https://padlet.com/japascu/brdvs3ac2hcd en-us 2016-10-17 20:55:55 UTC 2016-12-02 23:56:08 UTC hello@padlet.com japascu https://padlet.com/japascu/brdvs3ac2hcd/wish/131314048 Most teachers panic at the thought of making their lessons / activities more literacy-rich. This feeling might be provoked by the fact that not many teachers are aware or trained to do this. Making literacy-rich lessons / activities should not be something that teachers fear, it should be something that teachers aspire to doing. Once teachers are made aware of multiple strategies that could work for their discipline, the process is actually quite simple. The literacy-rich lessons / activities I will be reflecting on are: Human Barometer and Perspectives.

Human Barometer is perfect for a Social Studies classroom. The Human Barometer is an activity that gauges students' opinions about certain issues. Since History is filled with controversial issues, this activity could be used in almost every class session. The activity involves a questionnaire that students could either strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree to. The students then line up from strongly agree to strongly disagree. With this, the teacher could ask students why they chose to situate themselves along that point of the line and why they believe the way they do. I enjoy using this activity because it is perfect for the current trend in History; to look at the classroom as a laboratory--where students are active participants.

Perspectives is another perfect activity for the Social Studies classroom. Perspectives works by encouraging students to assume the role of a historical character. This forces students to think about this historical character's decision making process, motives, and place in history. I enjoy using this activity because it helps students avoid placing modern-day judgments on the past. For example, it is easy to say that "Slavery was bad," but for what reasons? Saying this statement avoids the emotional and physical damages done to Blacks / African Americans during this period of American History. Perspectives allows students to dive into what exactly made "Slavery bad." Perspectives also helps students empathize and make connections with historical characters. Taking the perspectives of Thomas Jefferson or Alexander Hamilton / John Adams can show students that political polarization is not a new phenomenon. By showing this, it might be easier for students to relate their lives with the lives of people who lived 200+ years ago.

Perspectives and the Human Barometer are two very easy literacy-rich activities to use in class. There are many more and I hope that more teachers will start making their lessons more literacy-rich.]]> 2016-10-17 21:16:30 UTC https://padlet.com/japascu/brdvs3ac2hcd/wish/131314048 aromito2 https://padlet.com/japascu/brdvs3ac2hcd/wish/131985296 Teachers should definitely aspire to create literacy-rich lessons and activities. Human Barometer seems to be a great example of a literacy-rich activity, where students have an opportunity to read, write, discuss, and explore the academic language within the content. It is great, as teachers, to find activities, adjust them to our lessons or discipline, and witness our students enjoy learning and enhancing their literacy.]]> 2016-10-20 06:31:26 UTC https://padlet.com/japascu/brdvs3ac2hcd/wish/131985296 chelseagross91 https://padlet.com/japascu/brdvs3ac2hcd/wish/135518312 Julius, 
I completely agree, I used to cringe at the word "literacy-rich" activities, because I used to believe it meant incorporating ONLY reading and writing into my content curriculum. However, after class discussions and readings, I now am aware of the variety of strategies that would work best for all types of learners within my discipline. There are so many activities that I can easily include in my everyday teaches, that I now find it harder NOT to include a literacy-rich activity! Your examples are great activities to promote student engagement through all content areas, especially the Human Barometer. This activity allows all students to voice their opinions on certain matters, which is relevant in nearly all content areas, and a great way to facilitate learning. ]]> 2016-11-04 22:49:37 UTC https://padlet.com/japascu/brdvs3ac2hcd/wish/135518312 amcolli https://padlet.com/japascu/brdvs3ac2hcd/wish/139482996 Julius, I think a lot of what you mention in your post is super important to classroom learning. I feel that it is true that many teachers are unaware as well as not trained to do this and so I think that is very important to try and implement into our own classrooms. It is our jobs as teachers to be aware of this so that we are almost able to teach our students those concepts and ideas. I think that it is so true now after learning about all of the resources and materials available to everyone it gives much more room to incorporate different technologies and activities to enhance learning.]]> 2016-11-22 22:10:58 UTC https://padlet.com/japascu/brdvs3ac2hcd/wish/139482996 tlycos2 https://padlet.com/japascu/brdvs3ac2hcd/wish/141523851 Julius,
I also plan on using such activities like perspectives. Like you said, "I enjoy using this activity because it helps students avoid placing modern-day judgments on the past." I believe this to be 100% correct. In order to fully understand the actions of history, it is imperative to take the role of the individual or individuals in the scenario. You have an example about the slavery being bad. When I think of perspective, I always come back to the thought of Nazi Germany. People in modern times criticize the Nazi officials for flowing the command of Hitler. The common man would say," If I was an official in Hitler's regime, I would have assassinated him for his genocide of the Jewish decent. Yes, in theory that would have been great, but it is imperative for students to take the perspective of former officials in the Nazi party. What if the official killed Hitler? What would happen to his family? Most people think in hindsight. It is important for students to think in the shoes of all men and women in history, therefore you will get an accurate depiction of one's thoughts and actions.
Great post,
Tim]]> 2016-12-02 23:47:35 UTC https://padlet.com/japascu/brdvs3ac2hcd/wish/141523851