Teaching Strategies and lesson approaches

Introductory Strategies and lessons:

·        Tea Party

·        For previous knowledge: (e.g. Ask What general events might cause a Revolution anywhere? What may be the reactions to a Revolution?  What could be consequences of a Revolution?)

·        REVISIT with: what I learned, what I confirmed and what I have to revise?

·        Pause in reading – What might come next?  Why might he/she have done that? What do you think influenced Lee to Join the South? Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA.)

·        Write Picture/ Variation: Use Saturation Report technique.

·        Literature links – Jump in Reading / Text Rendering

·        Present connections – What does this make you think of from today?  What similar events/persons in history were there?

·        What are you thinking?

·        Clustering of any subject.Write every word, phrase, idea you associate with...

·        Quote – 5 minute writing. Silent Exchange - Students write responses/observations to other student writings, and pass the papers to another student. At the end, the papers will be returned to the original authors.

·        Reword a quote, or write analogous quotes or antithesis of quote.

·        Political Cartoon analysis / Creation of political cartoon

·        News article headline or quote – Write opinion/response before reading article.

·        Create questions from a reading and write the answer.  Teacher calls on students to ask question, and student calls on another student to answer -they raise hand. The student who answered will then ask their question, etc.  QAR -Question Answer Relationships- Students generate questions with direct answers in text, or inferred from reading, or applies to life in contemporary times…

·        Text reading:  Have students keep track of : What is the author trying to say? What does it mean? Any difficulties? Refer to the text to clarify.  What is the most important material in the reading?

·         ASK students to read and think aloud as they read:  One paragraph at a time.  Class will be focused on metacognition and make greater sense of it.  Teacher models first paragraph.

Strategies and lessons within a unit.

       Group/classroom processing.  Begin with the individual, Group where each member contributes and signs the result.  Large class posting/contribution, Individual rethink first thoughts and revise-reflect. Turn in.

Roles in Groups – Timekeeper, Taskmaster, Recorder, Spokesperson/leader  ALL are participants. In AP they will see themselves as supportive network for study groups.

·        Newscasts from the Past

·        Newspaper

·        News Interviews

·        Pair-share

·        Step into history (picture) and role play or interview them for understanding.

·        Readers’ Theater of writings

·        Create questions from a reading and write the answer.  Teacher calls on students to ask question, and student calls on another student to answer(they raise hand. The student who answered will then ask their question, etc.  QAR (Question Answer Relationships)  Students generate questions with direct answers in text, or inferred from reading, or applies to life in contemporary times…

·        Text reading:  Have students keep track of : What is the author trying to say? What does it mean? Any difficulties? Refer to the text to clarify.  What is the most important material in the reading?

·        Think-alouds.

·        Act out the Beginning, the Middle , the End of a scene/history/story.  Different groups get different parts.

·        REVISIT with: what I learned, what I confirmed and what I have to revise?

·        Pause in reading – What might come next?  Why might he/she have done that? What do you think influenced Lee to Join the South?

·        Music as history (e.g. Lyrics from Billie Holliday’s Strange Fruit.)

·        Quote-A-Thon

·        Lit links – Jump in Reading / Text Rendering

·        Write Picture

·        Haiku

·        Dinner Party

·        Meeting of the Minds – Character from the past and present

·        Movie Poster – Title , Actors, Review, Picture, Director, Producer

·        Story book – Create a book of an event/person/concept individually or as a group.  Read expressively to group/class.

·        Write a HOW TO Book – e.g. How to Wage war in the 1700s, How to get the vote, Write a constitution, Ratify a constitution

·        Write a HOW NOT TO Book –

·        Create a MONUMENT to a person, event, decade… Illustrate, explain the significance, location of monument, dimensions, plaque on monument (wording) cost etc.  Keep it historical.

·        Paper bag theater- buy bags, have paper, scissors, glue sticks, and create a play with dialog from reading of Am. Rev, Const underpinnings. Get other props.  Have an important issue, question….

·        Retell the story from another point of view – And now another side…

·        Question the Author – one person plays the author in a group (or main character) and students create an interview.

·        Saturation report – Students visit a place or event of interest and observe typical goings-on.  Capture a sense of place through – description, portraits of people, overheard bits of conversation, vignettes, interviews.  The writer focuses on narrative techniques to re-create the sense of place.

·        AWARDS: for assignment. Most descriptive, Comical/Historically accurate most anachronistic/ artistic-poetic/multi media with 1,2,3 place in all categories.

·        Point of view:  Assign a person to capture their thoughts on a subject:  USH King of England, French trapper, Native American, Quaker, Washington, Jefferson…Hamilton

·        Cartoon panels – Beginning, Middle , End

·        Political Cartoon analysis / Creation of political cartoon

·        What is similar and different today?

·        Plus , Minus , Interesting

·        Sensory Figures   Writing in all the senses, what is the person thinking?

·        The Write Picture

·        Journal / Diary of the person – What might the person have written in his/her journal about this event?

·        What may have been a believable alternative(s) action/outcome? What may have been the result?  Alternatives in history/decisions?

·        Give a GIFT to a person of another era.  Change an aspect of the history / Change and insert an invention into history.

·        Saturation report- with sights, sounds, process, etc.

·        Question the Author – Student/teacher plays author, and students question. Staged or impromptu.  Like “hot seat.”

·        Write descriptive sentences with topic and action -   Parliament – legislated, Colonies, Resisted, The King Insisted….(I give lead ins or they do.)

·        Question:  What might it have been like without whatever the event/person/subject is being studied?

·        Paper bag theater acts

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