Today was a good day in my classroom. Interwoven between the busy hum of kids being kids... socializing, texting when they are not supposed to, talking about the upcoming baseball season or what they are doing after school... I had some really amazing and insightful conversations with kids about something 'ancient' and contemporary at the same time. The cherry on the top was that my students were genuinely interested in what we were doing. So what was I doing? Engagement model instruction, featuring a very special guest --- Virtual Reality. There has been a mission in our school's professional development this year, and I am grateful for that focus. My gratitude is principally because I have not had time to keep up with new innovations in (social studies) education due to my own continuing education. But the word on the street has been all about using the Engagement Model to reach, motivate, and facilitate learning in the classroom. Engagement Model is pretty simple in its premise, and it seeks to change your core instructional techniques. Here, we are not so much talking about PBL or C3 instruction... we're talking about how you use that class time. Taking kids out of the passive reception of information and into a more dynamic conversation that seeks to couple your content in ways that are motivating enough to drive curiosity, originality, and connecting these thoughts to others around them. There are many ways to do Engagement Model, but I chose a large group instruction format that allowed for little drifts of conversations. Here is what I did. Taking on American Identity: Immigration PolicyI started with a topic that is super relevant to today... which is Immigration policy during the Progressive Era. Any lecture I do is going to dull connections that I hear in the background of our group discussions... my students are really curious about what it means to be an American, how to tackle our history in a way that both celebrates our victories and acknowledges are failures. My students are diverse; immigration is something that impacts our community in so many varied ways I started with a question: How do the buildings erected by the Federal Government convey America's prevailing opinions about immigration? This takes us to physical places at different points in history; forces us to examine how place and space impact emotions. Last year, I was awarded by the Virginia Council for the Social Studies the Loraine Stewart Mini Grant to purchase a class set of cardboard VR googles. (I ended up settling with KnoxLabs V2 cardboard googles... cheap, simple, and just requiring a smart phone with VR functionality... most of the phones could do this). I had used them a couple of times, but this year my department and I are searching out ways to bring place and space into the classroom and VR is a great way! Coupling my class set and the NearPod Ellis Island lesson (which has a very small cost to the educator) we were able to magically walk into a 360 degree VR presentation of a detainment cell at Ellis Island. From here we asked some quick and easy questions.
Were students engaged?Yes. I have two different classes; one very quiet first thing in the morning. They are a tough crowd, mostly because they are still waking up. But my kids had quieter, but just as engaged conversations about how we talk about immigration today. Questions and comments centered on connecting President Trump's proposed wall, the debate over chain migration or family reunification, and portrayals of minorities in the media. My more vocal and active class was just as engaged, but more outwardly seeking input... asking questions about challenging vocabulary, trying to put immigration on the East and West coast in context in the 1800s. and President Trump's wall. VR is a great way to get kids to be creative and curious, engaged in discussion about the serious (Why does the sign read Welcome to Ellis Island, Island of Tears?) and mundane (why is there a UFO in the Hudson Bay?). Students took risks, talked about the American narrative, and were given opportunities to explore America and her huddled masses. This was all because of some funny cardboard headgear and a really good question. Looking for other VR lesson ideas?I am looking for new VR sites that fit my curriculum, but if you want to share to my modest list (but here is someone else's) , add them in the comments below! Sharing is caring!
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Jen's bookshelf: nerdcation
I want to start by thanking Mr. Snowden and Mr. Greenwald for their uncompromising dedication to giving the NSA violations air time and transparency.
I wanted to share some of the most important things I have learned from this book bef...
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nerdcation
tagged:
nerdcation and to-read
tagged:
nerdcation and to-read
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nerdcation and to-read
AuthorI lovgov. LOVE IT! I love teaching government, learning about it, debating, discussing, asking questions about government. And not the standard boiler plate questions, but the hard ones that are NOT in the books. Archives
August 2018
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