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