Monday, July 30, 2018

#PodPeeks: Talking Social Studies

I just HAVE to share this podcast with you!!! I had featured it on my final 8 #PodPeeks in July but I hadn't had the time to really dig deep into this one. That was until my daughter started conditioning for soccer and I had an hour to walk & listen & learn. Wow!!!! This is a GOOD one!

There are 2 episodes that I'm excited to share today - but don't limit yourself to these. Subscribe and listen to them all!


Episode 17: Got Rhythm (show notes)

I love history. I love the story it tells - I know it's not always a happy story, but it's a never-ending story. I also love music. There is so much music out there and it, too, tells a story. And to bring the two together??? WOW! Listening to this episode, I kept thinking about how cool it would be to be a student in any of these 4 teachers classes! The focus isn't just on having music to play with your units, but having conversations around & with the lyrics & feelings of the music. Highlighting music from a historical time period can really add to a students understanding of the time period and culture.

Here are a few highlights to tempt you to tune in - all the links are in the show notes:

  • Billboard's List of 20 Best Protest Songs of 2017
    • IDEA ↬ take a list of ANY year, don't tell your students, & see if they can figure out what year/what the big ideas were from that year
  • National Jukebox: Historical Recordings from the Library of Congress (I had NO idea this existed!!!)
    • contains over 10,000 historical recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925!
  • Google Arts & Culture ↬ an amazing find for SOOOO many reasons, but when you search for "music", you will find links to museums, stories, and more directly related to music!
  • Sounds Around the World ↬ a website built as a "collaborative learning game"
  • Teachrock.org ↬ a FREE web-based curriculum, aligned to standards, and built FOR teachers. (Thank you, Steven Van Zandt!) 


At the end, each of the 4 podcasters share at least 10 songs they use in their classroom! 


Episode 19: Do You Want to Play a Game? Gamification in Social Studies (show notes)

Amy & Chris interview Amy Garlitz (@meems852) about her adventures in incorporating gaming in her classroom. This is an area I'm super interested in and I believe gaming in the classroom can provide the needed "oomph" many teachers are looking for in order to make the learning more meaningful. 

[Contrary to most thoughts, I believe adding gaming can be SUPER simple and exciting!]

Here are some highlights to peek your interest:
  • do a little at a time - playing games is a GREAT 1st step into this world
    • examples ↬ Kahoot, Quizlet, review games
  • want a "hook" to entice your students? Amy recommends playing a "theme song" every day you will be do a gaming activity. (She uses the Pirates of the Caribbean)
  • EASY game to start class ↬ "Roll the Dice"
    • Roll die. The total is the number of words students can use to answer a question you have for them. Can be done individually or in teams. The team/person with the "best" answer - using that # of words - wins! Points or awards can be awarded.
  • Track the points - chances are, you already DO some form of "games" in your class ... use a spreadsheet to track the points & you've added in an easy layer of gaming!
    • Michael Matera (@mrmatera) has a TON of resources you can purchase LINK to get your class ready to do full on gaming; he also has a FANTASTIC book "eXPlore Like a Pirate" - highly recommend! πŸ‘
    • Amy recommends the "Mystery Box" idea, too! This element quickly and immediately will ramp up your gaming ... 
  • "Most Boring Worksheet" game ↬ this one made me πŸ˜‚ as I was listening! Amy took a boring old worksheet, cut up the questions & placed them around the room, paired her students up, then sent them on relay races around the room to retrieve & answer the questions. The questions had to be returned each time and a bell rung ... the group who answered them correctly, the quickest, wins! She added in a timer (hello, class period!) and music to enhance the "mood"! πŸ‘Super easy entry into gaming - you know you have worksheets that can be used for this purpose!
  • Jamestown activity ↬ again, I laugh as I listen to this activity! Give the students glue, playdoh, and popsicle sticks to build the Jamestown fort. As students are building, Amy would walk around and literally blow down some forts just as the weather was a key factor in the initial building of Jamestown!
Finally, the key piece Amy shared, not only her activities and how to, but the REFLECTION piece on why she did what she did. Think of the students who had their fort blown down ... with time restraints and weather, the settlers in Jamestown would live/die based on their construction of proper shelter. Collaboration and reflection is a BIG part in gaming in any classroom.

If you take the time to listen, please share with others - this podcast focuses on the SS classroom, but these elements are easy to transfer into ANY classroom. And don't forget to connect on Twitter and other social media sites.


1 comment:

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