ERIC Number: EJ961988
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 9
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0037-7724
EISSN: N/A
Hear My Voice! Teaching Difficult Subjects with Graphic Organizers
Barbieri, Kim E.
Social Education, v75 n6 p301-309 Nov-Dec 2011
Graphic organizers are immensely popular--and much utilized--in many classrooms, particularly at the elementary level. These creative and innovate teaching tools are a very effective addition to the teaching repertoire and may be designed to maximize precious class time. For the secondary social studies teacher, their instant appeal and universal application translates into a dynamic learning tool, empowering students in their efforts to interpret historical context and perspectives within a limited timeframe. The challenge: to design a student-friendly template, infused with a thoughtful, yet straight-forward, process for engaging and guiding student exploration and interpretation of historical content in primary source documents. A well-designed graphic organizer should also aid students in communicating effectively what they learned to others and, at the same time, make learning fun. "Hear My Voice--A People in Conflict," is a graphic organizer that addresses each of these learning goals. It invites students to step into the shoes of a real person who experienced a particular event in the past and left behind a tangible piece of the historical puzzle. Original documents in hand, students approach the tasks of the graphic organizer as though they were the documents' authors. Later, each student will "give voice" to this individual, using the information compiled in the organizer as a very useful and practical oral presentation outline. For the secondary social studies teacher, the real beauty of a graphic organizer is that it is a powerful learning tool, which immediately focuses attention, prompts thinking, and is relatively self guided. With minor revisions, "Hear My Voice!" can be used to introduce any number of "difficult subjects" into the classroom. (Contains 4 online resources.)
Descriptors: Primary Sources, Instructional Materials, Social Studies, Secondary School Teachers, Teaching Methods, Racial Integration, Racial Segregation
National Council for the Social Studies. 8555 Sixteenth Street #500, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Tel: 800-683-0812; Tel: 301-588-1800; Fax: 301-588-2049; e-mail: membership@ncss.org; Web site: http://www.socialstudies.org
Publication Type: Historical Materials; Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A