iCivics Games and the Importance of Reflection

My students love to play iCivics games. The games do a great job of helping students understand important civics concepts, but they are so much more powerful as a learning tool if students have the opportunity to reflect and make connections to what they have learned in class. Thankfully the wonderful people over at iCivics have provided a Teacher's Guide for each of their games. All you need to do is set up a free teachers account, and you have access to the Teacher's Guides plus a ton of great lesson plans and resources.

Google Classroom makes it easy to assign an iCivics games and a reflection assignment to go along with it. Take a look at the Google Doc template below. I have provided students with a directions, a link to the game, pre-play questions, and post-play questions. There is no reinventing the wheel here, as the Teacher's Guides from iCivics already contain the pre and post-play questions. 

In Google Classroom, I set up the assignment so that each student gets their own copy of the template. That way they can type their responses to the questions right into the document before, during, and after playing the game. The pre-play questions serve a formative purpose. Once students start playing the game I can spot check responses to the pre-play questions and instruct accordingly. They essentially serve as a pre-assessment, especially if the game is being used to introduce a topic. As you can see in the student work below, reflection helps students make connections between the game and important civics concepts.

If you are reading this blog, I am going to assume you are familiar with iCivics. A lot of teachers assign the games, but do not take advantage of the other great resources from iCivics. Do yourself a favor and check them out. Especially the Teacher's Guides for the games. It will make the learning experience from game-based learning so much more powerful for your students.

A Singer and a Philospher

I know it is coming! When we head back to school after this MLK Day holiday, students are going to be asking what the deal is with Secretary of State John Kerry and "that old guy singing." If you haven't see James Taylor perform "You've Got a Friend" as John Kerry's guest in France on January 16th, please do. Nearly all media outlets have been highlighting the event for the past couple days, and students will surly have picked up on some of the commentary. The tragedy in France against Charlie Hebdo has sparked much discussion among my students about America's role in the global war on terror. Opinions vary on what we should do in response to the attack, but there is no consensus through several class discussions about whether the United States should be more or less involved in international relations than it is now.

Since our founding, American foreign policy has fluctuated between isolationism, imperialism, and moralism. The United States' geographic isolation from the centers of world conflicts, its tendency towards pacifism at times, and the uniqueness of the American experiment all drive our unique approach to foreign policy. When it comes to helping students understand the significance of foreign policy, I feel that it is essential to establish why governments engage with one another in the first place.

Students (and hopefully most Americans) are already familiar with the legislative and executive branches of government. British philosopher John Locke sees a third power, the federative, as significant for a political society. Federative power deals with the community as a whole, in relation to beings outside the community like foreign governments. It is involved with war and peace, alliances and treaties, and all other relationships between the commonwealth and other governments. One could make the argument that James Taylor's performance, as a show of solidarity, is a tool that John Kerry used as an exercise of the federative power. It's not that far fetched, considering gifts to and from foreign governments are commonplace in diplomacy.

Even though executive and federative powers are different from each other, they are usually united in one body. Federative power, however, is based more on the discretion and prudence of those invested with it rather than the adherence to the established, standing laws of the nation. This is because dealing with foreigners is much more difficult and variable than dealing with one’s own nation. Locke believes that it is best for the executive and federative powers to be combined because they both use the force of the public for their exercise and if they were separate, it would lead to uncertainty and chaos.

What then should we make of the outcry from the media and Republicans that Kerry's actions are a weak response? If the federative power should be heavily reliant upon public will, do those opposed to the action suggest the American government should take drastic measures in response to the attack? According to the PEW Research Center, worries about an attack on U.S. soil remains pretty much unchanged after the attack in France. So the question to get students engaged in is whether or not they believe the U.S. should take drastic measures in response to acts of terror abroad. 

Book Review: Being a Historian - James Banner

When students start down a career path, towards say being a lawyer or a doctor, there are distinct expectations, explicit learning of skills, and practicum that are given elements in their education. That might not be the case for nascent historians. James Banner’s Being a Historian: An Introduction to the Professional World of History tells an advisory tale of a discipline that often ignores its own history and neglects to fully develop its greenhorns, who are often left to learn their craft on their own. While Banner expresses many things that have gone wrong, or been neglected, as the discipline of history has developed, he also speaks of a discipline that has a lot of promise and opportunities for up and coming historians.

Historians share the same discipline, but not necessarily the same professions. Banner’s account of the discipline begins with historical work practiced by civic groups such as historical societies and with the development of academic history. He then winds through the evolution and maturation of public history. Central to Banner’s thesis regarding the trajectory of the discipline is the idea that when faced with opportunities to be more of a force in the public sphere, the discipline has slipped back into the walls of academia. This was especially true after historians had done a significant amount of government and other public history work during the 1940s, only to retreat once their public efforts were complete. Public history grew throughout the 20th Century with the increasing availability in government jobs, private industry, and cultural institutions. Banner credits public history with innovative developments in the discipline including oral history and public history. Public history “works to deepen the public’s living consciousness of its past in ways that members of the public request, not because of the current trajectories of historiography.”

            

The relationship between academic history and secondary education is flawed. Banner recognizes that, “Classroom instruction may be the only time in their lives that students have the chance to become alert to the fundamentally problematic and contingent nature of all historical knowledge.” Ultimately though, secondary teachers are “lacking in deep knowledge of their subjects.” Academic historians must endure the burden “to resuscitate a love of historical knowledge that has been often seriously injured if not killed in school.” The universities do not shirk blame here as they often fail to develop historians’ teaching and writing skills. However, Banner notes that history students do a fine job plodding through the process and learning the necessary skills, regardless of how well the academy prepares them for professional life.

            

Long past due, Banner’s work here on the remarkable issues the discipline should address is the retrospect that should be in the forethought of history students. Furthermore, the responsibility of academic historians to bolster secondary educational experiences for teachers and students should take top priority. Great significance must be placed on positive learning experiences. It all but guarantees better quality post secondary students and consumers of historical knowledge. This book is important, because it highlights the promise of the discipline, whether one finds oneself in academia or working in public history.

Now or Not Yet?

I recently saw a Ted Talk video by Stanford's Carol Dweck about students with a "growth mindset".
Research on the “growth mindset” shows that students who believe they can grow their basic abilities have greater motivation and higher achievement than students who believe their abilities are fixed, and that teachers can influence students’ mindsets. Students with a "now mindset" tend to shut down when they do not have immediate success. So what can we do to cultivate a "growth mind-set" in students? Watch the Ted Talk to learn what Dweck's prescription is.

I believe that on-demand formative assessment can go a long way in helping students develop a "growth mind-set." That is assuming their is good feedback from the assessment. There is something new brewing over at Flubaroo.  For those of you have not heard of such a thing...Flubaroo is a Google Sheets Add-on that allows you easily grade quizzes that are created with a Google Form. Check out the intro video below! The big update is that Flubaroo now has an autograde function that allows students to get feedback immediately upon submitting their quiz. The Flippers out there should not underestimate the power of on-demand formative assessment. Flubaroo makes that possible and easy-to-do. Find directions to enable auto grade here.

One of the great features of Flubaroo is that it emails results directly to students, and gives the option of providing feedback (see image below). The best feedback directs students where to go to learn more or brush up on content they have yet to master. A "great job" is nice too, I suppose. A "growth mind-set" is fostered as students get feedback "now," but the opportunity to learn more in order to master content if they are not quite "yet". Provide a link to a Google Doc with additional info, a YouTube video, or a website that will help students achieve mastery. 

"The New Politics"

I recently stumbled upon Crowdpac, a neat website that is great for comparing 2016 presidential and learning about major political issues. Crowdpac describes themselves as: Crowdpac is the definitive resource for objective data on US political candidates. Our unique data model shows you where politicians stand on the issues, based on what they say, how they vote and who gives them money. Crowdpac's mission is to help everyone participate more easily and effectively in the political process. Crowdpac is independent, non-partisan and for-profit. This is the new politics.

The Issues

The way Crowdpac presents information political issues is very concise. Beyond providing some background information about each issue, the site provides Democratic and Republican viewpoints, current role of government in the issue, and important legislation and caselaw related to the issue. The way information is presents (see below) would be easy for students to comprehend. The information is not as in-depth as many sources, but that is not the point. This seems to be intended as a survey of political issues, so it will serve various achievement levels. 

2016

So soon? While it may seem distant, the 2016 presidential election is right around the corner. Many candidates have declared their intentions for running in the 2016 primaries. Still, others, we can at least speculate may run. Using current polling data, PAC contributions, and candidate history Crowdpac allows users to compare 2016 candidates based on the quantitative data and their qualitative stance on the issues. This is a great tool for students compare primary candidates and see where they align on the political spectrum. Afterall, not all Republicans and Democrats are cut from the same cloth. Crowdpac helps students discover the nuances between the candidates. Plus, it is always fun to see who has a chance of beating Hilary Clinton in 2016. So far the data does not bode well, but the games have barely begun.