New Year! New study in Social Studies! Students
shared what they know about the Civil War:
Students start the unit activating background knowledge and produce questions based on civil war images.
While we may have misconceptions now, students will continue to visit images throughout the civil war study. These images will be a part of a photography center. In addition to the gallery walk images, students will visit a media album in Schoology where they will comment, talk with a small group, and refine what they know about the images. Students will select 3-4 images and create a podcast to share how their thinking and knowledge has changed since the unit started.
The idea for utilizing the podcast, which students will upload into the teacher folder on Google Drive, will provide a mid-way check-in to inform the teacher of where the student is with their thinking- as well as informing the teacher of how to move forward with instruction. Thanks to the book Amplify by Katie Muhtaris and Kristen Ziemke for the addition of the podcast to the gallery walk. The gallery walk, using a "see, think, wonder" format, is one strategy that can be further investigated in the book Upstanders by Harvey "Smokey" Daniels and Sara Ahmed.
During the next 7 days, students will rotate through a variety of centers designed to provide opportunities for self-learning about this monumental time in history. Students will rotate through the following centers:
- Picture Book center
- Audio/Visual Center (Resources curated on a padlet)
- Photography Center (Images from gallery walk and a media album in Schoology)
- Map Center (A variety of maps with a variety of information)
- Primary Sources center where students will have access to famous speeches, letters from soldiers, and maps
- Civil War Trunk: Courtesy of Missouri State Historical Musuem. Artifacts, as well as replica items, including a Confederate and Union soldier's uniform.
- Textbook Center to use this resource as needed.
Students will be taking notes while further developing answers to their questions. Time will be provided for students to further investigate a question and synthesize that information in a way that makes sense to them! Can't wait!!!
