(CLICK HERE for Marzano Style Lesson Design)
I also try to explain the fact that what we cover is "One-inch deep and a mile wide on a vast lake of knowledge." Meaning that we cover a variety of topics from the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the War of 1812, the U.S. Civil War, Reconstruction, etc. but we don't go too deep into any of them. We cover all of those topics (and more) in a nine-month school year, whereas we could spend a semester on each of them individually. I guess that's what college is for.
I try to link events together by using a TIME WEB on my board. Right now it is just a visual of what it could look like. Next year I want to fill it in with actual events showing how certain events are linked to other events and how personal experiences helped shape our history, just like our personal experiences shape the way we live our lives.
Continuing with my, "One-inch deep and a mile wide" analogy, sometimes I feel like we are simply skipping a stone across the vastness of U.S. History. We are just skimming the surface on certain topics while ignoring the depth underneath. I try to make the biggest waves, while also acknowledging the ripple effects and how, when they collide with ripples from other stone touches, other events were born.
My hope is that on the topics we do dive deeper on, specifically the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, I am providing the bedrock that our Nation is founded on so that my students will have a better understanding of our History when we only have time to skip that rock.
During class I have learned a lot, but often times I can tell we cover some stuff lightly and I'll forget it in a quarter. Going back to covering stuff lightly is nice because going to into depth can be tiring most of the time, or doing something for a long time. I like doing stuff not so into depth.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is very educational about how the time of the history works and that time is very precious and we can study it whisly.
ReplyDeleteWe liked this blog post. It was some what interesting! -Lakyn, Ryan, and Lelan
ReplyDeleteI like that in this class that we only cover the main ideas of topics, just like the paragraphs above stated. You should continue to skip the stone.
ReplyDeleteI like that your going to try and go a little bit deeper than just skimming the surface.
ReplyDeleteI like how you worded that we skip over lots of parts of history as it is very true
ReplyDeleteI also wish we could go deeper into these subjects and learn more. Sometimes I feel like there is something missing after a lesson. Jacob. H
ReplyDeleteI like the fact we learn more about the "ripples" that cause smaller more lost in history events. This is really intresting for how much we miss as we just skim the surface and dont go deeper into the history or the darker sides of things.
ReplyDeleteI think lightly covering subjects is the best option. This is because most kids probably won't be interested in subjects so viewing more that others would like can help keep people sucked into the content. -Jesse Garvaglia
ReplyDelete