I have learned there is a lot of great information out there for teachers and there is also a lot of not so great information.  I will have to be careful if I try to research materials on my own but this class offered many resources which I will keep on hand.  The PBS website along with Learn NC website has great lesson plans for social studies.  These websites are just a few I have enjoyed looking at and I will keep these in my favorites.

As for blogging, I don’t see myself blogging on a personal level but as an educator I probably will at least try this in my classroom.  I know that I will learn a lot from my students on blogging because they are growing up in it.  It was fun to understand the flow of blogging and how it can be used in the classroom.  It is still a learning process for me because I know there are lots of things about blogging that I still have no idea about. 

Michelle Haas

Located at:  http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/intrigue/1023 

Goals Covered:

Grade 8

Goal 1: The learner will analyze important geographic, political, economic, and social aspects of life in the region prior to the Revolutionary Period.

Objective 1.02: Identify and describe American Indians who inhabited the regions that became Carolina and assess their impact on the colony.

Objective 1.07: Describe the roles and contributions of diverse groups, such as American Indians, African Americans, European immigrants, landed gentry, tradesmen, and small farmers to everyday life in colonial North Carolina, and compare them to the other colonies.

Objective

The objectives of this lesson plan is to compare and contrast names that were left by the Native Indians of North Carolina to the European and other settlers who named their towns or “discoveries” after landing in North Carolina.  Students will use a state map to:

• discover the heritage left by Native Americans and settlers in the names of places;
• differentiate the cultural values expressed in names.

Background

Across North Carolina, there are names that have been around before the state was even created.  These names have lingered for years and have specific meanings especially to the North Carolina Indians for example, Nantahala which means “the land of the noonday sun” or Cullowhee which means “the land of the lilies”.   Other names were given for the commodities or natural resources that were produced by the Europeans or other settlers such as Sapphire or Cranberry.  Other names derived from the Europeans or other settlers were Jefferson and Jackson Springs.  Some names were given for their religious and military history.

A name is a word or group of words by which a person, thing, or place is known. Everything has a name which identifies it to others, and it is through names that people can communicate with and understand one another. Names help people tell stories about the past. For example, the town of Silk Hope in Chatham County was probably named before the Civil War, when there was an interest in producing home-grown silk. Sometimes, however, the original meanings of names have been lost. Some Indian place names continued to be used by European settlers, but over time people forgot what the words originally meant. For example, Chockoyotte Creek, which flows into the Roanoke River, is believed to be a Tuscarora word, but its meaning is no longer known.

Procedure

1. Students will be divided in to groups of about 4 or 5 and each group will be provided a state map, stars or dots, and a copy of “Native American Place Names” and “Settler Place Names.”   Instructions will be given on how to look up a particular name on the map.  Depending on the time, you can limit the number of names to each group.
2. Working together, the group puts a star or dot down on the map for the names the Indians named in one color and do the same thing with names for the Europeans or other settlers in a different color. 
3. Have a large scale map in front of the class and have each group name at least 3 names they found, who named the name, and what is the meaning behind it.  Then place a star or dot to identify whether it is an Indian name or a European or other settlers name. 

Conclusion

Either in class discussion or quiz form you can ask the following questions:

• For what kinds of things was each place named?
• What can be learned about past cultures from place names?
• Did Native Americans and settlers tend to live in the same places? What observations support the student’s conclusion?

I like this lesson plan because it allows the students to understand why a place or an item was named the name it has.   It allows the students to look and understand the meanings behind the names by looking at the two different cultures involved.   

 Michelle Haas

Through out the article, the authors stressed the importance of building vocabulary in all areas of content not just in language arts.  The authors suggested several ideas on building vocabulary in all subjects such as using literature circles and the use of multigenre reading and writing.  Also, learning where the word came from, how it is used, identifying its root, prefix, and suffix will increase one’s ability of using the word correctly in a sentence, paragraph, or in speech. 

Overall, the article introduces different activities that can be used to help students build up their vocabulary whether it is in math, art, social studies, or science.  The more vocabulary that is learned the more knowledgeable one will become and the proper usage of words will be used.       

Michelle Haas

Apparently, the students are not the only ones who dread the traditional research papers, according to the article, teachers do, too.  Plus, there have been a lot of criticism about the traditional research papers.  Changes had to be made so everyone involved can be motivated again with research papers.  Different approaches were addressed such as the mystery paper, the I-search paper, the survey-based paper, the basic research paper with only the mode of presentation changed, and the multigenre paper.  All of these approaches seemed to perk students’ interest and in turn motivation rose to research.  Despite all the changes and approaches, the curriculum was still addressed and taught like search and documentation skills. 

This author chose to use the multigenre approach to do a research paper but there were some problems such as she did not have one to model or have one to show her students.  She discussed with her students how many genres would be involved and how to grade the paper.  An example of a genre that could be used was instead of writing a paper about a birth or death announcement, a student could actually make a birth or death certificate and make it like it would look like in that particular time period.  Through out the article examples were given with different research subjects.  In this article over 40 genres were used but there are many more that were not mentioned.  All of her students were very pleased with their end products.  They became more excited about the project as it processed.  All said they could use this in their classrooms with their students. 

There have been arguments in favor for this alternative to the traditional research paper such as readability factor (creativity in presenting information and the care that seemed to have taken to make the pages look like the genres used), the use of genres instead of the typical research paper, high level of effort, and the involvement of creativity.  The only problem with this kind of paper is the lack of understanding what multigenre paper is and what is looks like. 

Overall, I think students would love this option compared to the traditional research paper.  Students will be given the opportunity to be creative and at the same time learn the traditional research and documentation skills.  I think I will use this in my classroom.  It will be learning experience for both of us, the teacher and the students.

Questions:

1. It seems like there are more arguments for multigenre paper so why is it not used more in the classrooms of all ages?
2. With all the genres that are out there to use to complete a multigenre paper, how long should you allow students to finish their “paper” or presentation?
3. In the article, the students involved were college students.  Has the multigenre paper been offered to middle grade students?  If not, then is it because they are not mature enough to complete such a paper or is it too “new” to try on middle grade students?

Michelle Haas

The “I” or “I am” poems can be written before or after reading but I believe after reading a story is best because the student will have a better understanding of their subject.  As the article mentioned though, students can choose or be assigned to write their poems before reading the story.  I can see how it can work by the example the author gave, the details of setting in Sarah, Plain and Tall.  This particular teacher had her students to do research on a plant and an animal from Kansas and from Maine.  This will allow the students to feel what the family was going through and see the difference between the two states.  By giving limits to your students it is possible to engage your students to write a thorough “I” or “I am” poem before actually reading the story.  There are many ways to introduce the “I” or “I am” poems to your students either to begin or end a lesson.  It will be up to us, future teachers, to come up with a creative way to introduce it to our students. 

Questions:

1. The article did not mention how long an “I” or “I am” poem should be.  Is there a certain length or certain amount of information that an “I” or “I am” poem should be?
2. When grading these kinds of poems, how critical should we be?  Better yet how should the poems be graded?
3. Some students like me are not interested in poems of any kind.  How do we as future teachers get the students interested in  creating a poem instead of telling them it is for a grade?

 Michelle Haas

Your Name:  Michelle Haas

Name of Strategy:  Think-Pair-Share

Source (Where did this come from?):  www.readingquest.com

Link to the Strategy:  http://www.readingquest.org/strat/tps.html  

Give a thorough description of the strategy and how it will be implemented. This should be a summary of the strategy according to the original source:

This strategy is considered as a cooperative discussion strategy.  Its name comes from the three parts in which the students will be involved in.

First step is for the students to think about a question, comment, or some kind of stimulus given by the teacher.  They will be given seconds or a minute or two to think about the question, comment, or stimulus.

Second step is for the students to pair up with someone assigned to them or with a neighbor who sits beside them.  The pair will discuss their answers to the question, comment, or stimulus.  They will come up with one answer between them.

Third step is for the students to share their answer with the class.

Explain what part of the standard course of study is addressed by this activity.

This strategy can be used with all of the NCCOS standards for social studies, some language arts, and science.  There is really no specific standard this strategy is used for because there are many.

Explain why you think this strategy will work. How does the strategy help your students learn?

I believe this strategy will work because it allows the student to discuss their thinking with a partner.  Students love to talk and this gives them that opportunity to discuss what they are thinking about a certain question, comment, or stimulus.  This strategy allows students to get each other thinking in a different way especially if their answers are not the same.  Students will learn from each other.  Also, this strategy works on cooperation from each other because they will have to come to some kind of an agreement to share with the class.  This strategy helps students to learn from each other as they listen to everyone else’s answers as they explain why they answered the way they did.  Also, this strategy will allow the shy and quiet students to explain their thinking to someone and they may find out that their answer is not as stupid as they may think.  It allows them to voice their opinion or answer to the whole class. 

Michelle Haas

Your Name:  Michelle Haas

Name of Strategy:  Big Paper – Building a Silent Conversation

Source (Where did this come from?):  www.facinghistory.org

Link to the Strategy:  http://www.facinghistory.org/resources/strategies/big-paper-building-a-silent-c 

Give a thorough description of the strategy and how it will be implemented. This should be a summary of the strategy according to the original source:

This strategy is conducted in total silence until the class discussion is allowed and this is done at the end.  This activity allows the shy students to voice their opinions or comments in writing instead of voicing them verbally.  After this activity is done several times, the students who are shy or have trouble speaking in front of others will feel at ease to speak or explain their opinions, comments, or questions.  Several steps are involved in this activity.

Step 1 – Preparation.

A stimulus needs to be found to spark a silent conversation.  This stimulus can be several things such as a question, quote, picture, historical documents, excerpt from a novel, or poetry.  Groups can be given the same stimulus but having different stimulus related to each other is best.  This activity works best with 2 or 3 students per group.  Each group will need a big sheet of paper like a poster board and each student will need a pen or marker, preferably different colors of pen and markers.  This will show how the conservation is moving back and forth on the paper.  The stimulus is taped or written in the middle of the big paper to spark the silence conservation.

Step 2 – The Importance of Silence

Explain to the students the activity is to be done in total silence.  All correspondences are to be done in writing.  There will be a time at the end of the activity for a class discussion but for right now no talking.  Ask the class if there are any questions after the instructions are given to avoid any disruptions during the activity. 

Step 3 – Comment on your Big Paper

After the students are divided, they read the stimulus on their Big Paper.  Then they are given the opportunity to think about the stimulus and to comment about it.  Their comments do not have to be in questions but they could.  If a question is presented, a member of the group will need to address it accordingly.  The comments should stay on the stimulus but can stray to wherever the students take it.  Lines should be draw from comments to a particular question or comment.  Students are allowed to write at the same time if desired.  This step will take as long as the teacher allows it but usually about 15 minutes.

Step 4 – Comment on others’ Big Paper

After the time is up in Step 3, the students are allowed to move around the room, still in total silence, commenting on the other groups’ Big Papers.  The students bring their own pen or marker and comment on the stimulus on the other groups’ Big Paper.   This will take probably another 15 minutes but it is up to the teacher on the time allowed.

Step 5 – Return to your own Big Paper

This is where silence is broken.  Students are allowed within their group to discuss what is on their Big Paper.  They will be able to talk about what each other wrote about on the stimulus and what other students wrote about.  This could be a good time for the teacher to ask the students to write in their journals, if they have one, to write about one specific comment or question on their Big Paper.

Step 6 – Class Discussion

Finally, prompt the class in a discussion by asking “what did you learn from this activity”?  This is the time to go deeper into the content and use the information of the Big Papers to bring out the students’ thoughts.  Also, this could be the time to emphasize on the importance and the difficulty of being silent during this activity and touch on the comfort levels of participation in this activity.

Explain what part of the standard course of study is addressed by this activity.

All of the NCCOS for the social studies curriculum can be addressed by using this activity.  Actually this activity was mainly for history but I can see this can be used in the language arts and science curriculums. 

Explain why you think this strategy will work. How does the strategy help your students learn?

I think this strategy will work because it allows the students to express their ideas, comments, or opinions on paper instead of verbally.  I really like this strategy because the students work in small groups having conservation with each other on paper.  Then they have the opportunity to have conservations with other groups.  Students have to think deeply depending on the stimulus.  Students do not realize they can learn from one another and this activity allows everyone to see what others are thinking.  This could trigger questions that otherwise would not have ever surfaced from anyone.  Also, this activity allows the students to move around the room instead of sitting at their desks during the entire class period.  Another thing is that every one participates in this activity whether they are shy or not.  I think this activity gets everyone involved in the lesson and when you get a lot of heads together thinking analytically, usually something good comes from them.  

 Michelle Haas

Your Name:  Michelle Haas

Name of Strategy:  K – W – L

Source (Where did this come from?):  www.readingquest.org

Link to the Strategy:  http://www.readingquest.org/strat/kwl.html

Give a thorough description of the strategy and how it will be implemented. This should be a summary of the strategy according to the original source: 

The K – W –L strategy is an activity that will get the students to think more analytically about a topic.    This activity can be done before reading about a specific topic, after reading, or both.   

The letters K – W – L stands for different things the students need to think about.  “K” stands for what the students already know about the topic.  “W” stands for either what the students want to learn or what they think they will learn from the topic (process of predicting).  “L” stands for what the students have learned about the topic.   First on a sheet of paper there will be three columns, one will be labeled with a “K”, the second will be labeled as “W” and the third will be labeled as “L”.  When this has been done, the topic of the lesson will be presented to the students but before going into the actual lesson let the students fill in their K – W – L sheet especially the “W” column because this is where they will predict what they will learn.  Then start the lesson and at the end allow the students to re-do their K – W – L sheet.  This will allow the students to see if their predictions have come true or not.     

Explain what part of the standard course of study is addressed by this activity.

All of the NCCOS for the social studies can be addressed by using this activity especially when the topic is a major event that occurred in history such as the colonies forming, revolutions, battles, wars, and so forth.  In languages arts, this activity can be used when discussing a novel and so forth but I am not concentrating in language arts.  I believe this activity can be used there and in science as well.   

Explain why you think this strategy will work. How does the strategy help your students learn?

I believe this activity will work especially if you allow the students to predict what they will learn about the topic addressed and then after the lesson is over allow them to compare their comments.  This activity will peak the students’ interest about the subject and they may be surprised at the end what they really learned from the topic.  This activity gets the students to either prove they were right or wrong.  I never heard of this activity before until I read it in one the articles we read earlier.  I think this is a neat activity and the students will like it because there is no right or wrong answers.  The students will not be pressured to answer the K – W – L columns on their papers.  It is a fun activity to get the students’ minds working before getting into the lesson.

Michelle Haas

Your name:  Michelle Haas

Name of Site:

Learn NC – Secession and civil war 

Civil War

American Civil War Battle Gettysburg Pennsylvania July 1-3 1863

Link to Resources:

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-civilwar/5095

http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/videos#civil-war  

http://americancivilwar.com/getty.html

Source (Author–if available):

UNC – Chapel Hill (School of Education)

History.com

Library of Congress Federal Citizen

Identify the teaching topic of the materials–be specific. Identify the population of the students (grade, course):

The teaching topics of these materials cover the secession of the southern states, the causes of the Civil War, and the Battle of Gettysburg.  These materials will explain why the southern states succeeded from the United States, what caused the Civil War to begin, and then focus on one of the battles, the Battle of Gettysburg.  All the materials will go in depth to allow the students to think more deeply and to understand why the Civil War happened and the outcome.  These materials are for the 8^th grade students in the middle grades.   

Competency Goal 4:  The learner will examine the causes, course, and character of the Civil War and Reconstruction, and their impact on the North Carolina and the nation.

4.01 Identify and analyze the significance of the causes of secession from the Union, and compare reactions in North Carolina to reactions in other regions of the nation.

4.02 Describe the political and military developments of the Civil War and analyze their effect on the outcome of the war.

Give a brief description of how the materials would be used:

These materials will be used for a related lesson from a bigger unit, the Civil War.  The materials will be used for research and an introduction to the succession of the southern states, what were the causes of the Civil War, and one of the battles, the Battle of Gettysburg.  The students will be divided into three groups and the group who are chosen to look at the succession, the causes, and the Battle of Gettysburg will investigate who, what, when, and why.  The students will also investigate how the battle affected the outcome of the war.   The videos will show how intense the battle and the Civil War was and how the military fought.  At the end, the students will use these materials to gather information to complete an assignment like a power point, a speech, or a re-enactment. 

Explain why you would use this material with your students. How will the material help your students learn the topic?

These materials will capture the students’ interest in the Civil War by introducing them to the reasons why the war started.  By using these materials the students will get a better understanding what happened during the war.  They will understand why it took so long and why the soldiers, who survived, were completely worn out after fighting.  The videos will explain to the students why this war occurred and why it is considered the bloodiest war ever.  The videos will also show how the military struggled to survive and they fought.  Overall, these materials will peak the students’ interest in hopes to explore the other crucial battles of the war.

Other relative resources:

CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR – by PBS.org

http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/video/1-2_civil_war.html   

This video briefly explains the causes of the Civil War.

MAIL CALL – Civil War Special – by Military History

http://www.hulu.com/watch/94155/mail-call-civil-war-special

This video shows the different types of weaponry that were used in the Civil War.  This video shows the difference between the Confederate and the Union weapons.   This video could go with materials 2 as well.  Also, I will not show this video in its entirety because of time but will show the parts of the weaponry to give the students an idea how long it took to load the guns and cannons.

Michelle Haas

Your name:  Michelle Haas

Name of Site:

Learn NC – North Carolina as a Civil War battlefield, November 1864–May 1865 

Learn NC – Wilmington Confederacy, Fort Fisher, and the lifeline of the Confederacy.

Ft. Fisher Civil War – National Historic Landmark

Link to Resources:

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-civilwar/5665                                                       

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-civilwar/5464

http://www.nchistoricsites.org/fisher/fisher.htm

Source (Author–if available):

UNC – Chapel Hill (School of Education)

North Carolina Historic Sites is a division of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources Office of Archives & History

Identify the teaching topic of the materials–be specific. Identify the population of the students (grade, course):

These materials will provide information to the students about the Civil War in North Carolina.  Each website above will provide maps to show when and where the battles took place.   Each website above has different kinds of information regarding the Civil War in North Carolina.  One will give information how the Civil War “toured” through North Carolina, another will give information about the battles at the coast, and the other will give specific information about Fort Fisher, the role it played in the Civil War.  These materials are for the 8^th grade students in the middle grades.    

Competency Goal 4:  The learner will examine the causes, course, and character of the Civil War and Reconstruction, and their impact on the North Carolina and the nation.

4.02 Describe the political and military developments of the Civil War and analyze their effect on the outcome of the war.

4.03 Assess North Carolina’s role in the Civil War and analyze the social and economic impact of the war on the state.

Give a brief description of how the materials would be used:

These materials will be used for a related lesson from a bigger unit, the Civil War.  The materials will be used for research and an introduction on the battles in North Carolina specifically Fort Fisher.  The students will be divided into three groups and the group who are chosen to look at the battles in North Carolina more closely will examine questions such as who, what, when, where, how, and the outcome?  Also, they will use these materials to gather information to complete an assignment like a power point, a speech, or a re-enactment. 

Explain why you would use this material with your students. How will the material help your students learn the topic?

These materials will connect with the students because they provide the students interesting facts about North Carolina, their home state or the state they live in.  The materials will give the students educational information about the struggles that North Carolina endured during the Civil War.  These materials will explain why the battles of North Carolina were so vital during the war.  These materials will help the students learn because the materials will get the students interested in their state and will want to learn more about the other battles in North Carolina.

Other relative resources:

North Carolina Troops . . .            

http://www.nccivilwar150.com/troops/nctroops.htm

This website will give the students an idea how many North Carolinians fought in the Civil War and how the families were affected. 

Timeline . . .

http://www.nccivilwar150.com/timeline/1861.htm

This website will help the students to understand how North Carolina began in the fight, when they fought, where they fought, and how long they fought. 

Both of these texts are from North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial.

Michelle Haas