Another useful lesson

Today, I had my students use the vocabulary strategy that we learned at our last class meeting. It was super! When they had to compose a sentence that defined the word and tie it in to the primary source the meaning of the work really sunk in. A lot of them came up with sentences and then were really surprised when the sentence did not meet the requirements. I have the best of the best hanging up on the wall until our next vocabulary quiz. That is the great thing about our "Back to History " class, the activities are easy to use and practical. They also give the students an opportunity to be creative.

On another note, I was so intrigued by the WPA art that I went around Marysville and found some examples of WPA murals in our own community. I will bring the pictures to our next class. I tried to add them to the blog page but I am Blog challenged.

Have a great day!
Amanda Goodwin

Primary Source Website

I have really enjoyed the different primary source activities that have been shared thus far. One small problem I was having is that the activities presented have all used multiple, yet diverse primary sources all related to the same event or topic. As a teacher of earlier American history, it sometimes becomes difficult to find several primary sources that are all related to the same topic. During my search, I came across a website that I think could be useful to many Social Studies teachers (or LA teachers) for finding primary sources. I hope that it is as helpful to others as it was to me!

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

Book suggestion for Trials

The book that mimics the The Crucible is called Salem Witch (My Side of the Story) by Patricia Hermes. It tells the story from both Elizabeth's and George's point of view. The bool level is 4.5 if you use Accelerated Reader. ISBN 0-7534-5991-4. Hope this helps!

History Fair Connection

First, I'd like to say that I really enjoyed our first class! At this point I am a tad behind, but I am excited to kick off this year's History Fair activities. I am always looking for strategies to help students organize their research. As we did our primary source activity on the mining crisis, I was inspired. I am going to use the theories (history from below, great man, economic, political etc.) to help students organize and research their topic. Students need a variety of primary and secondary resources, as well as differing viewpoints to create widespread and balanced research. I realize each school of thought has its own detailed intricacies, but I think I can provide a short explanation for each one that my 7th graders will understand. Bottom line, I think this activity will help them sort their massive (and often overwhelming) amounts of information!

Historiography

I used the Hocking Valley Mine Strike primary source activity that we did in our orientation class for my enrichment class. The kids had some difficulty understanding the definitions for all the different historical perspectives but once they understood their assigned point of view they did a great job. Some of the artwork on the posters was amazing. Being 8th graders they had no background knowledge of the union movement or the violence that usually resulted from strikes. We discussed how the mine owners actually used the company stores and company housing to keep their workers under control. I also brought in a picture of my grandfather who was a coal miner in West Virginia in the 1930s. They were really shocked that companies were able to get away with some of the things they did, especially the attacks on strikers.
Thanks for a great activity.
Amanda