First SCSSA “Innovative Circle” Meeting a Success!

On Thursday, January 14, 2010 seven teachers representing five schools and two school districts met at Emerson Middle School in West Los Angeles to share best practices.  This first SCSSA “Innovative Circle” meeting brought together these veteran teachers to share both lesson plans and teaching strategies they had developed and/or used in their classrooms successfully.

Brian Klein of Patrick Henry Math, Science and Technology Magnet in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) discussed the “Four Corners” strategy as a way to group students and facilitate collaboration.  He emphasized that it is most effective in helping student to review material, and can even be used to give an exam if one student’s exam is selected at random, and every student in the class receives that student’s score.  It’s a great technique to force the mixed and variable grouping of students.

Steve Perez of Emerson Middle School (LAUSD) explained several experiential lessons he developed to teach students about medieval history.   In one lesson, he enables his students to “experience” the relationship between Mayan city states in medieval Mesoamerica by having small groups of students represent different city-states who were charged with growing and harvesting grain as well as building their societies by coloring and cutting out paper representations.   Everything was peaceful until Mr. Perez injected the conditions of environmental problems (for example droughts in which he takes some of the “crops” which had been laboriously cut out by the farmers in each city-state) as well as conflict (when he encouraged members of each city-state to steal from the other in order to support their own peoples).  Such actions would often lead to all out “war” in the classroom (moderated by Mr. Perez).  He also demonstrated how his students made stain glass “windows” (out of colored plastic wrap) and illuminated manuscripts (using gold-leaf and other shiny colored paints) to experience the meticulous ways artists and craftspeople expressed themselves and produced beautiful works of art in Medieval Europe.

Sara Greenfield of Lincoln Middle School in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) demonstrated the lesson she uses when teaching about the rise and spread of Islam for her seventh grade Medieval/Modern World History class.  Because students often arrive with preconceived notions about Islam, she helps guide the students into appreciating the complex nature of identity in general.  She asks her students to come up with ways that they identify themselves, and then transitions them to the idea that Islam – as an identity – is also complex.  The main idea is for students to approach the learning about the unit on Islam with open minds.  She continues the lesson by explaining the diversity of people and cultures that embrace Islam by showing videos of Muslims making their pilgrimages to Makkah (Mecca) from around the world.

Scott Petri of Abraham Lincoln High School in LAUSD demonstrated technology he uses to enable his students to make their own podcasts and videos online about the social studies curriculum covered in his classes.  He highlighted a couple of websites that offer free accounts for teachers to use for these purposes.  For example, www.voicethread.com allows students to import photos and video as well as record audio so that they can make their own multimedia presentations.   Another online source, www.quizlet.com enables students to make their own interactive flashcards and play games that help them prepare for tests, including Advanced Placement (AP) exams.

Mary Fraser of Emerson Middle School in LAUSD  discussed  how she groups students for a lesson on Egyptian daily life for her 6^th grade Ancient World History class.   She modifies a lesson in the TCI History Alive textbook by grouping students heterogeneously based on ability beforehand on an index card.  She writes the name of each student in her class on one side of an index card and the student’s group number on the back.  She then guides the students through the lesson, including the key components of debriefing, review and reflection.

 

Mark Rhomberg ,on leave from University High School in LAUSD, shared many examples of student work that had been entered in History Day LA competitions over the past several years.  He explained the key concepts selected by the History Day organizers, such as “change over time” and mentioned that the most important aspect of a student’s submission is “historical analysis”.  Mark discussed the different categories for competition – including exhibits, PowerPoint presentations, websites, and Dramatic Performance, and stressed that students must follow the guidelines on the posted rubrics to be successful.  He encouraged social studies teachers to spread the word about History Day competitions since it helps students hone their research, analytical, and presentation skills for historical topics and looks great on college applications.

I shared a family history project I developed.  This project is designed to be given before winter break -- when many students gather with extended family and family elders – and as an extra credit assignment.  The first part of the project requires students to interview family elders (preferably grandparents) and ask them specific questions about their homeland (abroad or within the United States) and why they or their families decided to move to the United States and/or Los Angeles. The second part asks students to type or (or re-write neatly) the questions and answers asked to each family member as well as elder’s specific relationship to the student (for example mother’s father).  The third part invites students to draw arrows representing their families’ migration to the U.S. and/or Los Angeles on a world map and to color code the arrows and explain in detail on a legend what the arrows represent. The fourth part provides a family tree for students to complete as much as possible and make their own if they so desire.  The final – and most important – part of the assignment is the student’s reflection on what they learned by doing the project.  I shared student work which demonstrates how this lesson can change students’ perspectives by elucidating to them the sacrifices that their families made for them to have more opportunities to be successful than they could ever imagine.

Afterward all teachers had an opportunity to share their lesson plans and handouts digitally by uploading and downloading from and to their flashdrives.

 

NOTE:  This review was prepared by Joel Rothblatt, Social Studies Teacher at Emerson Middle School, and coordinator of this SCSSA Innovative Circle meeting.