Emily North December 18, 2012 CI 448 Cohort 4 Inquiry 4: Choice 1 Throughout the semester I struggled to wrap my head

around the concept of teaching social studies. During my years of schooling, social studies and history existed as interchangeable phrases, with facts and dates as the foundation. My initial thoughts concerning the course centered on making traditional, dry textbooks come alive. However, I now realize the textbook can serve as a barrier to meaningful social studies. Additionally, the "traditional" aspect of the textbook remains one of the core issues in classrooms. During the semester we covered numerous aspects to improve social studies. However, the concept most central to my beliefs, and one I want to improve upon, is teaching history through multiple perspectives. Teaching through multiple perspectives allows for growth in many areas. For one, the ability to recognize multiple perspectives and synthesize information from various sources allows students to obtain a more accurate picture of history. As a result, students can begin to look at and analyze each piece to determine possible relationships. After analyzing, students think critically and ask questions concerning the moral implications. We constantly ask our students to engage in higher order thinking, such as comparing and contrasting ideas to critically think, yet we do not give them the tools or resources to do so. Often times, a one-sided, hegemonic view is presented. Teaching history with multiple perspectives moves away from accepting biases of textbooks and allows students to form their own judgments to empathize with others. Howard Zinn (1994) provides an example related to teaching about the Mexican War. Instead of relying on the textbook, which is written from the perspective of the United States, Zinn calls for including more viewpoints, such as the opposition (p. 150). By including both sides, students see a more complete picture of history. As a result, prominent issues- like

colonization and power struggles- can be discussed. Mary Cowhey also discusses teaching through multiple perspectives to allow students a fuller picture of history. Cowhey (2006) states Usually history is taught from the perspective of powerful White men. We can rest assured that our students will get more than their fair share of that in their education careers. I try turning history around, telling the story from the perspective of other groups whose voices we usually dont hear (p. 124). Cowhey notes the importance of viewing history from different lenses and using such lenses to analyze history. Both Cowhey and Zinn call for social studies reform in which history becomes an eclectic mix of different voices, where each gives their side of the story. Once an educator realizes and breaks away from the hegemonic views presented in traditional history, it is their job to move students towards a path of questioning. Cowhey (2006) supports this belief when she declares, I want to teach my students history as a contextualized story. I want them to learn a story with rough texture, complete with flaws and conflicts and complexities, not a slick, sealed, sanitized version (p. 124). From a personal perspective, I rarely questioned history until I came to college. The same historical figures were glorified year after year, and little talk of their negative actions surfaced until reading Takaki. We need to address the unheard voices throughout history and reevaluate glorified historical figures. The content for history courses changes as students advance, but according to Vincent Ciardiello (2012), Young students will need to be taught the complex skill of multiple perspective-taking in civics education as they advance from grade to grade due to the significant impact of recognizing different viewpoints and beginning to discuss associated injustices (p. 174). In conclusion, the issue is not making social studies and history textbooks engaging for students. The bigger issue calls for sorting through the material to include multiple perspectives and regularly silenced voices. Students need many parts of a story to form a more complete view

of history. By giving students a more complete picture, they can start making judgments to address the injustices occurring in the past and present in order to change the future. Lesson Plan Ideas As a result of my central belief towards teaching social studies with multiple perspectives, I created or modified three lesson ideas. The lessons are geared towards fourth grade and focus on introducing multiple perspective-taking and immigration. As a result of the lessons, the students should come to understand the significance of looking through different lenses and gain insight as to how cultures attempt to maintain their values, beliefs, and institutions through power (Levstik & Barton, 2010, p. 5). The first lesson, Exploring Multiple Perspectives, is based off one of Mary Cowheys lessons (p. 234). The lesson will occur at the beginning of the first quarter. The goal is to introduce the importance of incorporating multiple perspectives as a tool to be used throughout the entire year. The students already know how to record observations and take detailed notes. In terms of materials, the students need very little. They will use paper and pencils, a recording device, and each other. The activity will involve roleplaying. Two teachers will act out a situation in which one teacher takes over the space of another teacher. The premise will be that the one teacher is seen as a hero for getting a new space for her class to play in. The students will only observe the first teacher being rewarded for getting a new space and new materials for her students, and the second teacher will be sulking. She will talk about all the new benefits and pretend to inform the class about the exciting things to come. The students will record notes and observations from the play. The other teacher who lost her classroom will just pretend to be mad during the first scene. After the students take their notes, they will review as a group what happened. Then, the teacher will pose the question- How did I come about getting this room and

supplies? Who else was involved? Who else do you think we need to talk to? Then, the teacher who lost her room will tell her side of the story. She will note that the room was taken over and all the materials were stolen. The students will again record notes about the situation. After observing both situations, the students will decide who should have the room and whether the first teachers actions were justified. The teacher will ask students the following questions: What would happen if you only heard the first teachers story? What would you think? Would you know that she did wrong to obtain the room? Why do you think this activity was important? Then, the teacher will summarize the lesson by pointing out the need for hearing multiple viewpoints and both sides of a story. Addtionally, the teacher can point out that the students observations are primary sources, or actual accounts that they witnessed. The teacher will ask students what they can do to figure out if a story is accurate. Anticipated responses include researching more, finding primary resources, or looking at a situation from as many viewpoints as possible. As an assessment, the students will look at various short stories put together by the teacher. The students will have to read each story and identify the perspectives included in the story. They will also need to write if they think another perspective that is not explicitly cited in the story should be included. The students should take away that many viewpoints are required to create a more accurate picture, and that sometimes situations (or people) are not as they first appear. It is up to the students to gather multiple perspectives and resources, as well as empathize with those being wronged. The second lesson, Walking in Their Shoes, is adapted from the article by Vincent Ciardiello. It will occur during the middle of the first quarter. The students will already know what multiple perspectives are and why they are important. The students have also heard about Angel Island and read briefly about instances of immigration in their textbook. The materials for

the lesson include the book Landed by Milly Lee, copies of poems written on the walls of Angel Island, actual diary entries, and additional books about Angel Island, including The Dragons Child: A Story of Angel Island and Angel Island Prisoner. The lesson will begin with the teacher reading Landed by Milly Lee. Afterwards, the students engage in a brief discussion about the main character, Sun. As a group, they discuss what happened at Angel Island, look at poems related to Angel Island and the experiences, talk about how Sun felt, and give ideas about how they might have felt. They will also talk about the unjustness of the situation. The teacher will ask the following questions: Do you think what happened was wrong? Why do you think this? What to do you think should have happened? Why do you think the people were kept for a long time? After the reading and group discussion, students can choose to look at more poems or copies of the additional readings. They may also use child-friendly websites to research more about immigrants at Angel Island. As an assessment, students are to write their own journal entry or poem as if they were an immigrant at Angel Island. Students may also compose a song if they would like. They are to put themselves in another persons shoes and adopt the viewpoint of an immigrant child. Accommodations such as using a word processing device or verbally recording the work can be made. The lesson can be extended to multiple days if the teacher decides to have children compare and contrast experiences of immigrant children at Angel Island versus Ellis Island. However, this is only an extension. The last lesson will occur during the third quarter and is called Showing the Truth. The students will have spent the first two quarters looking at multiple perspectives and using primary resources to gain information from different viewpoints. Addtionally, students will have practiced adding in additional voices to various stories to include multiple perspectives. The materials for the lesson include the textbook, the same books and poems from the second lesson,

copies of Venn diagrams, a student guideline handout, and computers. As a group, the students and teacher will look at the section in the textbook about immigration to Angel Island. They will also reference materials from the second lesson. Working together, the students and teacher complete a Venn diagram. One side will be information from the text, and the other side is information from additional resources. The middle section is information included in both. Then, once the Venn diagram is completed, the class will talk about the perspectives represented. For this lesson, the teacher will focus on the US perspective and the perspective of immigrants. Together, the students and teacher will start rewriting the section in the textbook that addresses Angel Island or Chinese immigration during late 1800s. Students will have to include both perspectives and pertinent information from their resources. The students and teacher will use the computers to gather more resources. Together, they will write a short section of the textbook. This may take more than one day. During the fourth quarter, Students can choose a topic from their social studies book and rewrite it to include multiple perspectives as a final project for the year. Detailed Lesson Of the three plans, I want to go into more detail for the second lesson. Walking in Their Shoes, calls for students to gather information from a different perspective and put themselves in the place of that perspective. Students take on a viewpoint different than their own and make connections between the past and their current lives. I want students to learn the importance of looking past the US views present in textbooks, and instead include different perspectives. Addtionally, students should develop a general sense of empathy and be able to make judgments about the morality of a situation. Most importantly, students should see how individuals or people of power can abuse or use power unjustly as a means to control. Although the lesson will

not completely go over this, students should begin to question the United States power and negative actions during the time period. The lesson addresses the first three principles of social justice. Foremost, the lesson is grounded in the lives of our students. Instead of asking students to simply read from the textbook, I am asking them to think about their own experiences and use their thoughts and feelings to better understand historical events. Addtionally, the materials focus on Chinese immigrant children who are close in age to the students. The lesson builds upon feelings of mistreatment and unjust actions, which every child experiences in some way. By asking the students to empathize with Chinese immigrants, we are connecting the past and present by way of feelings. The lesson also calls for students to be critical. Students will look at the United States treatment of Chinese immigrants and question the mortality of their actions. They will discover the unjust conditions and think about why the events occurred. I will not be telling them the actions are wrong. Rather, they will use the information gathered from different perspectives to make a judgment. Lastly, the lesson covers the third social justice principle. The lesson calls for students to look at a culture that may be different from their own and determine how one group of people mistreated another group. They will adopt the voice of Chinese immigrants to learn more about their struggles and the inequality associated with the immigration process. Two Illinois Content Standards for social studies to be covered during the lesson are 16.A.2c: Ask questions and seek answers by collecting and analyzing data from historic documents, images and other literary and non-literary sources and 14.F.2 Identify consistencies and inconsistencies between expressed United States political traditions and ideas and actual practices (e.g., freedom of speech, right to bear arms, slavery, voting rights).

As an assessment for the lesson, students will have their choice of composing a diary entry, a poem, a song, or a skit. The assessment allows for multiple means of expression for different types of learners. Addtionally, accommodations can be made to use a word processing device or a verbal recording. The assessment should reflect the students ability to show empathy and take on a different perspective. It should also include details from the reading, poems, and additional books presented in the lesson. The empathetic stance should reflect an understanding of the unjust actions that occurred at Angel Island. Some students might need more scaffolding than others. The teacher should provide guiding questions to spark interest and check in with the students before they begin working on the final presentation. Addtionally, students will be informally assessed during the group discussion. Do students question the conditions presented in the book? Do students ask why certain events occurred? Can students make connections with the character? In the event that students need to be retaught, I will use more examples to help related the injustices at Angel Island to their own lives. I can pose what if examples, such as What if you wanted to go to basketball practice, but the rest of the team made you wait outside all day because you were too talented and they were afraid you would take their position. How would you feel? Is this fair? Why are they doing this? The students might need to first think of a situation more relevant to their lives to begin empathizing before putting themselves in a historical perspective. I might also allow the students to do more individual research about the conditions. In order to implement the lesson, I would use one 50-minute time slot to read the book and engage in group discussion. The latter half of the lesson could be spent doing additional research and beginning the assessment. I would allow for an additional half of a lesson (25 minutes) for students to continue their assessment activity for taking on a different perspective.

The materials for the lesson can be linked with language arts instruction. The two main items needed are Landed by Milly Lee and copies of poems written on the walls of Angel Island. Additional resources, such as The Dragons Child: A Story of Angel Island and Angel Island Prisoner, would also be two helpful books. Diary entries, videos, and teacher-approved search engines can also aid in the development of the lesson. The students need to be provided with the materials for their assessment, including a graphic organizer, paper and pencils, computers (optional), and a recorder (optional). To begin the lesson, I will have students gather in the library area of our classroom. I will ask students to think of a time where they felt mistreated or that something was unfair. I will wait for student answers and, depending on time, tell the rest of the students that they can share later in a journal log or talk with me after. Once students share, I will tell them that all throughout history people have been mistreated or had something unjust happen to them. I will note that sometimes, however, we do not hear the whole story. I will link the lesson to our previous one about taking multiple perspectives and needing to hear both sides. I will explain to students that today we will hear the side of an immigrant Chinese boy around the students age. Before we read, however, I will explain to students that they are to sit quietly during the reading and respect their peers. During discussion time, students are to show respect to each other by remaining quiet when another student is talking. I will make sure to ask students how they would feel if they were trying to share their opinion and someone was being disruptive. Some questions I might ask in the opening would relate to each students individual answer. I might ask the following questions: How did you feel about what happened to you? Did you think it was unfair? Why? What do all of your examples have in common?

In terms of procedures, I would first introduce the book. I would explain to children that the time period for the book is the late 1800s. I would ask students to tell me what immigration means in their own words. After defining immigration, I would ask students why they think the boy in the story wants to go to America. Some responses might include having a better life or escaping something at home. We would then read the book and stop at critical points during to engage in discussion. The book focuses on a Chinese boy leaving his home to come to America. It talks about the struggles during the time of detainment at Angel Island and the extensive testing and quizzing required for entry into America. I might stop in the middle of the reading and create another example linked to the students lives. I might ask Imagine that you studied for weeks and weeks for a big test. Say that you passed the test, but I decided that it was too easy or I did not believe you. How would you feel knowing that I made this change? Is what I did fair? Would you feel defeated know that I continually tried to see you fail? It is OK just because I am the teacher and this is often referred to as my classroom? After reading the book I would read one of the poems written on the walls at Angel Island. The book talks about how detained Chinese immigrations often wrote poems expressing their feelings. I would read the poem and have the students locate points in the book where the poem would best fit. I would ask students what they thought about the poem and what they felt when they heard it. Then, I would ask students to look at either additional copies of poems or the extra books to see if the perspectives presented are the same or different. I would ask students to look and see if people had similar feelings and experiences. Were the conditions the same? How do you think the people felt? Can you imagine yourself in the situation? The students might also use teacher-approved websites to look at photographs of Angel Island for a visual example. After the students research more, I would ask the students to create a poem, diary entry, or song. They will be told to put themselves

in the shoes of a Chinese immigrant. How would they feel about being detained? What would they think of the United States? How is this different from what they originally thought? Accommodations will be made for students, such as receiving materials in a native language or providing additional background knowledge, or needing to use a word processing or recording device. At the closing, I will read the portion of the textbook that talks about Chinese detainment from the United States perspective. Then, the students will read or perform their poem, diary entry, or song. I will ask students what types of differences exist among the two perspectives. Together, we will make judgments about whether what happened was fair or unjust. I will ask students to think back of the examples they shared earlier. I will check to see if they are able to think from a different perspective and empathize with the opposite side. I will ask the students to briefly take on the viewpoint of the other person. What do you think the other person in your example would say? Are you able to think about how they might respond? I will again remind students of the importance of viewing everything from multiple perspectives and viewpoints. Assessment 4 3 2 3 lesson ideas are presented and are slightly based on 2-3 big ideas Each of the 3 lesson plans includes the 4 points listed in the original instructions, but explanations are brief and difficult to follow 1 3 lesson ideas are presented but there is no connection to 2-3 big ideas Each of the 3 lesson plans includes less than 4 points listed in the original instructions

3 lesson ideas are 3 lesson ideas are presented based on 2-3 presented and, for the big ideas most part, based on 2-3 big ideas Each of the 3 lesson plans includes the 4 points listed in the original instructions (title & time, prior knowledge, materials, short description) Each of the 3 lesson plans includes the 4 points listed in the original instructions, but more details should be included

Inquiry project reflects understanding of knowledge acquired over the course of the semester and is clearly applied

Inquiry project reflects understanding of knowledge acquired over the course of the semester, but the student is still developing the ability to apply knowledge. The paper is fairly organized, and writing is relatively easy to read with few grammatical errors.

Inquiry project reflects moderate understanding of knowledge acquired over the course of the semester, and the student is still developing ability the to apply knowledge

Inquiry project reflects little to no understanding, and the student exhibits a weak attempt to apply knowledge

The paper is organized, well written with no grammatical errors.

The paper is moderately organized, and writing is difficult to read with many grammatical errors.

The paper is poorly organized and writing is very hard to read, as it has numerous grammatical errors. Paper only includes one citation or references one outside source. Little length requirements are met.

Paper includes 3-5 different references or citations.

Paper includes at least 3 citations; however, two of the citations are from the same source. Most of the length requirements are met.

Paper only includes two citations and only references 2 different outside sources. Some of the length requirements are met.

All length requirements are met sufficiently.

Grade: ____21____ /

24 __

References Barton, K. C. & Levstik, L. S. (2010). Doing history: Investigating with children in elementary and middle schools. New York, NY: Routledge Ciardiello, V. (2012). Is angel island the ellis island of the west? teaching multiple perspectivetaking in american immigration history. The Social Studies, 103:4, 171-176. Cowhey, M. (2006). Black ants and buddhists: Thinking critically and teaching differently in the primary grades. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Miner, B. (1994). Why students should study history: An interview with howard zinn. Rethinking Our Classrooms, 1, 150-156.