Don't Sleep on the Articles!

I totally agree Katie Raby ! I have not used a textbook in years for my on-level 1750-Present course because the articles cover it all - and better! They have a tone to them that is much more conversational and engaging. 

Take this one, for example - Second World War. I am using it this week, and I already know my kids will love the "Grandpa Dan" references

As Meg Ryan once said, "yes, yes, yes!" The articles are where it's at, and I love that I can adjust lexile levels, offer a Spanish version, and connect students to the audio. This really helps me differentiate for my students.

I'm slowly working on creating a short video / slide deck for each article (less than 10 minutes, less high tech than John Green's crash course). That way students can feel like there's more of a "typical" lecture in my class ... even though I don't lecture. 

Katie Raby , do you adapt the reading questions, or use them in any way? I'm curious about how others tackle that part of the learning process. 

I use the documents for evidence that students can pull from for their group discussion questions. For example, with the Tools of Imperialism article, I had students discuss the following questions:

1. In YOUR own words, define imperialism. 

2. Of the tools listed in the article, which do you believe is the most effective? Why?

3. Of the tools listed in the article, which do you believe is the least effective? Why?

4. Of these tools, which are "borrowed" from the playbook of colonization circa 1450-1750?

After the students discuss the questions, how do you follow up? Do you come back together in a class and find common themes from all the discussion groups? I would love to develop this part of the discussion protocol. 

Indeed I think a lot of us teachers need to ensure - especially in this post-ish covid period - have pulled back from reading instruction. Did your students benefit from any particular strategy Katie Raby ? 

I'm in the same situation as a bunch of us, I haven't distributed textbooks in years.  All the articles are just posted to my Google Classroom.  Not only are they better reads, I absolutely love the change of Lexile feature.  I change all the the time whether it's based on the class as a whole, the article itself, and event by student (especially for my special ed/504 students). I haven't needed it this year, but last year I used the versions in Spanish as well.  

I had to ditch the textbook long ago and using the articles, videos, activities, and graphic biographies with the three close reads for all the articles and graphic biographies. I teach special needs students, so for each article (yes each and every article) I type up three -four columns of words they may struggle reading and know the definition. They mark the vowel teams, prefixes and affixes, and scoop the syllables as they read. We then look up the definition for each word and they write above the word.

I use my trusty voice tool on google doc to read a paragraph to it. It is typed double spaced.  In that section, I have them circle punctuations such as periods, exclamations marks and question marks and they draw a downward arrow above them to show the intonation of their voice going downward. For commas and hypen, they box them and they draw an upward arrow.  They practice reading the passage with the correction intonation to help with comprehension and fluency. 

I again use the voice tool to read another passage and it is single spaced and they use vertical lines to mark up sections to help their comprehension. Separating subjects from verbs as well as preposition phrases. 

Then I have them read their article and they need to make one commentary about per paragraph beyond "cool, interesting, huh" right on the article. 

Then we go over the discussion questions and then they do their Three Close Reads. 

It takes a LONG time, but it is what my students need.