#sschat is a network of educators, resources, and ideas that started on Twitter, but has expanded to Facebook, an annual NCSS unconference, and more. Join us to chat asynchronously on Twitter or Facebook, or chat with us live on Mondays from 7-8pm EST.
Chris from Bloomington, IN. Teach world history for private online HS affiliated w/ Indiana University. Also one of the #sschat leadership team. 🙄 I'd say this is one of my most used emojis.
Hey #sschat, Dwight from the beautiful Adirondack Mountains in northern NY checking in. I teach 7th grade social studies, and will be teaching a storytelling for the 21st century elective next year! https://t.co/GJ5yqNUZY5 Most used emoji: 😂
A1 I usually began US History by asking students to translate the following primary source, which is a narrative from 1590. https://t.co/wORyQyQHVe#sschat
A1 since we use an inquiry learning model, we usually have gallery walks, audio clips, and artifact analysis for our students to get insterested in the inquiry we’ll be delving into #sschat
A1) I think it can be helpful to have students create their own narrative about something in their own life and to ask questions related to what they want to learn about a particular topic or event. #sschat
A1b if we’re learning about World War II. I would use my grandfather’s account of the Bataan Death March and some other survivor accounts as well. #sschat
A1: Narratives trick students into reading and consuming difficult primary sources. Love oral histories!! So authentic to listen to the actual person retelling. Great for Vietnam or modern era #sschat
A1 also, I used to use the @SHEG_Stanford "Snapshot Autobiography" activity, but it's really hard when you have several adopted students who immediately feel excluded / disadvantaged, so I don't use that anymore
#sschat
A1: Always used primary sources as well as @Newsela text sets. I also started incorporating picture books. We are learning about the #AmericanRevolution and used amazing picture books like The Scarlet Stocking Spy. Obsessed. #sschat
A1) First introduce historical narratives to students with @DBQProject Document Habits- source the doc, note the note, backdrop, closely read, make meaning & use the doc. I model this at the start of the year with NYU student's film narrative of 9/11 on anniversary date #sschat
Great idea! I also like using @SHEG_Stanford lunchroom fight activities to get Ss thinking about bias and different perspectives of the same event. #sschat
A1: During class we use Jill Lepore's description of history as "an endlessly interesting argument where evidence is everything and storytelling is everything else." It immediately establishes narrative & storytelling as an aspect of history, but secondary to evidence #sschat
This quote comes from Lepore's book "The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party's Revolution and the Battle over American History" Such a fun read! https://t.co/1RW2T5sAak#sschat
A1: Teaching History is a narrative in class. Giving historical figures relevance to my S’s , EX: John Brown was built like @WWEMarkWCalaway helps S’s visualize events better. #sschat
A2 my favorite narrative is the struggle for independence in the Philippines. So many movements and factions that mirror the same thing happening in my country today #sschat
This quote comes from Lepore's book "The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party's Revolution and the Battle over American History" Such a fun read! https://t.co/1RW2T5sAak#sschat
A2- they aren’t traditional narrative, but Jacob Riss’s photos give students a real understanding of the problems in tenements. @librarycongress has a great online exhibit- https://t.co/icHiyycCeL#sschat
A2) Have used excerpts of Mark Mathabane's Kaffir Boy to get a sense of what life was like for someone their age in apartheid era South Africa. #sschat
A2 -- The past couple yrs I've assigned a multi-draft storytelling task for Ss, in which they audio-record drafts of their story.
I love hearing what they discover about amazing AmRevWar tales like "Molly Pitcher" & Banastre Tartleton
asst details: https://t.co/FcAr9ag439#sschat
#sschat A2: The first comparison I assign is my favorite. The students compare John Smith's accounts with movies and other accounts about his relationship with Pocahontas.
Curious about the power of introverts in the classroom? Join me this Thursday, May 10 as I sit down with @tophat for a free webinar on bringing out the best in quiet students. Save your spot: https://t.co/WAjgMSCA7b
Awesome colleague of mine @TravisRanch, recently shared this NewsELA narrative "A Soldiers Account of Cherokee Trail of Tears". This really caught the attention of my students, author wrote this letter on his 80th birthday https://t.co/DGhxa6OXfC#sschat
A2 here is a lesson integrating a wordless graphic novel narrative of Nat Turner and hip hop - which is a powerful medium for narrative and societal insight #sschathttps://t.co/wNlqIPhoxI
Also talk about traces v. accounts (rather than secondary and primary sources) and ask students about their own account and traces. I use posters leftover from previous class to demonstrate
traces left behind for us to interpret https://t.co/9DyXeF7xUe#sschat
A2) I haven't had a chance to use it with Ss as I teach world history but @repjohnlewis story is so powerful and accessible to Ss in his March trilogy. #sschat
A2- they aren’t traditional narrative, but Jacob Riss’s photos give students a real understanding of the problems in tenements. @librarycongress has a great online exhibit- https://t.co/icHiyycCeL#sschat
I start the year with each kid writing their history-birth story, important events etc & then we start to challenge peers’ stories - corroboration, sourcing, credibility etc and then we start to explore historical figures. We then apply those skills to historical figures #sschat
Hi all! David, music teacher, from SC A2: Favorite narrative in music appreciation is reading (and hearing) musicians’ views on contemporary historical events. #sschat
A2: I'm trying to find the Champlain & Iroquois first encounter narrative as told by Champlain which is an absolute riot of ego to read, here's a piece of it: https://t.co/RPBksmUZCN#sschat
A3) This is something I constantly struggle with in teaching world history. There are so many voices to hear from and so little time to explore them in the depth they deserve. #sschat
The most important narrative you can share with your students is your origin story for why you became a teacher and what events brought you in front of them. This gives them the structure of a good story, shows them you care, and allows you to share your purpose. #sschat
To Q3: Cherokee are a big part of our elem. standards. We look at different views of Sequoyah and the syllabary (assimilation tool or subversive tactic)https://t.co/THP9l2sc0y#sschat
The most important narrative you can share with your students is your origin story for why you became a teacher and what events brought you in front of them. This gives them the structure of a good story, shows them you care, and allows you to share your purpose. #sschat
A3: I try and flip the script as much as possible & provide counter arguments and narratives to what is known, so long as there's evidence behind it. I'm not about to go full tin-foil conspiracy simply to counter. #sschat
I love hearing the students learn more about the story as they go along. 1st drafts are dry, but by the 3rd version many of these stories really sing
#sschat
A3 Finding non-dominant narratives in ancient world history is difficult. Artifacts can be used to tell their story. We generally only have the carefully crafted stories of those in power. I feel a challenge! #sschat
A2 Another powerful graphic narrative is about a mother in Syria by Marvel and ABC News. It is free online and a moving experience in my classroom #sschathttps://t.co/KDzdpGMmO7
A3 Finding non-dominant narratives in ancient world history is difficult. Artifacts can be used to tell their story. We generally only have the carefully crafted stories of those in power. I feel a challenge! #sschat
A3: this year I found an oral history from the WPA of a man who compared his childhood as a slave with life as a sharecropper. He argued that there wasn’t much difference, but that slavery was more “honest.” Sparked some amazing discussion! #sschat
Q3 always try to provide balance and multiple povs in topics. One of the best though a prof shared with me is quotes that were varying stance on slavery... each was a Lincoln quote #sschat
A3
Exploring causes of the exoduster movement by reading testimony from a congressional inquiry gives a great look at what post antebellum life was like for the freed slaves. #sschathttps://t.co/4N1ShtPtvX
I'm sharing a Lincoln quotation about colonization later this week.
They will not be happy to hear it...
...but for me the whole point is one's ability to change our own thoughts / ideas / beliefs.
#sschat
Oh come on... it's not like there's that much to teach when you have to cover 20,000+ years of history across 6 continents... (I mean there's that 7th one only inhabited by scientists and explorers for the past century or so, so we can forget about that frozen desert) #sschat
In reply to
@Mrneilhistory, @MissHunsberger, @CHitch94
A3) Non-dominant narratives have been more present by incorporating factors of the Four Worlds : roles of women, resistance, assimilation, migrations etc. With time, I would love to tie in more local examples as well. Mendez v. Westminster segregation court case #sschat
Since my curriculum is set, I only have control over what I do in my weekly hour class. I work first from Ss suggestions/questions and branch out from there. I do try to get something from each big erai teach, but that's not always easy #sschat
A4- sometimes you have to react to what’s going on in popular culture... no student leaves my class without understanding why (insert fake news here) is wrong! #sschat
A4: My curriculum begins with the #SilkRoad and ends with the #AmericanRevolution. It's a large time period. Like others have said, we try to create a story. A constant cause/effect. One probably wouldn't have happened without the other. We focus on those events. #sschat
Thanks to the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council of Donaldsonville for hosting a #PolitiCraft workshop! These are great leaders in the making!
#sschat#wedocivics
Excellent point and bravo for asking students! I cannot teach every genocide in history (so sad), so students choose 7 to focus on and present. #sschat
A4: It's a combination of what will pique student interest while fitting the state framework topics. Sure I could teach the Boston Massacre solely through Revere's etching, but why not also teach the etching he stole it from. #sschat
A4) Prioritizing is a challenge, esp as a #firstyearteacher. But I noticed, I think about which events or persons will resonate with my students. #TellYourStory#sschat
A4) I try to use what I think will interest students, help illustrate important ideas and trends, and offer opportunities to develop historical thinking skills. #sschat
#sschat A4: This year, I have focused on the Bill of Rights, in particular how the first and fourth amendments applies to students in and out of school.
Appreciate you sharing Tim, have read your story and find it inspiring. I feel confident sharing with my kids why I'm teaching them. What you said about it not being bragging I agree with mentally, but I have some old software in my brain holding me back.
#sschat
That's a bold statement... I look forward to seeing if it lives up to the accolades. I've got to get through my backlog of Trump exposes currently stacked on my nightstand first. #sschat
In reply to
@classroomtools, @jjanikis, @Mrneilhistory, @MissHunsberger, @CHitch94
Yes! We looked at both sides of this depiction of the Boston Massacre. Revere's which you posted & this 1. Discussing the Patriots v. Loyalists takes on it. @mrsegall and @EBSocialStudies helped me create a few lessons on whether it was murder or self defense. CSI style. #sschat
In reply to
@dwsteven, @mrsegall, @EBSocialStudies
I'm still working with my Ss to help them understand what bias actually is. They don't fully get it yet and REALLY don't like acknowledging that they might be biased about topics. But who does? #sschat
A5: One of the things we work on in my classroom is identifying author bias as well as any reasons an author might have for adjusting the story. While exploration narratives by explorers are fun, they tend to be braggadocios in their telling. #sschat
A5 All narrative is biased. The questions to be answered are (1) what are the biases? (2) Do they effect the reliability of the narrative? (3) What does the bias cause the author to leave out that is relevant? #sschathttps://t.co/P6chijo5FA
Have been dipping my toe in sharing about others, and am trying to move forward. Started a podcast to try to do a better job there of telling educator's stories. https://t.co/CLEOASs3Fr#sschat
A5) Seek resources and build lessons that focus on CORROBORATION. Big word to spell, even harder for the kids to say but they learn what it means and how to look for the bias on their own. And...when the stars align, they also start using it in their writing! #sschat
We have had a big push this year to raise awareness about bias and to bring it front and center. Ss are okay with it; parents do more questioning. #sschat
Once we have practiced skills I provide an example from a common narrative & then challenge them to find others - fav of year (so far!) a S interested in medicine who studied blood banking after the Vegas tragedy and found Charles Drew-choice more powerful than assigning #sschat
This right here! Bias gets a negative connotation. I had a debate with another teacher a while back concerning using the word bias instead of "point of view." Bias isn't necessarily negative, but it does impact the story being told through choices. #sschat
A5) We start the year looking at personal narratives to look at biases. Also my Ss LOVE acting out or #roleplaying different people thru units. I.e. bourgeoise v. Proletariat #sschat
A5 All narrative is biased. The questions to be answered are (1) what are the biases? (2) Do they effect the reliability of the narrative? (3) What does the bias cause the author to leave out that is relevant? #sschathttps://t.co/P6chijo5FA
I also use the BIG questions by @KyleneBeers and @BobProbst "what does the author assume you already knew?" and "how does this confirm/ challenge your thinking?" do inform bias #sschat
In reply to
@Mrdeehanclass, @KyleneBeers, @BobProbst
This right here! Bias gets a negative connotation. I had a debate with another teacher a while back concerning using the word bias instead of "point of view." Bias isn't necessarily negative, but it does impact the story being told through choices. #sschat
I talk about the concept of usable history. We talk about how narratives advance an agenda. For example, how Paul Revere advanced a narrative of unity during Civil War. Politicians do it all the time) Knowing history helps uncover these political agendas #sschat
We try to parallel primary sources with similar primary sources that are currently driving conversations in the news. Ss love to see the connections and that they still apply now. #sschat
No! Everything we perceived is constructed in our brains from sensory data we input. Much of that data is ignored by our minds. The stories we construct from what remains is determined by the biases we have. #sschat
In reply to
@historycomics, @flipping_A_tchr, @dwsteven
Bias is so much more than simply point of view. It's like saying Velveeta & an amazing smoked maple Vermont cheddar are basically the same thing... While sure you could exchange them, but there's much more nuance and things happening in one. #sschat
A6) Who Built America Badges. Inquiry units that focus on primary source narratives at the community level. No famous names from textbooks but still accounts that matter and made a difference. https://t.co/8Z5zYi1qlh#sschat
I would like to hear from #sschat teachers here about these questions.
Have you actually used them?
Did they help? If so, how?
[BTW the _Notice and Note_ book/philosophy is the Big Thing of my district's admin this year.]
I also use the BIG questions by @KyleneBeers and @BobProbst "what does the author assume you already knew?" and "how does this confirm/ challenge your thinking?" do inform bias #sschat
In reply to
@Mrdeehanclass, @KyleneBeers, @BobProbst
A6) Oh, forgot about @NewVisionsNYC I've only looked at their Global History & Geography materials but they have some great stuff - and it's OER! #sschat
A6) Oh, forgot about @NewVisionsNYC I've only looked at their Global History & Geography materials but they have some great stuff - and it's OER! #sschat
Yes, but can't this logic be taken to far to conclude:
* There are no 'facts'
* Nobody can be trusted
* Anything could be true, therefore nothing is really true
#sschat
In reply to
@classroomtools, @historycomics, @dwsteven
I guess that depends on how we define fault? Conceivably the idea of fault is meaningless. Nonscientific evidence more and more indicates that free will is an illusion. #sschat
I start the year with each kid writing their history-birth story, important events etc & then we start to challenge peers’ stories - corroboration, sourcing, credibility etc and then we start to explore historical figures. We then apply those skills to historical figures #sschat
Facts are facts. But who is creating them? What is being left out? It’s just being a historian and learning historiography - no need to not believe anything, just try to eliminate as much bias as possible. #sschat
In reply to
@flipping_A_tchr, @classroomtools, @dwsteven
I was connecting current political party identification to Loyalists & Patriots. We need to know “degrees” in order to understand the deeper narrative. #sschat
In reply to
@readwritejax, @MrAllardSS, @dwsteven, @mrsegall, @EBSocialStudies
Thanks for all the great ideas and resources, #sschat PLN! Hope everyone has a great week! Next week is our semester share-a-palooza where you can share your favorite ideas, lessons, tools, etc. from the semester!
No, I don't think so. It means we have to change the frame of reference in which we understand the world outside our minds. After all, Descartes showed long ago that the only thing of which we can be absolutely certain is our own existence. #sschat
In reply to
@flipping_A_tchr, @historycomics, @dwsteven
I don't think facts get created.
They happened.
...
but totally agree on the "who/what is left out?" question
and the importance of historiography
#sschat
Facts are facts. But who is creating them? What is being left out? It’s just being a historian and learning historiography - no need to not believe anything, just try to eliminate as much bias as possible. #sschat
In reply to
@flipping_A_tchr, @classroomtools, @dwsteven
Yes! They need to be posed often & not just in SS. We pose them when reading ANY NF text. The more you use them the more thoughtful the responses are. For 5th, I teach into each 1 separately. We start with "what do you notice" & "what do you wonder" then move into them #sschat
Point of view is more surface level, whereas bias gets deeper into the sense of asking why and making meaning of the choices made or not (including unrealized choices made without the individual making them even realizing they were). #sschat
Everything, including what we call facts are created by human minds/observations. As historians we would do well to explore what neuroscientists and quantum physicists have to tell us about the world outside our brains. #sschat
