Better Research Questions

I realized that my kids connected so well to Malcom by thinking about his story. Even before they read the text, they asked, "Why did he do what he did to get sent to prison?" That can be linked to the idea of character's motivation in narrative structure, something we've been learning about all year.

So, I decided to have them write their questions about their new research topics on a story mountain that shows the parts of a story. You'll see my model and a few of the kids' below:



In blue I put a few examples of the questions that they had asked about Malcom when we made a KWL chart at the beginning of the book about him.

Today I added my own questions about my own research topic, "the beginning of slavery," in blue.








I like how she asked about the disagreement between the Nation of Islam and Malcom.


I like how Samuel, below asked about Frederick Douglas' parents. I think he's connecting to some information we learned from Malcom about how slaves didn't know their parents' or grandparents' names.
























I like how he put the question about slaves in the south as part of the "characters" component of narrative structure.

Setting Up Research

We made this chart as a whole group in the middle of February. I was impressed by what the kids already knew about Malcom, especially that they didn't seem to have a sophomoric "anti-MLK" idea about him.

I also thought their questions were great - they expressed confusion/disequilibrium that they could figure out while we read on. For example, when they asked "Why did he do what he did to get sent to jail?" they were expressing confusion that someone could be both an important historical figure and a criminal - totally natural confusion for the seven year old mind. Full of intrigue, they jumped out of their seats, pointing at this question as we read the scene about the police standing by doing nothing to help Malcom's family after the Klan burned his house down. They were making the connection that someone who wasn't protected by the law might not feel the need to obey the law.


Unfortunately I don't see the same potential for intrigue in this next batch of questions that they're doing on their own. I'm wondering how I can guide the research process so that they're asking more intriguing questions without controlling the kids too much.

Do communities need to change?

(This post is about my 4th graders who I've had a rough time engaging this year.)

I'm hoping to get them going by looking at our own community as a way to lead into interesting history and throw a bit of argumentation into the mix with the question "Do communities need to change?"

Before getting into “Do communities need to change?,” I think my kids need to start with something more concrete, like a unit of study on “what is in our community?” I’ve made a blank outline map of our block and plan to take them around the block to fill in the uses of each building (commercial, residential, community.) Next, I would take them to a new block to test their map skills and understanding/awareness of land use.

First concern, it seems too concrete. How can I link it to an exciting essential question that gives it some movement? What can I do to link it back to the argument “Do communities need to change?”

Second concern, what information do they need to research in order to have an informed (rather than sophomoric) opinion about the argument? And how can I link this argument to historical research?
(I’ve thought of going to the Brooklyn Historical Society library myself to try to find data on how land use in our neighborhood has changed. However, I’m not sure how to connect that to 4th grade appropriate knowledge of economics and politics.)

Third concern, assessment tasks? Persuasive piece? Op-ed style “column”? Debate? Mock town hall? I like any of these ideas but I’m not sure how to assess them.

When my kids asked as part of a study of Malcom X if MX and MLK had slaveowners, I decided to start making a timeline.

We started with 2010 and then I asked them how many years we needed to put on to show all of the North American history that involves their African ancestors. (partern talk, then whip around for whole group share.) They had guesses ranging from 10 to 1,000 years and I gave the correct answer, right in the middle of their guesses, 450 years (enslaved Africans were first brought to Florida in 1560.)

I asked if they thought we could put 450 years on the one poster that we had up on the wall (thumbs up or thumbs down.) They were split in half. "Sure we could," I said, "we just need to make the years really small, like this," and I started to draw in teeny, tiny years. "You guys have seen timelines before, so you know that we need to put some dats and some writing about what happened on those dates. Is that all going to fit here?" "No," they responded.

Then I directed them to look at the lines on the paper. "Can we use one line equals one year? Let's see....nope didn't work. Can we use one line equals two years...nope doesn't work."

Eventually we ended up making three lines equal a decade. I showed the kids how to count the three lines and then write down the next decade. Then they filled it in on their own, as you can see from the variety of font size =)

We put up important historical events starting with their birthyear. I decided to put up only events that they're familiar with, but that they don't know the date or chronology of.

First they brought up the "I Have a Dream Speech" and then Michael Jackson's brithday. They were excited to see the proximity of the two. I think that affective dimension helps them understand time and historical depth.

We've gone on adding 2-3 dates each day. Before asking them what they want to add I review the chronology with them through quick questions, i.e. When did the Civil War end? How many years older than MJ is Ruby Bridges?, etc.

Next, I plan to refer my kids to this chart to make a new KWL chart (What do we think we Know? What do we Want to know? What did we Learn?)

Ancticipating that they'll have questions about Frederick Douglas (they put his birth on the timeline, but don't seem to know much about him) and the origins of slavery, I went to the library and got some biographical and historical texts.

If you have any resources or ideas please share them!

Immigration Bibliography

My buddy Todd is planning an immigration curriculum for 3rd grade. I found this book at the Bank Street library: I Was Dreaming to Come to America: Memories from the Ellis Island Oral History Project. It has short paragraphs of quotes from kids thinking about coming to U.S. America. The content is diverse, everything from commentary on the trip to the sights and sounds of the new physical environment compared to the "old world.



If you have any other ideas for immigration bibliography post them here. Thanks!