History Research Paper Series--Outline

After completing their research, students often struggle with organizing their thoughts and pulling a paper together in a cohesive way. Though many of my adult learners dislike this assignment and "just want to get to the writing," I require an outline as the next step, so that I can quickly scan their upcoming paper to determine if they are on topic and have sufficient supporting details. This is also a good time to provide concrete encouraging statements to help students to progress to their goal of a 3-5 page research paper.


Title: History Research Paper Series--Outline
Objective: Learner will construct a multi-level outline that includes at least the thesis statement, 3 main ideas, 3 supporting details for each main idea, and a concluding statement. (I also require students to use complete sentences for each level as I find that students don’t benefit as much from slapping a few words down in order)
Assignment type: Formative Assessment
Assignment Details:
1. Student will share in a discussion their personal organization techniques besides using an outline for writing a research paper and respond thoughtfully to two classmates ideas.
2. Student will view sample a outline provided by the instructor and ask questions of their instructor or classmates in the discussion about their research assignment to this point. Encourage students to discuss the barriers they are facing with wrting the assignment or other types of questions about how to be successful with constructing the outline and final paper. (This is a good time for the instructor to encourage collaboration and support among students as students often provide very useful tips or sources to each other.)
3. Student will construct an outline that resembles in sturcture the example provided by the instructor.

Rubric-Assignment Based on 100 Points

Student shared at least two organization techniques they use when constructing a research paper in discussion. - 20 points
Student responded thoughtfully in a supportive and constructive manner to at least two classmates in discussion. - 20 points
Student created outline that is in complete sentences. - 10 points
Student submitted a well organized outline with the minimum supporting details, main ideas, thesis statement, and concluding statement. - 50 points

History Research Paper Series--Bibliography

In the previous blog post, your students submitted, and you approved, the thesis statement for our short 3-5 page research paper. The next step is to research the topic more thoroughly as it relates to the thesis. This is a good time for the instructor to coach students to evaluate the types and effectiveness of sources they find and demonstrate how to cite them.

Title: History Research Paper Series--Bibliography
Objective: Students will build a rough draft copy of a bibliography or works cited page.
Assessment type: Formative
Assignment Details:
1. Explain to students that you expect either MLA or APA formatting and citation for the paper.
2. Provide examples of citation for various sources, these may include web resources such as http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
3. Provide some sources to students to help them identify reliable online research sources. http://www.suite101.com/content/online-references-a57651
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fy827
4. Student will post one correctly cited source in a discussion for the instructor to evaluate and classmates to see. Students will include in the post why they think that source is reliable for their paper based on the information provided in the previous step. Students will respond to two classmates after visiting the source provided and add their thoughts or questions about its reliability and effectiveness.
5. Student will locate at least 10 sources. Prior to this assignment the instructor should determine how many sources are to be primary and secondary. (You may want to visit other posts in this blog that have assignments on Primary and Secondary sources. We will also revisit this topic later this year, but assume here your students already know the differences.)
5. Student will construct a traditional bibliography or works cited page but will also include a brief explanation following each source with a description on why the student believes the source is reliable.
6.Student will submit rough draft of bibliography to instructor for feedback.

Rubric: Assignment based on 100 points
Student posted a correctly cited source in discussion and described why it is a reliable source, 0-10 points
Student responded to two classmates about reliability of source provided, 0-10 points
Student submitted at least 10 sources for paper, 0-10 points
Student cited each source correctly using MLA or APA formatting, 0-30 points
Student explained why each source was reliable in a couple of concise well written sentences, 0-30 points
Student submitted assignment on time, 0-10 points

As I mentioned in my previous post, timeliness can be vital to the successful feedback loop between instructor and student with this type of graduated assignment. In this rubric, I am deducting ten points to suggest that you may want to reflect on this more.

History Research Paper Series--Thesis Statement

Following the brainstorming assignment for a 3-5 page history research paper, students will construct a thesis statement. However, even at the college level, I find many students do not know what a thesis statement is, how it differs from the topic they selected in brainstorming, or how to write one. Have you had a student propose a thesis statement that said, “I will write about Thomas Jefferson because he was a famous president” or something similar? I frequently have, and this assignment helps guide students to a well-constructed thesis.

Title: History Research Paper Series--Thesis Statement
Objective: Learner will construct an effective thesis statement for a 3 to 5 page historical research paper.
Assessment type: Formative
Assignment Details:
1. Student will visit the following Web sites to learn about writing a thesis statement.
http://www.bowdoin.edu/writing-guides/thesis.htm
http://www.english.upenn.edu/Grad/Teachweb/scthesis.html
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/thesis.html
2. In a discussion, students will reflect on at least three ideas they learned from these web sources about constructing a thesis statement. Students may also ask questions of each other and the instructor regarding the scope of the assignment and expectations that may be unclear.
3. Student will construct a strong thesis statement for their topic.
4. Student will post thesis statement for classmates to review and provide each other thoughtful feedback.
5. Student will submit final version for approval to the instructor.

Rubric: Assignment based on 100 points
Student participated in thesis statement discussion with at least three items, learned and responded to instructor and at least 2 classmates. 0-20 points

Student posted thesis statement in discussion 0-10 points

Respond thoughtfully in a supportive and constructive manner to at least two classmates' proposed thesis statements. 0-20 points

Student submitted a well crafted thesis statement to the instructor. 0-50 points

Though I didn’t include it in this rubric, I would like to pose the question to you about whether your students are graded on timeliness? Sometimes for assignments that are graduated like the ones I am outlining in this blog, I deduct points for not submitting the thesis statement to me on time. I have two reasons for this: 1. Students will be in the workplace and timeliness is an important skill. 2. In order to provide the student the most useful feedback during the ongoing project, the student must follow the expected due dates for the assignments. Imagine a student submitting the thesis statement along with the final essay. How would you handle this situation?
Additionally, I would like to ask how flexible you would be on students changing their thesis after submission. A strong brainstorming session might prevent this, but invariably you will be asked.

History Research Paper Series--Brainstorming

If you are familiar with this blog from previous posts, we are changing the format a bit this year to be practical lessons that you can implement in your online, hybrid or face to face classrooms.

To begin this new series we will focus on research and writing skills with a series of assignments designed to lead students to the overall outcome of writing a history research or term paper.

Title: History Research Paper Series--Brainstorming
Objective: Students will brainstorm ideas and interests to select a topic for a research paper
Assessment type: Formative
Assignment Details:
1. Instructor will introduce what brainstorming is and Student will read a source on Brainstorming for papers, from Scholastic, and discuss with teacher brainstorming.
2. Students will make a list of no less than 20 possible topics of personal interests about history or of current interest such as topics related to their career path, hobbies, etc.
3. Student will identify and eliminate topics that seem too broad or narrow the in scope for a 3-5 page paper
4. Student will share top five topics with classmates in a peer support group
5. Students will collaborate in the group to narrow each classmate’s topic list to two possibilities
6. Student will search the internet or other library sources for at least 10 potentially reliable sources on the two topics
7. Based on reasonable ease of research and interest student will select one topic for paper and submit that to the instructor for approval.

Rubric: Assignment based on 100 points
Student generated list of 20 possible topics-0-20 points

Student reduced list to top five to share with classmates in group discussion 0-5 points

Student posted five topics in discussion with classmates, collaborated with peers accepting feedback openly, and provided reasonable, constructive suggestions to at least two classmates.-0-25 points

Student narrowed choices to top two and searched internet for a minimum of 10 possible reasonable sources on the internet or other library sources.-0-25 points

Student selected and submitted one topic. 0-25 points

How do you encourage students to brainstorm?
Next week, we explore thesis statements.

Can you keep up?

Last week I attended the annual ELCC conference in Vail, Colorado. The keynote speakers and presentations focused on the future of education, particularly online education, and I left wondering how institutions and content developers could keep up with the advancing technology and measure up to learners’ expectations in the near future.

Presenters predicted that mobile learning particularly on devices like cell phones would be an important tool for students in the very near future if not already. However, learning management systems and content are often difficult to view easily on mobile devices today. Deeply layered links and images slow the loading and effectiveness of content on these devices. Will we need to customize our courses or provide viewing alternatives for our students?

Other presentations focused on creating dynamic, interactive, multi-media in courses to engage students with content in new ways. Some idea were short video intros, podcasts, cartoonish mock interviews, and content mixed with music using tools using tools like Animoto, xtranormal , and dvolver. While these are interesting and entertaining, how can educators try new tools and still meet the ADA laws?

Additionally, a number of presentations discussed the use of tools like Second Life for student social interaction and collaboration. The learning curve with these tools right now is problematic, but I also saw an interesting presentation on the use of Google Wave for collaboration and communication among students which appeared much simpler than virtual worlds. Are educators of the future also responsible for creating social networks for students?

What do you see as the future of online education and digital content, and how will you keep up?

It’s News! Assignments

This week’s news story on Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell reinstating Confederate History Month inspired a series of assignment ideas on incorporating news in our history classes. Confederate History Month and the manner that it was proposed by McDonnell would make a great debate/discussion question. Topics for this question might include:

1. Why do we designate months to remember categories of history and is this still necessary in today’s world?
2. What is the controversy around this history month and how should we remember this important war in our nation’s history?
3. What were the causes of the Civil War? Social, Economic, Political?
4. Why is the Civil War romanticized?
5. How are state’s rights important then and now?

A second assignment idea is to have students search for history in the news (any medium would be appropriate) and report to the class about the current news story they found. Additionally students should report how that news relates to history, did the news include all the important historical information, and whether the student’s knowledge of history effects how they understand and view the news report.

Finally, pick a couple of events in the period of study and have the students write newspaper articles as if they were reporting the event at the time it occurred. For example, a student might imagine they are reporting for the “Valley Virginian” on the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimac in Virginia waters. One resource you don’t want to miss on the Civil War, which includes primary source newspapers, is The Valley of the Shadow Project.

No matter which assignment you try, incorporating current news in our history courses can help students find the study of history relevant and interesting.

Authentic Assessments

The conflict between multiple choice tests and other traditional forms of assessment and what has popularly been name authentic assessments, also called performance assessment or alternative assessment, continues among faculty at all levels of education. As you decide for yourselves which is the most appropriate method for your class and students, first consider your objectives not only for the course but as an educator in general.

Are you trying to make students productive citizens? Is your goal for students to walk away with certain knowledge? Do you want students to be able to perform certain tasks? Is your purpose to help students be successful in the real world?

Some arguments for Authentic Assessments are:1. Provide a fair testing environment of diverse students
2. Identifies strengths and weakness of a student
3. Students create their responses rather than selected from a standard set
4. Elicits higher level thinking skills
5. Allows for student self-evaluation
6. Relates easily to a classroom environment and experience
7. Applies to “real” world contexts
8. Must have clear rubrics to ensure equitable grading
9. Often includes writing
10. Subject areas are often blended
11. Can be collaborative
Some arguments for Traditional Assessments are:1. Less time intensive
2. Able to standardize and compare student performance
3. Answers are either right or wrong
4. Not ambiguously designed so students have a clear understanding of expectations
5. Tests individual knowledge
6. Very practical to deliver

As the battle wages among educators and within our selves, here are a couple of articles to visit so that you may decide for yourselves and your students which method best evaluates student knowledge and skills to prepare them to be successful members of society.

Authentic Assessment Toolbox by Jon Meuller
Funderstanding
Teacher Vision
Assessment Terminology
Tons of great ideas and resources at the University of Wisconsin website
Comparison Article
Qualities of a Good Assessment
Qualities of a Good Online Assessment

Now I must admit, I tend to fall in the authentic assessment group which many of my students seem to appreciate and tell me they learn much more by preparing for these diverse assignments rather than memorizing for a test. Examples from my history classes have been shared in previous blog posts. However, I do find myself still debating internally. Which testing method best evaluates my students? Which method do you prefer and why?

Women's Suffrage

As a young 8-year-old girl, I never thought much about not having the same rights as my younger brother. Like my own daughter, I always thought of myself as equal to anyone and entitled to the same opportunities as anyone else. However, as my daughter discovered this week while doing a project on Susan B. Anthony, this has not always been the case for women in the United States.

Abigail Adams is an early example of women asking for equal rights when she wrote to her husband John Adams to remember the ladies while writing the laws of the new nation. In 1848, the first women’s rights convention occurred in Seneca Falls presided by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton resulting in the document “Declaration of Sentiments” which was modeled after the Declaration of Independence and began “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal.” Additionally, they outlined their grievances which were unanimously adopted except for the suffrage resolution which some attendees felt was too radical for the time. Soon members of the women’s rights movement rallied around the right to vote as the ultimate way to guarantee their rights and freedom.

In 1878 Susan B. Anthony wrote the Women’s Suffrage Amendment that read “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” At first known as the Sargent Amendment for Senator Arlen A. Sargent of California who first proposed it to the Senate was introduced in each succeeding congress until 1919 when the Senate passed the Anthony amendment.

This topic easily lends itself to a time-line assignment, but to learn more about the Women’s Suffrage Movement visit some of these web resources
Timeline
Scholastic for Teachers
Suffrage history

Olympic Games

The history of modern Olympic Games is interval snapshots of world history. While students are inspired by watching the current Olympic stories unfold on TV, we can use the event in our courses to inspire them to learn about the past. The history of the Olympics itself is a study of sports, athletes, people, and the development of sports medicine, science, and technology. The opening and closing ceremonies inform the world about the hosting nation’s history and culture. The Olympic event illustrates the key social, political, and cultural history of the period. Here is a brief timeline of some key modern Summer Olympic history. Visit this website for video, timelines, and other key images of the Olympics.

1896 First Modern Olympics in Athens
1900 Women compete in the Olympics for first time
1908 Moved to London from Rome after a devastating eruption of Mt. Vesuvius
1916 Cancelled for WWI
1924 Winter Olympics begins in Chamonix, France
1936 Jesse Owens wins Gold in Germany where Hitler and the Nazis were gaining power
1940-1944 Cancelled for WWII
1952 Soviet Union participated for the first time
1956 Olympics boycotted for Soviet Union army entering Budapest
1964 Computers used to record times
1968 US medal winning track Athletes pictured on medal stand with Black Power fists raised
1972 Israeli athletes kidnapped and killed in Olympic Village
1980 Boycott of the Moscow Olympics by the United States and 60 other nations protesting the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union.

For more history on the Summer and Winter Olympics visit Olympic.Org for links to photos, video and an Olympic Museum.

Some extension activities for students are:

1. Students create a timeline for themselves
2. Students research the significance of one specific Olympic Games. Encourage students to see beyond the games and athletes to reflect and synthesize the sporting event with world social, political, technological, and cultural history.
3. Create your own History Olympic Games with events that challenge students to answer as many questions as they can correctly in 60 seconds, get the most correct, create the most well written essay on a topic, and get a historical fact the fastest from the internet or in a library. Can't think of more or don't like these, have the students create the events and judge them.

Presidential Trivia Assignment

For fun, bonus, alternative assignment or web search, create a trivia quiz for President’s Day. This is a great way to focus on our nation’s leaders, and bring a little fun to an online or face-to-face classroom. As a web search, I know students will learn more than these basic facts about the Presidents. Here are some questions to get you started.

1. Which President could write both Greek and Latin with either hand at the same time?
2. Which President said, “If you expect people to be ignorant and free, then you expect something that never was nor never will be?”
3. Which President was a prisoner of war and the first to ride on a train?
4. Who made the longest inaugural speech but served the shortest term?
5. Which President said, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt?”
6. Which President was married at the White House?
7. Who served as vice-president and president but was not elected to either?
8. Which President received a patent for lifting vessels over shoals by inflating air chambers near the water line?
9. Which President introduced spaghetti and ice cream to this country?
10. Which President was the shortest at 5ft 4inches?

One alternative would be to have students create the trivia questions and see who can stump their classmates. Visit this use web source for more trivia or this site has some fun ones but beware of the extra ads. A great place to start research is Whitehouse.gov or this fact filled site. One other great resource on the web is the National Archives page on Presidents.

So I know you'ree wondering if I'll give you the answers... here they are:
1. Garfield, 2. Jefferson, 3. Jackson, 4. Harrison, 5. Lincoln, 6. Cleveland, 7. Ford, 8. Lincoln, 9. Jefferson, 10. Madison

History of Science

While working with my daughter on her science fair project, I began to reflect on the history of science and inventions in the United States. Too often, we narrow the study of history for students to some key political and social events. In reality, our lives and story are intertwined with economics, science, religion and other disciplines. I also have many students tell me they are not good at history and not looking forward to the upcoming semester. However, these students major in other disciplines that they are interested in and intend to pursue careers in other fields. To make history relevant to the budding scientist or inventor, why not provide the opportunity to study the history of that subject and long term effects these fields had on our past?

In honor of my daughter’s science project, here are a few sites worth checking out on the history of science. The list includes web sources that would take you on a research journey…

Internet History of Science Sourcebook Altius Directory
Altius Directory
History of Biology
History of Science
Famous Scientists

"What If" Assignment

Some events happen so quickly but have a tremendous significance at the time and later. For the “What If” Assignment, students reflect on a quick moment in time like an assassination or even a near miss of a key historical figure. Then based on their knowledge of the event, that person’s role in history prior to the assassination attempt, and the impact of their loss on history, students predict what might be different in history and today had the attempt failed or succeeded.

1. Pose this question to students “What if Booth missed?” or “What if Lincoln had survived the assassination attempt?” Then ask them to brainstorm all the thought that come to mind in 5 minutes.

2. Conduct a discussion in the class around the Lincoln assassination as this is already a popular topic. Even at one medical convention they discussed what if medicine could have saved him.

3. Student picks a key historical figure’s assignation or attempted assassination. Here are a few to suggest for US History: Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Robert F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, James Garfield, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, Richard M. Nixon, John F Kennedy, John Lennon (If you conduct the Lincoln Discussion, you probably won’t offer this one to students)

4. Student researches biography of key historical figure, events prior to the assassination, the assassination, the biography of the assassinator, and the outcome and effect of that attempt.

5. Based on their understanding of the person, events surrounding the assassination, and later the outcomes, the student writes a paper or presentation predicting what might have occurred differently then and now had the result of the assassination had been changed.

Be sure to specify length and other expectations to your students. What would be required of a grade school student would be different than that of a college student. Encourage students to not just day dream or include lots of wishful thinking, but base predictions on facts and details.

Save Time and Communicating with your students

Sometimes we lose focus on the basic teaching skills that we need to be effective online instructors, and sometimes we just need to use tools to help ourselves be more efficient. While you are preparing your courses for the spring semester, consider what areas in the past that students got frustrated, confused, or lost. Here is a little checklist to go through as you prepare for the spring semester.

-Reread and rethink all your instructions for assignments. Could you add resources that would help students get off on the right foot? Do you outline your expectations for the assignment clearly? If you are using a new technology, do you explain how to use it and why it may be a valuable tool?

-Review your assessments, quizzes, and study aides for accuracy and clarity. For essay questions, create a list of facts, terms, ect that should be included for an A to compare to students papers.

-Look over your rubrics to be sure they are clear and seem appropriate. Are the rubrics easy to understand from the student perspective? Would a checklist or other format better suit your students?

-Add spring due dates to your schedule.

-Prepare a welcome announcement or news item that gets students started in the right place in the course. You should also include this as a welcome email. Compose a bank of news items that you use each semester to remind students of upcoming due dates and expectations.

-Compose a welcome discussion post that introduces you to the students. Think ahead and compose a bank of additional questions and summary posts for discussion topics and save them in a file, so that you don’t have to create them on the fly during the semester.

-Outline your expectations for behavior, timeliness, and work load.

-Check all links in the course to be sure they work and take students to web sites and locations in the course that you expect.

-Create an FAQs page or Tips and Tricks to help answer redundant questions you get each semester. You could have them for each assignment, unit, or the course in general.

- Be prepared to point students to the information they need and be prepared to restate information in new ways for your students.

Above all for online classrooms, remember the format can be new to many students and your patience, kindness, and understanding may be especially important the first few weeks of class. Conveying your interest in the students’ success these first couple of weeks can set the tone the rest of the year.

What methods do you use to be more efficient and still communicate with your students regularly and effectively?