This week we are starting our look at Progressive Politics, beginning with an introduction to Theodore Roosevelt and his Square Deal.

Monday - Because of some schedule changes last week and since I am out with a migraine today, students will start the week by finishing the Action Figures (Learn more here.) they started on Friday. I am so excited about these! I have done them before by simply giving students a blank space to draw, but the addition of the Funko Pop! outlines really made a difference. Students were less intimidated by the process and were able to quickly produce some really gorgeous figures. I can't wait to see their finished products! 

Tuesday - Today we finally get to meet President Theodore Roosevelt, beginning with a short reading about his life before the presidency. We don't have time to do this with every person in history, but I do try to spend time whenever possible really introducing students to the people we are studying. In this way, they become more than just names in a text, but instead real people who  - for better or worse - are influenced by the past as they make decisions about the future. We will end the day by completing a Frayer Model (Learn more here.) about Roosevelt's Square Deal. I did, however, change the last box in the activity so that instead of drawing an image, students will compare Roosevelt's policies to those of his predecessors.

Wednesday and Thursday - Students will spend two days completing an Iron Chef Activity (Learn more here.) to dig deeper into Roosevelt's policies. I have modified this activity to allow students to work on their own as well as to force them to connect what they learn about Roosevelt to ideas from our previous lessons. This thinking will set them up for success when we get to the culminating activity in this unit. As they finish, students will use what they learned to answer a series of questions and finally draw conclusions about the Roosevelt Administration.

Friday - We will end the week with a quick look at the Taft Administration and the Election of 1912. Time permitting, we will also spend some time in "Zornville" learning more about the election process. I've used this activity for years to help students understand popular vote vs. electoral vote, the winner-take-all system, etc.

And because it worked as well last week, students will also practice the vocabulary words essential to this section with the Fast and Curious protocol (Learn more here.). Our goal is to complete this process three times this week, improving our class averages each time. So far, students have really enjoyed this and have been very excited to watch their scores go up. 

This week we are continuing our study of Progressive Reform Movements. Just like last week, we will explore how specific reformers addressed the problems that we originally uncovered in our Gilded Age Unit.

Monday - We will learn more about the fight for women's suffrage, focusing on the story of Alice Paul with a reading and video clips from "Iron Jawed Angels." Students will then complete an Empathy Map to showcase what they learned. More on this technique can be found with a subscription to EMC2Learning. Finally, students will end class by adding details to their Sketch Notes. 

Tuesday and Wednesday - We will spend two days exploring life for African Americans, starting with a timeline connecting the issues at the turn of the century to those of the Civil War and Reconstruction Eras. While those are technically topics that students should have covered in eighth grade, the last two years have been such a mess that I feel the need to review the information before we move forward in our studies. Next, students will use a Cyber Sandwich (Learn morehere.) to compare the ideas of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. Notice that I chose to have students record their notes in the Pear Deck we have been using throughout this lesson. They will then use a paper and pencil handout to compare and contrast what they learned with a partner. Finally, students will end class by adding details to their Sketch Notes. 

Thursday and Friday - Students will wrap up this section by creating an Action Figure (Learn more here.) to highlight the achievements of one person important to the history of the Progressive Era. They will start by answering a series of questions about their person of choice in order to complete the biography section of their templates. Next, they will add images and details to complete their figures.

Students will also practice the vocabulary words essential to this section with the Fast and Curious protocol (Learn morehere.). Our goal is to complete this process three more times this week, improving our class averages each time. So far, students have really enjoyed this and have been very excited to watch their scores go up. 

Notice that we are not using the Nocratic Seminar slides (Learn more about this technique with a subscription to EMC2Learning.). While I am excited to try out the technique, we just didn't have time to include them in these lessons. Look for it to show up in later units. 

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Happy Thursday, Everyone! We are less than a week away from the start of school here in my District, so I have been working hard to organize and prep for the new year. And while I plan to eventually share my entire U.S. History course with you via my Resources page, not everything I'm putting together really fits with my unit plans and class activities. For example, I've been working to create this collection of Pear Deck template slides that you can adapt and use as you build your own lessons. It starts with a few basic image and text slides, and then continues to include a number of different activity slides you can use to help students master vocabulary, interpret map, analyze source material, compare viewpoints, etc.

As always, feel free to make a copy and use whatever you find helpful. Also, be sure to check back from time to time as I'm certain I will add more templates as the year continues. 

​​And let me know what you think.

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Because I wanted to avoid grading 'papers' for as long as possible today...and I already had the template made anyway, I updated my museum room to highlight Women's History Month. As always, this is just a starting point for discussions. I had to leave out as many things as I included.

​Take a look and let me know what you think.

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In spite of my best efforts, all of these weather-related changes to our schedule means that I've ended up with some students who have fallen behind and others who are in need of enrichment. For those that fall into the second group, I put together this Black History Month Museum Slide. I tried to capture main ideas and key people I want my students to know about by the end of the year, but this is only a starting point for our discussions. There are loads of additional topics we will analyze throughout the year. And as always, free to make a copy and adapt it for your own needs.

​Let me know what you think.