Download Globally relevant pedagogy in the social studies classroom

GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY Globally relevant pedagogy in the social
studies classroom
Elizabeth Pinkus St. Mary’s College of Maryland Abstract: The way social studies content is taught in standard classes separates the world into two distinct entities: the United States and the rest of the world. In order to thoroughly understand historical events it is important to know about the ideas and events that influenced their development. Furthermore, our students are entering an increasingly global society and they need to learn to consider social studies through a world lens so that they are prepared to be global citizens. The purpose of this study was to use global perspectives as a base to develop a practical global pedagogy that I implemented in an 8th grade United States history classroom. The focus on global considerations was intended to demonstrate a new perspective of United States history to the students and should provide students with a broader understanding of United States history. After this unit, I hoped that the students would perceive the world as more globally relevant. The results of this study demonstrated that globally relevant pedagogy increased student learning and increased their perceptions of global relevance, leading them to see the world as more interconnected. Introduction
When considering the social studies offered to students in public schools, the topics themselves and the way the curricula are approached clearly separate the history of the United States from that of the rest of the world. Classes such as U.S. history and U.S. government are primarily focused on the development of the United States, with few if any references to other nations. Meanwhile, a world history class often teaches with the opposite focus, only examining other nations and almost never, if at all discussing the United States. This traditional approach draws separate boxes around the United States and the rest of the world (Bender, 2006), and portrays the world as “us” and “them” (Guarneri, 2008). The traditional way U.S. history is approached in schools leads to the perception that U.S. history is isolated from the rest of the world and instills an ethnocentric perspective of our nation’s history without much attention to outside influences (Zevin, 1991). Education should reflect the interconnectedness with which the world developed and changed through time so that students are better prepared for the world around them. This is not to say that all classes should teach the history of the entire world together, but that they should consider worldwide influences that changed the development of individual nations. Our modern world requires graduates to have greater global knowledge and awareness of global concerns (Guarneri, 2008). Social studies classes provide the opportunity to learn about the past while educating graduates to become active citizens. It Rising Tide Volume 7
GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY is important for students to consider a global lens when learning about the past (Arnove, 1999). Many scholars have advocated the need for global perspectives in education, which I will discuss further in the next section. Integration of global perspectives is designed to give the student a more nuanced and holistic understanding of the past. In addition, Merryfield (2008) noted that linking global content with cultural connections makes the content more relevant for the students, by using cultural experiences of the students or teachers to create a more tangible connection to other parts of the world and the idea of multiple perspectives. By merging students’ funds of knowledge with international perspectives that are relevant to them, it would encourage them to make personal connections with the content in new ways. For this study, I used the ideas behind globally relevant education as a foundation to develop and teach a ten-­‐lesson unit integrating global perspectives into the curriculum framework of the United States history class. I collected data to measure if the unit changed the students’ perceptions of global relevance in the social studies classroom and whether it was effective as a teaching approach. As a result of the unit, my hope was that the students would learn the content effectively and find the material more relevant to a globalized world. Conceptual framework
The scholarly field and boundaries of globally relevant education was pioneered by Robert Hanvey, who in 1976 promoted five aspects integral to teaching from a global perspective: perspective consciousness, state of the planet awareness, cross-­‐cultural awareness, knowledge of global dynamics, and awareness of human choices (Tye, 2009). This framework was expanded on by Kniep (1986), who outlined essential elements of global education as an exploration of human values and cultures, global systems, and global issues. Kniep approached global education in a more practical way and published a handbook for creating a curriculum for global education. Over time, the definition has been expanded to include all global concerns, as a way of considering the interdependent world in the past and present, to develop an understanding of multiple perspectives, interactions, diversity, and critical awareness (Bellefuille, 2008; Kirkwood-­‐Tucker, 2009; Le Roux, 2001; Miliziano, 2009). Today, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) defines global perspective as “an understanding of the interdependency of nations and peoples and the political, economic, ecological, and social concepts and values that affect lives within and across national boundaries; it allows for the exploration of multiple perspectives on events and issues” (NCATE Glossary, 2014). Global education provides a way of looking at the world as a set of interrelated systems that cannot be separated because the issues are global (Merryfield, 1998). Arnove (1999) reaffirms that it is important to provide a global lens with which to see the world and transactions between nations because of the way the world has developed. In order for students to understand a complete version of history, they need to consider the development of the world in coordination with multiple nations and influences. Rising Tide Volume 7
Literature review
2 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY Many scholars have argued for the necessity of a globally relevant teaching approach to create a more complete understanding of the past and the present in the social studies classroom. Sometimes it is seen as more than just a necessity but instead as teacher’s urgent responsibility to educate students “about the increasing global interdependence and their role in the emerging global society” (Cruz, 2009). This section discusses the key arguments of the importance of this approach and discusses the merits as well as barriers to its implementation. Goals of social studies education
The purpose of the social studies discipline is generally agreed upon as providing knowledge, values, and skills necessary for participation in society (Ross, 2006). However, not all educators agree on how this should be implemented and what exactly it should include. Whelan (2006) argued that the discipline of history should be the academic subject that connects students to citizenship goals. Merryfield (2008) echoes that idea, emphasizing the benefits of global awareness for students by arguing that students must learn to analyze their own cultural assumptions and connect to the subject as citizens of the world. Global citizenship education. Some definitions of global education include not only a consideration of connections and global issues, but also a specific program to prepare students for informed citizenship (Le Roux, 2001). Students, as members of the world community, need to be educated in a way that prepares them to be global citizens in our interconnected world (Rapoport, 2013). Myers (2006) also asserts that including global citizenship themes in the classroom would invigorate students’ perceptions of engagement within the world and the social studies content. Students need to be able to engage in a history that is aligned with state standards but that also includes multiple viewpoints that broaden their perspectives of the world (Kiern, 2012). Curriculum development for a new history. Global education as identified by Kniep (1986), an exploration of human values and cultures, global systems, and global issues, are currently lacking in the traditional approach to social studies, and are not reflected in social studies curriculum guides and assessments (Miliziano, 2009). Kiern (2012) stresses that it is imperative to develop a curriculum and instructional materials to support teachers in teaching a “new world history.” It will constantly remind students that they are a part of an interconnected world and will reveal key events and ideas in American history that are integrated in a larger world, and influence as well as get influenced by, other parts of the world. Global perspectives in the social studies classroom would simply be a reframing for U.S. history, “one that rejects the territorial space of the nation as a sufficient context and argues for the transnational nature of national histories” (Bender, 2006, p. 38). Barriers facing globally relevant education
Overshadowing the United States. The concept of globally relevant education may seem controversial to some, as some may consider that the use of many global considerations in a United States history class could appear to be emphasizing the rest of the world and therefore undermining patriotism (Myers, 2006). However, a global pedagogical approach would seek not to overshadow the United States with world events, but rather to “contextualize and to extend the transnational relations of American history” Rising Tide Volume 7
3 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY (The La Pietra Report, 2000, p. 8), and deepen the understanding of the way American history developed. Curriculum content. Another reason that global education receives a pushback is because global history is generally not present in the direct curriculum standards, leading to pressure to focus more on the “necessary” concepts in the curriculum that will be tested (Rapoport, 2013). However, global perspectives can be integrated into the concepts already present into the curriculum rather than replacing them. In this way, the international aspects would be connections to the standard curriculum, only serving to add a deeper understanding and consideration of the “necessary” areas of the curriculum. Educators can teach with a globally relevant pedagogy layered into the content and still be accountable for teaching the standards. Global perspectives approaches
Two forms of global perspectives are of particular relevance to this study. The first is the world systems approach, based on the idea that the nations of the world are interdependent and act as a world system together (Myers, 2006). This approach also emphasizes awareness and knowledge of cultural values in the content by studying communal problems that exist in humanity. By using this approach, students should be able to see the world as a more interconnected system of nations. In a U.S. history class, this is achieved by placing the evolution of the United States in the context of the world (Zevin, 1991). The second form relates to worldwide interdependence and cultural values. Guarneri (2002) describes the dichotomy between comparativists and interactionists in global educational theory, defining comparativists as people who chose to compare nations and civilizations and interactionists as people who chose to emphasize exchanges as the key determinants of historical change. Both of these approaches have merit in terms of their usefulness in demonstrating global relevance. Implementing global perspectives in the classroom
Teachers who see the merits of global perspectives and decide to implement them in their classroom must take the basis and definitions of global education and adapt them practically to fit into their classroom and curriculum. Common approaches. Merryfield (1998) compared the approaches of teachers who taught global education in the classroom. One strategy that was common within all levels of teacher experience was a “focus on the relationships or linkages across time periods and world cultures and religions” (Merryfield, 1998, p. 355), which is consistent with the ideology behind global education. The focus on relationships and interconnected nature when teaching events is present in many practical approaches to global history. This would also echo Guarneri’s “interactionist” approach to a global education. Whelan (2006) emphasizes the importance of teaching events in history in relation to other things, arguing that history is best understood as a web that demonstrates how each part is connected to other parts and the whole. This approach would give students a more holistic view of how history unfolded, by using multiple perspectives and events that influenced history. Providing students with sources and perspectives that are globally focused also creates layers of complexity and interest in concept learning (Merryfield, 2008). This would challenge students to think about situations and events with more depth and Rising Tide Volume 7
4 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY complexity, and they would consider them in new ways and be more interesting to students. Considerations. Merryfield (1998) suggested that teachers reflect on their own cultural assumptions to critically consider their point of view, and further to ensure that other cultures and viewpoints are represented within the content and sources used in the classroom. A consideration of the teacher’s potential bias should lead to a broadening of the perspectives or materials presented to students, thus opening their minds further to different cultures and events. Research questions
In this study, students were taught a unit on the U.S. Civil War that included global connections and events that influenced the United States during this period in our history. The detailed global pedagogy used will be discussed in a further section. Throughout this unit, I sought to determine the answer to the following questions: 1. Will global connections increase students’ perceptions of global relevance of the social studies content? 2. Will emphasizing global connections improve student learning in the classroom? Intervention
For this study, I used a globally relevant teaching approach to write a ten-­‐lesson unit on the United States Civil War, with a focus on interdependence and interactions between nations. This unit included both comparativist and interactionist considerations of global perspectives as discussed by Guarneri (2002). Students were taught the important events and ideas in the Civil War outlined in the curriculum with a consideration of the international factors and perspectives that influenced these events. The next section will discuss the specific events and ideas of global relevance that were brought into the unit. This study took place over the course of ten days in an 8th grade United States history classroom. All 90-­‐minute classes were taught with this global approach. This study took place at Spring Ridge Middle School in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. According to the 2014 Maryland Report Card, Spring Ridge has a population of 963 students: 34.1% black or African American, 47.7% white, 7.8% Hispanic, and 5.1% Asian. The social studies classes are not tracked and are thus made up of students with varying ability levels and backgrounds. The participants in this study were composed of the students in all of the 8th grade U.S. history classes that I was placed in, and should be representative of the school population because of this heterogeneous mixing. Methods
Methodological approach
This study followed an embedded design of mixed methods data collection as outlined in Creswell (2003). That is, quantitative data was collected and analyzed primarily, with embedded qualitative data collected to support the findings. The quantitative data results were compared to the qualitative responses to develop a more holistic understanding of the effectiveness of global education. Including qualitative data is Rising Tide Volume 7
5 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY important to this project because through it the students will be able to express their opinions about the effectiveness and value of considering social studies this way and discuss their genuine feelings and reactions, which they would not be able to communicate if they were solely filling out a survey. This qualitative student generated feedback should determine whether the global approach helped them learn and if they found it effective, because ultimately teaching should be a venue that helps students in the best way possible. Data collection
Quantitative data was collected in the form of surveys using a Likert-­‐type scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) to measure if students’ perceptions of global relevance increased. The full quantitative survey can be found in Appendix A and B. The surveys were given to students before and after the unit, and their scores determined if their perceptions changed as a result of the unit. To measure an improvement in student learning, the students completed a pre-­‐test and a post-­‐test to demonstrate how much information they learned throughout the unit. This was a content-­‐based unit test. These scores also answered the question of whether the globally relevant pedagogy implementation was effective. All students received the same version of the test and survey to complete. Qualitative data was collected from the post-­‐surveys only, where the students provided written answers to open-­‐ended questions that are focused on effectiveness of the approach. Fig. 1 Data collection chart Data analysis
The quantitative data from the survey and test data was analyzed through paired two-­‐tailed t-­‐tests to determine if responses changed significantly after the intervention unit. For the t-­‐tests the alpha was set at .05, so any p-­‐value less than .05 demonstrates significance. The qualitative data was used to support the findings of the study from the student’s perspective. Validity concerns
To ensure validity of this study, I debriefed with my mentor teacher daily during the unit. All students received the same materials and instruction throughout the lesson, and had the same surveys and tests to complete. Additionally, since the methods are Rising Tide Volume 7
6 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY triangulated this study should have produced a comprehensive and valid study of global relevance. The intervention: global relevance in the Civil War
In formulating this globally relevant unit, I used both the “comparativist” and “interactionist” approaches mentioned by Gurneri (2002). This unit also focused on relationships and events that were interconnected and influenced the United States, similar to Merryfield’s common approaches to global education (1998). When considering Hanvey’s conceptual framework of teaching with global perspectives, the unit encapsulated mainly four of the five aspects: perspective consciousness, cross-­‐cultural awareness, knowledge of global dynamics, and awareness of human choices. I also used the theory behind the world systems approach (Myers, 2006) to emphasize the interconnected nature of other nations. The strongest concept that the students absorbed was influence, as students had a heightened awareness and critical analysis of the events and ideas that influenced the United States during this time. By discussing the events and ideas that spread around the globe and influenced the United States as well as comparing similar events that happened across the world, the students were able to gain a more holistic understanding of the United States and how it led up to the Civil War. After looking at the St. Mary’s County curriculum framework to see what concepts about the Civil War should be taught in the classroom, I realized that students needed to learn more than the topics on the given curriculum framework to have a true understanding of the nation leading up to the Civil War. For example, it is not enough to understand the Southern economy as based on slave labor with cotton plantations. It was additionally important for students to understand slavery as it was going on across the world at the time and especially that slavery was not unique to the United States, as well as where that Southern cotton was traded and how that influenced the relationships between nations. When looking at all the curriculum topics, I considered what global connections would be most relevant to the students’ understanding of the war. To bring a more nuanced understanding of the U.S. Civil War, I focused the unit on three overarching international influences throughout the unit: international trade during the time period, slavery, and worldwide abolitionism. When considering these three international influences, I used many different methods to integrate them into the curriculum and used theory to approach them in multiple ways. When looking at international trade flows I used Guarneri’s interactionist theory to have students consider how trade flows influenced relationships between different nations and how they influenced the development of countries. The relationship between industrialized nations and others shaped what goods were produced and shipped to other places, and also had an effect on the relationships between nations. Most relevant to the unit on the Civil War, the cotton trade from the South was emphasized in its importance to the Southern economy and on slave labor, but also that the trade itself tied the Southern states with nations that imported its cotton. Trade was also important to the Civil War in terms of wartime supplies that were traded to each side of the war, the tariff laws that were part of the growing tensions between the North and the South, and the blockade that took place during the war. I approached the study of international trade in the context of the Civil War through Hanvey’s framework of knowledge of global dynamics. Rising Tide Volume 7
7 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY I gave my students a triangle trade map to help them understand the trade flows that influenced different regions of the world and how these regions were interconnected. Throughout the unit I continued to reference the influence of trade through interactionist theory, explaining how trade influenced decisions and relationships throughout the unfolding of history. For example, the cotton trade linked the Southern economy with Britain and France because they relied heavily on American cotton for their textile manufacturing, and the Confederates attempted to use this relationship to get them to support their war effort in the Civil War. In general, students responded positively to the consideration of global trade in the context of the Civil War. One student said, “I never knew so many ideas could influence the way we do things, such as I never knew how the triangle trade impacted a lot of places and the Civil War.” Trade was also the introduction of another one of the biggest influences that this unit focused on: slavery. On students’ pre-­‐tests, I found many misconceptions about slavery and the United States. For example, some students thought that the U.S. was the only country to have slaves, or other students thought that the United States was the first country to abolish slavery. I sought out to break those misconceptions and give students a more accurate picture of worldwide slavery as well as how slavery affected the U.S. and the U.S. Civil War. I started our introduction of slavery through the triangle trade lesson, including the slave trade on our map as part of an interactionist view of the global influences of slavery and the slave trade. Then the class investigated the global slave trade, comparing the number of slaves imported to the United States with other countries and comparing the daily life conditions of slaves in the South with slaves in other countries, mainly in South America. This investigation followed a comparativist approach to slavery as the class considered how it was different in our country with other nations. Considering the treatment of slaves in other nations and cultures also lent itself to an investigation of Hanvey’s framework of cross-­‐cultural awareness, as well as a consideration of how human choices influence the treatment of people in history. Also when considering slavery in the context of revolutions and freedom, the students directly compared the Nat Turner rebellion in the United States with the Haitian Rebellion in Haiti, using comparativist theory to consider similarities and differences as well as integrating cross-­‐cultural awareness in this context, using a stations activity on Nat Turner and a Venn diagram and discussion to compare them. The given curriculum standards emphasized pro-­‐slavery and anti-­‐slavery arguments in the United States, but I also integrated global perspectives into that idea. Southern slaveholders used the examples of Haiti and the British Caribbean to demonstrate that nations with economies that relied on slave labor and then abolished slavery struggled with lagging economies, while nations such as Cuba and Brazil kept slaves and their economies remained strong. Through analyzing pro-­‐slavery arguments in terms of economy and international examples, the students engaged in Hanvey’s perspective consciousness, as they considered other perspectives that they didn’t necessarily agree with but could follow their logic. The last overarching influence studied in this unit was abolitionism and the push of global abolitionism. I started by introducing abolitionism as a worldwide movement, using a timeline of the nations that abolished the slave trade and slavery and noting patterns, using a comparativist lens to consider when each different nation abolished slavery. Then the students were instructed to consider worldwide abolitionist movement through an interactionist lens, analyzing how the global movement affected the United States and the Rising Tide Volume 7
8 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY fight to abolish slavery. During the unit, the students studied abolitionism in the United States as well as the abolitionist movement in other countries, and how they were related. Throughout the study of global abolitionism, students engaged in Hanvey’s foundations of perspective consciousness and global dynamics. It is difficult to consider each connection separately as their influences were so strong on the United States, and this was clear during the unit as these themes were reoccurring. For example, I discussed that early in the unit the class tracked triangle trade flows and related them to the cotton trade, slavery, and industrialized and raw goods. At the end of the unit, the students reconsidered the United States’ relationship through trade when discussing the link between the Southern cotton-­‐driven economy and the nations that bought the cotton, and applied it when discussing the Emancipation Proclamation. The students discussed that one reason behind the proclamation was Lincoln’s trying to change the aims of the war, so that the abolitionist nations who were connected to the U.S.’ Southern economy through cotton would not support the Confederates by making the goals of the war focused on the abolition of slavery. This one discussion point brought together all three of our main global connections and demonstrated how they were interconnected to this moment in the United States’ history. Although these were the three overarching global themes brought into the unit, during the unit I also brought in ideas of industrialization, enlightenment thought, and notions of freedom that were relevant to the development of the U.S. Civil War. A day-­‐by-­‐day description of the ideas covered in the unit is displayed on the next page. After determining the globally relevant connections and events to include in this unit, my task was to set up a way to implement it and measure if it was effective or not. I included several types of instruction in this unit including station activities, group work, historical investigation, and lectures. In the post-­‐survey responses, many students said that the most successful activities for them were the station activities and the investigation activities, of which both included active learning processes with global influences in their content. Other than activities, many students also focused on the content that they liked learning the most. Often students responded that they liked learning about global influences because they surprised or shocked them, as they had never learned about those things in a global context before. For example, 39% of students wrote that they benefitted from learning about slavery and examining slavery all over the world. One student remarked, “I did not know that other countries had slaves too. I thought America only did that,” while another student said “I was surprised about how many slaves were in the U.S., there were a lot more in the Caribbean and Latin America but all I’ve ever heard about before this unit was Southern slaves.” These students had learned about slavery before but only in the context of slavery in the Southern United States, and were intrigued to learn that it was not unique to the United States. Many others echoed this sentiment of positive surprise, that they liked learning about things in a new global context that challenged their preconceived notions. Both the activities and the content implemented in the unit seemed to be effective for student learning and their perceptions of global relevance. The survey responses also indicated that students had a positive view of the unit overall and how the unit was approached. One student said that they liked “the flow of the unit and it was easy to follow each concept” and another student mentioned that they liked “getting to learn what happened and experience what [she] didn’t know.” The comments on the unit structure Rising Tide Volume 7
9 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY were generally positive. To see examples of lessons that were part of this unit, see Appendix C and D. The following chart outlines the curriculum topics and the global relevance that was brought into instruction, as well as the theoretical backgrounds used for each concept. After this chart, I will discuss the findings of my two research questions. Fig. 2 Day-­‐by-­‐day description of topics covered daily throughout the intervention !
Day! Curriculum!Topic! Global!Relevance!
Theory!
1!
The!cotton!trade!&! Worldwide!trade!flows!in!the!form!of!triangle!
Interactionist,!
the!southern!
economy!
2!
Industrialization!
and!Sectionalism!
(split!between!the!
north!and!the!
south),!including!
tariffs!and!trade!
laws!
Slavery!in!the!US!
3!
4!
Abolitionism!in!
the!U.S.!including!
abolitionists!(such!
as!Frederick!
Douglass!and!
Harriet!Tubman)!
ProKslavery!and!
AntiKslavery!
arguments!
5!
6!
ProKslavery!and!
AntiKslavery!
arguments!
7!
Nat!Turner!
Rebellion!
8!
Civil!War!
9!
Emancipation!
Proclamation!
!
trade.!Including!the!cotton!trade,!slave!trade,!and!
flow!of!industrialized!goods,!which!are!all!
relevant!to!the!Civil!War.!
Worldwide!trade!flows!of!manufactured!goods!
and!raw!goods,!global!industrialization!
knowledge!of!
global!dynamics!!
The!global!slave!trade!(comparing!the!number!of!
slaves!imported!for!multiple!countries/regions!
and!comparing!their!conditions!with!U.S.!
slavery)!!
Comparativist,!
crossKcultural!
awareness,!
awareness!of!
human!choices!
Interactionist,!
perspective!
consciousness,!
global!dynamics!
The!worldwide!abolitionism!movement!and!the!
spread!of!abolitionism!around!the!world!
Notions!of!equalityK!discussed!enlightenment!
ideas!behind!American!and!French!Revolutions!
and!how!they!spread!across!the!world!echoing!
cries!for!freedom.!Looked!at!slavery!
economicallyK!costs!of!slave!labor!vs.!paid!
workers.!!
Considered!the!argument!of!southern!slaveK
owners!using!international!examples!and!
compared!the!Southern!slave!economy!to!the!
economies!of!other!nations:!Haiti!and!the!British!
Caribbean!(who!abolished!slavery)!and!Brazil!
and!Cuba!(who!had!not!abolished!slavery)!
Compared!the!Nat!Turner!rebellion!with!the!
Haitian!Revolution.!
Because!of!the!cotton!trade!and!all!the!
international!buyers!of!southern!cotton,!the!
south!looked!to!other!nations!to!support!its!fight!
in!the!civil!war!
Apart!from!abolitionist!and!national!reasons,!
Lincoln!also!used!it!to!keep!other!nations!from!
supporting!the!south!in!the!Civil!War,!by!making!
one!of!the!major!goals!of!the!war!abolishing!
slavery!(thus!any!nations!that!supported!the!
south!would!be!fighting!for!slaveryK!Britain!was!a!
main!nation!linked!to!the!South!through!the!
cotton!trade!but!Britain!was!also!a!major!leader!
of!the!global!abolitionist!movement)!
Rising Tide Volume 7
Interactionist,!
knowledge!of!
global!dynamics!
Interactionist,!
perspective!
consciousness,!
awareness!of!
human!choices!
!
Comparativist,!
perspective!
consciousness,!
awareness!of!
human!choices!
Comparativist,!
crossKcultural!
awareness!
Interactionist,!
knowledge!of!
global!dynamics!
Interactionist,!
knowledge!of!
global!dynamics,!
awareness!of!
human!choices!
10 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY Findings, interpretations and discussion
Overall findings
This intervention yielded positive results. Integrating global connections increased student learning and perceptions of relevance significantly. In addition, the process of designing and implementing this unit demonstrated multiple ways to effectively implement globally relevant pedagogy in the classroom. Overall, the unit was very successful in teaching students a globally relevant unit while increasing student learning and their awareness and perceptions that globally relevant education is important. Will emphasizing global connections increase student learning in the classroom?
Analysis of the student’s pre-­‐ and post-­‐test scores determined that the increase in unit test score after the intervention was statistically significant for all classes. The t-­‐test result was highly significant (p<.0001), meaning that it was highly likely that the increase in scores was due to the intervention. As this test measured student learning, it demonstrated that students were able to successfully learn the curriculum content presented in the lesson as well as demonstrate mastery of global concepts and events that we discussed in class. In addition, students from all backgrounds and all classes were able to make significant gains. All classes that had data collected on their tests made average gains of at least 60%, including one class that had many students with IEP’s and 504 plans. Therefore, emphasizing global connections was associated with significantly increased student learning of the curriculum and global concepts throughout this unit. Will global connections increase students’ perceived global relevance of the social
studies content?
Perceived global relevance was shown through the pre-­‐ and post-­‐ surveys through quantitative and qualitative responses. Students were asked a series of questions designed to measure how they felt about international perspectives in social studies and U.S. history, and their pre-­‐ responses were added up and compared to their post-­‐ responses to the same questions. The scores showed an increase in students’ feelings of global relevance that was statistically significant (p<.01). The student responses on their surveys supported this finding, as many student responses indicated a positive change in their perception of the interconnectedness of the world. One student said that the unit “opened [her] eyes to how the whole world is connected in certain ways,” and another student said that through the topics covered she “noticed how little things that happen in other countries can make a big change and help influence important events that happen throughout history.” When the survey asked students “Did this unit make you think differently about how world events influence events in the United States? Explain why or why not” 63% of students responded “yes” and had an explanation similar to the above examples. Although global relevance or interconnectedness of nations was never explicitly talked about during the unit, the students seemed to make that connection based on the way that the unit was approached: by teaching students about events and ideas that influenced life around in the United States the world, the students were able to develop a strong understanding of how many world events are interconnected. In addition, the change in perceived global relevance was extremely important for this study, and both the quantitative and qualitative results Rising Tide Volume 7
11 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY showed an increase in students’ ideas of global relevance. One student’s survey response read, “I used to think if it happened in a country it wouldn’t influence anything in others… [but now I think that] things that happen in other countries could have effects on the U.S. so we should learn about those too.” The most noticeable change in students’ perceptions of global relevance was on post-­‐survey question #8, “In a U.S. history class, we should only learn about events that happened in the United States.” This question was designed to measure if students felt that global connections should be included in a United States history class. The post-­‐survey responses were significantly higher, showing a change from the unit. For this question, 87% of the students wrote a response indicating that a United States history class should include a study of relevant events from other countries. Most students’ post responses reflected the idea that global events influence each other and even in a United States history class we should be learning about events and ideas that influenced the United States. One student said “to understand what/how the United States changed you have to look at the whole world. Look at what things influenced or impacted the U.S.” On their post-­‐survey, many of the students indicated that a U.S. history class wouldn’t be complete without considering things from around the world that influenced the United States. One student succinctly stated, “we don’t only live in the United States, we live on Earth. Not everything comes from the United States. Our ideas and structure was influenced from various places,” noting our place in the world as global citizens. Discussion of results
The findings in this study echoed the work that I reviewed for my literature review. The history that was presented to students was somewhat of a reframing of traditional U.S. history, as mentioned by Bender (2006). The globally relevant content worked to contextualize and strengthen the content that was already included in the county curriculum (The La Pietra Report, 2000). In addition, many students appreciated the complexity and interconnectedness of global perspectives, which Merryfield (2008) would say was most likely because the increased complexity and global relevance lead to an interest in concept learning. Some students were even able to realize the connections in global education as relevant to global citizenship, a strong theme that emerged in the literature about global education. Students were able to reiterate their understanding of global interactions and their influence in history after this unit, which is a strong element of the current definition of global perspectives in education (NCATE). Many students cited the interconnected nature of the world – integral to global education (Merryfield, 1998). This unit provided a global lens with which to consider world history, as Arnove (1999) discussed to demonstrate history in the way the world developed. Conclusion
The purpose of this project was to implement globally relevant pedagogy in a United States history classroom and determine if it was effective in increasing student learning and increasing students’ perceptions of global relevance. The results showed a statistically significant increase in both student learning and perceptions of global relevance, and results were consistent across all classes. Rising Tide Volume 7
12 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY Limitations
The biggest limitations that I faced during this study were scheduling issues. I chose to enrich my student teaching experience by participating in an optional third placement, which meant that my opportunity to implement this study had a very strict timeline of one month before I left for my new placement. My timeline was also shortened because in early March we had multiple snow days, which took away days that were originally scheduled to be part of my instruction. Despite these scheduling limitations, I was still able to implement all 10 lessons to all of my classes. However, it would have been beneficial to have the time to go into more detail or explain certain content to a fuller extent with one or two extra days. The timetable also meant that I had to give their post-­‐tests and surveys on the very last day before spring break, which meant that many students were absent due to early vacations and therefore I had less data to use in my paired analysis of the pre-­‐ and post-­‐ test data. Although I had a very strict timetable and fewer responses than I would have wanted, I still believe that the unit was implemented successfully and there were definitely enough of student responses for a representative data sample. Implications
Although this study took place in an 8th grade United States history class, this approach would be beneficial for students in other history classes to understand a world view approach to historical unfolding. This approach could be easily applied to high school United States history, but would also be extremely applicable to subjects such as world history and European history which tend to stick to “units” on different regions and focus less on their interactions. In general my study helped to demonstrate that globally relevant pedagogy is successful in demonstrating a more holistic version of history to students that emphasizes global connections in the unfolding of history. This method could be applied to almost any social studies class as it helps to further the goals of the social studies discipline. This study provides an example of how it can succeed in a practical 8th grade classroom, and could provide a stepping-­‐stone to implementing it in other classrooms. For this study, the globally relevant pedagogy that my unit was built on focused on emphasizing connections and relationships across the world that influenced the development of the United States. Other teachers or researchers might take a different globally relevant pedagogy approach, choosing to emphasize global citizenship or international cultures, among other things. There are many directions that a globally relevant pedagogy could take, and researching the effect of a different type could strengthen the methods taken to implement it. Overall, this study demonstrated that emphasizing global connections and the interconnected nature of history is an effective way of teaching students a nuanced understanding of curriculum concepts. The results showed a significant improvement in student learning and their perceptions of global relevance. The 8th grade students impressed me with their insightful comments and questions throughout the unit-­‐ demonstrating their curiosity and critical thinking skills when looking at history through a global lens. Rising Tide Volume 7
13 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY References
Arnove, R. (1999). Reframing comparative education: The dialectic of the global and the local. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield. Bender, T. (2006). No borders beyond the nation-­‐state. In C. Guarneri & J. Davis (Eds.) Teaching American History in a Global Context (38-­‐42). New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc. Bellefeuille, G., et al. (2008). "A pedagogical response to a changing world: Towards a globally-­‐informed pedagogy for child and youth care education and practice." Children and Youth Services Review 30(7): 717-­‐726. Creswell, J. (2012). Educational Research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc. Cruz, B. & Bermudez, P. (2009) Teacher Education in the United States: A Retrospective on the Global Awareness Program at Florida International University. In Kirkwood-­‐
Tucker, T. Visions in global education: The globalization of curriculum and pedagogy in teacher education and schools: Perspectives from Canada, Russia, and the United States. New York: Peter Lang. Guarneri, C. & Davis, J. (Eds.) (2008). Teaching American History in a Global Context. New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc. Keirn, T., et al. (2012). "Promoting Global Perspective and Raising the Visibility of Asia in World History: An Assignment for Pre-­‐Service Teachers." History Teacher 45(4): 613-­‐630. Kirkwood-­‐Tucker, T. (2009). Visions in global education: The globalization of curriculum and pedagogy in teacher education and schools: Perspectives from Canada, Russia, and the United States. New York: Peter Lang. Kniep, W. (1986). Social studies with a global education. Social Education, 50(7), 536-­‐542. Le Roux, J. (2001). "Re-­‐examining global education's relevance beyond 2000." Research in Education 65(1): 70-­‐80 Merryfield, M. (2008). "Scaffolding social studies for global awareness." Social Education 72(7): 363-­‐366. Miliziano, K. R. (2009). Teaching Social Studies in an Age of Globalization: A Case Study of Secondary Social Studies Teachers' Participation in the UNA-­‐USA's Global Classrooms Curriculum Program, ProQuest LLC. Devices and Teachers Attitudes." Educational Forum 77(4): 407-­‐420. Myers, J. P. (2006). "Rethinking the social studies curriculum in the context of globalization: Education for global citizenship in the US." Theory & Research in Social Education 34(3): 370-­‐394. National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education Glossary (2014). Retrieved May 10, 2015, from http://www.ncate.org/Standards/UnitStandards/Glossary/tabid/477/Default.aspx The La Pietra Report: Internationalizing the study of American history (2000) in C. Guarneri & J. Davis (Eds.) Teaching American History in a Global Context (6-­‐12). New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc. Rapoport, A. (2013). "Global Citizenship Themes in the Social Studies Classroom: Teaching Devices and Teachers Attitudes." Educational Forum 77(4): 407-­‐420. Rising Tide Volume 7
14 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY Ross, E.W. (2006) Remaking the Social Studies Curriculum. In Ross, E. W., The Social Studies Curriculum: Purposes, Problems, and Possibilities (3rd ed.). United States: State University of New York Press Tye, K. (2009) A History of the Global Education Movement in the United States. In Kirkwood-­‐Tucker, T. Visions in global education: The globalization of curriculum and pedagogy in teacher education and schools: Perspectives from Canada, Russia, and the United States. New York: Peter Lang. Whelan, M. (2006) Teaching History: A Constructivist Approach. In Ross, E. W., The Social Studies Curriculum: Purposes, Problems, and Possibilities (3rd ed.). United States: State University of New York Press Zevin, J. (1991) Social studies for the twenty-­‐first century: Methods and materials for teaching in middle and secondary schools. New York: Pearson Education. Rising Tide Volume 7
15 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY Appendix
Appendix A, Pre-­‐ survey 1. I believe that learning United States history means that I learn about what happened in the United States 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree 2. What happens in the United States does not have an impact on other countries. 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree 3. What happens in other countries does not have an impact on the United States. 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree 4. I believe that learning United States history means that I learn about what influenced life in the United States 1 2 3 4 5 5. Events that happen in other countries influence other events in the United States 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree 6. Other nations in the world influenced the development of the United States. 1 2 3 4 5 7. In a U.S. history class, we should only learn about events that happened in the United States. 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree 8. Events that happen in other countries influence other events around the world 1 2 3 4 5 Rising Tide Volume 7
16 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY Appendix B, Post-­‐ survey 1. I believe that learning United States history means that I learn about what happened in the United States 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree 2. What happens in the United States does not have an impact on other countries. 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree 3. What happens in other countries does not have an impact on the United States. 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree 4. I believe that learning United States history means that I learn about what influenced life in the United States 1 2 3 4 5 5. Events that happen in other countries influence other events in the United States 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree 6. Other nations in the world influenced the development of the United States. 1 2 3 4 5 7. In a U.S. history class, we should only learn about events that happened in the United States. 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Explain your choice for Question 7 Agree Strongly Agree __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Events that happen in other countries influence other events around the world 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Explain your choice for Question 8 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rising Tide Volume 7
17 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY What parts of the unit were most successful for you and why? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Did this unit make you think differently about how world events influence events in the United States? Explain why or why not. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Did any part of the unit on the “Road to the U.S. Civil War” surprise you? If so, explain. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rising Tide Volume 7
18 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY Appendix C: Lesson plan on international slavery and abolitionism !
MAT Program Daily Lesson Plan Template!
Intern!Name:!
Lizi!Pinkus!
School/Mentor:!
Content!Area:!
US!History!
Grade!/Level:!
Unit/Theme:!
Road!to!Civil!War!/!Slavery!&!
Abolitionism!
SRMS/!Kay!Jahn!
8th!grade!!
Lesson!___3____!of!____10___!for!Day___________________!
Date________________!
Prior!
Knowledg
e!
Declarative!
Prior!
Preparatio
n!
Lesson!Context/Setup!!
What!skills!and!knowledge!do!you!expect!students!to!already!have!in!place!before!you!start!the!lesson?!!
What!do!you!need!to!prepare!for!the!lesson?!
Materials!
Procedural!
Setup!(e.g.,!tech)!
!
Students!will!need!to!know!what!an!abolitionist!is!!
Students!will!need!to!know!how!to!read!a!map,!and!take!notes!on!a!worksheet!provided!
Dry>erase!map!of!Africa!
Notes!worksheet!copied,!passage!from!The!Narrative!of!the!Life!of!Frederick!Douglass,!pages!from!“Heart!
and!Soul:!The!Story!of!America!and!African!Americans”!
Powerpoint!on!the!board,!video!clips!assembled!
!
Aligning!Objectives,!Assessments,!Activities,!and!Procedures!
What!will!students!know!and!be!able!to!do!as!a!result!of!this!lesson?!How!will!you!know!they!have!met!the!expectations?!
Common!Core!
Curriculum!Standard(s)!
(Look!for!opportunities!to!
integrate!content)!
Terminal!Objective!
(posted!for!students)!
!
Enabling!Objective(s)!(as!
appropriate)!
CCR!Anchor!Standard!#9!Analyze!how!two!or!more!texts!address!similar!themes!or!topics!in!order!to!build!
knowledge!or!to!compare!the!approaches!the!authors!take.!
CCR!Anchor!Standard!#7!Integrate!and!evaluate!content!presented!in!diverse!media!and!formats,!
including!visually!and!quantitatively,!as!well!as!in!words.!
!
Students!will!be!able!to!evaluate!slavery!by!annotating!and!discussing!a!primary!source.!!Students!will!also!
be!able!to!examine!abolitionism!in!a!global!context!by!accurately!completing!a!worksheet!and!timeline!of!
global!abolitionsm.!!
!
Assessment(s)!for!
Learning!
Accurate!completion!of!worksheet,!annotation!of!timeline!and!annotation!of!primary!source!
Formative!participation!in!class!discussion!on!primary!source!
Special!Needs!
Student!Accommodations!
Special!Education:!
Gifted!and!Talented:!
English!Learners:!
Other!as!Indicated:!
Technology!Applications!
to!Enhance/Personalize!
Learning!!
Students!with!special!needs!and!ESOL!students!will!get!a!copy!of!the!primary!source!with!difficult!words!
defined!on!the!bottom!
n/a!
!
Rising Tide Volume 7
19 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY !
Content!Exploration!and!Practice!(Step=by=Step!Lesson!Plan)!
Objective/Bridge/Transition!
Warm=up!
THE!LESSON!PLAN:!
Instructional!Flow/Content!Exploration!and!Practice!
How!will!you!facilitate!the!lesson?!What!will!students!do!during!the!lesson!to!meet!the!objectives?!
What%will%you%say/do%to%as%the%
bell%rings%and%the%lesson%starts?%%
Plan%what%you’ll%say/do,%and%
what%students%will%be%doing%as%
the%class%gets%underway.%
The%warm%up%should%be%a%natural%
part%of%the%lesson,%reactivating%
prior%learning%and/or%getting%
students%ready%for%exploration.%
%
How%will%you%connect%this%lesson%
to%previous%lesson(s)%and%prior%
knowledge?%
%
How%will%you%make%the%objective%
explicit%and%indicate%its%
relevance%for%students?%
%
How%will%you%engage%the%
students’%interest%in%the%topic?%
[Distribute!(one!per!table)!a!map!of!Africa!and!either!colored!pencils!or!markers.!Project!
warm>up!with!instructions!for!students!to!color!in!countries!listed!on!the!board]!
After!6>7!minutes,!go!over!map!with!students!to!make!sure!they!colored!in!the!correct!
countries!
Timing:!10!minutes!
Yesterday…(revisit!and!reconnect!to!prior!lesson!as!appropriate!for!continuity)!
Today…(verbally!state!the!learning!objective!written!on!the!board,!set!a!purpose,!and!
establish!the!relevance!of!the!lesson)!
!
Yesterday!we!talked!about!the!cotton!gin!and!interchangeable!parts,!which!greatly!influenced!
industry!and!trade!in!our!nation!by!increasing!the!need!for!slaves!to!work!on!plantations.!
Today,!we!are!going!to!learn!about!the!slavery!and!the!movement!to!try!and!abolish!it.!!
%
%
What%strategies%will%be%used%to%
explore%new%content,%to%present%
content%and%guide%discovery%of%
important%concepts%in%a%way%that%
responds%to%varying%learner%
needs?%
%
How%will%students%practice/apply%
what%they%are%learning?%How%are%
Higher%Order%Thinking%Skills%
engaged?%How%are%the%Levels%of%
Questioning%integrated?%What%
are%the%key%questions?%Are%there%
opportunities%for%crossK
curricular%connections?%%
%
How%will%you%differentiate%
instruction%when%that%teaching%
method%is%indicated?%
(Differentiation!is!using!what!
is!known!about!students!
[data]!to!pre=plan!a!variance!
in!content,!processes!or!
products!in!order!to!address!
differing!student!needs!and!
provide!appropriate!entry!
points!that!maximize!learning!
opportunities.)!
%
How%will%students%be%involved%in%
the%learning?%
How%will%you%assess%student%
achievement%of%the%objective?%%
%
How%will%you%use%technology%to%
enhance%instruction,%foster%
exploration,%and%boost%content%
understanding?%%
%
Timing:!75!
Be!specific!enough!so!that!an!intelligent!sub!can!teach!from!this!lesson!plan.!!Include!
procedural!directions!for!distribution!of!materials,!student!movement!in!and!out!of!
group!work,!etc.,!as!well!as!specific!directions!for!transitioning!from!one!lesson!element!
to!the!next.!
[hand!out!worksheet]!!
Take!a!look!at!the!map!you!colored!in!for!your!warm>up.!Those!countries!are!where!the!slave!
traders!got!their!slaves.!Remember!that!these!slaves!were!of!different!cultures>!they!spoke!
different!languages,!had!different!traditions,!and!were!not!all!alike.!Between!1650!and!1870,!
more!than!12!million!Africans!were!taken!from!their!countries!and!sold!into!slavery.!About!2!
million!of!them!didn’t!even!survive!the!journey!to!their!enslaved!futures.!!
Ask!the!students!where!they!think!most!of!the!slaves!went.![Change!to!the!next!slide]!
Have!students!consider!the!colonization!of!central!and!Latin!America>!look!at!the!countries!that!
dominated!them,!discuss!the!sugar!and!coffee!trade,!point!out!Haiti,!Cuba,!British!Caribbean,!
and!Brazil.!Give!figures!of!disembarkation!regions>!!
The!Spanish!(Americas)!and!the!Portuguese!(Brazil)!started!importing!slaves!to!their!colonies!
in!the!early!1500’s.!Between!1500!and!1870,!an!estimated!1,292,912!slaves!arrived!in!the!
Spanish!Americas!and!4,864,374!slaves!arrived!in!Brazil,!which!was!colonized!by!Portugal.!
[write!these!on!the!map!using!the!smartboard.!Have!students!take!notes!on!the!worksheet.]!!
Europe!and!the!other!colonies!didn’t!start!importing!slaves!until!the!mid!1600’s.!!
British!Caribbean>!2,318,252!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!French!Caribbean>!1,120,216!
Danish!West!Indies>!108,998!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Dutch!Americas>!444,728!
North!America>!388,747!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Europe>!8,860!
(point!out!where!each!region!and!its!colonizing!nation!is!on!the!map,!have!students!write!down!
estimates!of!slaves!imported!and!ask!them!how!it!is!different!from!what!they!expected)!
!
Have!students!read!2!pages!from!“Heart!and!Soul”!and!discuss!life!as!a!slave!on!a!plantation.!
Use!second!page!to!introduce!Frederick!Douglass.!
!
Read!a!passage!from!The!Narrative!of!the!Life!of!Frederick!Douglass.!!Have!students!annotate!
with!noticings!and!puzzles!(teach!them!this!method>!highlight!each!with!a!different!color),!then!
go!over!them!as!a!class!and!try!to!have!the!class!work!through!the!passage,!especially!as!it!
pertains!to!literacy!and!education!
!
Redefine!“abolitionist”!(ask!students!what!it!means,!have!them!define!it!in!their!glossary)!
Rising Tide Volume 7
20 !
GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY %
Discuss!worldwide!abolitionism!as!a!global!movement!
Have!students!annotate!the!timeline!of!abolitionism!with!instructions!on!the!powerpoint.!
Discuss!how!abolitionism!was!a!global!movement!that!was!putting!international!pressure!on!
countries!to!abolish!their!slaves.!
Discuss!how!although!the!northern!states!had!abolished!slavery,!the!southern!states!were!
reliant!on!it!(because!of!what!crop?)!and!were!fighting!hard!to!keep!it.!
!
!
Summary/Closure!
Timing:!5!minutes!
Never%let%the%clock,%or%a%bell,%end%
your%lesson.%It%is%more%important%
to%abbreviate%an%activity%to%
ensure%closure%than%to%omit%
closure.%Closure!is!vital!to!
retention!of!learning.!
!
How%will%you%revisit%the%objective%
and%establish%relevance?%(Elicit%
from%students%whenever%
possible.)%
%
%How%will%this%lesson%link%to%the%
next%lesson?%%
Today…(identify!and!restate!objective!verbally)!
!
Today!we!examined!the!slave!trade!and!abolitionism!in!the!United!States!and!internationally.!
Although!it!is!hard!for!us!to!imagine!today,!slavery!was!engrained!in!the!way!of!life!in!the!south!
and!southern!states!were!only!getting!more!strict!in!their!policies!on!slavery.!
!
ALWAYS!Explicitly!discuss!relevance!with!students.!(What!are!your!final!questions,!
comments,!and!actions!that!will!ensure!the!students!understand!the!relevance!the!
lesson?)!
Examples!include:!How!can!you!use!what!you!learned!today?!Why!is!this!important!to!
know?!Why!does!this!matter?!How!does!this!connect!to…?!How!can!you!use!the!problem!
solving!skills!you!used!today!in!other!ways?!
!
Tomorrow…(preview!the!link!to!the!following!day’s!lesson!objective)!
Tomorrow!we!will!learn!about!international!revolutions!that!influenced!slave!rebellions!and!
fueled!abolitionism!around!the!world.!!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
Justification!and!Reflection!
Justification:!Why!was!this!the!best!method!to!use!to!meet!the!learning!objectives!for!the!day?!
Reflection:!In!an!ideal!world,!what!would!you!have!done!differently?!!What!were!the!constraints!of!this!environment,!and!how!would!you!
revise!in!the!future!to!implement!the!lesson!in!a!different!environment?!What!were!my!lessons!learned!in!terms!of!procedural!and!
behavioral!management?!What!were!the!best,!most!effective!parts!of!the!lesson?%
!I!chose!to!start!out!the!lesson!by!having!the!students!map!out!exactly!where!in!Africa!the!slaves!came!from!because!I!wanted!them!to!get!
a!clearer!picture!of!the!slave!trade.!If!they!think!Europe!is!a!country!they!for!sure!think!Africa!is!a!country,!and!I!want!to!break!the!
mindset!of!lumping!all!of!Africa!together.!I!also!wanted!them!to!be!able!to!see!a!clear!picture!of!where!the!slaves!were!going!and!how!
many!slaves!went!there.!!
It!was!important!for!them!to!get!more!time!working!with!a!primary!source,!so!I!included!a!passage!from!Frederick!Douglass’!narrative!so!
that!they!would!have!a!firsthand!account.!I!also!wanted!to!make!sure!to!spend!time!looking!at!abolitionism!in!a!global!context,!because!the!
United!States!was!one!of!the!few!western!nations!to!maintain!slavery’s!legality,!and!it!is!important!to!note!that!abolitionism!was!more!
than!just!the!underground!railroad.!I!also!really!wanted!to!put!an!excerpt!from!The!Liberator!in!the!lesson,!but!I!felt!that!would!make!the!
lesson!very!text>heavy!and!with!90>minute!blocks!the!students!often!burn!out.!
!
While!teaching!this!lesson!I!realized!that!I!had!too!many!things!that!I!was!trying!to!do!with!one!lesson!(sometimes!I!get!carried!away!with!
90!minutes)!!so!I!cut!some!of!the!parts!out!and!focused!the!lesson!on!what!they!really!needed!to!get!out!of!it.!!
!
!
!
Rising Tide Volume 7
21 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY Appendix D: Lesson plan on their last day of the unit, reviewing concepts from the unit, and the resource used in the lesson. !
MAT Program Daily Lesson Plan Template!
Intern!Name:!
Lizi!Pinkus!
School/Mentor:!
Content!Area:!
US!History!
Grade!/Level:!
Unit/Theme:!
Road!to!Civil!War!/!Review!
SRMS/!Kay!Jahn!
8th!grade!!
Lesson!__10_____!of!___10____!for!Day___________________!
Date________________!
Prior!
Knowledg
e!
Declarative!
!
Students!will!need!to!access!previous!knowledge!that!we!learned!in!the!unit!
Procedural!
!
Answer!questions!
Prior!
Preparatio
n!
Lesson!Context/Setup!!
What!skills!and!knowledge!do!you!expect!students!to!already!have!in!place!before!you!start!the!lesson?!!
What!do!you!need!to!prepare!for!the!lesson?!
Materials!
!
Slips!of!paper!for!answers!to!questions!
Setup!(e.g.,!tech)!
!
Powerpoint!pulled!up,!!http://www.onlineCstopwatch.com/countdownCclock/fullCscreen/!
Aligning!Objectives,!Assessments,!Activities,!and!Procedures!
What!will!students!know!and!be!able!to!do!as!a!result!of!this!lesson?!How!will!you!know!they!have!met!the!expectations?!
Common!Core!
Curriculum!Standard(s)!
(Look!for!opportunities!to!
integrate!content)!
Terminal!Objective!
(posted!for!students)!
!
Enabling!Objective(s)!(as!
appropriate)!
Assessment(s)!for!
Learning!
Special!Needs!
Student!Accommodations!
Special!Education:!
Gifted!and!Talented:!
English!Learners:!
Other!as!Indicated:!
Technology!Applications!
to!Enhance/Personalize!
Learning!!
CCR!Anchor!Standard!#7!Integrate!and!evaluate!content!presented!in!diverse!media!and!formats,!
including!visually!and!quantitatively,!as!well!as!in!words.!
Students!will!be!able!to!demonstrate!the!connection!between!the!concepts!we!have!learned!throughout!
the!unit!by!working!together!to!complete!a!“connect!the!dots”!activity!where!each!“dot”!must!have!a!
connection!to!two!other!dots!(total!of!26!connection!lines!with!accurate!explanations!for!each).!
Students!will!be!able!to!review!the!concepts!we!learned!throughout!the!unit!by!answering!questions!in!the!
trivia!activity!to!review!concepts!for!the!test.!
!
Group!“connect!the!dots”!accurately!completed,!Participation!in!trivia!activity!(answering!questions)!
IEP!class!can!have!more!time!for!each!question!
Used!“trivia!crack”!introduction!to!get!students!excited!about!the!trivia!game!(trivia!crack!is!a!very!popular!
trivia!game!for!mobile!devices!that!I!know!many!of!my!students!play)!
!
Rising Tide Volume 7
22 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY !
Content!Exploration!and!Practice!(Step=by=Step!Lesson!Plan)!
Objective/Bridge/Transition!
Warm=up!
THE!LESSON!PLAN:!
Instructional!Flow/Content!Exploration!and!Practice!
How!will!you!facilitate!the!lesson?!What!will!students!do!during!the!lesson!to!meet!the!objectives?!
What%will%you%say/do%to%as%the%
bell%rings%and%the%lesson%starts?%%
Plan%what%you’ll%say/do,%and%
what%students%will%be%doing%as%
the%class%gets%underway.%
The%warm%up%should%be%a%natural%
part%of%the%lesson,%reactivating%
prior%learning%and/or%getting%
students%ready%for%exploration.%
%
How%will%you%connect%this%lesson%
to%previous%lesson(s)%and%prior%
knowledge?%
%
How%will%you%make%the%objective%
explicit%and%indicate%its%
relevance%for%students?%
%
How%will%you%engage%the%
students’%interest%in%the%topic?%
Use!your!notebooks!and!refresh!your!memory!of!the!conditions!of!a!Civil!War!soldierC!
especially!about!medical!care.!!Discuss!with!your!tables!the!medical!conditions!of!the!Civil!War.!
4!minutes!
Yesterday…(revisit!and!reconnect!to!prior!lesson!as!appropriate!for!continuity)!
Today…(verbally!state!the!learning!objective!written!on!the!board,!set!a!purpose,!and!
establish!the!relevance!of!the!lesson)!
!
Yesterday!we!learned!about!the!Emancipation!Proclamation!and!its!impact!on!slavery!
throughout!the!country.!Today!we!are!going!to!review!in!preparation!for!the!test!that!you!will!
take!during!the!next!class.!!
%
%
What%strategies%will%be%used%to%
explore%new%content,%to%present%
content%and%guide%discovery%of%
important%concepts%in%a%way%that%
responds%to%varying%learner%
needs?%
%
How%will%students%practice/apply%
what%they%are%learning?%How%are%
Higher%Order%Thinking%Skills%
engaged?%How%are%the%Levels%of%
Questioning%integrated?%What%
are%the%key%questions?%Are%there%
opportunities%for%crossK
curricular%connections?%%
%
How%will%you%differentiate%
instruction%when%that%teaching%
method%is%indicated?%
(Differentiation!is!using!what!
is!known!about!students!
[data]!to!pre=plan!a!variance!
in!content,!processes!or!
products!in!order!to!address!
differing!student!needs!and!
provide!appropriate!entry!
points!that!maximize!learning!
opportunities.)!
%
How%will%students%be%involved%in%
the%learning?%
How%will%you%assess%student%
achievement%of%the%objective?%%
%
How%will%you%use%technology%to%
enhance%instruction,%foster%
exploration,%and%boost%content%
understanding?%%
%
Timing:!80!minutes!
Be!specific!enough!so!that!an!intelligent!sub!can!teach!from!this!lesson!plan.!!Include!
procedural!directions!for!distribution!of!materials,!student!movement!in!and!out!of!
group!work,!etc.,!as!well!as!specific!directions!for!transitioning!from!one!lesson!element!
to!the!next.!
!
Go!over!impacts!of!the!civil!war!(if!not!touched!on!during!last!class)C!have!students!take!notes!
in!their!notebooks!in!bullet!form!
National!
C
Reunited!North!and!South!and!begun!period!of!reconstruction!
C
Freed!slaves!in!the!southern!states!
C
Division!of!Virginia!(West!Virginia)!
C
Demonstrated!the!disconnect!between!!
Global!
C
Demonstrated!disconnect!between!modern!medicine!and!technology!
C
Contributed!to!the!global!abolitionist!movement!
[8C10!minutes]!
!
Pass!out!chart!paper!with!the!“dots”!already!written!in!(copy!of!the!worksheetC!but!in!bigger!
format!for!groups!to!work!with)C!explain!that!the!group’s!job!is!to!connect!the!dots!with!
concepts.!Draw!a!line!between!dots!and!then!on!that!line!explain!how!they!are!connectedC!
every!dot!should!have!at!least!2!connections.!
[35C40!minutes!for!this!activity.!While!students!are!working!on!it,!walk!around!the!room!and!
ask!probing!questions!/!remind!students!to!look!certain!places!in!their!notebooks!if!they!can’t!
figure!out!the!connections]!
!
[pull!up!powerpoint!with!Trivia!questions]!Introduce!the!Trivia!game:!break!students!up!into!
groups!of!3,!hand!out!postCits!/!pieces!of!paper!for!students!to!write!their!answers!on.!Hand!out!
question!sheetC!tell!students!they!are!expected!to!copy!the!answers!after!each!round.!
Groups!will!get!1!minute!to!submit!their!team’s!answer!(use!online!stopwatch!so!students!can!
see!how!much!time!they!have!left.!Designate!a!person!from!each!group!to!come!up!and!turn!in!
the!trivia!answers!for!each!round.!
Questions!on!review!slides:!!
•
Who!won!the!election!of!1860?!
•
What!was!America’s!#1!export!in!1860?!
•
Was!Maryland!a!slave!or!a!free!state?!
•
Was!Maryland!in!the!Union!or!the!Confederacy?!!
!
!
Rising Tide Volume 7
23 !
GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY •
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
%
•
•
•
•
What!was!the!36°30′!!parallel?!
Which!region!of!the!world!imported!the!most!slaves?!
Which!nation!helped!to!lead!the!global!abolitionist!movement?!
How!did!the!Cotton!Gin!impact!slavery?!
Which!government!policy!included!the!Fugitive!Slave!Act?!
Explain!the!Fugitive!Slave!Act!
Explain!the!Dread!Scott!decision!
Define!“popular!sovereignty”!
Define!“sectionalism”!
Define!“abolitionism”!
Who!was!Frederick!Douglass?!
Who!was!Nat!Turner?!
What!did!the!phrase!“king!cotton”!mean?!
Explain!how!the!Enlightenment!ideas!influenced!slaves!
Explain!one!international!factor!that!influenced!the!Civil!War.!!
Explain!one!global!impact!of!the!Civil!War.!!
What!did!the!Emancipation!Proclamation!accomplish?!
What!were!the!problems!with!the!Emancipation!Proclamation?!
How!did!southern!slaveCowners!use!international!examples!to!justify!keeping!
slavery?!
Explain!the!influence!of!the!Haitian!Rebellion!
Explain!the!connection!between!property!rights!and!slavery.!
Explain!why!trade!is!significant!to!the!Civil!War.!
!
!
Summary/Closure!
Timing:!2!minutes!
Today…(identify!and!restate!objective!verbally)!
!
Today!we!went!over!the!concepts!about!the!road!to!the!civil!war!you!will!need!to!know!for!your!
test!tomorrow.!The!Civil!War!was!a!true!test!of!the!strength!of!our!nation,!and!many!battles!and!
important!events!took!place!right!here!in!Maryland!
!
ALWAYS!Explicitly!discuss!relevance!with!students.!(What!are!your!final!questions,!
comments,!and!actions!that!will!ensure!the!students!understand!the!relevance!the!
lesson?)!
Examples!include:!How!can!you!use!what!you!learned!today?!Why!is!this!important!to!
know?!Why!does!this!matter?!How!does!this!connect!to…?!How!can!you!use!the!problem!
solving!skills!you!used!today!in!other!ways?!
!
Tomorrow…(preview!the!link!to!the!following!day’s!lesson!objective)!
Next!class!you!are!going!to!take!a!Unit!Test!demonstrating!your!knowledge!about!the!U.S.’!
journey!surrounding!the!civil!war.!Make!sure!to!study!the!questions!that!we!went!over!today,!
and!use!all!the!materials!in!your!notebooks!to!make!sure!you!are!prepared.!!!
!
Never%let%the%clock,%or%a%bell,%end%
your%lesson.%It%is%more%important%
to%abbreviate%an%activity%to%
ensure%closure%than%to%omit%
closure.%Closure!is!vital!to!
retention!of!learning.!
!
How%will%you%revisit%the%objective%
and%establish%relevance?%(Elicit%
from%students%whenever%
possible.)%
%
%How%will%this%lesson%link%to%the%
next%lesson?%%
!
!
Justification!and!Reflection!
Justification:!Why!was!this!the!best!method!to!use!to!meet!the!learning!objectives!for!the!day?!
Reflection:!In!an!ideal!world,!what!would!you!have!done!differently?!!What!were!the!constraints!of!this!environment,!and!how!would!you!
revise!in!the!future!to!implement!the!lesson!in!a!different!environment?!What!were!my!lessons!learned!in!terms!of!procedural!and!
behavioral!management?!What!were!the!best,!most!effective!parts!of!the!lesson?%
This!lesson!was!structured!as!a!review!day!to!make!sure!that!students!have!a!solid!understanding!of!the!topics!covered!in!the!unit!and!
how!they!are!related!to!each!other.!I!used!the!“connect!the!dots”!activity!to!have!the!students!demonstrate!that!they!could!make!
connections!and!visually!see!the!interconnectedness!of!many!of!these!topics,!as!there!were!an!incredible!amount!of!ways!to!connect!them.!
This!part!of!the!lesson!also!had!the!students!produce!in!words!how!they!were!connected,!demonstrating!that!they!not!only!understand!
but!are!able!to!apply!their!knowledge!to!each!of!the!different!concepts.!The!Trivia!section!of!the!lesson!was!meant!for!a!review!for!their!
exam!the!next!day,!so!they!were!able!to!work!together!as!a!group!to!explain!and!formulate!answers!to!questions!covering!information!we!
discussed!over!the!unit.!
!
!
!
Rising Tide Volume 7
24 GLOBALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY Connect!the!Dots:!The!Road!to!Civil!War!
Directions:!draw!a!line!connecting!concepts!and!on!each!line,!explain!how!they!are!connected.!
Each!dot!must!be!connected!to!at!least!2!others.!!
Fugitive!
Slave!Act!
!
Industrial!
Revolution!
North!
Trade!
!!Cotton!
!!Slavery!
South!
Abolitionism!
!!Britain!
Haitian!
Revolution!
Latin!
America!
Emancipation!!!!
Proclamation!
Rising Tide Volume 7
Nat!Turner!
Rebellion!
25