Texting from the Oregon Trail

Teaching the last two weeks of school was a bit of a challenge.  As you can imagine, students (and teachers) are a bit “done” and worksheets, though never in the plans anyway, were definitely NOT an option.  I also had to contend with the fact that I had been a little too ambitious in my planning and needed to adjust some assignments and activities in order to make sure the students would have final products each of the units.  I mention all of this because I wanted to share the fun activity that was born from a time crunch and a desperate need for an attention grabbing/interest holding activity for 5^th graders in June.  The units were on Manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion, and the students spent time participating in a variety of activities including 2 Webquests, an outside “simulation” that had the students settling across the country as they learned about each land acquisition, an Art Walk that illustrated Westward Expansion, and the final activity—Texting from the Oregon Trail.

              I am including a link to the Webquest that I created for this activity at the bottom of this entry.  Basically, in the interest of time, I had to cut out a longer assignment and instead of having students create journal entries from the trail, I had them create a texting conversation between themselves and friend or family member.  The activity included a research component where, through the Webquest, they were directed to different websites to research the Oregon Trail.  They were given two graphic organizers to fill out, one with the research details that needed to be included in the conversation, and one with “text bubbles” to fill in for a rough draft of their texting conversation. 

The students couldn’t wait to get to the fake texting site, so they were highly motivated to do the research component of the Webquest.  Some students even wanted to create a group text between friends that were at different places on the trail.  The activity was originally scheduled to happen during one of the long blocks (60 minutes) that 5^th graders have for Social Studies 3 days a week, but ended up having to be moved up a day, only giving us 45 minutes to complete the activity.  The 45 minute class was plenty of time to do the research and rough draft, and a few of the students were able to complete the actual text messages as well, but most ended up having to complete the assignment for homework.  The students were excited about playing with the Fake iPhone SMS Generator, so they had no problem finishing the assignment at home--and then moving on to create additional fake texts for their own purposes, I’m sure!  

Texting from the Oregon Trail Webquest

Poetic Inspiration

Recently, we were asked to focus on ways that we could better integrate art into our history lessons.  Naturally, my mind went directly to actual art and I eagerly designed an “Art Walk” that would require students to analyze and interpret various paintings, advertisements, and pictures from the time period that we would be studying.  I am still excited about the project, and I’m busy creating a Webquest to support it, but now that I have some time separating me from the actual requirement of the assignment, I find myself coming up with more thoughts and ideas concerning the topic of integrating art into my lesson plans and, perhaps more importantly, what is “art”.

            As anyone in education is well aware, April is National Poetry month and it usually marks a time in the LA curriculum where students are immersed in figurative language and rhyming.  For the past 5 years my son’s school has worked hard to create a week long program where students are exposed to multiple forms of poetry and even treated to a “Poet in Residence”.  This year’s poet was Richard Blanco, the 2013 Inaugural Poet and Maine resident.  I was able to attend the final evening’s events where Mr. Blanco spoke to the public and read many of his own pieces.  I left that night fully aware that I had been in the presence of a true artist.  After being brought to tears numerous times, I realized that I had totally forgotten about the spoken word being an art-form that could/should be incorporated into my lessons. 

            To that point, Mr. Blanco is a wonderful example of how poetry and art can be integrated into all subjects.  Even though he has published many books of poetry and two memoirs, Mr. Blanco is actually a trained and practicing Civil Engineer.  He stressed through his talks to the students, and later to the public present for the final night, the importance of exposure to all subjects and the dangers of overexposure to just one area.  In his own words, he’s a better Civil Engineer because he is a poet and a better Poet because he is an engineer.  The Washington Post recently ran an article titled "Why America's Obsession with STEM Education is Dangerous", that speaks to just this point--the way to make students true innovators and learners is to expose them to Science, Math, and Engineering, but not at the expense of the liberal arts. As the article’s author states, “Innovation is not simply a technical matter but rather one of understanding how people and societies work, what they need and want. America will not dominate the 21st century by making cheaper computer chips but instead by constantly re-imagining how computers and other new technologies interact with human beings.”

            After my evening listening and learning from Mr. Blanco, I was reminded of other famous individuals that have successfully embraced science and art: Leonardo Da Vinci (artist and inventor), Thomas Jefferson (architecture, music, meteorology), William Carolos Williams (Poet and Pediatrician), Lewis Thomas (Physician, author, Naturalist), Frank Lloyd Write (Architect, artist).  How wonderful would it be to examine this list further?  There are so many more names to add to it, such a wonderful angle to examine.  We learn Social Studies, Math, Art, English, etc., not so we can become Historians, Mathematicians, Scientists, or Artists some day, but to expose us to as much learning as possible so that we can truly figure out what inspires us, what interests us, and how to do it to the best of our ability.  It all works together; the science, the art, the history, the language arts.  I come away from my experience with poetry with many inspirations of how to integrate art into the Social Studies curriculum beyond simply examining poetry/storytelling from whatever time period we are studying.  The content of the poems, just like the subject of the artwork, or words of the songs, tells a story about that moment in history, certainly--beyond that is the importance of the storytelling, the poetry, the artwork, to science, math, and engineering.

Perhaps my favorite poem from the evening:  Looking for the Gulf Motel

Richard Blanco reciting his Inaugural Poem, "One Today":

Communities of Learners

Over the past few weeks of this course we have been focusing on the true role of technology in the classroom and the idea that technology should not drive our lessons, but rather it should enhance how we teach and what we teach.  The focus should always be on the content, or goal of our lesson, and how best to achieve that goal.  Technology should make it easier to reach those goals, but not be the end goal.  In addition, we have been immersed in the best pedagogical practices and how to create student centered learning opportunities.  Whether we utilize Inquiry Based, Project Based, or Direct Instruction learning models, they all have the basic tenants of Constructivism at their heart--lessons should be student driven, allow students to activate prior knowledge, and allow for plenty of collaboration with peers.  

The focus that all of the learning models put on collaboration was what really struck me, and I was reminded of a TED talk video by author John Green that focused on how technology can be used to help create what he termed "communities of learners".  In the video, he discusses his own learning experience and how learning did not become effective or fun for him until it held more personal meaning.  Once he felt that he could see the big picture better, see the horizon, he had a more natural desire to see what was beyond that horizon.  His main point in his presentation, however, was that student driven learning is directly benefited by creating a “community of learners” that support and engage each other throughout the learning process.

              John Green’s TED talk explains how these communities can be enhanced and even created through the use of technology.  Sites like YouTube, tumblr, Khan Academy, and even his own YouTube channels like Crash Course and VlogBrothers, help students find new communities.  These communities support and guide each other through their common interests, questions, and goals.  The ability to learn is directly connected to a student’s desire to learn.  If they are interested, if they have peers who share that interest and desire, they are more likely to work hard to find answers to their questions, especially if the questions are their own. If you have the time, the video is well worth it!

Piven Portraits

Integrating art into our curriculum seems like it might be low on the list of items a teacher needs to make sure gets included in lesson plans.  I’m realizing the connection between integrating art and integrating technology into the classroom—both should be utilized as an enhancement of pedagogy and content.  In other words, plan for the content and how you want to teach it, then use art as a way to enhance how you teach and what you teach.  Often in the middle grades it is easy to overlook.  This week, with the 5^th grade focusing on Tall Tales and the 6^th grade writing poetry, there has been a lot of figurative language being thrown around.  I am always entertained by how literal most 5^th and 6^th graders can be but once they are asked to write poetry, the metaphors and personifications start flying!

Retrieved from: http://www.pivenworld.com/

After reading millions of figurative language drenched poems this week, I was reminded of the work of Hanoch Piven, specifically his children’s books like: MyDog is as Smelly Sock and My BestFriend is as Sharp as a Pencil which both deal with fun similes.  Since my mind was so focused on the idea of integrating art into Social Studies curriculum, I quickly started thinking of how much fun it would be to create “Piven” like portraits for historical figures.  

Hanoch Piven is known for portraits that are simply drawn and almost collage-like in the fact that they incorporate objects that represent the person into the actual portrait.  For example, a portrait of Barbara Streisand that has a microphone for her nose, or a portrait of Charles Darwin that has bird feathers for hair, a toy ape for a nose, and seashells for eyebrows.

A project that incorporates LA curriculum, focused on Tall Tales and figurative language, with Social Studies curriculum, dealing with early American history, could easily be created using an historical figure from that time period.  After studying a certain time period (not necessarily early American history) students could create their own Tall Tale based on the life and history of the historical figure.  In doing so, they would be practicing their figurative language skills yet they would still be basing their story on the real life events of the figure.  Creating a “Piven” portrait of the figure could tie both curriculums together.   

Too much of a good thing?

The idea of using technology as a tool to enhance teaching pedagogy and content, instead of using it to drive what you teach and how you teach it, has been a big struggle this week as I worked to plan my two 5^th grade Social Studies units.  I have been trying to really ask myself why I want to use certain technology and websites—is it to enhance, or am I choosing it for the “wow” factor?  I have to really resist the urge to try to form my lessons around a piece of technology, and instead, plan the content first and then determine how to use technology to present the material and/or enhance the material. 

I have been meeting with the Media Specialist in our building and he has really helped put the breaks on a lot of my enthusiasm—which doesn’t sound wonderful, but actually has been very good for me.  I realize that he is all too familiar with students and teachers getting caught up in the “wow factor” and not realizing how technology can also hinder learning if not planned for and used properly.  One big take-away from these meetings has been learning about the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and how to search a website to see if it meets CIPA standards.  For instance, when bringing the Thinklink idea to him, the first thing he did was check the fine print to see if it was appropriate for children 13 and under.  There is so much more than “wow” to keep in mind!

Working with middle school students means I work with dozens of mini-media specialists.  They thrive on technology, use it constantly, and are far savvier with it than I can ever hope to be.  That being said, they are still very, very young.  The idea that technology can sometimes be a hindrance is very obvious when it comes to social media and middle school students. The principal of my son’s school recently shared a wonderful essay addressing the importance of teaching students the social/emotional skills necessary to navigate social media.  I thought it was a wonderful explanation of the pitfalls of having too much “technology” (in this case, in the form of social media) and the importance of teaching students how to handle it.  I know as a parent, and as an educator, social media, like Instagram, can be wonderful and horrible all at once.  I am learning that it is also our job to teach students how to socialize appropriately with technology. 

      As we all know from our own time in middle school, it can be rough and ripe with insecurities.  That age brings with it the need to fit in, to be accepted, and the awful instinct to compare.  As adults, we can still have the same issues, just more emotional “tools” to deal with them.  Thanks to social media, students are very aware of how they compare to others.  Middle schoolers today are now armed with actual “data”, like how many “followers” they have on Instagram vs. how many they are “following”, how many likes they get, and even things like TBH (To Be Honoest) ratings.  Just seeing pictures of events and activities that they were not part of can throw most 13 year olds into a tail spin.   My son’s principal referenced a wonderful TEDTalk from a noted European psychologist named Dr. Ilona Boniwell that I think is well worth watching in our quest for ways to teach the important emotional skills needed to navigate a very socially involved and hyper-sensitive age.

Currently...

As I mentioned in my last entry, I am a big fan of geography and current events.  This year my son won his school's National Geographic Geography Bee and a few weeks ago we traveled up to Farmington, ME so he could participate in the Maine State Geography Bee.  As a 6th grader, he was up against some AMAZING 7th and 8th graders, and really held his own.  In the end, the two questions that tripped him up were current event questions.  He had no idea about the attacks on Charlie Hebdo, or anything about the recent, annual European Nuclear Power conference that took place in Brussels, Belgium.  I am now on a mission to make sure that he is more exposed to current events, which has me thinking about how to do so in the classroom as well.

I've been talking to the Social Studies teacher on my 5th/6th grade team, and he agrees that it is an area that he needs to focus on as well.  The struggle seems to be finding appropriate sources, but once you do it seems like the possibilities would be endless.  Just skimming through a recent copy of Scholastic's current event magazine, Junior Scholastic (http://junior.scholastic.com/), I was excited to see so many Math and Science topics that could be covered as well.  For instance, almost every page had some sort of graph, table, or some sort of statistic or percentage.   The only problem with the Scholastic magazine is that it costs money... I've begun by searching for internet sources that are geared towards 5th and 6th grade students, but I keep getting caught up in the details of how I would have the students chose their articles.  It seems like there would be already too many choices in just one source, but to have 5 or 6 sources to chose from... Any suggestions?

Here are a few of the sources I have found:

NY Times blog about using current events in the classroom.

Press Corps: Scholastic Magazine online current events magazine

Youngzine: news and more for the young.

PBS News Hour Extra: for students and teachers

And this blog post from Middleweb.com that focuses on the "Future of History" and how to teach current events to middle schoolers:

Future of History

With the help of the Social Studies teacher, I plan on creating some graphic organizers specifically for summarizing current event articles.  Deciding how much classroom time can/should be dedicated will be important as well.  Coordinating the technology needs if we are only able to use web based sources, will also be tricky.

Westward Expansion

When I first started teaching out of college, I was lucky enough to work in a small private school that gave me a lot of freedom with the curriculum.  In addition to that, the middle school teachers were a close knit group that worked together well, all of which allowed for some wonderful opportunities for cross curricular activities.  One of my favorite projects we created involved reading the book "Arundel" by the Pulitzer Prize winning, Maine author, Kenneth Roberts.  The book chronicles Benedict Arnold's march on Quebec City during the Revolutionary War.  The 6th and 7th grade students would read the book in LA, while the Math, Science, and History teachers would create lessons around the text as well.  The culminating activity would be a 3 day trip that roughly followed the "Arnold Trail" through Maine until finally reaching Quebec City.

Throughout this Blog, I intend to record my thoughts and plans for my different Social Studies units and lesson, as well as my interest in developing curriculum that focuses on current events as a way to connect the different subject areas.  I am a huge geography nut as well as a news junkie.  I am not ashamed to admit to subscribing to numerous online and print news publications.  I am always marking articles or facts that pertain to science and math topics that we are covering in class and I would love to find a way to incorporate this high interest area into the classroom.


I have met with the 5th/6th grade Social Studies teacher that I will be working with this term and based on the schedule, it was decided that I would cover the topic of Westward Expansion.  I seem to have lost myself down the "rabit hole" this week while hunting for ideas and activities to use for this unit, as well as creating this Blog.  I can't help but want to create an activity similar to the "Oregon Trail" game that I remember playing as a student, where I divide the students into teams and have them "relive" the journey with daily activities and projects.  At the same time, I was very much inspired by the video from this week's module, and love the idea of having the class conduct an interview using Skype with one of the many museums that focus on the history of the Oregon Trail and/or Westward Expansion such as: http://www.windriver.org/page/oregon-trail and http://www.historicoregoncity.org/

In addition, I've been experimenting with Google Tour Builder.  I'm thinking it would be a very effective way to illustrate the span of the "trip" the settlers took, or as a way to simply organize my lessons.  I could tag all of the different topics/spots I want to make sure I cover and use the map as
a constant throughout the entire unit.  I have also have been playing around with Thinglink.com which is a site that allows you to take a picture and add tags to it.  The tags link to additional information, pictures, and/or videos.  I've created a rough draft of one already (see below) and can't help but think of ways I can use it as a final project for students, or as a way to build my daily lesson around a central theme and use the tags as details or instructions throughout the lesson.


Example of Westward Expansion Thinglink


Google Tour Builder: