Historical Perspectives – 7804

Summary

In this culminating lesson to a World War I unit, the students view and analyze three different types of sources from which one can learn history – primary documents, secondary documents, and pop culture or entertainment media. Students discuss and analyze one of each of these types of documents (Related to the same general theme – World War I) and then discuss how each type of source can impact how one learns and understands historical events.

As an assessment of understanding, the students choose a historical event or individual and locate a pop culture or entertainment source that discusses that topic. Students research the historical topic referenced in their pop culture media piece and select a primary or secondary source dealing with the same topic. The students write a blog post in which they compare and contrast these sources and discuss the pros and cons of learning history through each one. Based on their analysis of these sources and their classmates’ research and posts, the students explain how (or if) they believe pop culture should be used to teach and learn history.

Lesson Reflection:

Teacher:

“This is my favorite lesson that I have completed this year with any class. I liked how we did not discuss the ActivEngage results as a class and instead had the students discuss the answers in small groups instead. I’m often at fault for “giving away” my own opinion and influencing the end student product, so I liked how the lack of a discussion did not influence the directions that the students took in their final blog posts. I also thought that the research aspect of this lesson was rigorous and relevant. Once the students found their pop culture (which they had no trouble finding), they had to find a source that actually linked to the same idea. Some students initially struggled with this and had to continue and refine their research. For example, many students chose the movie “Lincoln” as their pop culture piece. Some of these students found documents relating to the assassination of Lincoln or just the Civil War in general and thought they were done. But after we talked about how the sources had to “link” together and be about the same topic, the students were able to locate and analyze a more relevant document. The students also learned quite a bit about various historical topics by reading each others’ posts, as evidenced by a large number of the student’s comments.”

ITRT:

“I have never seen so much student enthusiasm for writing and research as I did during this assignment. I believe a lot of this was due to the fact that the students were writing on a blog, which I’ve documented further at this link. I believe another important factor that led to the student engagement for this assignment was that the students were allowed to choose their own topic. I did not see a single student experience any hesitation before beginning their research and writing. Each student naturally knew where to start, as they were looking for media and historical content that was interesting to them personally.

When I do this assignment in the future, there is one major aspect that I will change. In the students’ culminating blog posts, they answered three questions, one of which asked them to discuss how “pop culture” media should be used to teach and learn history. I think the order of this question on their instruction sheet (1^st) led to a lot of repetitive writing. I think the more appropriate thing to do would be to have the students only discuss the pros and cons of each type of media in their culminating blog post. After writing, the students could view each other’s’ work, and then return to their original post and answer the “pop culture” question. I believe this could be the “reflection” portion of the lesson and would be a more natural place for the question, as the students could answer the question based on their own research and media, and also the research gathered by the rest of their classmates.”

TIPC Ratings

Ideal

Research and information fluency are the focus of this lesson. The students’ blog posts must address the same basic questions, but in order to answer these questions, each student completes research on a topic of his or her choice. After choosing their pop culture media piece, the students construct research questions to guide their search for a primary or secondary source that is relevant to their topic and appropriate for answering the blog post questions. During the initial implementation of this lesson, many students had to refine their research before answering the blog post questions, as the first document they selected was not the most appropriate for the task (as it did not appropriately correspond to the historical topic in their pop culture piece).

In order to answer the final blog post questions, the students analyze the sources that they have selected by discussing their pros, cons, authority, and accuracy. Then, the students synthesize their understanding of the documents and explain how pop culture should be used to teach and learn history. A blog is used to display this research so that other students may read their classmates’ posts and interact with the documents and media that are linked and embedded on the blog. The most important outcome of this lesson is that the students use their research in order to practice, refine, and reflect on their information fluency skills. In their everyday lives, students are constantly bombarded with “history” lessons through entertainment and pop culture media, so in order to be good citizens and knowledgeable information consumers, students must understand the pros and cons of this approach to learning.

Approaching

The research portion of the assignment is completed individually. However, there are aspects of communication and collaboration embedded in the lesson, as the final student products are posted on a class blog. The use of this digital tool allows the students to communicate by sharing their research and analyses. Students then comment on each other’s posts, providing all students with feedback and an opportunity for reflection.

Ideal

In the ActivEngage portion of the lesson, the students apply the results of the questions to respond to higher order questions and elaborate on their thinking. In their individual blog posts, students select the most appropriate media in order to justify their responses to purposeful questions regarding various source types. Students then reflect on these questions in order to think about how they view and consume media in their daily lives.

Approaching

The final “product” of this assignment is a blog post, which the students create and share via a WordPress blog. The students choose which media to include in their post and analyze their media in order to discuss how pop culture should be used to teach and learn history, which is an authentic task.