Guests – Ed Methods

November 7, 2015November 29, 2015

Class 11: Role Play

The goal of this class is to experience the role-play as teaching method. Students will be introduced to (and receive) a hands-on curriculum (from Choices Program) that uses primary sources, case studies, videos, and role-play simulations to engage students in an exploration of the concept of human rights and the challenges of international enforcement. The curriculum also introduces students to various human rights actors, and examines the current debate on U.S. human rights policy. Emphasis is placed on helping students develop the skills and habits needed for active citizenship.

Choices Program ~ The program’s curriculum units draw upon multiple primary source documents and culminate in a rigorous student-centered role-playing activity. Students will take part in a Choices lesson entitled Human Rights: Competing Visions of Human Rights – Questions for U.S. Policy.

Working cooperatively, students will examine the evolving role that human rights has played in international politics and explore the current debate on U.S. human rights policy.

The lesson was delivered by guest – Tim Graham. Tim is currently a teacher at Cleveland High School in Portland, OR. He has taught social studies for 12 years in the Portland Public Schools district, working at Roosevelt, Benson, and Franklin high schools in addition to his current placement at Cleveland.

Tim is an excellent role model – innovative, lifelong learner, veteran educator. We’ll have a chance to pick his brain on the challenges and opportunities for teachers in PPS.

He has attended teaching seminars with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. He is currently a Choices Teaching Fellow. Tim maintains two class blogs – IB 20th Century and IB HOTA.

Role Playing
Participants in role playing assignments adopt and act out the role of characters in particular situations. They may take on the personalities, motivation, backgrounds, mannerisms, and behaviors of people different from themselves.

Closely related: simulations (which may have a game element) and reenactments (which may employ costumes or other theatrical elements).

When creating role play activities, we are often focused on making the experience memorable. This can lead to lessons that are fun – “we dressed in togas” – but from which students gain little academically.

The most impactful role-playing activities (like Choices, above or Zinn, below) feature debate, decision-making or problem solving from the perspectives of historical figures.

Good role play activities found here:
From Zinn Education Project Link
From Thinking History (primarily in European history) Link

A document-based lesson can be enhanced by role-playing the documents’ creators or audience. For example, these SHEG lessons could easily be modified to add a role play.

Assignment: Continue research / design for DBL (iBooks Author lab work on 11/23)

Workflow? See this guide Getting Ready for iBooks Author 57KB pdf

Image credit: Library of Congress: Actors on Broadway Miss Phyllis Gordon

Creator(s): Bain News Service, publisher
Date Created/Published: [no date recorded on caption card]
Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ggbain-08296 (digital file from original neg.)
Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.
Call Number: LC-B2- 2047-4 [P&P]

November 15, 2014

Class 12: Role Playing Competing Visions of Human Rights

Students introduced to the Choices Program. The program’s curriculum units draw upon multiple primary source documents and culminate in a rigorous student-centered role-playing activity. Students will take part in a Choices lesson entitled Human Rights: Competing Visions of Human Rights – Questions for U.S. Policy. Working cooperatively, students will examine the evolving role that human rights has played in international politics and explore the current debate on U.S. human rights policy.

The goal of this class is to experience the role-play as teaching method. Students will be introduced to (and receive) a hands-on curriculum that uses primary sources, case studies, videos, and role-play simulations to engage students in an exploration of the concept of human rights and the challenges of international enforcement. The curriculum also introduces students to various human rights actors, and examines the current debate on U.S. human rights policy. Emphasis is placed on helping students develop the skills and habits needed for active citizenship.

The lesson was delivered by guest teacher – Tim Graham. Tim is currently a teacher at Cleveland High School in Portland, OR. He has taught social studies for 11 years in the Portland Public Schools district, working at Roosevelt, Benson, and Franklin high schools in addition to his current placement at Cleveland. He has attended teaching seminars with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. He is currently a Choices Teaching Fellow. Tim maintains two class blogs – Modern World History and IB HOTA.

Assignment due Nov 23

Write a reflection on your experience with the DBQ design assignment.

It should be posted on this blog by Sunday 11/23.
Include an image to make it pretty.
Note that you are not posting your DBQ, but what you learned from your work on it.

What did you learn from the experience of trying to design a DBQ?
Here’s some prompts you might consider (but you don’t have to answer them all):

what was your goal? was it achieved why or why not?
how it might be used in class?
value (or lack of value) as a learning experience.
challenges, successes, lessons learned.
how you’d approach it differently the next time.
ways to improve or replace the assignment.

Image credit: Flickr / “human rights day” by Catching.Light

November 7, 2014

Class 11: Using Mock Trials in the Classroom

I’m a big fan of using mock trials – they embody critical thinking in the classroom. Over the years I wrote a number of cases which proved to be effective tools for improving student analytic skills and Common Core skills. Here’s a few posts from my blog on using them in the classroom and a link to two mock trials and an appeals case that I developed.

This week we will be visited by Ms. Barbara Rost, program director, Classroom Law Project. She’ll provide resources for law related education. (Be sure to follow that link – loads of lesson plans!)

As a demonstration activity, she will guide us through a mock trial –Vickers v Hearst (443kb PDF) Rules of evidence here.

Barbara graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Portland State University after using the 11-year plan to earn her degree, something she does not advocate for others. Three years later she earned her J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School. She enjoys combining her interests in law and education in her work at Classroom Law Project. She is married, has two daughters in college and a really cute dog.

Classroom Law Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing civics, government and law to Oregon classrooms K-12. Teachers and students know CLP through programs such as mock trial, con team, Law Day conference (for students), Civics Conference for Teachers, court tours, weekly current events, professional development and more. CLP makes civic education fun. Its mission statement: Classroom Law Project is a non-profit organization of individuals, educators, lawyers, and civic leaders building strong communities by teaching students to become active citizens.

Image credit: George Coulson / Mug Shot / 1930s
This image is part of the Tyne & Wear Archives & Museum’s set “Newcastle upon Tyne criminals of the 1930’s.” Accession no. DX1190

This mug shot comes from a police identification book believed to be from the 1930s. It was originally found in a junk shop by a member of the public and subsequently donated to Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums. No information is available to confirm which police force compiled it but evidence suggests it’s from the Newcastle upon Tyne area.

November 7, 2013

Class 11: Mock Trials in the Classroom

I’m a big fan of using mock trials – they embody critical thinking in the classroom. Over the years I wrote a number of cases which proved to be effective tools for improving student analytic skills and Common Core skills. Here’s two posts from my blog on using them in the classroom. And here’s a link to two mock trials and an appeals case that I developed.

This week we will be visited by Ms. Barbara Rost, program director, Classroom Law Project. She will guide us through a mock trial – The People Vs Carter (2.4mb PDF) – and provide resources for law related education. (Be sure to follow that link – loads of lesson plans!)

Image credit: John Dodgson / Mug Shot / 1930s