1. Mark Jarrett, Ph.D. Florida Transformative Education
SIX ELEPHANTS IN A VOLKSWAGEN: TEACHING US HISTORY FOR FLORIDA’S NEW END-OF-COURSE TEST
Mark Jarrett, Ph.D.
Florida Transformative Education

2. Why Study History? To understand how we got to where we are today
Because the past still affects how we think
To understand where we are going in the future
To understand how people from different places and backgrounds relate and interact
To find lessons we can apply for solving the world’s problems, or our own
So that we won’t repeat the same mistakes
So that we can recycle good ideas from the past
It is just interesting—and fun—to think about the past
Because of the bad things when we let others make up or control the past—Orwell, Nazis, totalitarian states
So that we won’t forget those who came before us
So that those who come after us won’t forget us

3. How does a teacher squeeze all of Florida’s Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS)—from the causes of the Civil War to the present—into a one-year course?

4. New Standards, New Test, New Challenges
Agenda
New Standards, New Test, New Challenges
Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS)
EOC Assessment Test Item Specifications
How Do Students Learn? What the Research Says
Organizing the US History Standards
Key Learning Features of Gateway to US History

5. Challenges Posed by Florida’s New End-of-Course Testing
Broad Range of Content
More Document-Based and Data-Based Assessment Items: some may combine data- interpretation and critical-thinking skills with assessment of specific content knowledge
Assessment Items of Varying Cognitive Complexity
Online Test Administration?
All TEKS will be tested

15. How Do We Learn? We spoke about what learning is. How can we improve
Let’s look at the research.

16. Three Key Learning Principles from How People Learn:
Unmask Preconceptions
Conceptual Learning
Metacognitive Approach

17. HOW STUDENTS LEARN National Research Council, How People Learn (1999)
KEY FINDINGS
“Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom.”
Unmask preconceptions
What preconceptions might you have in history?

18. KEY FINDINGS
“To develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must: a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge, b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application.”
“A metacognitive approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them.”
Experts know facts and have them organized.
You need both facts and concepts—you can’t have one
without the other. We keep telling kids facts are not
Important. Then we complain when they don’t know
anything. Mexico is south of Texas. It won’t help you
to get to Mexico is you drive north. That’s important!
Skills—research in reading shows importance of metacognition

19. Robert Marzano, Debra Pickering & Jane Pollack, Classroom Instruction that Works
Identifying Similarities and Differences
Summarizing and Note Taking
Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition
Homework and Practice
Nonlinguistic Representations
Cooperative Learning
Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback
Generating and Testing Hypotheses
Cues, Questions and Advance
Marzano-Classroom instruction that works—
9 strategies highlighted

20. What is the best way to organize Florida’s NGSSS Benchmarks for United States History?
Kids will learn better if they are organized
conceptually.
You have to make sense of the TEKS
I cut them up and reassemble them.
The result is our book!

22. Social Studies Skills
A special opening unit teaches all the required social studies skills.
Students can use these chapters at the beginning of the course or refer to them as they go.
This unit lays a foundation for later practice questions in the book.
Preliminary—skills
Metacognitive approach

23. “Historians at Work”: How to Interpret Historical Documents
Things to consider in interpreting a document

24. How do historians reconstruct the past?
Who wrote the document?
What do we know about the author of the document?
When was it written?
Why was it written?
How does it relate to other evidence?
What do real historians do?

25. Civil War and Reconstruction
Chapter 3. The Civil War
Chapter 4. Reconstruction
Chapter 5. "Go West!"
Chapter 3. The Civil War
Chapter 4. Reconstruction
Chapter 5. "Go West!"

26. America’s Second Industrial Revolution
Chapter 6. The Triumph of Industry
Chapter 7. The Labor Movement
Chapter 8. Cities, Immigrants and Farmers
Chapter 9. The Progressive Era

27. World Affairs through World War I
Chapter 10. American Imperialism
Chapter 11. World War I

28. The Roaring Twenties And the Great Depression Chapter 12.
The Great Depression & New Deal

29. World War II and Post-World War II
Chapter 14. World War II
Chapter 15.
The Cold War

30. Modern America: Global Leadership and Domestic Issues
Chapter 16. Post-War Prosperity & Civil Rights
Chapter 17. The Sixties—“The Times They Are A Changin”
Chapter 18. U.S. Foreign Policy since 1972
Chapter 19. American Social Issues

31. Structure: Key Learning Features
Unit Opener: Advance Organizer
Chapter Opener: Florida NGSSS Benchmarks Covered in this Chapter
Chapter Opener: Names and Terms You Should Know (Word Wall)
Chapter Opener: Florida “Keys” to Learning (Important Ideas)
Chapter Text: “Chunked, Clustered and Illustrated”
The Historian’s Apprentice (Student Activities)
Review Cards
Concept Map
What Do You Know? (EOC-type Practice Questions)
Let’s look at the key learning features
Besides the organization of content, we added these
learning features to each chapter to capitalize on
Learning theory

32. Chapter Opener NGSSS Benchmarks in the Chapter Key Terms and Names
Advance organizer at chapter level

33. Chapter Opener NGSSS Benchmarks in the Chapter Key Terms and Names
Advance organizer at chapter level

34. Florida “Keys” to Learning
The Most Important Ideas Your Students Should Know
Purposes:
An Overview that Provides a Framework for More Detailed Information in the Chapter
A Preview that Checks What Students Already Know
A Summary that Students Can Refer to after Reading the Chapter

35. Florida “Keys” to Learning
The Most Important Ideas Your Students Should Know
Purposes:
An Overview that Provides a Framework for More Detailed Information in the Chapter
A Preview that Checks What Students Already Know
A Summary that Students Can Refer to after Reading the Chapter

36. Chapter Opener
NGSSS Benchmarks
Important Names and Terms

37. Florida “Keys” to Learning
The Most Important Ideas Your Students Should Know
Purposes:
An Overview that Provides a Framework for More Detailed Information in the Chapter
A Preview that Checks What Students Already Know
A Summary that Students Can Refer to after Reading the Chapter

38. Student- Friendly Text
Clustered into Sections
Emphasizes Key Concepts
Cutting-Edge History
Key Names are Bolded
Accompanied by Illustrations, Maps and Graphic Organizers

39. Student- Friendly Text
Clustered into Sections
Emphasizes Key Concepts
Cutting-Edge History
Key Names are Bolded
Accompanied by Illustrations, Maps and Graphic Organizers

40. Student- Friendly Text
Clustered into Sections
Emphasizes Key Concepts
Cutting-Edge History
Key Names are Bolded
Accompanied by Illustrations, Maps and Graphic Organizers

41. Student- Friendly Text
Clustered into Sections
Emphasizes Key Concepts
Cutting-Edge History
Key Names are Bolded
Accompanied by Illustrations, Maps and Graphic Organizers

42. Student Interaction: The Historian’s Apprentice
Some activities ask students to apply and reorganize information they have just read, or to view this information from different perspectives
Other activities go beyond the book and ask students to act like real historians by conducting research or interpreting primary documents
Student interaction—two features

43. Student- Friendly Text
Clustered into Sections
Emphasizes Key Concepts
Cutting-Edge History
Key Names are Bolded
Accompanied by Illustrations, Maps and Graphic Organizers

44. Student- Friendly Text
Clustered into Sections
Emphasizes Key Concepts
Cutting-Edge History
Key Names are Bolded
Accompanied by Illustrations, Maps and Graphic Organizers

45. Student- Friendly Text
Clustered into Sections
Emphasizes Key Concepts
Cutting-Edge History
Key Names are Bolded
Accompanied by Illustrations, Maps and Graphic Organizers

46. Student- Friendly Text
Clustered into Sections
Emphasizes Key Concepts
Cutting-Edge History
Key Names are Bolded
Accompanied by Illustrations, Maps and Graphic Organizers

47. Student Interaction: The Historian’s Apprentice
Some activities ask students to apply and reorganize information they have just read, or to view this information from different perspectives
Other activities go beyond the book and ask students to act like real historians by conducting research or interpreting primary documents
Student interaction—two features

48. Student Interaction and Application: The Historian’s Apprentice
Student interaction—two features

49. Summary and Reinforcement: Chapter Concept Map
-Research continues to demonstrate the value of concept maps for cognition
-Each Concept map emphasizes key relationships
Concept map—non-linguistic representation
Emphasizes concepts and relationships
Can be used in many ways

50. Summary and Reinforcement: Chapter Concept Map
-Research continues to demonstrate the value of concept maps for cognition
-Each Concept map emphasizes key relationships
Concept map—non-linguistic representation
Emphasizes concepts and relationships
Can be used in many ways

51. Summary and Reinforcement: Chapter Concept Map
-Research continues to demonstrate the value of concept maps for cognition
-Each Concept map emphasizes key relationships
Concept map—non-linguistic representation
Emphasizes concepts and relationships
Can be used in many ways

52. Summary and Reinforcement: Chapter Concept Map
Concept map—non-linguistic representation
Emphasizes concepts and relationships
Can be used in many ways

53. Summary and Reinforcement: Chapter Concept Map
-Research continues to demonstrate the value of concept maps for cognition
-Each Concept map emphasizes key relationships
Concept map—non-linguistic representation
Emphasizes concepts and relationships
Can be used in many ways

54. Review Cards at the End of Each Chapter
Summarization, Reinforcement and Resources for Different Learning Styles
Study cards can be used in many ways
Review Cards at the End of Each Chapter

55. Review Cards at the End of Each Chapter
Summarization, Reinforcement and Resources for Different Learning Styles
Study cards can be used in many ways
Review Cards at the End of Each Chapter

56. Practice Items based on the EOC Specifications

57. Practice Items based on the EOC Specifications

58. Practice Items based on the EOC Specifications

59. Practice Items based on the EOC Specifications

60. EOC Assessment Skills/Practice
Introductory chapter includes a typology of questions, based on critical thinking skills
Introduction also presents a metacognitive test-taking strategy: examine the question; recall what you know about the topic; then apply what you know to answer the question.
Historians at Work chapter guides students in analyzing documents and data.
Continuous self-assessment in the end-of-chapter questions
Cumulative assessment in the final practice test
Logic behind our assessment sections

61. SOME BASIC CLASSROOM STRATEGIES
Use the “Florida Keys to Learning” to preview the lesson and see what students already know.
Discuss lesson in Class.
Assign “Historian’s Apprentice” Activities to Groups for completion in-class, in the library or on the Internet, or at home as appropriate.
Assign “What Do You Know?” questions for homework or as an in-class quiz.
Then discuss the lesson content and the answers to the “What Do You Know” questions in class.

62. Additional Instructional Strategies
Justify Answer Choices
After answering a series of multiple-choice questions, have students explain why they selected the answers they chose. Students should explain why their answers are correct and other answer choices are wrong by drawing connections and providing supporting data and information.
Test Questions as Advance Organizers
Start lesson with “What Do You Know?” questions and review topics students have difficulty with.

63. Additional Instructional Strategies
Test Questions
The teacher should review with students the types of questions and the different ways of interpreting data found at the front of the book. Students can discuss the language of the test questions with the teacher, especially any test-specific terminology. Sample test questions in “What Do You Know?” can be used in a variety of ways. The teacher should review the first question in each question section with students. Then students can complete the questions at the end of each lesson in class or for homework. Alternatively, students could answer the practice test questions as an open-book quiz or in study groups as a cooperative learning activity. Then the class as a whole should review the answers with the teacher. Students could also be given time to find the correct answers to any questions they missed.

64. Additional Instructional Strategies
Concept Map
Students study the concept map to see how different information in the unit is related. Then they try to draw the concept map on their own from memory, or fill in a blank concept map provided by the teacher. Students can also use the concept map to prepare for each unit test and for self-monitoring. Students review those items on the map they cannot recall, or ask the teacher for additional help.
Game Show Format
Students can play a “Jeopardy” game at the end of each unit. Teams of students should make their own questions based on the information in the unit.

65. Dr. Mark Jarrett
Florida Transformative Education