On the journey of teaching Social Science courses for a decade, somewhere along the way I realized that its better to do so in reverse chronological order because the topics are more relevant and the hook/buy-in/interest piques learners curiosity to look for deeper patters and know themselves.
Over the years, I developed the following action plan to draw learners in and set the stage for the rest of the year.
Day 1: Foundations
1. Perspectives Demonstration with Coin: pass out a quarter to each students and ask them how many sides it has. Allow time for reflection. Essentially, learners begin with 2, then point out the third side, eventually they notice its hard to count the small ridges on the side. They come to the conclousion that the two sides are heard the loudest, however their are many more untold stories and unheard voices.
2. Cultivate a Safe Space for all and their perspectives.
3. CHOICE-s activity (discussed in other blog post in detail)
4. Play Patience by Nas and Damian Marley
5. Introduce the Essential Questions: Who am I - Who are WE?
6. Self-Reflection: what are you taking away with you today from your learning experience in class?
Day 2: My Story
1. Independent Write: what do you know about your ancestors?
2. Tell the story of my family over the century. Include music and images.
3. Socratic Seminar: the power of words.
4. See-Think-Wonder of Columbus’s map.
Day 3: Our Story
1. Team building
2. Create a class list of what the learners concerns are individually, local, and global. Think-Pair-Share.
3. Self-Reflection: what thoughts, questions and insights are you taking away today from your learning experience in class today?
Day 4: Our Concerns
1. Indepdendent Write: how do decisions made by local or national government influence our daily lives. Please provide 3 examples.
2. Show current event video and conduct See-Think-Wonder.
3. Revisit the independent write once again after viewing.
4. Finalize class concerns from yesterday.
5. Self-Reflection:
A. How would your lists—either personal or historical—change if you changed something about yourself ?
B. If you were born in a different part of the United States, of a different ethnicity or religion or race or class, etc.?
C. Explain the following statement: “We’re shaped by our times, but not all people are shaped in the same ways.”
Day 5: Memoirs
1. Indepdendent Write: what purpose do you think family stories serve?
2. Fish Bowl: What are some things that they take for granted that their grandparents (or even parents) did not have access to? What are some of the newer inventions that we have in the United States that have made a big impact on our daily lives? Do you remember when your family bought a large item (such as a television, washing machine, dishwasher or car)? What was that day like?How do you think people lived their lives without the major items that we take for granted? Explain to students that they should take notes on the responses in their groups for use in a future discussion.
3. Independent Write: how does an education make a difference in people’s lives?
4. Introduce the story of Malala.
5. Self-Reflection: In the film “He Named Me Malala,” Malala famously says in her speech to the United Nations, “One teacher, one child, one book and one pen — they can change the world.” How does Malala think an education will make a difference in people’s lives? Do students think that going to school will help them learn the skills necessary to stand up to injustices? How so?
In the days that follow, we begin to work on learners “My Story” project, where they gather family stories and infuse it with their lives thus for to tell their stories. Students are given choice to determine how to tell their stories. I utilize universal design for learning to provide multiple opportunities for engagement. Then we use these stories in tandem with our class concerns to form our culturally responsive classroom and survey history through diverse lenses moving backward. We also engage in thinking activities about the future and what they want posterity to remember about our times. Essentially, we become fluid travelers across time, looking for patterns and themes across time. Some teachers get concered about confusing chronology, for that we maintain a timeline in the classroom with big post it papers based on thematic patterns.
I hope this serves as inspiration to rethink how a Social Science class can be personalized to learners and provide space for them to think throughly, get to know who they are, and determine how they interaction with people accross time by learning from lesson in the past.
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