Civil War Research Paper

Two of the skills that my students work on throughout the school year are writing and research.  They are assigned two project based research projects and two traditional essays.  This trimester the students were asked to choose any topic they wanted to research as long as it related to the American Civil War.  They were required to use a minimum of 4 different sources, including a book and a primary source, and then had to write a research paper, complete with thesis, using MLA formatting.

As illustrated in the screen shot above, my comments (the yellow stickies) when grading the essays are very comprehensive.  This is because each student is given the opportunity to go back and revise their paper based on the feedback they are given.  We meet to discuss their revisions and then they can earn back half the points that they lost on the original essay.  I want to encourage good effort on the first attempt but also want to encourage them to revise their papers so they can learn from their mistakes and become better writers.  I'm sure you can imagine that grading 70 papers with such detail takes a good amount of time and I appreciate the patience of both parents and students as you wait anxiously for the grades!

Hot Topic Discussion Questions

Each week while in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin got together with members of the Junto Society, his social networking group.  He prepared a list of Hot Topic questions for the group to discuss. As preparation for their own Junto Society meeting, the students were asked to 'decode' eight of Franklin's questions.

First, they were to use the dictionary application on their laptops to look up all vocabulary in the question that they didn't know or that I thought may be more complex...words like 'folly', 'remarkable', and 'vice', for example.

After the words in the sentence were defined, the students were asked to rewrite Franklin's question in their own words.  For example, "What unhappy effects of intemperance have you lately observed or heard? Or of any other vice or folly?"  Defining key vocab first helps them decode the question.

After they figured out what the question was asking and had written it in their own words, they were to answer the questions based on what is going on in their lives, their community, and their world today.  So, the question above is asking if they've witnessed any bad habits or wicked behaviors lately and they were to answer with their own experiences.  On the day of the Junto Society tea, they brought their list of questions and responses.

Carbetbaggers and Scalawags

Last week we did an activity to help review the major ideas and people involved in the Reconstruction period in US History.  The students put themselves into pairs and sat together at various 'stations' around the room.  At each station was a document that they had to analyze to figure out which phrase or term on their worksheet the document best represented and why. The documents were mostly primary sources that were political cartoons, pictures, letters, and even a poem (Walt Whitman's O Captain My Captain).

Every 5 minutes or so, I said 'switch' and they had to move to another document station.  This activity appeals to kinesthetic learners because it allows the students to get up and move around the room very often. It also appeals to the interpersonal intelligence because the students are working with others to figure out the meaning of the documents. They get to do a fair amount of socializing during this activity, which appeals to many students.

Above all, this activity challenges the students to think, interpret, and analyze when trying to figure out the meaning of the documents.  I had to tell them to exhaust all options and spend a good deal of time analyzing the documents BEFORE asking me for help.  They can sometimes be quick to ask for help before really spending time trying to figure it out on their own, which is something we are working on.

"The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without a teacher."
                                                                                     ~Eliot Woodward

Here is a little video of the activity:

I Heart Words!

Here is an excerpt from an article I found on scholastic.com about the importance of vocabulary:


Why is vocabulary s-o-o important?
Vocabulary is critical to reading success for three reasons:

1. Comprehension improves when you know what the words mean. Since comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading, you cannot overestimate the importance of vocabulary development.
2. Words are the currency of communication. A robust vocabulary improves all areas of communication — listening, speaking, reading and writing.
3. How many times have you asked your students or your own children to “use your words"? When children and adolescents improve their vocabulary, their academic and social confidence and competence improve, too.

An important role for the classroom teacher of any subject is to try and work as many rich and diverse words into daily lessons and conversations as they can.  As explained above, the more words students know, the better readers and communicators they become.  In order to help increase vocabulary, I have a 'word wall' in my classroom.  One wall is devoted to some of the most commonly used words on the SAT:

Another wall is devoted to words that we have started using throughout our units of study in US History:

I try and choose words that aren't necessarily related to content, rather they are words that help the students interpret and understand the questions and ideas that are being asked of them.  All of the words seen in the picture above have been words they've seen in their readings and on homework, quiz, and exam questions.  For example, one of the questions on their homework for tonight is to explain how the US acquired the Louisiana Purchase as well as the significance of this purchase.

Having the word wall acts as a reminder to actively seek out and use new words throughout all aspects of my curriculum.  Hopefully by doing this my students will be better equipped to understand and comprehend the items they hear and read in the world around them.

Maine Author Visit

Today (October 14th) we were fortunate to have Maine author Lea Wait come to speak to the US History classes about writing historical fiction books for young adults.  Students are in the process of writing their own historical fiction books on the American Revolution that will be shared with 5th grade students in our school district.  We thought this would be a great opportunity to bring in Ms. Wait so she could speak to the students about the writing and research process for this type of book.  You can visit her website here if you'd like to learn more about Lea.  Here are some pictures from today's event:

Lea brought in several historical items, including this map from the 1700s, which students could reference for place names to be included in their stories.

Here the students are checking out the other items that Lea brought...she is holding a portable tin oven!

Lea explains the different types of clothing worn in the 1770s.

Helping with questions and research

The students had time to work in their book project groups, discussing and developing ideas for characters and plot as well as incorporating historical events into their stories.

Working cooperatively!

Once the books are completed, I hope to post more pictures when we take a field trip down to the 5th grade classes to have those students read the stories back to my students!