THE DUST BOWL APRIL 2015 The Inquiry Cycle: Bridging “Evaluating Sources” and “Communicating”

Lesson Considerations 3 rd – 7 th grades  Modifications would need to be made per grade-level social studies AND literacy standard, text, and needed reader support Time  Our time together for this lesson is not intended to demonstrate the entirety of a standard or unit Old vs. New “context”  We’ll revisit this after the lesson too…

Practices in the Inquiry Cycle Questioning Students will independently and collaboratively: 1. Develop compelling questions that promote inquiry around key disciplinary concepts and embedded enduring issues. 2. Develop supporting questions that identify facts, concepts and research interpretations associated with a key disciplinary concept. 3. Determine the types of sources that will assist in answering compelling and supporting questions. Evaluating Sources Students will independently and collaboratively: 4. Gather relevant information from multiple sources from a wide range of perspectives and evaluate for credibility. 5. Identify and utilize evidence to seek solutions to questions. 6. Develop and create claims and counterclaims using appropriate evidence to construct strengths and weaknesses Communicating Students will independently and collaboratively: 7. Construct viable arguments, relevant explanations and/or public demonstrations that convey ideas and perspectives to a wide array of appropriate audiences. 8. Critique the arguments and explanations of others paying particular attention to credibility and relevance of information. 9. Address options of individuals and groups to identify and apply a range of strategies and complex reasoning to take public action or propose a solution. 10. Engage in disciplinary thinking used by social scientists (historians, economists, political scientists and geographers) independently and proficiently resulting in civic readiness.

Q-Focus Individually: Write questions on the left side of a two-sided chart in your journals.

Dust Bowl: Scholastic text

Creating a Close Reading Use a short, complex passage “Read with a pencil” - annotate Note what’s confusing Reread several times Give your students the chance to productively struggle with text-dependent questions Limit background knowledge

Read passage silently. Read again. Underline words you DON’T know.  Whole group share Read again. Describe the Great Plains region.  Tell a partner and modify your answer, if needed Find CAUSES of the Dust Bowl.  Write them in the left margin. Pick 4 EFFECTS of the Dust Bowl.  Write them in the right margin. Find references to the Great Depression.  Put an arrow beside evidence in the text. Turn and talk about the Great Depression with an elbow partner. Pick one of the questions from the Q-Focus. Answer it.  Place a star beside the answer. Close Reading of Text Scholastic – Dust Bowl

“WHAT CAUSED THE DUST BOWL” AND “EFFECTS OF THE DUST BOWL” Roam and Read Back in 15 minutes

SOAPS Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, SignificanceRADCAB Relevancy, Appropriateness, Detail, Currency, Authority, BiasOPVL Origin, Purpose, Value, Limitations Evaluating Sources

OPVL O ORIGIN: Who wrote the source? When did he/she write it? Where did he/she write it? What type of source is this? Examples: primary source by the author; primary source by interviewee/ interviewer; primary source drawn by the artist at that time; secondary source, usually done by a panel of experts

OPVL P PURPOSE: Why was this source written/ produced or created? Examples: to keep personal memories; to offer an eyewitness account; to educate colleagues, students and the public; to educate students; to educate and to entertain; for the public to educate; entertain or enlighten; for internal communication and examination among officials of the government; offers an emotionless picture of the facts

OPVL V VALUE: What does this source ADD to your understanding of the event/person/time? Examples: eyewitness account; offers a quick overview; many years of research is evident; offers at least one person’s perspective

OPVL L LIMITATION: what are the weaknesses of the source? Examples: only one person’s viewpoint; bias is apparent; perspective issues; usually not an eyewitness account; NOT an expert on every topic; how widespread is the information?; exaggeration of material for comic effect; may not be the real views of the speaker

Let’s Practice OPVL

Practices in the Inquiry Cycle Questioning Students will independently and collaboratively: 1. Develop compelling questions that promote inquiry around key disciplinary concepts and embedded enduring issues. 2. Develop supporting questions that identify facts, concepts and research interpretations associated with a key disciplinary concept. 3. Determine the types of sources that will assist in answering compelling and supporting questions. Evaluating Sources Students will independently and collaboratively: 4. Gather relevant information from multiple sources from a wide range of perspectives and evaluate for credibility. 5. Identify and utilize evidence to seek solutions to questions. 6. Develop and create claims and counterclaims using appropriate evidence to construct strengths and weaknesses. Communicating Students will independently and collaboratively: 7. Construct viable arguments, relevant explanations and/or public demonstrations that convey ideas and perspectives to a wide array of appropriate audiences. 8. Critique the arguments and explanations of others paying particular attention to credibility and relevance of information. 9. Address options of individuals and groups to identify and apply a range of strategies and complex reasoning to take public action or propose a solution. 10. Engage in disciplinary thinking used by social scientists (historians, economists, political scientists and geographers) independently and proficiently resulting in civic readiness.

Now… Work together with your partner/coach, to make a list of the different effects of the dust bowl. Make notes or be able to reference textual evidence to support your decisions. Do a Think Aloud with your partner/coach, discussing inferences you made as you were reading.

With your partner/coach, highlight evidence from the text that supports the category. Key: Highlight in green– environmental effects Highlight in yellow– economic effects Highlight in blue– emotional effects Categorize the effects into 3 groups: Environmental, Economic, Emotional Modified from List-Group-Label strategy in Reading Strategies for Social Studies p.99

One more resource… Uncovering the Dust Bowl – Ken Burns

Communicating

Go back and look at the highlighted text, your questions and textual evidence, and keeping in mind the video… Considering all of the effects… Preparing to Answer a Question: Go back to each effect, and determine whether it was caused by nature or man.

Socratic Seminar Roles Speaker Coach Time Keeper Big Idea Tracker Evidence/Quote Tracker Wagon Wheel Counter Transition Tracker

We read and think about the text in advance. We refer to the text and give enough time for fellow classmates to locate text. We engage in conversation; we don’t talk at each other. We show we are listening by tracking the speaker and summarizing what a classmate said. We don’t raise our hand, but we wait for speaker to finish. We ask questions, give comments, but always give evidence to support our opinions.

Socratic Seminar It’s OKAY to disagree, so long as you do so respectfully  I understand what you are saying, but I disagree because…  I respect your opinion, but I disagree because…  I hear where you are coming from, but… Most importantly, in a discussion there are no right or wrong answers. 24

Academic Transitions 1. So what you’re saying is… 2. I disagree/agree… 3. I’d like to raise a question… 4. I’m confused about… 5. What is your opinion of… 6. I think this means… 7. What puzzles me is… 8. This relates to… 9. Do you agree/disagree…. 10. Don’t you think this is similar to… 11. I’d like to talk with people about… 25

Half Time! Evaluator Reporting  Comment Counter  Transition Tracker  Evidence Tracker  Big Idea Board Tracker COACHING (switch roles)

Socratic Seminar Rounds Round 1: Understand: What was the problem? Round 2: Assess: What is challenging about solving the problem? Round 3 (extension): Apply: What should we do about it? (Civic Action)

Communicating

Taking Informed Action in History Civic engagement in the social studies may take many forms. Taking informed action provides students opportunities to adapt and apply their work in order to develop the skills and dispositions necessary for an active civic life.

CONNECTIONS: Let’s REVISIT your distilled standard 5.GR.10: Analyze the effects of devastating environmental events and technological advancements on human settlement and movement. Clarifying, Sharing, and Understanding Learning Intentions: Discussion/Reflection: What are the “precise chunk[s] of particular content students are to master”? What is the success criteria for this learning?

SEE YOU IN JUNE! EVALUATIONS