Goal: Creating Strong Writers

1. Goal: Creating Strong Writers • Measuring my goal: • A pre-assessment including open response question to determine needs/strengths • Work on basics through summaries and class written responses 1st (looking for complete sentences, academic language, main ideas, content depth) • Explicit teaching of MEAL with new focus /month depending on class needs • Each unit has formal writing assignment of increased complexity (ex: increase length of MEAL, Double MEAL, 3 paragraphs, etc) • Portfolio creation of formal unit writing assignments to measure individual needs and strengths-student analysis to see growth and areas for improvement mid year • End of year DBQ essay assignment • Activities: • MEAL review (color coded para marking, scenario of analysis vs. evidence, etc) • Providing student made exemplars of good MEAL paras • Highlight sentence starters for MEAL components and para transition words • Do think aloud to model good writing • MEAL para graphic organizer activity relating to content just debated (ex: is Mao a hero or villain) • Peer review of 1st MEAL to help them work out what they think good writing should look like • Integrating quotes activity • Analyzing primary doc evidence activity • Counter argument activity • Debate around content of formal essay to flesh out student thinking • Think aloud for formal essay construction • Writing and revisions

2. Goal: Understanding professional norms • Measuring my goal: • 1) Set standards for dress, language, writing, and communication with students, post and review as needed • Every writing assignment will be measured to the standard with increasing intensity • Every formal debate will be measured to the dress standard with increasing intensity and included as a component of the grading rubric • Respectful language will be a norm in the class (no “Shut Up” for example) and academic language will be the norm for all debates • Only professional communication from students (email, writing content) will be answered • Activities: • Model standards • Compete against other participating classes for full professional dress participation • Peer review of standards for public events (“How did class do?”) • Provide exemplars of professional writing and unprofessional writing. Ask for feedback. Ask for them to write a passage in both manners. • Help student set up new accounts if needed with regard to professional standards

3. Goal: feeling empowered to make change • Measuring my goal: • 1) Have students do a community “needs assessment” as a baseline • Go over upstander, bystander, victim, perpetrator role every month. At end of each unit have students identify who from lessons fit into what category • End of year-Can students make connections across units-who made change in the history narratives we covered? • Have students assess their “universe of obligation” (who they feel responsible for) at beginning of year and end of year • Possible mid-end year community based project • Activities: • Provide scenarios throughout year asking how students would react to a situation in history (without focusing on any one student’s answer, talk about what their actions meant-were they an upstander, bystander • Have them predict what will happen next to a content related event-will people be upstander, etc • Perspective taking activity-why didn’t someone respond-to a content based event • Write essay-can one person make a difference?-pre and post unit on Gandhi • Have them brainstorm interventions for community needs (big or small, school, neighborhood community or world)

4. Goal: History is not a foregone conclusion/complexity of history • Measuring my goal: • Pre-assessment before each unit to see what they know • Student response to historical character’s choices-are they shocked, impressed, ??? • Have students make constant predictions-see if they see patterns across time/event type/people • Can they see multiple causality? That many forces play into one event? With increasing intensity, have them identify causes, effects, and changes • Are they seeing good and bad or can they argue both sides? • Is presentism still present? • End of unit question-what were the shades of grey? (are they giving answers with increasing nuance?) • Activities: • Prediction scenarios-what will happen next? Is it what we have seen before? Is it something unexpected? Why? • “What if” scenarios? What if something different happened? What might have been some changes to the effects? • Relate unit lesson to current events if possible….what do we think will happen? What are possible options? Follow event and see. Did something “good” turn “bad”? What caused the change? • Perspective taking activities: Mock trials, role plays • Identify key figures in every unit and identify/assess their strengths and weaknesses. Debate

5. Goal: Making connections to curriculum • Measuring my goal: • Each unit student will keep journal and reflect on guided questions (“Have you seen something like this in your neighborhood?”, “Have you experienced something like this?”) relating to content experiences they can draw parallels to . • Journals will be checked weekly for depth and length of “connecting” responses • Interactive notebook responses will be checked after each unit for connections which were also shared out orally during class time • Activities: • Do Nows will always be a related to them to help them make connections to content. In other words in teaching appeasement the Do Now would be “what if a bully wanted your lunch and you gave him a candy bar?” It will be left open until we hit that part in lesson and then parallel will be drawn by me if no student makes it. • Scenarios given throughout lesson: What would you do if you were president? What would you do if this happened to you? • Small group work leading to role plays: “How would this event have played out today?” (or “How is this type of event playing out today?”) (Native American genocide, alliance building before WWI, British colonial domination/oppression, etc)