• State Not Answered
  • Replies 5 replies
  • Subscribers 6 subscribers
  • Views 1217 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Related

How have you changed your roll out of "Draw Your History"?

Adam Esrig

Doing the "Draw Your HIstory" is one of my favorite activities to start the year. For the most part it's just great to kick things off with kids drawing and reflecting on what they include as part of their history. 

That said, I really want kids to take to the big reveal a bit more - what do you mean you didn't include your grandparents?!? Or the history of your country? Or the origins of your species? I think students "get it" but I'm not sure it exactly gets hyped about whatever's coming next. 

I'd like to open this discussion back up to the community a bit by opening a new thread - how did you freshen up or improve this activity this year? What do you transition to after doing this activity? Did any one question or approach yield a better classroom performance for you?

Would love to hear from anyone and everyone but will also tag: 

    

  • 0

    Great discussion starter  . I totally get what you're saying about the big reveal and the hype you're trying to generate with the activity. 

    I coupled the activity with a getting to know you survey and this video about time scale (To Scale: TIME) recommended by the wonderful  . The energy of the people in the video (who are creating a scaled timeline of the history of the universe compared to human history), helps generate some of the hype.

    In the past I tried too hard to make the draw your history my "getting to know you" activity and it got bogged down in details when it's really about the scale discussion. So I went back to the basic framework of the activity. Coupling it with the video and a brief explanation of temporal and spatial scale turned the activity into a touchpoint for referencing scale later on.

    Curious to hear what other people have done!

  • 0

    I use the same video that   suggested - it's 10 minutes, though which is a little long, but I do like it!  From there I usually dive right into the Zoom lesson! Theres more about it in this old community conversation: Inspiring Curiosity at the Start of the Year.

      if you haven't tried it yet, I HIGHLY recommend it for the fun factor.

    It's also a nice transition to Danger of a Single Story, which I do the next day (from Lesson 1.0 in the 1750 Course)

  • 0 in reply to Julianne Horowitz

    Oh I love both of these suggestions   and    because yes, while "Draw Your History" is a fun opener  - it's really an introduction to scale switching. Will give both of these a try! And I'm right there with you - Danger of the a Single Story is next. 

  • 0

    I agree that it's a smart and effective way to help introduce some of the themes of the course with students but I've always found that the best takeaway is learning a bit about your students on a personal level as they reflect on their own lives.  I'm sure at one point in my career, I gave students an index card and had them write down info. they wanted to share with me.  This is a much better method.  Wondering if others have had a similar experience...

  • 0

    Hey Origins rockstars!  I wonder sometimes why I am left out of this group but I think it could be because I not only don't use this video I had never heard of it.  Its so cool.  I am not sure I put it into the first scale conversation.  I think it might be good at the beginning of Era 2.  Also.  I wonder if the Earth since class could show the Universe part and I show the human part in world.  I am so excited about this I am going down to the science wing to share it right now.  

    As for the drawing thing I really have drift away from that.  I do my poems for a lot of the intro. stuff you mention and I even use those scale questions with that.  Then I do a matching activity that someone made here to introduce the frames.