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/