice – 45% engagement

The 12 question quizizz and Hexagonal learning were from the first day of remote learning. Obviously, a major drop off for days 2 and 3 which included the final assessment. With students being in different places with assignments, the 2 day week is perfect for catching up.

Monday – finish hexagonal learning or the final assessment. Begin on Federalists vs. AntiFederalist choice board.

Tuesday – finish any remaining assignments.

Monday and Tuesday

As mentioned above, students were in all kinds of different spots with assignments. Some students completed all work, some students completed some of the work, and some completed nothing it all. I told every class today, “The easy thing I could do is place a 1 in the gradebook for incomplete assignments and move on. However, FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION IN 505.” I stand by this statement. I refuse to put zeros into the gradebook. I refuse to let students fail. It’s important for me, and the students, that I focus on learning and find ways to get students learning. If my class is the one successful class for a student, then I’m happy.

As a result, 2nd through 6th periods worked on final assessment projects and the Federalist choice board. 7th period was the class with most students not completing the hexagonal learning. We had a discussion about the hexagonal learning and many students said they were struggling with some of the concepts and making connections. So, I found, and assigned, an EdPuzzle video (6 minutes long) to help reteach concepts. Following the video, students worked on completing the hexagonal learning. In my opinion, if someone is struggling making connection between concepts, they will struggle with creating from the material.

As some students worked to complete final assessments and hexagonal learning projects, another group of students worked on completing the Federalist vs. AntiFederalist choice board. I like to separate the Federalist and AntiFederalists and make a standalone lesson because I feel it’s remembered by students. It’s not all jumbled up with plans and compromises which is hard enough already for 8th graders. The Ohio state tests for high school usually feature a question about the Federalist and AntiFederalist debate. The Federalist choice board lesson had students deciding to learn about the differences between these groups by using a variety of activities of their choosing – CyberSandwich, Quizlet, Quizizz, EdPuzzle, analyzing Primary Sources, or PearDeck. Then students applied their learning to create an infographic, social media smackdown (from www.emc2learning.com), or writing a letter from the perspective of a Federalist or AntiFederalist.

Here are some FInal Assessment Projects:

1. Netflix Project
2. Google Presentation
3. Time Magazine
4. Google Presentation
5. Netflix Project
6. Rap

The above projects represent a small sample size of student examples. Overall, students did a nice job with their assessments. Most students chose to design a Netflix series. The second place choice was writing an essay or creating a presentation. Four students chose the Time Magazine option. Finally, one student chose to write a script which she performed and then took it further and created a rap song.

Here are some student samples of Federalists vs. AntiFederalists (I’ll post more as they are turned in):

Final Thought

As I mentioned earlier, I said to some of my classes, “Failure is not an option in 505.” I will do anything I can to help students find a pathway to learning. Sometimes it’s frustrating because I feel like I care more than they do. Other times it’s overwhelming because I end up juggling 5-6 different pathways (assignments). Other times it’s rewarding because some students genuinely appreciate the effort and show learning.

Remote learning can be a mess. As much as I try to keep things simple, it always ends up being a mess. Some students have spotty internet service. Some don’t have a chromebook. Some have lives at home that aren’t conducive to learning. The easy things for me to do is to grade assignments as they are – normal grading, credit, no credit, etc. But, remote learning is anything but normal. As a result I create multiple pathways for students to show their learning:

1. Straight up – Choose one of the four assessment options.
2. Modified – Choose one of the four assessment options but focus on 3 major concepts instead of 5 major concepts.
3. Forget about the four assessment options and turn in the Hexagonal Learning as the assessment.
4. Modified – watch an EdPuzzle video for reteaching and complete the Hexagonal Learning.
5. Forget about the Hexagonal Learning and four assessment options – watch an EdPuzzle video and complete a Quizizz.

This is the former intervention specialist in me coming out. Does anyone else do this? Sometimes I feel this too much, but sometimes I feel it is necessary. Modifying on the fly, or differentiating in the moment, is something I have gotten better with the last few years. I tend to question myself too much. However, one thing I’ve learned in education the past 12 years – there are no wrong and right answers or ideas; just better answers and ideas based on the students you have.

My Message