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Marci Miller Project
Summary
National History Day
Cassadaga Valley Central School
Marcy Miller
New York State History Day
I
had the great privilege to supervise six students as they prepared
for History Day. We traveled to the regional competition in Elmira
and then went to the state competition in Cooperstown.
Through doing this project, I learned that I, as a teacher, have to
open doors for students then let
them find their own way while I stand back watching, guiding and
pushing when needed. With a little help, guidance, and
encouragement, my students were able to take their learning
experience to a different level. One student even shared with
me that she felt she was more prepared to do a research project than
her older brother who was entering college.
The
theme for the 2007 competition year was “Triumph and Tragedy”. The
students I supervised decided to tackle this in various ways. One
group developed a photo story for the group documentary titled “FDR:
A Light in the Dark”. A second group created an exhibit titled
“Immigration Sensation” for the group exhibit category and the last
student decided to try it alone creating an exhibit for the
individual division titled “Twin Tower Tragedy”.
As
this was my first time trying something like this, I was selective
with who I asked to participate in History Day. I observed students
as they worked on a class project. I then discussed with the Social
Studies 7 teacher, complied a list and asked the students to stay
after. After school I explained to the students what I felt would
be involved in preparing for History Day, explained the different
categories and briefly went over the rules. I then suggested they
think about it for a week and talk to their parents and held a
second meeting about a week later. The six who participated came to
the second meeting with ideas of what they wanted to do and we moved
forward from there. Along with meeting with the students, I also
phoned each students house and spoke to their parents about what the
expectations were and answered any questions they had.
As
we tackled each aspect of preparing for the competition, we worked
out the time frame that was very flexible and fit their individual
schedules. Each of the participating students also participated in
various school and community activities and I had to keep this in
mind when I set deadlines. My goal was to have everything completed
two weeks prior to the regional completion to allow time to reflect
on the projects and get feedback from other teachers. We managed to
have all the projects “almost” done but there always seemed to be
just one more thing to add.
I
was able enlist the help of the English teacher with writing the
process paper and the librarian for help with orientating us in the
library. I was able to involve the Liberian and the English 8
teacher by inviting them to come to one of our after school meetings
and see what the kids were doing. They then gave suggestions and
offered to help where needed. For example, the English teacher
worked on the process paper with the students giving suggestions on
the content and the set up. The Liberian assisted with the format
of the annotated bibliography as well as helped with research. She
was able to guide students to primary sources available in the
library through data-bases as well as acquiring books from other
school libraries.
I
have spoken to the 7th grade Social Studies teacher and
hope to collaborate with her more next year and will also attempt to
involve the 7th grade English teacher. Setting aside
time during team meetings to discuss possible avenues for
involvement will help to bring more involvement from other
teachers.
Next year I will create more boundaries and deadlines for the new
students. While I think it is important for students to have
flexibility to choose their own topic and work at their own pace, I
also think giving more structure would help them as well. I will
also introduce them to, as permitted by their topic choice, local
resources such as the Jackson Center and the Fenton Museum when they
begin their project. Lastly, I intend to include more students from
my class in the project through having a classroom competition with
one of my five sections of Social Studies 8. This will help to
slowly increase the level of participation.
The
students who participated commented that they felt they learned more
by participating in the competition than they would have through
they would. They learned not only about the content they
researched, but also about setting schedules for themselves, staying
focused on a task, working within a group, and how to create
annotated bibliographies. I tried to gear my instruction to their
questions and issues. We spent time as a group on the format of
what the written material should include and reviewed the rules to
be sure all aspects met the guidelines and used the rest of the time
to work on individual projects.
As
I plan for the 2007-2008 school year, I will be focusing on the
theme, Conflict and Compromise, as a class theme this year. I will
center my units around this as a means of focusing the year on this
central idea as a way to build understanding of how events fit
together.
Competing in History Day 2007 opened doors for me as well as my
students that would have not been opened without it. The students
look at research as an adventure as opposed to a chore and are more
comfortable with using primary documents than there were prior to
this. It was a valuable educational tool that enriched the students
learning.
Sincerely,
Marcy Miller
Social Studies 8, Government 12 Teacher
Cassadaga Valley Central School
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