Week 15 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! As of clicking "Publish", I am headed to the gym for a "12 Days of Christmas" WOD and then home for a needed break. A special thanks to those of you who offered gifts - a very kind and thoughtful gesture. I have many ornaments and decorations at home that carry the signature of these little rewards of teaching, though the "consumable" gifts are appreciated all the same :)

Our week was spent debating the key issues that arose out of the Convention in Philadelphia as our Founding Fathers drafted the new Constitution for the new nation. Please ask your son/daughter about our debates in class. For a recap, what we did was research one of the delegates to assume their identity as a contributing member of the debates that fateful Summer in 1787. I prepared lessons where we unpacked a key issue in the form of a question:

1. How should States be represented in the new government?
2. How should slaves be counted?
3. How should the Chief Executive be elected?

These questions were debated using some of the same arguments used by Madison (VA), Hamilton (NY), Sherman (CT), Gerry (MA), Wilson (PA), and others. When in doubt, or for guidance, we leaned on Madison's own notes from the convention. As you ask your son/daughter about OUR version of the debates, feel free to reference the "official" minutes of our proceedings. Once we came to a conclusion, we compared and contrasted our results to the real delegates. Some times we were real close, and other times, we were way off. Of course, it's not right to compare, but it involved us in the process to think critically about why the compromises fell as they did, both for better and for worse.

Finally, we completed our unit on Creating and Debating the Constitution. We wrapped that up today as we participated in an interactive quiz/test using Plickers. I asked them some tough questions and they got to see immediate feedback and immediate reflection on their answers.

As we look forward to the new year, we are going to begin January with a critical look at the Bill of Rights by probing the question that emerged from an article I shared with all students and now you as well. The question challenges us to assess our deeply-held views in the Bill of Rights, primarily freedom of religion. We must consider what is required of us as citizens if we expect to uphold the freedoms and liberties we hold so dear. The question is this: "Did the Founding Fathers envision/discuss the possibility of a Muslim president?"

I am looking forward to this lesson because I wonder about the contemporary challenge facing our nation as we become increasingly antagonistic toward a worldview, belief system, and civic order that we resist understanding. Please take time during these next few weeks and read the article together, keeping an open mind to what I challenged above. This is not required, but may provide for a richer experience in the classroom.

In the meantime, I wish you and your family a Very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! As well as a Happy New Year.

If we don't bump into each other until then, I remain yours,
Mr. Bruce

5th Hour Delegates from the various states meeting and
greeting as we open the Philadelphia Convention.

Week 14 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

We can begin counting on one hand the number of days left before a needed two-week break for one of the best times of the year - CHRISTMAS! I am looking forward to time with family, working on a few small projects, but most of all the celebration of the meaning of the holiday.

This week in class we finished some really awesome online timelines. Monday and Tuesday were devoted to the completion of a project that covered the bulk of all conversations that led to and through the creation of the Constitution. I explained more about this project in last week's email and asked that if you wanted to know more that you visit the Creating the Constitution page on the class website. These turned out really awesome and was a great use of a very neat web tool (though, some did not finish...). Please ask your students to see them!

Before we left the computer lab all students in each class selected (or was assigned) one of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention. According to the instructions on the Debating the Constitution page on the class website, we researched our chosen delegate with the intent of taking his place as we debate the merits of our Constitution the way they did 228 years ago. Over the weekend, you would to well to ask your student about their delegate. Particularly, you could ask:

• How do you feel about a strong national (central) government?
• What are your thoughts about how States should be represented in Congress?
• What are your beliefs about whether or not southern states should be allowed to count slaves as part of the overall population?
• How should the chief executive be elected?

These questions and more will be decided next week in class debates. I am considering recording some debates that I know will be "hot" and so if there is any opposition, please inform me via email. The intent is to have something to share for next year as a standard of expectation, but also to give you all a window into the classroom. 

Next week is devoted to concluding debates on the key issues from the Constitutional Convention. It will allow for a nice break before we come back in January to complete a short lesson on the ratification of this document by the people in State Conventions. 

Until then, I am yours,

Mr. Bruce

Week 13 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

I am sitting in the computer lab watching your kid work to complete a very cool timeline. It is so awesome how they take to new tools for creating and curating content as they learn. We finished this week leaving this project unfinished. I don't like doing that, but I apparently overloaded them with their "Creating the Constitution" project. Take a look at the Creating the Constitution page for details. Monday and Tuesday I hope to finish this project and usher in a new one, which I'll explain below.

Looking back at what we have done this week, it began with a video from PBS that explored the concept of federalism. We hear this word, or at least its commonly used relative, very frequently when we refer to our "federal" government. However, too few of us really understand the system that divides, separates, and distinguishes our federal system. We explored the typical and often used definition of federalism as a system of shared (or divided) power between a central government and several sub-units of government. If you were a good student, you would remember that from school. But our American system of federalism is little different in that it doesn't allow for a clear division of power or authority or explicitly define what or how much is shared. The result is a muddy debate or conflict between the States and the National Government that has shifted and twisted over the 227 years since the Constitution was written. This video did a great job connecting the views and desires of the Founding Fathers with the debate that still goes on today. I encourage you to view that this weekend.

This led to the transition and prep timeline project of "Creating the Constitution". It will set us up to debate the Constitution in a simulated format. The classroom will transform into the East Room of the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall). I may be asking your students to bring in things to help decorate this room to fit the mood such as candles, green cloth/sheets, etc. (see images below). We need to start by taking on the identity of one of the delegates and study his background and understand his views on the issues faced at the convention. Then we will debate the issues according to the delegates' historic positions and attitudes. As we debate, we will learn how compromise filled the air and how the Constitution we know today was formed by this group of extraordinary men we know today as the Founding Fathers.

Until then,
Mr. Bruce

Week 12 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I took the chance for Bell Work today to ask students what they were thankful for. The reflection was worthwhile and I think, at least for those who shared whole class, certainly recognize the things in their lives that lift them up. Family, far and away, topped the list. This means that we are thankful for you, parents, for the ways in which you lay down and set aside your lives and desires for the benefit of your students.

As a recap of this week I turn your attention to the details that we gleaned from our final look at the correspondence between George Washington and Henry Knox from February, 1787. Ask you son/daughter how their letters helped us understand the difference between the government that the States created and wanted and the one that the States needed by the end of the 1780s. Also, be sure to ask them what was different about the United States before 1787 as compared to now. For those of us that weren't in Youth in Government, I kept things light as we did a lesson/activity that connected some ideas and linked cause with effect from British rule, to the Articles of Confederation, to the Constitution. I've attached that here for you. Also see This Day in History for Nov. 23.

I wanted to also throw at you an update I made to my use of mrbruceshistory.wikispaces.com. On the home page of my site you can find the daily work embedded front and center. This means if your son/daughter is home sick, they can know what we are doing in Mr. Bruce's History by visiting the home page of the class website. These are all accessible via the "This Day in History" calendar which is linked on the left navigation (see image below).

I encourage you (particularly students) to increase your awareness and comfort with the class website. Next week, I am planning on some time in the computer lab for you to become contributors of the site, making a few pages of your own and creating an interactive timeline of this Constitutional period.

But that's next week. Again, have a great Thanksgiving!

Yours,
Mr. Bruce

Week 11 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and students,

Last winter's project - Olaf
melted in the rain the very
next day...

What a weekend that we have ahead of us! If you don't already know, winter storm Bella is bearing down on us. I'm just hoping the Winter Storm Watch doesn't fall flat. I'm a fan of snow, especially the kind that allows for snowmen.

As far as our week in class, we have devoted ourselves to understanding the reasons for why States sent delegates to Philadelphia in  May of 1787. History textbooks settle on the conclusion that it was to write a Constitution. But we can't do that without acknowledging the constitution that was already in place - The Articles of Confederation. For the purposes of summary and review, I have prepared a set of video lectures for you (parents and students) to use to cover the basics:

• Articles of Confederation Pt. 1
• Articles of Confederation Pt. 2
• Articles of Confederation Pt. 3

The question we have been pursuing through this week is "How was the government the states needed different than the government that they wanted?" What we closed in on today in class, was that Washington felt that the national government needed to be stronger and that the states needed to be weaker. 

Our work was difficult, but student leadership pulled us through as we dug into a letter from George Washington written on February 3, 1787 to Henry Knox. This letter was just days of after Shays' Rebellion and three months before the Philadelphia Convention would begin. Surely, this letter contains clues to the government the states wanted versus the government they needed - at least according to Washington. His letter contains nuggets for why and how it was going to be difficult to get the States to give up their "darling Sovereignties." I've included a few pics of students leading the class through a close read of this letter. It was great to see them engaged in a document as difficult as this one was.

As we head into next week, I will be honest in my intention to be kind to those going to Youth in Government. As a former advisor, I know they follow an extremely challenging schedule and have no time for school work while there. As it is a three day week, we will solidify what we have learned in one form or another, but I will not add anything for YIG students to do. Next Wednesday, when our YIG classmates return, we are going to make sure we are ready open the Philadelphia Convention, with our clear understanding of the challenge and purpose that the delegates were faced with.

If you are in YIG, please just be sure to complete the Washington to Knox Letter/Worksheet before Wednesday - work together on it.

Have a great weekend! Let the white stuff fall :)

Yours,
Mr. Bruce

6th Hour: Brody and Noah

2nd Hour: Keegan and Abby

3rd Hour: Kristina and Taylor

4th Hour: Luke and Makinzie

Week 10 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and students,

What a week! Fresh into a new marking period are we. With a short week behind us, I am going to keep this note short and sweet.

I am going to start with sweet... Thanks to all you who came to meet with us at Conferences. It was a pleasure to sit and chat with you about your great kids! The foundations you have created allows us to extend their learning in ways that are fit for a growing mind. Thank you also for your feedback regarding our setting for Conferences. There are a variety of ways we could go about inviting you in, and I think I have done them all in my 11 years of teaching. But this setting works the best for parents and teachers when you factor in all the variables and account for the negatives. The reality behind conferences is that there is no such thing as perfect and where benefits exist, there may be a few things that are sacrificed to achieve that. Our reflection on conferences is that our structure maximizes benefits while minimizes costs.

I want to take a moment here to thank all you parents who are Veterans. We spent some time this week to look presently and historically at the necessity of taking a day to recognize and honor those that have given a part of their life, as well as those who have given much, much more, to provide for us a way of living that is too easy to take for granted. God has blessed us through those who have answered the call of duty. May God continue to bless them for their sacrifice for our benefit.

Lastly, I want to point us all to the next week. Our focus is on the Philadelphia Convention -

• Why did delegates meet? 
• What was their purpose? 
• Who attended? 
• And what was the result of the meeting?

Most of us know the Constitution as the guide for our government, but few recognize the historical necessity behind its creation and the problems it was set out to fix. We will dive into those questions and more as we reconvene Monday.

Until then, I am yours,

Mr. Bruce

Week 9 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and students,

In a flash, the week is over and so is our first marking period. Next week we hold Parent-Teacher Conferences. Our conferences will be panel style where you will have the opportunity to sit with all of your core teachers (History, Science, Math, English, and Spanish) in a single setting. Please email Mrs. Dean with questions or to schedule a session.

We ended the marking period in a perfect position to step forward into Unit 3 - The Constitution. However, when preparing to study the Constitution, we must pause to learn of its need. Often, people learned to forget or ignore the critical years between the end of the American Revolution and the creation of the Constitution. From 1781 until 1788, the United States were not united and was not a single nation. Rather it was a loose association of independent nations (states) organized under a confederation. They agreed to be unified for common defense and welfare according to The Articles of Confederation (a.k.a. Constitution 1.0). The reason why the Constitution we know and love was created was because the first one failed...

So we spent time this week looking at that failure and the nature of 13 free sovereign and independent nations figuring things out. One question we wondered about and explored was "Could Washington have become king?" We read in a letter an offer made to Washington by many of his Army officers. It was a proposition formed from significant grievances about Congress and the "weakness of republicks". It offered Washington the title of King if he agreed to lead the army to take over Congress. Washington, of course, sternly put that idea down. His choice of words is worth asking your son or daughter about. Read more about this as the beginnings of what would later develop into the Newburgh Conspiracy.

Finally we learned today about the one successful and lasting accomplishment of the Confederation Congress under the Articles of Confederation. Do you know why Branch County is made up of townships with 36 square miles each? Do you know why county roads are generally east/west and north/south and are spaced at mile intervals? Ask your son/daughter. Because they learned about the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and how these two laws created a revenue stream for Congress and territories for the addition of future states.

Big week. Lots to talk about this weekend.

Next week we focus on a near-second revolution that began with some justifiably angry farmers in Massachusetts.

See you at conferences!
Mr. Bruce

Week 8 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

Happy Halloween! I hope those of us who go Trick or Treating will have weather on our side - it's not looking too promising. Might be a trip to buy some candy and stay indoors... Hey! Did you know that I am archiving all weekly emails on my blog? A few weeks ago I shared with you my class website. Now you can visit mrbruceshistory.blogspot.com to see all of the posts/emails. You can also get to them at the class site and click "Blog".

As I mentioned last week, the first Marking Period is coming to a close. And we are set to complete our first major historical interpretation just in time. This week, we practiced using background information to get a useful evaluation from a piece of evidence. We read two short excerpts written by George Washington, written just a week apart as he was camped at Valley Forge.

In the first letter, he expressed his feelings about Patriotism and its inability to sustain a "long and bloody war." We used what we learned about the deplorable conditions his army had faced that winter -- the defeats by the British that led to the loss of Philadelphia, the cold and poorly equipped soldiers, and the death of 2500 soldiers to cold, starvation and disease -- and how these conditions affected Washington's perspective and overall outlook on the war. As of April of 1778, it wasn't good.

In contrast, the second letter a week later, was full of celebration, opportunity, and hope! We used what we learned about the French commitment to the American cause and realized up that the second letter was written right after Washington heard the news of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and France, where they promised full support for the American cause. This news, indeed, was the promise that Washington's army needed to leave Valley Forge and face the British. These things are not just good to know, it allowed us to see the benefit of building an understanding and applying that to how we evaluate our evidence. Through it we can see a deeper connection between and among events along the timeline of the American Revolution.

We spent the remainder of the week in the computer lab employing the strategies we learned to evaluate evidence to answer our individual compelling questions. We'll cap their work off with poster presentations next week where students will display their question, the evidence they used and what it said, and how it pointed to the interpretation they developed. This poster will conclude this unit as well as the Marking Period for Mr. Bruce's History.

I encourage you to explore the American Revolution a little more deeply this weekend and into the next. Ask your student questions about their investigation. What did they find that the textbook couldn't provide? Finally, why does that they discovered, learned, and concluded matter? I also encourage you to take a look again at these events through some of my favorite resources:

• The Revolutionary War - George Washington's Mount Vernon: There are a few short video presentations on here as well as short articles about the War, particularly Washington's influence
• American Memory Timeline Not a timeline in the traditional sense, this is a collection of primary documents from our nation's premier library. The topics list at the right will guide you to the sources which are organized by year
• Gilder Lehrman - Presentations on the War for Independence: Another set of video presentations, lectures, of prominent historians sharing their research and findings about the greatest era of our history

Our next steps are to determine what was created by the Treaty of Paris: One country called the United States of America? Or was it thirteen independently sovereign countries that together called themselves the United States of America?

Stay tuned. We can't learn about the Constitution of the United States unless we break down the reasons it was needed.

Yours,
Mr. Bruce

Gilder Lehrman Presentation - Joseph Ellis

Ellis shares about writing a book on the man who stood out among the greatest men in our history. Pay attention to how he begins (I'll give you a hint: how do we begin?)

Week 7 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

We're ready to round out Marking Period 1 next week. Just like that, a quarter of the school year is behind us. The second marking period is loaded with opportunities for us to practice this process of learning history through questions, gathering and evaluating evidence, and interpretation. Under significant guidance, we will apply this foundation to topics like the creation of the Constitution, putting that experimental government into practice, and a very shaky election year in 1800.

Before you read any further. We worked on two essential assignments this week. Both should be completed by all students before returning Monday:

• Chapter 6 Reading Guide: The Declaration of Independence
• Chapter 7 Reading Guide: The American Revolution

At this point in the year, it is helpful for me to introduce you to the guiding framework for why I lead students this way through History. For me it's been a process that has developed over the last 11 years since graduating from CMU. While CMU provided the right tools to be an effective teacher, it was later that I developed a truly effective practice for teaching history.

It began with a Federal "Teaching American History" grant that the Battle Creek Consortium received that they opened up to all Calhoun ISD schools. While at Union City, that included me - it was AWESOME. I worked with a small group of 8th grade teachers from the Calhoun ISD as well as historians and professors from MSU to build lessons and units. This effort gave us understanding into what history instruction could be. Part of this included an project called "Thinking Like a Historian" created by two historians from Wisconsin. Their framework has been my foundation. Since then, I have gotten further ideas from a book titled Why Won't You Just Tell Us the Answer by Bruce Lesh. His application of very similar methods gave me more strategies to employ. Finally, a project by Sam Wineburg, a renowned professor from Stanford, called "Historical Thinking Matters" has guided me to help students critically analyze primary and secondary sources.

What's more important is that in the last two years, Michigan has taken steps toward making this approach to teaching social studies a more concrete reality. Michigan sent a number of representatives to be a part of a group from several states to develop an instructional approach that can guide teachers in how to teach content standards. Content is what is taught and learned: topics. The C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards defines how social studies should be taught. It fits with how I teach perfectly. The link I included above takes you to a page on my website where I have listed just the C3 Standards. Attached is the PDF document of the Framework in its entirety. The introduction is an excellent read if you are interested.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I would describe what I do in Extension class for those of you who have or will have students in that class. I encourage you to take a peek at www.codeavengers.com (see video below). This website is one of a few resources for learning how to code. My particular emphasis is learning to create for the web, which includes two languages: HTML and CSS. Students take an introductory course and then the hope is to apply what they learn to create a personal site of their own before the 12 week rotation is up. Nowhere else in their public education are these skills provided except in these exploratory classes. Of all of the visual content they have consumed as a user of the web and web based mobile applications, it is essential that they learn about how to produce and create. Across the nation right now there are hundreds of thousands of jobs in the high-tech sector that go unfilled because there are no applicants available. It starts here. It's also incredibly challenging and helps to define academic character.

Until next week,
Mr. Bruce

Intro to Code Avengers:

Week 6 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students (I'll start including all student addresses to this list, too),

Happy Homecoming! The events and dress-up days of this week have certainly played a big role in making an exciting homecoming week. I hope we all bundle up tonight as we cheer on the ORIOLES!

We have spent a significant amount of time this week developing big questions that we can use to give us purpose to study the past. The unit we began last week is titled (for my purposes) the "Nature and Consequences of the American Revolution." While it is perfectly reasonable for me to create a list of questions that we could use to guide us through this content study, it is essential to "thinking like a historian" that students develop their own compelling questions that they can pursue as we tackle this unit. Here is a the document with all our questions, by hour. Clearly we have much work to do...

It's a perfect way to give us a reason to study the past. What we have done is identify what is called a "compelling" question. This term comes from the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards - I'll explain more about that next week. A compelling question is one that needs to be answered - it draws us in. These have no easy answer. However, if we break it down into smaller, easier "supporting" questions that we can answer, we are able to build an argument that starts to satisfy our bigger question. Ask your student to share their compelling question with you and talk with them about some smaller supporting questions that need to be answered before we tackle the big one.

I'll save you the long read today. After all it is homecoming weekend. For now, I invite you to take some time to introduce yourself to the class website: mrbruceshistory.wikispaces.com. This has been the home to my class online for seven years or so and has undergone three major overhauls. Anything I need to publish goes there. Students will later use this site to publish their own material and create pages and projects within here to display their work as we communicate what we have learned about the past with the world.

That's all for this week! Obviously, we're headed somewhere now. ;)

Yours,
Mr. Bruce

Week 5 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and students,

Well, the second attempt in decorating the room was certainly more thoughtful than the first. During the first few days of school, I welcomed students (in groups) to claim a portion of the classroom wall and bulletin board space as their own and decorate it according to interests and maybe things that pertain to history, even their personal history. Some attempts were good; others, not as good. However, this time around, we had a renewed purpose; and what a difference.

As you read last week, we were to be making posters this week. On Tuesday, after completing the long week of learning about the historical process, I asked them to design (plan that combined both form and function, looks and content) a poster about any part of the process (see slide image below). Overall, it was a success. I'll be sharing some pics of a few of my favorites. And above all, it showed me that we have enough of a grasp of the process that we can move forward with our first unit.

Often, the best historical investigations begin with an artifact... a letter, a poster or a print of some kind. These things almost instantly make us wonder about the letter writer and it's recipient; or about what the picture means? For this reason, I began today by introducing a unit on the nature and consequences of the American Revolution with a letter written by the most misunderstood (in my opinion) of our Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton. It was written during the fifth year of the war and reveals a depth of despair we never read about in textbooks.

As Washington's "aide-de-camp" (personal secretary of sorts), Hamilton certainly had a unique perspective on the war. We want to use this document to insert us into the study of the American Revolution using an array of big questions to choose from. From there, students determine the sources needed to give them what they need to answer their question. And we're off! I can't wait to see where this takes us.

If you are so inclined this weekend and into the coming week, inquire about this letter. I've attached it for you (along with a special intro sheet students don't have ;) Also, ask them questions about the process of doing history: remember it's questions, evidence, and interpretation. Use the "Thinking Like a Historian Guidesheet" (attached) to make it clear to them that you know what you're talking about.

Lastly, ask about their week overall. What was the best thing that happened, what brought them down (don't forget to follow that with "What did they do to overcome that?").

Next week, I am going to try to mention what I'm doing in Extension. It's worth sharing...

Until then, yours,
Mr. Bruce

P.S. Have you seen the class website: mrbruceshistory.wikispaces.com ? I am going to be referring you there more and more as we go forward.

Week 4 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and students,

Hello, October! It certainly is starting to feel like Fall... And I am loving it. Honestly, the temperature of the classroom jumps what feels like an immediate 20 degrees as soon as the class of 34 enters the room. Having a cool breeze come through the windows is welcome, to say the least. Even so, we certainly heated things up this week with the process of history, or the historical thinking.

[I originally had this at the end of the email, but I feared that some might not get to the end... I hope you take a moment to read the entire email, but this paragraph was important enough to me to promote it]
I should also mention that earlier last week I began each hour with an excerpt from an article called "Ten Truths Middle Schooler's Should Know." It is written by a woman, named Kari Kubiszyn Kampakis, who works with and counsels adolescents (particularly girls). I have been featuring one truth each day and we will end Monday with "Truth #1: YOU ARE AWESOME!" Please check them out and talk to your adolescents about them to reinforce that #1 truth and the other nine.

Last week I provided a glimpse into what this week was all about. After a great deal of notes (which become an instant resource/guide in their binders), we have completed the overview of how historians engage with their craft. It's as easy as a three step process, but that really doesn't cut it. Historical thinking begins with questions that have no answers that can be "found". What this means is that we can't just use the textbook, although it's a great starting point. Our questions require us to gather and evaluate evidence in a way that a detective pieces together a crime (or Mr. Engel investigates an incident in the hallway). Digging into primary and secondary sources this way leads us to an understanding that transcends the textbook. As I tell them, our books simplify and dumb down history so it fits between the covers. We can't settle for that! No wonder why most of us thought history was boring in school...

If this is the case then answers are not "found" but are completely new thoughts, created from the analysis of multiple perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences and as people, ideas, and events collide in a unique time and place. In this way, your kids will be contributing to the historical record as baby student historians!

The number one thing that I may need your help with is the understanding that I am going to push them to stop settling for easy questions and answers. The work of history forces us to seek out understandings that are synthetic, that is, are completely new and original ideas that come out of their connections made from the evidence/sources. This is substantially different from finding ideas and concepts that are simply in the textbook or on Wikipedia. Our students are conditioned by the time they are in 8th grade to think that answers are findable. They will resist the notion that they have the cognitive capacity to interrogate the evidence. They will become desperate for a secondary source in which the answer is waiting for them. In fact, it doesn't exist. Yet.

There's a number of things I want you to have so you can look through it to support your baby student historian. Much of what we focused on is found on the page of my class website devoted to this: Mr. Bruce's History - Thinking Like A Historian. The slides embedded there contain the lesson on questions, evidence, and interpretation. You also have on that page the note sheets students used and created as a resource. Finally, I sent the rubric in last week's email (attached below). Please look at again. Read down the "Level 1" column to see what is considered "Below Expectations". You should see how simply finding answers and writing them down is not enough.

As always, let me know what you're thinking and with your struggles in support of your student.
Next week, we are going to loosen it up a bit and do some redecorating with posters about all this stuff - make sure we all get it... Have them ready with their creative side.

Yours,
Mr. Bruce

Historical Process Rubric

Week 3 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and students,

After another great week with your kids, I am energized by the way they have taken to the beginnings of the study of the past. Here's what we've done this week to make me feel this way.

We didn't start all that awesome. Monday was the pre-test. This is essentially the final exam that they will take in June. They didn't take too well to it because it asked them to do things they didn't understand. And that's quite the point, that there's much to learn this year! Tuesday/Wednesday, we explored why this is such a valuable course of study and what it provides us as students, as well as members of a large civic body. Consider asking your son/daughter "why history"?

We finished the week by exploring that first step toward what makes "history" history: Questions. All history (that is the study of the past - an active discipline) begins with good questions. And good questions allow us an opportunity to dig deeper and truly understand the past, as opposed to settling for superficial trivia. We also explored categories of inquiry to help guide us toward the kinds of questions to ask of the past. For example, as them which question is better and why:

• Were people killed as a result of the “Boston Massacre?” 
• Were the British soldiers justified in firing on the colonists the night of the “Boston Massacre?” 

All this leads us toward building a better inquiry, a way to discover the past.

And because I brought up the idea of assessment, I might as well introduce you to the three main criteria I will ask them to demonstrate, and progressively improve on, through the year. I have attached the Historical Process Rubric. The three categories are what we will focus on into next week as we move through the three steps of this process: Questions, Evidence, and Interpretation.

Next week we will use what we learned about good questions to consider what it means to gather and evaluate the evidence needed to begin to answer our questions. This is step 2 in our process and it is, by far, the most difficult part. It requires deep text analysis and reading in a way that is altogether new. We will do this by jumping into content for the first time. I think we're ready...

Thanks for taking the time to come with on this "journey." Stay in touch. Keep me motivated to continue these updates :)

See you at the game tonight! Go QMS Band!!!
Mr. Bruce

Historical Process Rubric

Week 2 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and students,

Each of us took a piece of a puzzle
and attempted to put it together. 

I would have thought our first 5-day week of this school year to have felt a little longer than it did. Rather, it blew by...! At this rate it will be Thanksgiving before we know it.

We began with the follow-up presentation from the "My Three Artifacts" assignment that went home last weekend. These 60-second presentations allowed students a chance to share a piece of themselves to their classmates and what that object says about them. While this is a task directly aimed at making them see embedded into the study of history, it also allows us to build community.

This aspect of community is essential to learning history by "doing" history. We ended this week with our first glimpse into what history really is: the study of the past through questions, analysis of evidence, and constructing an interpretation of what we find. In order to introduce this extended definition of history, we use the puzzle as an analogy and each piece as an artifact. If puzzle pieces are scattered around in the possession of many individuals/owners, we must be able to communicate and collaborate in order to put artifacts together and construct the bigger picture. Consider discussing these questions at home:

• How is history like a puzzle? 
• What does each puzzle piece represent? 
• What do you think historians do when there are puzzle pieces missing (see the attached image)? 
• Is it possible to force a puzzle piece where it doesn't actually belong? What if a historian does this? 
• If history is like a puzzle, what makes a good historian? 

Next week we are going to extend this conversation and dip our toes in the water. That is, after we take a pre-test. Nothing to prepare for - just a way to create a baseline of data to compare students to themselves at the end of the year. We will be deep into doing history and ready to apply some new skills by the end of the month. Next week I'll be sharing more about what this process looks like on paper and how I will be assessing it. From there, you'll learn more about what content we will learn through this process.

Have you subscribed to Remind yet? Has your son/daughter? If so, awesome. If not, take literally 30 seconds and text @qms-ushist to 81010 and follow the instructions. Curious about the benefits? See Resources for Parents.

Shaping up to be a fantastic year!
Mr. Bruce

Week 1 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and students,

What a way to start the year! I am quite certain that this is going to be the best year ever and the evidence is in the 8th grade class that I have gotten to know this week.

We started with two days of "Boot Camp" where we re-familiarize ourselves with building norms, procedures, and expectations. But we also kicked off the year with some awesome guest speakers who helped us understand our building quote: "If you can dream it, you can achieve it; if you can imagine it, you can become it." Please ask your son or daughter about Zack and Gregory when you get a chance.

By Thursday, we were (I was) definitely ready to get started in to U.S. History. I have taught U.S.History for 9 years (7 in Union City). My pursuit with you and your son/daughter is to instill in them more than just an understanding about what happened in our past, but to actually become a young student historian. In this way, they will learn the processes of using sources to develop an interpretation of the past and compare that with what others have developed. Through this process, we will be building or constructing our understanding of our past in a community of learners, collaborating for collective success.

This process requires patience to get started... we begin with the basics. For this reason, I start with connecting students to history personally through the My Three Artifacts assignment. Please ask your student about this assignment which was sent home today to be completed no later than Tuesday. The assignment culminates in a 60 second live presentation or, alternatively, a video recording in which the student displays an artifact in their life and what that artifact tells a "finder" about them. I have attached the assignment sheet for your reference.For more, see the My Three Artifacts Lesson. I look forward to sharing some of these presentations for you at Open House this upcoming Tuesday evening.

Also, we are working to take some ownership in the classroom. Groups of students are collaborating to decorate the classroom walls and bulletin boards in a way that makes the room their U.S. History classroom. I look forward to seeing how that all turns out...

Finally, as I mentioned above, Tuesday is our Open House. Please come on in and see what we've got going on here at QMS.

Please consider staying connected with Mr. Bruce's History using Remind. Both parents and students are encouraged to sign up. This is a way for me to send updates and information via text without managing or collecting phone numbers. Super simple - super effective! See the image attached to this email for 30 second instructions. Again, it's best if both students and parents sign up to receive updates.

Well, that's enough for this week. Stay tuned for more. Much more. Have a great weekend!

Yours,
Mr. Bruce