Academic Conversation

It can not be overstated how important dialogue is in a civics classroom...or for the development of citizens for that matter.  What is our Constitution, if not something we must talk about in order to have a continual understanding of what it means?  Whether or not one supports the doctrine of the "Living Constitution", one cannot deny that our collective understanding of what the document tells throughout our history is rooted in dialogue and critical thinking.  Below you will find some resources from a presentation I made for my district's annual social studies in-service.

Links
Socratic Seminar Guide: http://www.authenticeducation.org/documents/WhatSeminar04.pdf

• This is a pretty good guide for how to run an effective Socratic Seminar.  There are a ton of Socratic Seminar resources on-line, and no single one is an authoritative source.  Do what works in your classroom!

Constitution USA with Peter Sagal: http://www.pbs.org/tpt/constitution-usa-peter-sagal/equality/#.Uhx_KJKsiSp

•  This segment focuses on the 14th Amendment and equality.  With the anniversary of the march on Washington and Constitution Day, this is a timely resource.

Constitution Center Blog: http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2013/06/do-we-need-a-constitutional-amendment-to-protect-privacy/

• There are a lot of good conversation starters on the Constitution Center's blog.  Just click on "Issues" and you will find all kinds of good stuff.  This link is to a post about whether or not the 4th Amendment can sufficiently protect our privacy rights.

Warm-ups and Exit Activities with Google Forms

My school district has a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy that allows students to use their smartphones, tablets, laptops in class...for educational purposes.  I really like this program, as it allows my class to have a near 1:1 student to computer ration between my laptop cart and personal devices.  To incorporate (and encourage) students to bring their own device, I started doing warm-ups with Google Forms.  Creating a form with open response questions, multiple choice questions, images etc. is very simple and is compatible with all devices. Student responses are populated in a spreadsheet, which is great for assessment purposes.  What I really love about using forms as a warm-up is that I can quickly see how students are responding to the questions and provide immediate feedback to the class on concepts that students are not quite understanding. Below is an example of a warm-up.  Student's come in to my room, go to the link (that I have shortened with Tinyurl.com), and respond.  Even students who are reluctant writers and discussion participants get into this.  What a great way to get 100% class participation!