Civil Rights Heroes: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives

A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure inspite of overwhelming obstacles.

                                                -Christopher Reeves

Ask any kid about heroes, and he or she will rattle off names like Batman or Superman, or a list of professional football or hockey players' names. And yet every January when my team and I begin teaching our civil rights unit, my kids view King, Mandela, Gandhi, Helen Keller, and other activists with round eyes. Whenever we read a biography or picture book about these people, I can see my fifth graders mentally placing superhero capes over the shoulders of these activists. 

And why not? They made remarkable strides in the civil rights fight. I've come to question if that really is beneficial for my students, though.  Hear me out. Heroes are important. The belief in heroes can foster hope in otherwise hopeless situations. But I can't help but think that it's important for kids to know their heroes as people. When students are able to look past the epic accomplishments of their heroes to the human beings underneath the capes, they find real people, often with humble beginnings who accomplished great things for the common good. In doing so, my students can see what they might have in common with these activists and realize that these ordinary people were capable of greatness, and if they were, wouldn't my kids be capable of greatness, too? Wouldn't they be able to be thoughtful citizens who speak up when times call for it?

So how do I get my fifth graders to look at the human beings instead of the superheroes? We use a little character theorizing and close reading. Last week, my students and I spent the week reading excerpts from three of Dr. King's speeches: "I Have a Dream," "The Other America," and "I've Been to the Mountaintop." My kids had only heard and read "I Have a Dream." 

On the first day, we read an excerpt from "The Other America." I read it to them, and they highlighted words, sentences and phrases that stood out to them. We discussed the speech and then we completed a "Step Inside" thinking routine. We identified the things that Dr. King perceived or observed and backed it up with evidence from the speech. Then we inferred what he believes and thinks about America, again based on evidence. In the third step, we identified what it is that Dr. King wanted or cared about.  Finally, I asked my students to work in small groups to write a theory about who Dr. King really was, based on his words.

The next day, we read an excerpt from "I Have A Dream." I introduced it the same way. This time however, we used the thinking routine Sentence-Phrase-Word. In this routine, readers choose one sentence, one phrase, and one word from the speech that impacted them. We shared their choices with partners, and then we recorded them on chart paper. We used their collective thinking to discuss and revise our theories about Dr. King. 

On the third day, we read "I've Been to the Mountaintop." I introduced it in the same way, and students did the "Step Inside" thinking routine again. Finally, we rewrote our theories about Dr. King. My students noticed that each speech had a different tone. They thought that "The Other America" sounded angrier than the other two. Some commented that "I Have a Dream" seemed full of hope, but that "Mountaintop" was hopeful but very fiery. As a class, they decided that the "Mountaintop" speech was the most powerful out of the three because of his word choice.

Over the next two days, we created black-out poems using the speech excerpts we had read together in class. Each student chose her favorite speech, circled words that were essential, outlined those words in black and then created artwork around them. The results were beautiful.

 

In the end, I think my students have a greater understanding of who Martin Luther King, Jr. was, and they know that his humanity was his greatest asset. More importantly, they realized that they have some of those same capabilities. 

Interested in using the mini-unit I described in this post? You'll find it and some others to help you plan for Black History Month and your civil rights studies. 

Fantastic Mr. Fox Novel Unit

Fantastic Mr. Fox Novel Unit

Over 130 pages of activities, lessons, templates, interactive notebook pages, formative assessments, fluency, comprehension and more.

Differentiated for grades 3-6

With Common Core State Standards alignment pages for quick reference. Plus three teaching PowerPoints: Literary Elements, Plot Diagram and From Sentence Sorting to Essay Writing –a template-based, differentiated guide to writing.

Also includes two weeks worth of Daily Reading and Writing Warm-Ups - Roald Dahl and Fantastic Mr. Fox themed.

This is an all inclusive – must have – engaging lesson for all levels. This is a comprehensive novel unit that is research-based and offers high-order reading, writing and thinking activities.

Table of Contents

A Quick and Dirty Guide to Fantastic Mr. Fox            

                           
         Symbols                                                                                       
         Themes                                                                                        
A Quick and Dirty Guide to Literary Elements                                         
Characters                                                                                            
Fluency and Comprehension                                                                  
         Fluency – Chapter Summaries 1-2                                                 
         Constructed Response Comprehension Quiz Chapters 1-2              
         Multiple Choice Comprehension Quiz Chapters 1-2                        
         Fluency – Chapter Summaries 3-4                                                 
         Constructed Response Comprehension Quiz Chapters 3-4              
         Multiple Choice Comprehension Quiz Chapters 3-4                        
         Fluency – Chapter Summaries 5, 6, 7 and 8                                   
         Constructed Response Comprehension Chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8         
         Multiple Choice Comprehension Quiz                                             
         Fluency – Chapter Summaries 9-13                                               
         Constructed Response Comprehension Quiz Chapters 9-13             
         Multiple Choice Comprehension Quiz Chapters 9-13                      
         Fluency – Chapter Summaries 14-18                                     
         Constructed Response Comprehension Quiz Chapters 14-18           
         Multiple Choice Comprehension Quiz Chapters 14-18                    
Part I: Differentiated Lessons/Activities                                                  
         How the Character Drives the Plot Forward RL.2                            
         Character Analysis Comparison RL.3                                             
         Plot Development – Character Actions RL.3                                    
         Literary Elements Part 1 RL.3                                                        
         Dialogue Dissection RL.3                                                              
         Word Choices: Meaning Over the Span of the Text RL.4                           
         Structure: Foreshadowing and Feedback RL.5                                
         Book vs. Movie RL.7                                                                     
         Performance Task: Fantastic Mr. Fox “Animals Who Burrow”          
Differentiated Interactive Notebook Pages                                                
         FMF Interactive Notebook Pages Student Table of Contents            
         Teacher Page CCSS RL.1                                                               
         Differentiated Interactive Notebook Pages RL1                                
         Differentiated Interactive Notebook Pages RL.2 and W.                   
         Differentiated Interactive Notebook Pages RL.3                               
         Differentiated Interactive Notebook Pages RL.4                               
         Differentiated Interactive Notebook Pages RL.5                               
         Differentiated Interactive Notebook Pages RL. 6 and RL.7                
Daily Reading and Writing Warm-Ups                                                     
Rubrics, Answers and Interactive Notebook Page Samples   

TeachersNotebook: https://www.teachersnotebook.com/shop/eac913

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/epinotti/boards/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chapinpinotti                       

Dr. Frankenstein, I Presume? Developing Culture With Lab Classrooms

                                 "Dr. Frankenstein?"

                                 "Frankensteen."

                                 "You're putting me on!"

                                 "You must be Eegor."

                                 "No, it's Igor."

                                 "But they told me it was Eegor."

                                 "Well they were wrong then, weren't they?"

The words "lab classroom" never fail to conjure up images of crazy-haired Gene Wilder and boggle-eyed Marty Feldman in the opening scenes of "Young Frankenstein." I imagine myself in a white lab coat, wearing glasses that make my eyes appear 10 times larger than they really are...and my students tethered to numerous scientific experiments, calmed only by the strains of "Puff the Magic Dragon" played on my ukulele.  In fact, I'm giggling to myself as I sit here typing these words.

Pedagogy Is a Science

All kidding aside, pedagogy is "the art, science or profession of teaching" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).  Sometimes, it does feel like "MAD science," as we race around implementing procedures and techniques that have very little basis in the real science of educational research.  Some days, I do look a little like Gene Wilder. Other days, I think I channel Marty Feldman.

My staff has been on a journey over the last two years.  We've begun delving into the work of Harvard's Project Zero, and we've chosen to examine Ron Ritchart's Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools and its implications for us as a community of learners. We began this journey by reading Making Thinking Visible (Church, Morrison & Ritchart). This year, we've waded into the deep end of this inquiry. 

One thing that became apparent in our learning is that we are really good at talking about data...REALLY good. We examine it. We know where our students are in their learning. We know who needs to be pushed. We know who needs remediation.  However, we seldom talk about the how. How do we push this child? How do we help that child? In our PLTs, we seldom discuss pedagogy.

Dr. Frankenstein Has Entered The Room

We want pedagogical conversations to occur naturally.  And on some level, they used to before the content of team meetings became so heavily monitored or dictated. So in order to shift our staff culture, we scheduled two lab classroom days.

What are lab classrooms?  In our building, lab classroom days are when staff members, who have agreed to open up their practice to their peers, teach a 45 minute lesson in front of 4-5 colleagues. Within the lesson, the host teacher is using a thinking routine embedded in the lesson. Colleagues are there to observe, not participate or interact with the students. After the lesson, the host teacher leaves the classroom (a substitute or another staff member provides coverage) with the observing colleagues for a 30 minute debriefing session.

The debriefing session is highly structured and requires the host and observing colleagues to reflect on the moves the teacher used to encourage student thinking and the evidence of student thinking during the lesson. Another staff member or in our case, a staff development teacher or coach leads the debriefing session.  

During the debrief, participants are not allowed to make judgement statements...this includes PRAISE.  Not praising a colleague is perhaps the hardest part of the debrief.  The purpose of it is to focus solely on the what was observed and the evidence of thought.  The minute we start to praise, objectivity goes out the window. On our lab classroom days, we secure 4 substitute teachers who travel throughout the day to cover staff members who are observing.  We have five teachers who volunteer to teach lessons using thinking routines, and then we schedule the rest of our staff in groups of 4 or 5 to observe those teachers.

When You Put The Lab Coat On...

I volunteered for the first day of lab classrooms, since I had facilitated them as a coach in years past, I felt more comfortable in sticking my neck out.  I chose to model a thinking routine that was new to my students, because I thought that watching a teacher "unpack" a new routine might be beneficial for my colleagues.  I chose Claim-Support-Question.

We had been studying powers of ten in our math workshop, so I came up with the question, "Do other multiplication patterns exist when we use exponents with other numbers?"

I began my lesson by introducing the Claim-Support-Question Routine. Using a slide show that I had created, we discussed the words "claim" and "support."  I asked students my math question, and then sent them back to their table groups to discuss it and write a claim statement on their table's chart paper.

After they had written their claims, they returned to the carpet to report out to the whole groups.  Then, we talked about how we might support our claims.  What procedures might they follow? They returned to their tables to investigate. 

This was fun to watch. All groups, except one, claimed that there would be patterns.  All groups chose a number and found the exponential products for that number up to an exponent of 10.  I allowed them to use calculators for this part, so it was more easily investigated.  We stopped briefly to remember that scientists and mathematicians want more than one set of data to prove a claim, and then groups continued to work with other numbers to triangulate their data. 

At this point, I had to leave with my observing colleagues and a substitute took over. But before I did, I asked my students to talk to me about their thoughts about the new thinking routine and the type of thinking they believed they engaged in... in other words, I asked my students to engage in some metacognition.  They did not disappoint. Using Project Zero's Circle of Understanding, my students engaged in a lively debate about uncovering complexity and reasoning with evidence.  Then, my students continued the investigation without me.

Mad Science Without The Crazies

The debrief of my lesson was fun.  The lack of praise was weirdly awesome.  Here's why: When people praise me, I am uncomfortable.  Sometimes, I distrust what they say.  Often times, I feel embarrassed.  In the debriefing session, I heard specific feedback.  I heard my colleagues comment on the amount of scaffolding I used to introduce a new thinking routine.  I listened to feedback about differentiation and how I utilize the Circle of Understanding in my classroom.  I swelled with pride as they named and noticed evidence of student thinking and depth of student thinking.  All of this without, "You did a good job when..." Afterward, I walked out feeling six inches taller, and I had some new pedagogical targets to chew on for upcoming lessons.

Shifting Culture

We have a long way to go in our learning community.  Don't we always?  That's the nature of being a community learners: CHANGE. That being said, I've noticed three shifts as a result of our lab classrooms.

1. More of us are talking about our classroom practices more often. 
2. These discussions have an inquiry-like tone.
3. Our conversations and reflections have deepened, and we are asking more questions about our practices.

Ohhhhhh, Sweet Mystery of Life

"Ohhhh, sweet mystery of life, at last I've found you..." Madeline Kahn rocked that song at the end of "Young Frankenstein," didn't she? Change has begun in our learning community because of lab classroom experiences.  It's exciting to see what happens when teachers take control of their own learning and protocols are implemented that promote a safe sharing environment.

When I returned to my classroom, my students showed me their questions. They asked a number of questions, but two particular questions gave me goosebumps:

1. If we multiply fractions exponentially, will there be patterns?
2. If we multiply decimals exponentially, will there be patterns?

They connected the inquiry to our past units of math study! "Ohhhhh, sweet mystery of life! At last, I found you!"

FREEBIE ALERT

If you'd like a copy of the inquiry math lesson I taught during my lab classroom experience, click the picture below.

You might also be interested in the these visible thinking resources:

Until next time, teach on!
P.S. Come back next week! It's 3 E's Blogging Collaborative Week and there'll be free goodies!

Worksheets w/ Riddles - Great Fun Skillwork!

This is my newest product line!  I have created sets of 

Worksheets w/ Riddles for Math objectives ranging from 

Telling Time and Counting Money 

to Multiplying and Dividing Decimals and Fractions!  

Each set has 3-6 no-prep printables with a riddle to solve by answering questions or completing computations correctly.  Use as independent practice (students love to race to find the answers!), quizzes(easy grading!), or homework assignments (my students actually began asking for homework after I had given them the first one!)  These worksheets are also bundled with the matching objective Bingo game and Task Cards w/ QR Codes, and are FREE when purchased in the BUNDLE!

the Teacher Down the Hall

Poetry Workshop with Interactive Notebooks for Grades 5-8

By Deann Marin at The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs

Offering for Educators, Comprehensive Teaching Aides.

If you'd like to see what else I have to offer please visit my store

*************************************************************

I’ve been noticing that many teachers like using interactive notebooks with their classes. So I’ve done some research and decided to make one of my own. This type of activity utilizes all learning styles, visual, auditory and kinesthetic. It allows children to cut, paste, write, see and listen. Better yet, it keeps them engaged because they are doing things with their hands as well as listening and seeing.

I’ve come up with an interactive-poetry notebook bundle. There are 100 pages of various types of fold-able templates that can be added to their notebooks.  If you would like to make a regular booklet or have the class write poems to put on the bulletin board, color and black and white templates are also included. As a highlight of this poetry workshop, the class may pick their favorite poem and get it published in the anthology called  Celebration of Young Poets- Creative Communication, Inc.

***************************************************************

A Preview of What’s Inside

Teacher’s Complete Lesson Plans…………………4-13

Poetry Writing Workshop, Student Handouts……14-20

Parts of Speech, & Sensory Cards, ……………….........21-33

Free Verse Poems Interactive Notebook &

Worksheets   …………………………………………..34-40

Sensory Interactive Notebook Poems &

Worksheets………………………………………….........41-50

Acrostic Interactive Notebook Poems &

Worksheets…………………………………………….51-56

Limericks & Riddles Interactive Notebook……….57-68

Cinquain Interactive Notebook……………………..69-74

Diamante Interactive Notebook…………………….75-84

Haiku Interactive Notebook…………………………85-91

Shape Poem Interactive Notebook………………….92-98

Grading Rubric……………………………………….  99

Contact Information…………………………………. 100

*****************************************8**********************

Socrates Lantern's TpT Store

Socrates Lantern's TpT Store

I really enjoyed making this poetry bundle, it was a work of love.

I hope you like it. I’m very open to comments and suggestions that you may have so don't hesitate to make a comment.

Thank you very much,

Deann

Please visit Socrates Lantern’s Social Media Sites