No matter what content area you teach, READING IS KING.
Even my beloved math teachers out there need their kiddos to be able to read word problems.Like everything in life, reading improves with PRACTICE-- Practice makes improvement (not perfect-- ugh, I hate that haha).
As an English/language arts/reading teacher, I found absolute value in providing as many reading opportunities for my students as possible, especially the kind that was both interesting and had immediate feedback.
One activity I made for my students is a close reading of an article from the Gettysburg National Military Park blog, From the Fields of Gettysburg. The article I selected was inspired by an AMAZING teacher professional development seminar I did at Gettysburg several summers ago. I left with so many ideas and materials and could not WAIT to share them with my students.
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This activity was created specifically for my 8th graders, but it could be used with any middle school through high school class. If you have high-level 4th or 5th graders, you could even plug this with them. who also study the Civil War in social studies in 8th grade. I would coordinate my Civil War Lit Unit timing with the social studies teachers (cross-curricular for the win!). I always loved it when the kids would say, "Hey, Ms. T! We just learned about this in social studies class!" And I'd respond with, "No way! What are the odds?!" and smile at them sneakily.
Anyways, this activity is great because it's informational text about this woman named Lydia Leister and her challenges as a civilian living in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the Battle of Gettysburg. It's crazy to think how one day, these people were just living their normal daily lives, and then BOOM! War was upon them and they were evacuating their homes and running for their lives. My middle schoolers really enjoyed reading about Leister and her daughters and thinking critically about how wild their experience must have been. It really helps kids put the Civil War into a "real person" perspective and brings it to life beyond a traditional history textbook.
When I used this close read, I assigned it for homework on Google Classroom. I assigned it on Monday, gave students the week to read closely and answer my five questions, and on Friday in class, we got out our Chromebooks, pulled up the article and Google Doc, and had a class discussion. (Each student had access to a Chromebook.) If you don't have 1:1 tech in your classroom, you could also print the article and questions and/or project the article and questions on a classroom Smartboard or interactive board.
And that was it! Super simple and the kids had some great discussions!
Be sure to visit my TeachersPayTeachers page to purchase this activity and more!
Stay tuned for more Talbert's Curriculum Corner blogs and products!
You got this, teach. And I got you.
<3Ms.T.
