Family, Friends, Food, and Fun!

It finally happened!  Tonight we had close to 200 students and parents at Family History Night!  I wanted a meaningful and fun way for my students to showcase their immigration and family history projects (read about the project descriptor here) so I planned this fun and casual event.  In addition to presenting their projects in a museum-style format, students were asked to bring a dish made with a family recipe or that represented a part of their heritage.  We had LOTS of great food and it was a really fun event.  Check it out:

THANK YOU to everyone who attended!  Your support is very much appreciated!

Family History

The students are busy working on one of my (and usually their) favorite research projects of the year...Family History & Immigration!  The basic components of the project include:

-a family tree traced to great-grandparents
-a 50 question interview of one family member, preferably an older relative
-their surname meaning
-a family story with photographs
-a detailed write up with charts of immigration to the U.S. by one ethnic group (Irish, Italians, Germans, etc.)

Although each requirement of the project is the same, the students do have the option of creating either a museum-style tri-fold poster, an iMovie documentary, or a scrapbook, based on personal preference.  I created a tri-fold project of my family to use as an exemplar for the students.  Creating my own project was also helpful for me to 'iron out' any kinks in the project before I asked the students to create their own.

 The culmination of this project will be an evening for the students to showcase their research to their families...

Having an authentic audience with whom to share their projects gives the students more incentive to create quality projects.  Once they are complete, I will put together a video montage with pictures of the projects and from this event!  Can't wait!!

How to Become a United States Citizen

We are currently learning about U.S. immigration, both historically and in contemporary times.  The students are also starting to work on their family history projects as an extension of this topic (more on that in a future post).  In order to provide a more meaningful context to the topic of immigration, I thought it would be valuable for the students to learn about the process that an immigrant currently living in Maine must take in order to become a naturalized citizen of the United States.  I asked the students to read  a guide for Maine immigrants  and fill out a worksheet that walks them through the naturalization process. 

They also had to answer a few questions that are on the US history and civics test, which all naturalized citizens must pass.  Some questions include:

1) Who said "Give me liberty or give me death"?

2) What are the first ten amendments to the Constitution called?

3) Who signs bills into laws?

4) In what month is the president inaugurated?

5) From whom did the United States gain independence?

It is an interesting and meaningful topic because it applies to modern times, which increases student engagement!

Chat Time!

As part of our new unit on the Gilded Age and Progressive Eras, we just started watching the film Gangs of New York.  Instead of pausing the film every time I want to point something out or every time a student has a question, I create a private chatroom at TodaysMeet.com.

TodaysMeet is a really cool (and free) resource for teachers and presenters who want to encourage a backchannel chat amongst their students or audience.  Backchanneling allows conversations to go on while something is being presented.  In this case, we watch the film while having an online conversation.  I can also print out a transcript of our conversation to give to the students as notes.  How cool is that?  Most students seem to really like this activity because it takes something they love to do (chat online) and allows them to do it with a purpose!  This type of 21st Century activity would not be possible if it weren't for the 1-to-1 laptop initiative, so I am very thankful for that!  Check it out in action:

I'd also like to give a shout out to Mr. Richard Byrnes, whose blog I follow to get lots of cool ideas on how to integrate technology in my classroom.