Statues and memorials

As statues are removed and added it is important to think about what they represent. In the news there are many articles about this topic. Below are linked some helpful articles from newsela.com.

Cities add signs to Confederate statues to tell the full truth about them

People in England want to rename memorials related to the slave trade

Native Americans successful in bid to have presidential statue removed

I have made a video showing an activity that students could use to design their own statue. It is important for students to understand that statues are chosen, made, and at time determined no longer a good representation of our values.

I connect this to social studies in 5th grade by discussing the removal of statues of King George III.Pulling Down the Statue of George III | Teach US History

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Narrative Input Charts (GLAD)

Image
 I'm so grateful that I was able to become a GLAD certified educator early in my career. This week long training I took several years ago has really changed the way I teach and stuck with me. While I have a lot to learn, there are some strategies that I use regularly in my classroom. Narrative Input Charts are one of my favorite strategies to get students excited, connected, and thinking to our learning material. Top Tips For Narrative Input Charts: 1. Choose a powerful text  Whenever possible use texts from perspectives that might be missing in your curriculum. At the beginning of the year I use Narrative Input Charts to show the perspective of the Indigenous People in Pre-Columbian North America. A Boy Called Slow by Joseph Bruchac is a great text to help students connect to what it was like to live in the great plains. 2. Include interesting pictures Students are hooked by good pictures in stories. Teaching the upper grades it is especially important to include images that ...
Read more

Primary Source Gallery Walk

Image
To get students engaged in learning about the Road to War (American Revolution), I had them do a gallery walk with primary sources. This is one of my favorite ways to get students to look closely at primary sources. These dynamic images really lend themselves to sparking questions and interesting observations. Students start with a stack of sticky notes and then silently walk around the room. They make observations, infer what the creator's purpose or intention might have been, and write any connections that they can make with background knowledge. I adore how students were fully focused on the primary sources and thinking deeply. They were excited to share their thoughts and hear their peers' ideas. 
Read more

Grumpy Dragon

Image
When my students are working on independent tasks, I have a screen display of things they must do, may do, and what they might have missed (catch up). It usually looks something like this: I also like to have a cheesy joke or fun image on there to be playful. One day, I added a picture of a grumpy dragon and the students loved it. I found myself wondering where the picture had come from. A few minutes later I discovered that it was a statue available on Amazon. I displayed the listing and asked my students if I should buy it. They said, "Yes!" and $30.00 later my very own grumpy dragon was bought and paid for. Here are some things I noticed as we discussed if we should get grumpy dragon: 1. The dimensions were listed and students had no idea how big grumpy dragon would be (this was during trimester 2, so my teacher heart was panicking that they didn't recognize the measurements or relate it to the volume project we had done this year). 2. While students were unsure how bi...
Read more