Early American History Through Memes/Social Media

While long-term substitute teaching at Potsdam Central School, students had to reinterpret American history through a modern lens by making use of technology and trends they are familiar with:  memes and social media.  Students had the option to retell American history through memes or by making mock up social media profiles for various figures.  For instance, some students created mock Twitter accounts to imagine how the campaigns from the Election of 1800 would look today.  Other students created mock Instagram pictures to highlight key events of the American Revolution.  Students worked in groups of two to three on the project.  One final component of the project was for students to write a brief reflective piece of about one page in length.  In it, students needed to discuss what they learned from the project, what aspect of the project they felt they were most successful in completing, and what aspects they found to be most challenging.  In addition, students needed to mention how they overcame or tried to overcome any of those challenges.  Click here to download the project guidelines

Student Artwork:  Peter Zenger Case Prompt

While working at PCS as a long-term substitute teacher, a student at the beginning of the year volunteered to draw prompts related to upcoming lessons on the classroom's back whiteboard.  In this example, the student drew a promo for the lesson on the Peter Zenger case.

How a Bill Becomes a Law

This is a one day activity in which students learn how a bill becomes a law. The lesson used a variety of instructional methods, including the use of an audiovisual for an introduction, brief lecture of the legislative process, and a simulation activity.

In the simulation, students were assigned various roles. One student is assigned the role of President. Of the remaining students, two-thirds were assigned Representatives, and the remainder were assigned Senate. Within these two groups, about half were given a second role as committee member. Once roles were assigned, all of the students were asked to "write a bill." For example, one student wrote "legalize pot." Another student wrote "all schools must sell soda in vending machines." The students then put their bills in the hat. Then I pulled a bill at random out of the hat. Then I asked if a Representative or Senator (other than the bill writer) was willing to endorse the bill, thus beginning the legislative process. For most of the activity, the students determined if a bill would pass or be killed. However, during a couple of scenarios, I had students act out certain situations. For example, I had one chamber change one word, therefore causing one student from each chamber's committee to have to discuss the bill.

In the fall of 2015, I made use of this lesson while long term-substitute teaching at PCS.  The classroom was set up to visually represent the two chambers of Congress.  The students were actively engaged the whole class and enjoyed the lesson.  Many commented afterwards how the lesson helped them to understand how Congress works.  Other teachers throughout the day mentioned to me how the students were still talking about the lesson following class.

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Vocabulary & Supreme Court Cases Worksheets and Quizzes

While tutoring a student for PCS for the majority of the school year (October through June), I developed a series of weekly worksheets and quizzes to help the student learn key terms and Supreme Court cases to help them prepare for the Regents exam.  Each Monday, starting in April, the student received two worksheets, one with vocabulary terms, and one with Supreme Court terms.  The student needed to match the term with the definition and the court case with its description.  Once completed, the worksheets were designed so that they could be folded in half and used as flashcards.  On Fridays, the student would take two "quizzes" on the vocabulary and court cases.  The worksheets and quizzes were cumulative.  For example, for the second week, all of the first week terms and cases were on the second week's terms and cases worksheets and quizzes.

The vocabulary term worksheets I developed for tutoring came from the quizzes I made while long-term substitute teaching at PCS.  While teaching at PCS, each week, I would introduce two to three new terms on a Monday and on Friday, students would take cumulative vocabulary quizzes.  The idea behind this is to help students remember key concepts from the course through repetition.  As more terms were added to the list, I would give a crossword worksheet in the middle of the week.  Students who completed with all of the correct answers, and turned it in on Fridays before the quiz, recieved a 5 point bonus on their quiz.

The Oregon Trail

As part of the unit on Westward Expansion, students examined the Oregon Trail by playing the original Oregon Trail game, available on the US government's web archive (https://archive.org/details/msdos_Oregon_Trail_The_1990).  The lesson made use of PCS's chromebooks.  Each student had a chromebook and was able to play the game.  As the students played the game, they needed to share what was happening to them.  For example, students shared each time a member of their team died and how they died.  Students also shared when they were hit by a blizzard or a tornado.  As students shared what was happening to them, I created a list on the classroom's smartboard.  To end class, the students discussed the difficulty the settlers faced as they traveled on the Oregon Trail.  For homework, students had to write a brief, one paragraph reflective response on what the purpose of the Oregon Trail was, the legacy of the trail, and why travelers faced many difficulties on their trek.