Thoughtful Education Strategies in the Social Studies Classroom

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Thoughtful EducationStrategies in the Social
Studies Classroom

• Jeanne Lovett
• and
• Kelly Weaver
• Marshall County High School
• Benton, Kentucky

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• Thoughtful Education, a professional development
  program based on the research and development of
  Harvey Silver, Richard Strong and Matthew Perini,
  calls on teachers to develop lesson plans based
  on the different learning styles of students, to
  better understand how students learn and to
  intentionally plan using strategies and tools
  that engage students in higher levels of
  thinking.
• -Kentucky Teacher, August 2008

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Thoughtful Education focuses on 4 different
learning styles

• Mastery
• (fond of lectures and practice)
• Understanding
• (uses logic and inquiry to learn)
• Self-Expressive
• (creative and artistic learners)
• Interpersonal
• (likes group work and attention)
• -Kentucky Teacher, August 2008

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Thoughtful Education Tool

• Carousel

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• Thoughtful Education Strategy
• Carousel Brainstorming
• Immigration
• Stations will be set up around the room and
  students will move in groups to each of the
  stations in order to answer/discuss the
  questions.
• Students will be divided into small groups and
  proceed around the room to answer questions.
  Each group will begin at a different station in
  order to distribute people evenly around the
  room. Individuals may move when they have
  answered the question at that station.

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• STATION 1
• If you were expecting to come to the United
  States from a foreign country, what animal would
  you expect the U.S. to be like?
• As an American citizen, what animal do YOU think
  the United States is like?
• STATION 2
• Top 5!
• What advice that you would give to a teenager
  that has just moved to the United States? Name
  at least 5 things.
• STATION 3
• What words and ideas come to mind when you hear
  the word immigrant?
• STATION 4
• What do you predict will happen to the United
  States in the future in terms of population and
  race?

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• STATION 5
• What impact do immigrants have on American
  society and culture?
• STATION 6
• If YOU were a recent immigrant to America what
  three things would you be most afraid of?
• What three things would you be most excited
  about?
• STATION 7
• If you were President of the United States, what
  would your policy on immigration be?
• STATION 8
• Compare/contrast immigrants to the United States
  in the early 1900s to those who are arriving in
  the United States today

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Thoughtful Education Tool

• Task Rotation

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Task Rotation

• The Task Rotation allows teachers to offer
  students questions, activities, or assessments in
  the four learning styles.

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World Religions Task Rotation

• Task 1
• Name the five major world religions and
  describe their main beliefs and duties.

• Task 2
• Write a script between people from two
  different religions that highlights their
  similarities and differences.

• Task 3
• Compare and contrast Hinduism and Buddhism
• Compare and contrast Christianity, Islam, and
  Judaism

• Task 4
• Create a kaleidoscope using symbols of all of
  the major religions.

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Age of Exploration Task Rotation

• Task 1
• Create a chart of explorers to the new world.
  Include the country they sailed from, the areas
  they explored, the activities that took place
  there, and their relations with the native
  population.

• Task 2
• Imagine that you are an Aztec and Cortes has
  just arrived in Tenochtitlan. Write a paragraph
  explaining your first impression of the Spanish
  and explain your feelings about them being there.

• Task 4
• Create two posters over Cortes. One will be a
  Wanted poster listing three reasons why Cortes
  would be wanted by the Aztecs, and the other will
  be a National Hero poster explaining three
  reasons why Cortes was a hero in Spain.

• Task 3
• Draw a Venn diagram and compare Cortes to
  another explorer from this time period.

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Thoughtful Education Strategy

• Similarities and Differences
• The Cold War
• and
• The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss

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Description Phase

• The Butter Battle Book

• The Cold War

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Comparison PhaseSimilarities

• Butter Battle Book Differences

• Cold War Differences

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• 1.Do you suppose nuclear weapons cause war or
  keep peace? Why?
• 2.If you could write a book for children that had
  a deeper meaning to learn about a problem in
  society what would the book be about?
• 3.Just like children of the cold war era were
  drilled in such areas as Duck and Cover you
  are drilled in preparation for fires, tornadoes,
  and earthquakes. Evaluate the effectives of
  those drills, how you would improve those drills,
  and give at least one example of an area that
  should be practiced but isnt.

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Assessment

• In the post 9-11 era, Americans today are
  bombarded with terms such as Terror Alert, the
  war on terror, Homeland Security, Suicide
  Bombers, Osama bin Laden, and Weapons of Mass
  Destruction . Just like Americans during the
  Cold War who were fearful of an attack by the
  Soviets, Americans today are concerned about
  future terrorist attacks. Using the internet for
  research and drawing upon prior knowledge, design
  a pamphlet to help people prepare for and survive
  a nuclear disaster or another type of terrorist
  attack. This pamphlet should be written for your
  community and should be easy to interpret and
  informational. Be specific about where people
  should go, the type of shelter they could buy,
  and what they should stock their shelter with.

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Thoughtful Education Tool

• Assessment Menu

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Assessment MenuThree Levels of Difficulty

• Mastery
• Gather information
• Organize information
• Present information

• Interpersonal
• Express feelings
• Understand feelings
• Act on feelings

• Understanding
• Examine data
• Interpret data
• Extrapolate data

• Self Expressive
• Generate ideas
• Reorganize ideas
• Create original work

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Resource for Thoughtful Ed Templates and
Activities

• http//www.marshall.k12.ky.us/Thoughtful20Ed/Thou
  ghtfulEdtemplates.htm
• http//www.marshall.k12.ky.us/cd/CurriculumDocumen
  ts.htm