1. Teaching the West and Biography: Applying Content in Our Classrooms

2. Studying History
“History is not tidy. It contains conflicting narratives. Not all of the answers are known. Understanding requires active thinking. This is the brand of history that students want to inquire about, discover, and make their own.”
“History: Uncovering the Past Through Inquiry,” Kathleen Anderson Steeves.

3. Learning Cycle Before Learning
Introduction to the week/ Hook with the intro lecture on the west
During Learning/Building Background Knowledge
Background knowledge lectures and skills sessions
Cementing Knowledge
Application in the classroom

4. Presentation Questions
Discuss with your group the questions given to you surrounding this weeks lectures.
Decide on what the ONE most important idea is out of your list of questions and be prepared to share as a large group.

5. Big Ideas
What “big ideas” have you gleaned from this week pertaining to the west, biography, gender, race and ethnicity?
Can bios be used in the classroom as a credible way to teach history tapping on time and place helping students to become critical thinkers while dissecting history
In the context of history how can teachers select and use biography to effectively teach time and place
How has the concept of gender in the west changed over time and how can we address this in the classroom
Impact of place on reality and myths throughout history
How does the genre of biography allow the learner to compile different views and sources to understand the “real story” including that which is missing
It is important to use primary sources and examine the biographers background to distinguish between myth and reality when using biographies
What criteria do we use when gathering and evaluating any data and how might race gender and socioeconomic difference affect that interpretation
How can we teach students to analyze historical data and conflicting historic data while also considering missing sources framework bias and perhaps the existing official story

6. Group Activity Instructions:
Using the labeled shapes given to your group, design an instructional model for planning in your classroom. Consider the following:
How do you start to plan a lesson?
What are the key elements of instruction?
Design a graphic representation of an instructional model and be prepared to share it with the group in 5-8 minutes.

7. Understanding by Design
Take a look at this layout:

8. Essential Questions for our Teaching
What have we considered this week?
What are the large questions (overarching) that link this topic to others in a course?
What are the essential questions that students should be able to answer after study of this unit/topic?
Now:
In what ways can they show you what they know?

9. Strategies for Learning in the Classroom
Before Learning :
Primary Source Activity : Foldable
Chipeta Activity
Building Background
Biography and Autobiography Activity
Empathetic Writing : I Am Poem , Bio Poem
Cementing Knowledge :
RAFT
Technology Components
Mojo

10. Foldable Activity Select a primary source
Fold the primary source to illuminate what you feel is most important to look at in the source itself
Tape the source up on the wall
Large group debrief

11. Chipeta “Quray’s Squaw” or “Queen of Utes”

12. Competing Interpretations
hipeta.htm

13. Philosophical Considerations
The Nature of Bias
Values
The Nature of History
Two steps:
Selection of events
Significance
What is critical thinking anyway?
Multiple perspectives
Understanding does not mean agreement

14. Building Knowledge Phases
Working with your Autobiography and Artifacts
Read their autobiography
Come up with two questions that you would still like answered
Add their source documents/artifacts to your collection of information (DO NOT explain the source document to your interviewer)
Be that person’s biographer and write 8-10 trying to answer the questions you want answered or add new ones based on the artifacts
Share out with the group

15. Building Knowledge
What did you find most surprising in the account you read about this person?
In what ways was she similar to other people in her time and place?
In what ways was she unique and very different from others?
Is this a person you would pick as a friend and why?

16. Building Knowledge Phases
Empathetic Writing Formats
Poetic response templates
Where I Come From
I Am Poem
Bio poem
RAFT - Role, Audience, Format, Topic

17. Cementing Knowledge Technology Applications: http://psi21.pbworks.com
Creating a wiki
Glogster
Animoto

18. Ideas for assessing knowledge
Create a FACEBOOK or MY Space profile
Twitter your character for a week
Make a calendar for a week in the life of your character
Fill in the personality head for a biographical figure
Design a Monument or a Stamp
Write a Eulogy or Epitaph
Venn Diagram

19. Resources for Educators

20. Keeping the Mojo Alive Evaluation Hands-on wrap up activity
TPS debrief
Announcements from Molly Brown
Our Best Wishes!