Friday, May 24, 2013

A Visit from President Washington

Did anyone else see George Washington in the 6th grade hall last week? I did. Pam Koury used a great costume and wig to energize her students in another fun and creative review activity for her students.

Mrs. Koury had just finished a poster project in which students created time lines based on historical themes. Students were given the task of developing pictures reflecting symbols of the United States, such as an Eagle, Rolling Hills, and a Train. The pictures used significant points on them to represent a sequence of thematic events in U.S. history. Students were put into groups and given choice to select themes and historic events associated with them. Students where highly engaged throughout the activity since they were able to work on themes of their personal interest. Of course, this activity reinforced many Lifelong Learning Skills and was a great way to incorporate art.

George Washington showed up about a week later. In the styling of mystery dinner theater, Mrs. Koury being George Washington, Mrs. Thurston as Robert E. Lee (minus the commissioned grey) and all other students given a character within their curriculum. George sets up the plot and the mystery to solve.  Student groups move from station to station where they find clues to help them solve the mystery. Clues provide information based on primary source items. Student groups have to point out specific information in their process of eliminating suspects throughout the room. The culprit is one of the student characters and given the directive to act inconspicuous throughout the activity.

What makes this classroom mystery review effective is how it is aligned to the curriculum. All clues are accurate historical events. Students have to justify a characters involvement and accusations of guilt based on actual events relating to the required curricular review. This is difficult for 6th graders as they get caught up in the fun, but guides them in siting the evidence accurately.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Cold War Drama at HMS

Check out this great lesson that our seventh grade social studies students participated in recently.  Thanks to Assistant Principal Jason Crutchfield for the write-up!

On the Brink

You are the President of the United States during the height of the Cold War. You have just found out that Fidel Castro has been allowing the Soviets to store and set up nuclear missiles less the 100 miles off the coast of the United States. How do you know this? You have just been presented sets of satellite photographs of the missiles being transported and set up. What are you going to do?

This was the charge to Mr. Strzepek , Mrs. Bledsoe and Mrs. Goodin’s 7th grade Social Studies classes last week. 7th grade US2 students were given the opportunity to relive the Cuban Missile Crisis, through this authentic Cold War experience. Students were placed into groups, as they imagined that they were members of President Kennedy’s Cabinet, preparing to provide him a recommended course of action.

The teachers join in the fun by playing top advisors to the President. Their enthusiasm sells the lesson and provides a motivating environment. TOP ADVISERS to the President, provide student groups with great primary source documents; satellite images of Cuban missile sites. Once analyzed, they first come up with their own creative solution to the crisis. The Top Advisors then generalize the students’ original solutions, to develop a list of possible responses to the crisis.

Once all possible responses are considered, the teachers reveal the actual response used by President Kennedy. Students are proud to find that their original responses were very similar to what government officials considered.

Using this simulation strategy, students were able to apply many of the Lifelong Learning Standards in learning about the Cuban Missile Crisis. LLS#’s 2-4 and 6, seem the most appropriate to me. If I had to choose just one, it would be #6, Apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve new and increasingly complex problems.

Teacher Appreciaiton Week

I would like to take a moment to thank all of our teachers for the work that they do day-in and day-out to enrich the lives of the children who walk into Henley each day. Until you have walked in the shoes of a teacher, you never know how challenging, frustrating and rewarding their work can be. It takes someone very special to dedicate their lives to teaching. We all need a little pick me up every now and then, so here are a few quotes about our work that I hope will make our teachers feel good. I hope they all enjoy this week and the small tokens that we have in place to honor all of them.
  •  The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth." ~Dan Rather
  • In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years. ~Jacques Barzun
  • Teaching creates all other professions. ~Author Unknown
  • If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job. ~Donald D. Quinn
  • Modern cynics and skeptics... see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing. ~John F. Kennedy
  • A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary. ~Thomas Carruthers
  • Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater. ~Gail Godwin
  • A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. ~Henry Brooks Adams
  • A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others. ~Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, translated from Turkish