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| Author: | Sydney Chaffee
| | Description: | In this trimester-long investigation, students learn about methods of historiography by studying the complex history of Columbus? encounter with the Taino Arawaks.
| | Participants: | 40-55 ninth grade students, including repeating ninth graders and students with diverse learning needs, divided into 2-3 sections. (This writeup is an amalgamation of the 2007-2008 and the 2008-2009 versions of this expedition, along with some of my ideas and plans for the upcoming 2009-2010 school year.)
| | Schedule: | One 120-minute class four times a week. (Students do fieldwork on Fridays, rather than the regular class schedule. Humanities fieldwork happens twice a month and is an extended theater expedition in conjunction with the Huntington Theatre. See ?Literacy Through Theatre? expedition [add link] for a more detailed description of this partnership.)
| | Goals: | Students will become historiographers who can ask critical questions while exploring history. Students will be able to explain the events leading up to, during, and resulting from the Encounter between Columbus and the Taino Arawaks. Students will be able to read actively and write using the Writing Process. (See ?Goals? under ?Introduction? tab for more detailed Learning Targets and connections to state standards.)
| | Products: | (1) Media Literacy Portfolio/Poster, (2) Encounter five-paragraph essay, (3) Encounter children?s book or board game, (4) Presentation of children?s book or board game to younger students. (See ?Walk-Through? tab for details on each product, including assessment materials and examples of student work.)
| | Assessment: | Rubrics for major products, Learning Target quizzes, classroom discussions, Literature Circles, end-of-trimester test, younger students? surveys on children?s books/board games.
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This trimester-long investigation is one-third of a yearlong ?Justice & Injustice? expedition that introduces ninth grade students to Humanities content and structures at Codman Academy. This is by no means the final version of this curriculum, but it draws on the work of many talented educators who have worked on it throughout the history of our school.
Through the course of this investigation, I aim to show students that history is not static or dead. I want them to understand that the story of a historical moment will change based on perspective. We focus on a specific moment in time (the Encounter) and dissect it for several months, ultimately re-telling the story from their unique perspectives. The Columbus story is a great topic to begin deconstructing history, as most of them have learned about Columbus as an American hero throughout their early educations. (Some have also begun to explore a more nuanced view of the Encounter, but every student I have worked with in the last two years has learned something new about this history during our investigation.) It is eye-opening for them to discover that a piece of history they thought they understood might not be as clear or simple as they previously learned. They are curious to discover ?the real truth,? and the work feels relevant as a result.
At the same time, a major goal in all ninth grade classes is to indoctrinate students into the way we ?do learning? at Codman Academy. We expect students to read and write every day, to learn to ask clarifying and probing questions, and to be able to synthesize their knowledge in order to create lasting meaning. We also expect them to complete ?practice and preparation? assignments (homework) every night and to develop understanding about their own learning styles to become effective, efficient, independent students. While we cannot realistically expect all ninth graders to achieve these goals in one year, we aim to hold them to these high standards so they can enter the tenth grade ready to take on more advanced content, as well as state exams.
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