My district is beginning the year in a blended format. Google Classroom will be the hub where we gather, both in the classroom and at home. I wanted to personalize the headers for each class and have a little fun. Since most photos are too small for the header, I used a template I found on Alice Keeler’s blog to make my own collages. This took some time (especially while I work on a Mac for the first time) but think like the finished look.
I’m not exactly sure how I’ll use them, but would like to do some kind of a scavenger hunt where students try to ID a) who/what is in their class header, and b) why they’re grouped together. The goal is to work with their cohort (the group that they’ll spend all day together) and use clues from the photos to identify who/what they’re looking at.
Feel free to use these, or refer to Alice’s template for a much cooler product.
National History Day does a remarkable job supporting History Fair research at every level. They provide the blueprint for a successful project, train teachers, and create tremendous resources for students. Dr. Cathy Gorn has led NHD for nearly 40 years, and maintains an incredible enthusiasm for this project and its’ impact on students. Because of her passion, she and her team have built strong relationships with academic institutions across the country. Those organizations have curated resources to help students on this project. Here’s a sample of them. They’re absolutely essential to a great History Fair project!
Today we rolled out our Middle School application of Social Contract Theory. In a sense, during history fair, students who opt to collaborate with partners are giving up their absolute freedom (“my way”) to work with a group that can lighten the load, make a difficult project enjoyable, or bring talents together to produce a formidable product.
This document was designed with the help of our social worker and aligns with our best practices on problem-solving interactions with Peers. Some students from prior years shared their input so we could make it as realistic as possible. Ultimately, the document aims to have students name the expectations they have for each other. How will they hold each other accountable? What would they like to get from this collaboration? In a perfect group, members use this document to remind themselves of the objectives and outcomes they designed at the outset.
This document also serves as a nice test – if students cannot get this contract done, it’s a fair indictment of their ability to work together.
This blog is a re-post of a December 2017 blog post. Re-publishing for convenience.
Today we used a version of the Myers-Briggs Test to evaluate our Personality Types. Myers-Briggs asks students to agree or disagree with questions about various feelings and situations. The science behind the test is the use of domains to identify how people’s personalities work – introverted vs. extroverted, intuitive vs. observant, thinking vs. feeling, and judging vs. sensing. The result is a 4 letter “personality type,” which our website used an avatar to represent each. Below is a sample.
Just 8 of the 16 personality types kids can identify with.
This test is only as good as the answers students provide. If a student is having a bad day, or answers questions about how they want to be perceived vs. how they are, or just isn’t reflective enough, then this test is invalid. However, it’s an excellent window into a child’s mind. There were tons of “this is sooooo me” when kids read their results and scrolled through the strengths and weaknesses, workplace habits, and friendship observations. This should also play a significant role in students’ social-emotional development, as self-awareness is a crucial element to their growth. We’re also stressing students shouldn’t use this survey to “label, evaluate or limit” students. Myers-Briggs is very clear about that. This is a guide towards areas of strength and to help students be cognizant of weaknesses.
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As we prepare for History Fair, understanding our strengths and weaknesses is a
Wheel of SEL Competencies
vital component of our planning. What strengths do students bring to a group? What’s a student going to struggle with? Bringing these out now will lead to far more effective collaboration. There’s no recipe; we don’t need a certain number of personality types in a group. Instead, we want students to be conscientious of their strengths and weaknesses as they form those groups. Students working alone benefit from better self-awareness. A student who procrastinates knows they should seek help creating a timeline. Those more comfortable takings risks should think beyond the exhibit. everyone benefits from some reflection about how we work. I demonstrated this with my own results! Below is the document students used in class to guide reflection.
Inquiry is the driving force of what NHD projects do, and is the basis of any good project. Asking essential, or historical, questions reveals a mountain of evidence and leads to even further inquiry. If we fail to ask questions, we fail to conduct authentic research. Thursday was a convenient time for us to enhance our inquiry skills as we prepare to research.
We used the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) to begin closing out our History Fair unit. The QFT is an instructional strategy that encourages students to ask questions. More than that, students are taught what kinds of questions reflect comprehension and which return more information. This video is a long example but demonstrates the full strategy:
There are 7 steps in a QFT lesson:
Establish the rules (3-5 min).
Share the prompt (1 min).
Ask questions as a group (5-8 min).
Refine questions (3-5 min).
Prioritize questions (3-5 min).
Identify individual top 3 (1-3 min).
Reflect (5 min).
Below is the prompt we used (courtesy of the NHD 2020 Theme Book):
Even better, here’s a sample of a group of students discussing the value of a question and whether it’s closed or open. It’s a nice example of the kind of questioning and collaboration this strategy encourages.
For our final step and to apply this to History Fair, we have students take their topics of interest and generate some questions. If we struggle to ask questions, what will we do in January? Both interest and complexity should drive us to dig deeper and deeper. It’s the questions that help us mine for evidence, not the sources themselves. Nurturing inquiry is essential to gathering information and building an argument.
MAKE NO SMALL PLANS 