Picture yourself at the signing of the Declaration!

I find the ultimate signing of the Declaration of Independence to be a fascinating topic for discussion and debate. Mainly because the history our students are most often taught is watered down and does a disservice to those who created the document through countless hours and months of debates and disagreements. Some have said that the signing was more a product of disagreement than it was the opposite.

For my photoshop picture I have put myself in that fateful moment in world history in order to have the students imagine someone from the modern world in that situation. I would use inquiry based methods, and ask the students to take sides with particular figures and ideas that they agree or disagree with. I could also add more slides of situations that occurred at independence hall, or abroad with our diplomats and insert photos of my students.

The beauty of manipulating imagery with various photos is that many pictures that depict figures as well as events from our past seem fictional. I want my students to try to understand what it was like being in different periods of history. Furthermore, they should become aware of the different ideas from the people depicted. What better way than to plaster some kids face in a famous event.

Universal Design for learning are a series of principles for developing curriculum that provides all individuals equitable learning opportunities. Universal Design for Learning is not one single unilateral solution that fits every learners needs, but rather provides flexible approaches that can be modified for individual needs.

Below is an interesting graphic pulled from  http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html
it provides a clear look at why UDL is important and useful for students.

Inquiry based learning...as a student..and as a teacher

While I have been exposed to inquiry based learning as a student, I do not remember it being a prominent teaching method. For elementary students this is used more often because there are many benefits students will experience socially and developmentally as we saw on the video. I remember being shown a map of America's expansion after settlement, and being asked to decide where you would like to live and why. As a young student my answers gravitated toward "being close to my family," "the "New York Yankees," and things of the like. As adults I am sure we could come up with more in depth reasons of where we would want to live if it was possible, and this might be something I could use in the secondary education system.
I would ask students to look at a map of the world and prompt them with questions about justifications to where they live. These questions would certainly lead to further discussion and inquiries that would not be anticipated.

Historical Thinking Standard for MD 400

It  is just a coincidence that I am picking the first standard for social studies grades 9-12. The standard is Historical thinking, and in particular, the ability for students to be able to understand history through alternative perspectives. Our current education system is greatly Eurocentric in subject matter. Often times students of different ethnic backgrounds are portrayed as the objects in our history lessons, and rarely the subjects.

It is crucial for students to have the ability to interpret the events from our past, and to make connections as well as correlations of certain events. The historical thinking standard is the most important in my eyes because the standard provides the foundations for students to incorporate many of the other standards.