Animating Inspiration for Artifact Bags

 Animating Inspiration for Artifact Bags

     Most teachers may assume that there is no creative twist that they can possibly put onto teaching history to make it interesting and engaging for students. From past experiences, I have seen teachers who simply hand the students a textbook and teach vocabulary for the whole week, then give a chapter test every two weeks, while the teacher themselves are sitting at their desk reading a newspaper. I was one of those students in that classroom and I can honestly say that I could not learn in that environment. After reading Building literacy skills across the curriculum: Forging connections with the past through artifacts by Carol K. Fuhler, Pamela J. Farris, and Pamela A. Nelson (2006), I can honestly say that I agree with “Using artifacts, from primary documents to items that can be held in one’s hand, is a motivational strategy that can tie readers to a variety of genres and bring a period of history to life in the process.” is most definitely true. (p 646). Upon given the task of creating an artifact bag, I was thrilled knowing that I was going to be designing a lesson that I know could create real-world connections and make learning history an engaging and intriguing experience. 

Here is a link to my lino for this lesson.

   

     When thinking about a topic to use for the artifact bag that directly related to Choosing Our Country’s Leaders, I kept thinking about what specifically could I do to catch the student’s attention and eager to engage into this experience. Fuhler, Farris, and Nelson (2006) mention several times that the students were “unwrapping” the artifacts in the bag. That’s when I got the idea of decorating and designing the bag to resemble a type of birthday present in which the students would open piece by piece and want to further explore the contents hidden within the artifact bag. The topic for this artifact bag was based around the overall concept of presidents. This artifact bag was also designed to fit the needs of a 2nd grader who is learning about Social Studies and the topic of Choosing Our Country’s Leaders which reflects back to the term, President.  The point of this lesson is for the students to follow the inquiry process to develop a hypothesis and a conclusion with supporting details and evidence about the artifact bag. While working on the investigation, the students are collaborating together, so the New York State Common Core Standard that this lesson revolves around is:

Speaking and Listening Standards K- 5

    Comprehension and Collaboration     Grade 2 students:

               1. Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about

               grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

     When thinking about adapting this specific lesson to alter for older grades, there isn't much that needs to be adapted. The concept of an artifact bag is to allow the students to discover and investigate the items within. Perhaps the items could be more in depth with the concept or there could be more writing and academic language involved, but in all reality, this should be an engaging experience that will make the students eager to work and learn, not stress or become overwhelmed. 

         
     Now that I had selected a theme and the primary vocabulary word that I was going to bring out through the artifact bag, it was time to select the artifacts that would be inside the artifact bag. Now, what goes in the artifact bag should be primary resources and sources that the students can be able to recognize or identify through research. The use of primary sources when teaching history through any approach is always a fantastic way to bring history to life.

     The first artifact was in the smallest blue cylinder, which was fake money that looked like realistic money with the presidents’ faces on them. I chose this artifact because money can deal with a lot of different things and the presidents do have an important role with the economy situation that goes on in the United States. Some of the important characteristics of the American Dollar is the face of the dollar. They are important people and are previous presidents of the United States. 

     The second artifact that I chose to use was a deflated balloon with the decal of the American Flag in the shape of a star. The significance of having the American Flag is because the American Flag is a major symbol of the United States and usually when people see the American Flag, they right away think about the government and presidency. Teachers also refer to the American Flag being a symbol of Social Studies, it’s something that every student and teacher have seen and can relate to. I also incorporated it to see if the students could possibly make the connection to the National Anthem that they sing every morning at the beginning of the school day. 

     The third artifact that I chose to use was a plastic map of the United States with a red, paper push pin taped to Washington D.C. The point of using this type of artifact was to locate the capital of the United States which happens to be Washington D.C., hinting to the student that the president lives at the White House which is also located at Washington D.C. What I liked about using this artifact is that as the teacher, I could even arrange a field trip to the White House and go through an educational tour of the actual White House, it would be another way to engage the students into a real-world connection between the topic we are discussing in the classroom and the world around us through history. 

The fourth and final artifact that I chose to add to my artifact bag was a handy, dandy photo album of 8 presidents. The purpose of the photo album was to catch the student's attention and to want to know who is in the picture. The students could possibly do a quick research session for about three minutes and figure out that all of the pictures were past presidents (or the current president) and come to the conclusion that the album is an album of presidents' portraits.

The book that I chose to go along with this artifact bag is a children's book called Hail to the Chief: The American Presidency by Don Robb and illustrated by Alan Witschonke. The book has information about a variety of presidents, but mostly the significant ones. The information ranges from the basic presidential powers, the beginnings of presidency, the leaders in war, the leaders in hard times, the leaders that enforced laws, the leaders that expanded the country, how the presidents react with congress, the leaders in the world, leaders of their political parties, dark-horse candidates, the process of getting elected, removing a president, vice presidents as presidents, and about the presidential families. I chose this book because it is a good alternate instead of referring just to a textbook that doesn't go in depth discussing the presidents. 

 The website that I chose to use to go along with this artifact bag is called All About Electing a President of the United States. I chose this website specifically because it is easy to use and very simple to read and understand. The website is very straight forward and it allows the students to have a personal educational experience through the digital world. 

     All of these three elements connect to each other, especially for this type of lesson. They compliment each other and they all relate to the main topic of the lesson, presidents. When teaching with artifact bags, I believe that all 3 of these elements are highly necessary to have combined into a lesson. I feel that teaching with artifact bags is a new opening door to children for them to understand history through a different hands on point of view. This type of project strongly reinforces the content that can be taught through Social Studies. Artifact bags do not only have to be used for teaching history, they can be used for teaching all aspects of Social Students. When it comes to artifact bags, they are meaningful because the students are able to produce a memorable experience behind a project that actually has a specific meaning and point to be addressed. Artifact bags are integrative because they provide the students with a communicative experience that can be used in expressing their citizenship and human experience over time. This artifact bag also expresses a value-based experience because it allows the students to learn the values of an important aspect of the government, meaning the president and the significance of a president. This artifact bag could also be challenging for students who do not know the term and for those who need to do research on the individual artifacts because they are unaware of what they are in general. This artifact bag actively engages the students into a hands on experience that will possibly create a long last memory that they will always remember. I loved this activity and I can't wait until I can actually use this type of activity in my own future classroom. I will be using artifact bags a lot and it's overwhelmingly exciting just thinking about it.

Acquiring the Knowledge to Teach History

Acquiring the Knowledge to Teach History

Click here to view the lino board that is discussed below.

     To start of this week's lessons, our professor introduced a very engaging, eye-catching way of teaching history which was through the use of an artifact bag. The purpose of the artifact bag is for the students to figure out what the objects in the bag all have in common. Our professor modeled it for us first with the use of her own artifact bags that were artifacts either about her or people who she knew. Our task was to create an artifact bag that revolved around our unit plan. My unit plan refers to "Choosing Our Country's Leaders," so I designed my artifact bags to reflect on the vocabulary term "presidents."I included four artifacts: a photo album of some portraits of the presidents, an deflated balloon that has the American flag on it in the shape of a star, a plastic map with a paper push pin on Washington D.C., and fake school money with the presidents faces on it. This artifact bag did not relate to specifically one president, but to the overall concept of a president. The object of this artifact bag was to get the students thinking about the presidents and investigating more information about the presidents. This engaging artifact bag is accompanied by a lino in which the students will collaborate to reach their desired goal. Posted on the lino is also a book and three websites that are age-appropriate and student-friendly for Elementary-aged students to use and access. The thing that I enjoyed the most about making the artifact bag was my ending result product as well as the comments that I received for my work. I was told that my artifact bag made the participant feel as if they were opening a birthday present and they were eager to see what else was inside. Bringing history alive is the best thing that a teacher can do for the students to keep them engaged and anxious to learn.

     Before this experience, I didn't realize how interactive teaching history could possibly be. When I was in Elementary School, my teachers used to strictly have us read the textbook and answer questions. It was never an interactive experience, but now I know that teaching history does not just have to be "by the books." Through the artifact bag experience through field work and our classroom experience, I was able to realize that using History in the Raw is a brilliant idea in which as teachers, we can manipulate resources and provide the students with relationships and real-world experiences that a book simply can not convey on its own. Bringing in realistic materials for the students to work hands on is a great idea to bring history to life, but what if you can't find the materials that you need to bring this real-time path to history alive? Teachers can always rely on technology to help. DocsTeach provides several ways that teachers can bring history to their classroom through the use of tools, activities, and primary documents that can be key elements to the students learning. I can't wait to refer to this website when I am student teaching or teaching in my future classroom. I also like the idea of creating a treasure hunt based on QR codes. Thanks to ClassTools, you can create a treasure hunt that can flow throughout the classroom for the students to actively use technology to learn. 

Click here to view the full list of strategies that are being referred to.

   A strategy that I didn't know in depth about was Community-based instruction. I used to think that the only way to involve the community when teaching Social Studies and history was to go on field trips to museums or monuments. I like the whole concept of going above and beyond the classroom setting to give the students perhaps a life-changing or eye-opening experience in which they can relate to the historical subject at hand.  Besides going on field trips, there are field studies, mentoring/apprenticeship, and service learning. Another strategy that I would like to use in the future would be a discussion formatted lesson. I like the idea of everyone having a say in their learning and what they personally have discovered through the lesson. I also like the idea of using graphic organizers. In my personal experience, I have used comparison matrix graphic organizers and Venn Diagrams, but I have come to learn that there are a lot more than just two graphic organizers that can be implemented in the classroom while teaching History and other elements of Social Studies. 

How is the Inquiry/5E Learning Cycle Approach used by teachers to meet the needs of students studying history?
 

      After watching these videos and coming to touch with an article called Inquiry, the Learning Cycle, & the 5E Instructional Model, I gathered a fine understanding of the 5E's and understand how an inquiry method does not only have to relate to Science, it can be involved with a variety of subjects. First, I want to start by saying that the 5E's are engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. Each of these terms are emphasized and encouraged throughout an inquiry method. When relating to the 1st step of the cycle which is engage, the teacher must captivate the student's attention and assess their prior knowledge through open ended questions, interesting facts, and putting the students into situations in which they will develop their own questions. In history, the teacher can ask the students questions that relate specifically to the topic. When talking about explore, the students are investigating for answers that could possibly produce a closure for their questions. In history, the teacher will be able to use all types of resources to give the students the opportunity to investigate, such as computers, books, iPads, etc. The teacher can also make things interesting such as on a field trip or through something as simple as an Artifact Bag. When moving onto the next step, explain, the students are given the opportunity to explain their findings and talk with other students by comparing or contrasting their answers. While the teacher is teaching history, the teacher can simply allow the students to collaborate and talk together to explain and express themselves and their answers with reasoning. When the teacher transitions into the elaborate stage, the students are able to make connections with other situations and what they are currently learning or discussing. All subjects in school seem to correspond with one another and in history, the teacher can relate a variety of aspects to what is going on, such as current events. Entering the final stage of the cycle, evaluate, the students will demonstrate what they have learned throughout the process through a conceptual "snapshot" that gives the teacher as well as the students an idea of the other participants understanding. In history, the teacher can allow each student to present their own findings to the class stating their hypothesis and their conclusion with supporting evidence. I enjoyed reading and watching videos about the 5Es and I can't wait to implement this approach in my future classroom. 

Works Cited:

ANON (2016). Retrieved 20 April 2016, from http://www.uintahbasintah.org/papers/ssstrategies.pdf

ANON (2016). Retrieved 20 April 2016, from http://www.archives.gov/education/research/history-in-the-raw.html 

Choosing Our Country's Leader. (2016). lino. Retrieved 20 April 2016, from http://linoit.com/users/kriv0733/canvases/Choosing%20Our%20Country's%20Leader 

DocsTeach. (2016). Docsteach.org. Retrieved 20 April 2016, from http://docsteach.org

QR Code Treasure Hunt Generator from classtools.net. (2016). Classtools.net. Retrieved 20 April 2016, from http://www.classtools.net/QR/