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