The Week That Was In 505

This week was another testing week with the Ohio AIR math test. At the end of the week, our assistant principal sent out a weekly updated and asked the question, “What does AIR stand for in Ohio AIR Test?” I responded with, “AIR – Academically Inconvenient Requirement.” I don’t think I won the trivia contest.

This week we continued our unit on the causes of the Civil War. I asked the question, “What conflicts over slavery led to the Civil War?” This week we focused on the Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas and Nebraska Act.

This semester I”ve been trying to build in more opportunities to have students empathize from multiple perspectives. I have been using some 2xPOV, empathy maps, and perspective summary writing at the end of different lessons.

Monday – Missouri Compromise

Tuesday – Compromise 1850/Fugitive Slave Act

Thursday – Kansas and Nebraska Act

Monday

On Monday, we began with the Missouri Compromise. I asked the question, “How did the Missouri Compromise attempt to balance free states and slave states between North and South?” I began the lesson with a Gimkit with 3 or 4 questions about the Missouri Compromise. I ran the Gimkit for 3 minutes, and then ran it again for 2 minutes.

Next in line, we switched Frayer model with the word, Compromise, in the center. Around the word Compromise, I had students create definition, use it in a sentence, share examples, and nonexamples. For the examples of Compromise, I urged everyone to think of examples we have learned about in class. They came up with, “3/5ths Compromise, the Treaty of Ghent, the Treaty of Paris 1783.” I thought these were great connections.

Following the Frayer, we switched to an EMC2learning penny pedagogy called Upside Down Learning. Students read a textbook section about the Missouri Compromise. On the top of the line with Upside Down Learning, students tell the true story of the Missouri Compromise. I had them think about the compromise, and retelling of the compromise in sequential order. Underneath of the true story, the students come up with alternate reality. They keep some of the details, but they twist them a bit.

Next, I had students complete an empathy map with two primary sources. Students read a debate between two congressmen named Arthur Livermore and Philip Barbour over the Tallmadge Amendment and Missouri Compromise. Upon reading, students completed an empathy map. To end class, we ran one more Gimkit for 2 to 3 minutes and increased our class averages to over 90% across all classes.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, we switched over to the Compromise of 1850 and I asked the question, “What was the Compromise of 1850 and why did it make northerners angry?” I asked this question kowing we would focus on the Fugitive Slave Act. Before the lesson began, I wrote on the board, “Fugitive Slave – Freedom Seeker, Slave – Enslaved Person/People, Master – Enslaver.”

This lesson we began with a Number Mania and here were my instructions: “The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was a harsh and ineffective law that deepened the divide between the North and the South, ultimately contributing to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861.”

• Prove this quote true with 4 numbers and facts from the reading.
• If you use my secret number, I’ve got a Jolly Rancher for you.
• Add icons/images for all facts
• Add a title.
• In the speaker notes, explain why you selected these numbers.

I added the Secret Number to create some intrigue – it’s the end of the year! My secret number ended up being 11 – the Civil War began 11 years after the Compromise of 1850. I had these dates underlined and said to everyone, “I gave you a subtle hint.” Only a handful of student solved the secret number throughout the day.

The reading I paired with the Number Mania had a ton of numbers. I wanted to see if students could pick out the important numbers related to the quote.

Following the Number Mania, students filled out an empathy map from a northerners perspective about the Fugitive Slave Act. I also related the Fugitive Slave Act to our community because Enslaved Person Trackers terrorized the abolitionists of New Richmond due to the Fugitive Slave Act. Students filled out an Empathy Map showing what a northerner might think, say, hear, and do about the Fugitive Slave Act. I encouraged them to use details from the Number Mania, which is essentially details from their reading.

At the end of class, I added a few more questions to the Gimkit about the Compromise of 1850. I ran the Gimkit for 3 to 4 minutes.

Wednesday

Wednesday was a shortened class period (30 minutes) due to math testing. I wanted students to reflect on their Number Mania from Tuesday. I put together a Google Form with success criteria at the top. The success criteria contained the numbers students could have used on their infographics. I asked the students these reflection questions:

1. How many numbers from the provided list did you include in your infographic to support the quote “The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was a harsh and ineffective law that deepened the divide between the North and the South, ultimately contributing to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861”?
2. How well do you think the numbers you included in your infographic support the given quote?
3. What did you learn about the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and its impact on the United States while creating your infographic?
4. If you could improve one aspect of your infographic, what would it be and why? 
5. If you graded yourself on the infographic, what score would you give yourself out of 4 points?

This was a day to finish the Number Mania and empathy maps. A pretty easy, light day.

Thursday

On Thursday we switched to the Kansas and Nebraska Act. I asked the question, “What did voting on slavery and the Kansas and nebraska act reveal about Sectionalism in the United States?” I knew the students would have trouble with the parts of this question – Kansas Nebraska Act and Sectionalism. I didn’t want to throw too much at the students, so we focused on sectionalism for the shortened class period.

One thing I’ve been trying to do more often is using a relevant preview Activity before learning something new. I took this idea from Gene Tavernetti’s book, Teach FAST. This book focuses on how to optimize learning through designing lessons around how students learn best.

A preview activity is a quick activity where students reflect, discuss, or write out something they have experienced and eventually relate it the new content they will learn. In this case, I had students reflect, and create a Sketch and Tell, on a conflict they had with someone – a parent, sibling, teacher, or friend. They sketched about the two differing beliefs, or interests. Then they discussed the conflict with a partner. Finally, they wrote about it on the tell side.

Following the preview activity, I had students complete another Sketch and Tell. This one was about sectionalism. I had AI generate a 2 paragraph explanation of sectionalism. In my prompt, I asked AI to include Civil War and slavery context. Students created an image to represent sectionalism, they discussed their creation with a partner, and then they wrote about sectionalism. To end class, we ran another rep of the Gimmit. I added some more questions to the Gimkit about the Kansas Nebraska Act.

Friday

On Friday we addressed the second part to my question – the Kansas and Nebraska Act. I ran a CyberSandwich with this lesson. I had students read for 10 minutes about the Kansas and Nebraska Act. Their goal was to pull out 5 or more important facts that would help them answer the question, “What did voting on slavery and the Kansas and nebraska act reveal about Sectionalism in the United States?”

After 10 minutes, students discussed and compared their notes with a partner. Following this, students fixed a very vague northerner perspective on the Kansas Nebraska act.

I created another Google Form with reflection questions. I added success criteria at the top:

1. Explain what “popular sovereignty” means and how it applied to the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
2. Describe the violence that took place in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers, known as “Bleeding Kansas”.
3. Mention how the Kansas-Nebraska Act angered many in the North because it allowed the potential spread of slavery into new territories.
4. Explain that the Act’s repeal of the Missouri Compromise was seen as wrong by those in the North.
5. Note that the Republican Party was formed in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, with the goal of preventing the expansion of slavery.
6. Conclude that the events surrounding Kansas revealed the deep divisions (sectionalism) between the North and South over the issue of slavery.

I also added these reflection questions:

1. How many of the these details do you have?
2. What score would you give yourself?
3. Why would you give yourself that score?

To end class, I ran the Gimkit one more time – every class, except for one, got a 90% or higher class average.