A Little Crazy about Visuals

You’ve heard us talk about primary sources before. I, Tony, will admit I’m a little crazy about history, and primary sources are, in my opinion, some of the best ways to engage students. Using paintings, maps, lithographs, and other visual and dynamic primary sources engages your students. These documents help students understand and get excited about the “big ideas” of history teaching standards we’ve been forced to include in curriculum.

Why is this important? Let me get metaphorical. Say your friend tells you about an awesome movie he saw. Your interest may spark as he speaks, but the next day you may have forgotten the title. If, however, you happen to see the trailer on another movie you rented or online, chances are all the bits and fragments sewn together with explosions or themed music will lead you to  eventually see that movie.

The same goes for students. The more excitement you create with visual aids and original pieces of that big idea’s history, the more likely they are to remember the facts and major concepts they need to. Voila, instant teacher assistance! Example: The civil war could get lost in the sea of history pages on one war or another until you show students a collection of civil war photographs. The distinct style of the time or locations of these pictures could be the difference between your students’ recollection and bad testing.

Of course, this leads me to our newest product, an incredible 35 page U.S. History Primary Source packet complete with over 22 visual primary sources to jump start that excitement we talked about above. It “encourages creativity, intelligent reflection, and decision making that will help you take an active approach to teaching while inspiring your students to make their own explorations of history, writing, and reading.” You can check it out here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/US-History-Working-with-Primary-Source-VISUALS-Activity-Bundle-1608749

Do you use visual primary sources as well as literary ones in your classroom? Do you focus them on details or the big ideas of your lesson(s)? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

The Best Social Media Site to Connect Students and Teachers

Statistics on the age of social media users are incredulous. As of July 2014, 78% of 12 to 17-year-olds (6^th to 11^th graders) that are active online used Facebook at least once monthly, and 52% used Instagram as often. Our world really is starting to become more about posting than relationship building. The instant gratification of online interaction and visual displays on sites such as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram has forced educators to connect with their students in new ways.

For middle grade teachers, this transition may have been slower than instructors in higher grades, but it has become the norm none-the-less. In our experience, Instagram is the best way to unite with our students for a number of reasons.

Firstly, there is less clutter. By sticking to photos and flipgrams on our Instagram profiles, we avoid getting lost in the conglomeration of personal posts, onslaught of each major topic that muddles the feed, and drama often seen on other social media sites.

Sometimes silly is good!

As we all know, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” But really, for us, the photos we share on Instagram do more than paint a point of view for our students. It offers a way to make them laugh, remind them of assignments due and upcoming quizzes, and praise them on work well done. We know it works when we get comments like this one: “Oh no we have a quiz tomorrow I need to study!” If posting those pics gets them to study, we’re not complaining!

We love telling our students well done via Instagram! There's something about public praise that builds their confidence!

 

Lastly, Instagram is easy. We can snap pictures throughout the day, thumb out a quick caption, tag a few students if necessary and voila! We've given our students reasons to stay connected and remember important details.

Our use of Instagram has further inspired us to create curriculum for our students!  We have common core fulfilling “selfie” worksheets of famous historical figures ranging from Marco Polo to Leonardo DiVinci to Confucius. We also have similar worksheets on Samurais, feudal medieval Japan, soldiers from different wars, and classroom ice breakers. (Click here to check them out on our Teachers Pay Teachers page.)

One of our Instagram Curriculum sheets on Teachers Pay Teachers Store

If you’re a middle grade teacher trying to find a way to reach your students without the hassle of competing with the other faucets of their lives, I hope we’ve convinced you to give Instagram a try! Check out our "Classroom Tools" for more ways to incorporate Instagram into your classroom.

How do you connect with your students? Please tell us in the comments below!

Gold Salt Trade Simulation

This activity is always so interactive and fun! I adapted it from a History Alive (tci) lesson. Students actually experience a silent barter like it was in medieval Africa.

Pilgrimage Board Games!

Students love this project for the Empires of Islam unit.

Galileo's Trial Document Analysis DBQ

Common Core writing and reading that students were excited about!