Canadian History Lesson: Genocide and Hitler's Master Race

The students have completed their Cranium games using WW2 material and some have a bit of background in Holocaust study. Several have also seen "Hotel Rwanda" so they have at least seen an example of genocide.

Group size: students working alone and in pairs throughout the lesson

1. Using a concept attainment data set, the students are introduced to the concept of genocide.
2. Students are provided with a definition of the concept on overhead after the data set has been explained. Think-pair-share works very well when using concept attainment.
3. Students watch the video "Hitler's Master Race: the Mad Dream of the SS." I had them use the structure "Pairs View":

• students find a partner (or assign them a partner)
• each student in the partnership is either an "A" or a "B"
• tell everyone they are responsible for taking notes but that when you stop the tape (or DVD), you will be calling on either As or Bs to report important points from the clip
• teacher shows about 10 minutes of video then stops tape
• teacher asks Bs to identify to their partner what they thought were the 2 or 3 most important points in the clip
• teacher calls randomly on people to share thinking...teacher can elaborate if necessary
• teacher resumes tape; the next time you stop it, As will report, rinse and repeat.

4. Teacher provides a list of vocabulary from the video for students to define (sort of a check for understanding) using their notes and or discussion (still in pairs)

5. Reflection: Students identify in their notes what they thought was the most interesting/disturbing/strange thing they learned about Hitler and the SS as a result of the lesson.

The video we use is fantastic; however, if you can't find it, another video about Hitler's plans would be suitable.

Another CL lesson

Lesson Title: The Search for Solutions--Politics during the Great Depression

Focus Questions:

1. Which of the new political parties had the best idea(s)?
2. Which effects of the Great Depression still impact our lives today?

Cooperative Structure: Placemat (integrating a ranking ladder) and Gallery Walk

Group Size: 3

Prior Knowledge: Students are aware of Bennett's failed attempt at a New Deal and have examined his other initiatives (e.g. relief camps and the dole)

Procedure:

1. Set up teams and choose a number on each team to draw the placemat.
2. Each student sets up a chart in his or her notes with 3 columns or rows. Each column or row is entitled with the name of one of the new political parties that were created during the Depression (social credit, C.C.F., Union Nationale)
3. each students takes 15 minutes to read their section of text and gathers the following information: leader, when created, where popular, major ideas of the party
4. students record all of this info on the placemat
5. when the 15 minutes is up, students move around the room and examine other groups' placemats. They take their chart from their notebooks with them and record information about the party they read only. The goal here is to either confirm their thinking about the party's big ideas or add new ones that they may have missed.
6. students return to homegroups and fill in any new info they gathered about their party.
7. students take turns teaching each other about what they learned. the other 2 people in each group take notes on their chart.
8. the last phase here is for each student to copy the notes they made on the placemat into their chart sheet so they have a permanent note from which to study.
9. It's important to stress that the teacher must work the room to monitor group discussions and interaction.
10. the teacher takes up the information either on the board or on a chart paper note. I told the kids that I would randomly select them to provide key points and I could ask them about any of the parties, not just the one they were assigned.
11. the teacher highlights major changes to the welfare state, pointing to the C.C.F.'s ideas in particular. the teacher could also indicate the significance of the Union Nationale with regard to the rise of Quebec nationalism.
12. Finally, students draw a ranking ladder in the middle of the placemat and rank their choice for parties with best ideas and the worst or least significant. Discussion at this stage was very encouraging; students who often struggle were caught thinking critically.

This can all be accomplished in one period and worked with both 2d and 2p kids.

Great Depression Lesson: Effects of the GD

Had the students first try to update their KWL charts for the GD. I recorded some of their ideas on chart paper. I have been keeping track of the questions they create and information they discover for this topic and hope to use these chart paper notes for exam review too.

Next, I had them identify, on their reflection page, 3 things that stress them out as teenagers. After writing some ideas, they shared with a partner and I then listed some on the board. I asked them to compare their "problems" with those of people in the GD as the lesson developed.

The 2 focus questions for the lesson were
1. Who had it the worst during the Depression?
2. Which group would you least want to be part of if you were alive during the Depression? (later in the lesson I had them identify possible groups to choose from)

I had them set up a chart in their notes with 5 rows. Each row was labeled with the title of a Canada: A People's History clip (e.g. Descent into Chaos, Blown Away). I had them use "Pairs View" as we watched the video. This structure requires partners to letter off, either A or B. They view a segment of video and make notes but I inform them that when I stop the tape, I will identify a letter to be the first reporter. For example, after showing the first of the 5 clips, I said "B's, you will report first." The B's had to verbally summarize 3 important points from the clip they had just viewed. The next time I stopped the tape, the A's would report. They each, however, were still instructed to take notes, regardless of who the reporter was. After sharing their ideas with each other, I randomly called on students to provide the class with key points from the clip. This worked beautifully and it sure beats fill-in-the blanks.

We only managed to view 3 of the 5 clips but after the 3rd one, I asked them to help me brainstorm a list of groups to choose from when they did their reflection (see above). We identified farmers, kids, unemployed men, families, and Newfoundlanders (they were the focus of one of the clips). I asked the students to note on their reflection page the group they would least want to be part of and then provide a reason. In addition, they also had to pick the group they would most want to be part of if they had to choose and provide a reason for that choice. These types of reflections are a great way to finish a class and a great starting point for the next day.

Wednesday and Thursday stuff

From Wed, the 2ps had to create groups of 4. Each person had to create list of 3 great people (in their opinion). We used round robin to share within teams and the answers were varied (ultimate fighters to Rosa Parks). I then asked them to rank each of the people according to who they thought was the greatest. They had to have a reaon for each ranking. Again they shared. Teams then looked at 4 great Canadians of the 20s. They had already done some Jigsaw work with the assigned people a day earlier. They met in expert groups again then returned to home teams to teach. We used placemat as a sharing/accountablity structure and it worked very well. After the teaching was done they each created their own ranking ladder in their spot on the placemat using the names of the 4 Canadians (Fred Loft, Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Mackenzie King). They then had to create a consensus ranking in the middle of the placemat that was shared with the class. Not ONE group of the 4 had the same ranking and each could justify its ranking too. Great evidence of critical thought. Had them do a journal reflection to finish the class.

On Thurs, the 12s finished their complex organizers for the most part. I gave them the reading exercise for constitutionalism that is to be done for Monday.

The 2ps did 3-step interviews to examine some negative aspects of the 20s (workers, aboriginals, immigrants) and handled the process very well. We will finish that summary on Monday and do our Mind Maps for the 2 sides of the 20s then.

2ds did the stock crash simulation which was great. We examined the business cycle as a class and they began creating sets of images for each long-term cause of the Depression. These need to be done Monday. Many of the habitual doodlers appreciate the opportunity to put their abilities to good use.

Success on a Wednesday

3 classes, 3 successes.

First period was grade 12 world history. The kids started into a 2 day activity in which they had to create a "complex organizer" for one of the absolutist rulers we had examined over the previous days. The organizer is a concept map and some other graphic organizer (e.g. a Venn diagram, fishbone, ranking ladder, or one taken from the Kagan SmartCard for graphic organizers). On Monday we had created a list of possible concepts for Louis XIV on the board and this morning we did the same for Peter the Great. This at least gave the kids a starting point. I should note that I have really altered my questioning techniques. There just wasn't enough participation so I have been reminding myself to use wait time and think pair share or another structure like round robin. I then randomly call on numbers within groups to report. The Kagan spinners work well here too, increasing individual accountablitily. I am much happier with the participation now and the kids are much more ready to answer questions. Anyway, they wrote their concepts on slips of paper that could be moved around on the poster-sized organizer. Most reached this checkpoint. Tomorrow they will complete the organizer and will write a short paragraph that explains what someone with no background knowledge should learn from their organizer. They were able to speak to each other as they created and I think this really helped. I worked the room and saw so much evidence of interaction and thinking. I hope to post pics of the resulting organizers.

Class 2 was grade 10 academic Canadian history. These guys are fantastic. Always open to new strategies. We finished the 20s witha position paper that some took 2+ classes to complete. I wanted to keep things light. We started with KWL chart for the Great Depression. They started the know column on their own, checked with a partner, then we noted some points on chart paper. This paper will be posted throughout the mini-unit. Next I had them skim the chapter on the GD and create open-ended questions for the wonder column of the chart. Before getting them to report, each person or partnership had to pick what they thought was their best question. The resulting list of 8 questions (also on chart paper) were excellent and if we answer them all, we will have at least touched on all expectations associated with the GD. The kids were encouraged to add to the learned column as the class went on. I gave them a fill in the blanks/wordsearch sheet that reviewed key aspects of the 20s and previewed some of the major GD topics. As I said earlier, I wanted to keep things pretty light and this was just what they needed. We then used the Frayer method to begin investigation of the stock market. The class finished with an entry in their journals (what did you learn about Canadian history today?).

I will try to post the 3rd class later.

Thanks for listening.

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Post 1

I decided to set up this blog to record stuff that works and that bombs in the classroom. Hopefully it will help me refine my practice and make me a better teacher. One activity that I will certainly do again is concept attainment for technology with the 2ps. It really engages them and helped to set up the concept mapping activity for the 20s. Also did a CA example for linking words and phrases. This class (at least a few of them) have really impressed me with their ability to pick up a very complex skill (CMing). I'll be back.