Week Three: Friday, September 13, 2034

Welcome: 

This week, we had the privilege of watching a video titled "Dear High School Self," created by a former student. This heartfelt message serves as a poignant reminder for our students to cherish their time in school, as it passes quickly. Many students found it relatable and impactful, highlighting the importance of reflection during their formative years.

 

This Past Week:

• Monday: I was out today for a few doctor's appointments and the students worked on a Wizer activity meant to help them differentiate between primary and secondary sources and recognize bias. The guest teacher had nothing but great things to say about the students! 
• Tuesday: Today was the final day for the students to work on their Unit One Timelines (#10 on the Google Classroom). It was great to hear the students discussing the different ways to go about finding the information for the timeline. One student said, "ohhh, it's like a game and you have to put together the clues." 
• Wednesday: We did our first "Word Up Wednesday" of the year today. This is an activity I got from a teacher online that forces the students to work with a new term in a variety of ways. Today's term was "protest" since we will be talking about the various ways the American Colonists protested British taxes in the 18th century. We also did a content burst about the Sons and Daughters of Liberty and the Committees of Correspondence to start our discussion of Colonial protests. 
• Thursday: We dove into our first big learning activity of the year by starting to look at the events that took place on the night of March 5, 1770 during the Boston Massacre. The students watched 5-minute clip of the docuseries America the Story of Us to provide context of events and then we used PearDeck to analyze Paul Revere's engraving called The Bloody Massacre.
• Friday: The students finished the week out by doing an activity called "Iron Chef." This activity uses Google Slides and forces the students to collaborate to build knowledge and presentations. The topic for today's Iron Chef was Boston in the years leading up to the Boston Massacre. 

Next Week: 

• Content Check-In: On Thursday, we will have a 10-question multiple-choice check-in. Students can use the Quizlet available in the Classroom Resources section of Google Classroom to help them prepare.

• Boston Massacre Philosophical Chairs Activity: We will spend the first few days of the week engaging in a variety of activities designed to help students analyze primary source documents related to the events of March 5, 1770. This will culminate in a class discussion using those sources, followed by an in-class writing assignment on Friday.

• Content Bursts: We will continue exploring significant events of our history this week, including the Boston Massacre, the Tea Act, the Boston Tea Party, and the Intolerable Acts.