March Madness: Famous Patriots - The Great Debate

When I bumped to 5th, my new team taught me about March Madness in the classroom.  It's pretty cool.  The kids that love basketball are automatically engaged because of the title, and the others join in the excitement because of the competition of it all.  

We are in the midst of our Opinion unit.  These kids have to have an opinion about everything these days, and they have to be able to back up why they feel each way using specific information.  In Social Studies we are in the middle of our American Revolution unit, it's always fun to combine units and rank the Famous Patriots that we come in contact with... 

Here's how I set it up...

I have a stack of short biographies... like super short biographies about patriots.  They were left in the file cabinet when I moved in. They look like they have been copied from a workbook and put in sheet protectors.  That's beside the point, the main thing is that there is at least 16 of them.  You only need 16.  

In a normal year I have 32 students.  Partner groups make it 16... it's pretty perfect.  

Each group of kids are given a patriot to learn more about.  They research them using the short biographies and then they need to do some extra research because my papers only give them a taste of information, not enough to come up with a Top Ten Facts poster.  

Basically they are looking for interesting information about why the person is famous, what was their early life and career, and any other information that would possibly make their person stand out from the pack. They work on it with a partner, but they have to use the information they find and write their own persuasive speech as to what to say during the Great Debate.  Between the two they then decide which speech to use.  

I give them a week to research and create a poster.  This year with doing this virtually, they are turning their facts into me so I can share my screen during The Great Debates.  

During the Great Debate we start the bracket.  2 Patriot groups face off from each other and state their convincing speeches by identifying key information.  This year I will share my screen with their top facts.  Then after both patriots are duly recognized, the audience (aka the rest of the class) will vote for the patriot that should move forward in the competition. I randomly place on our bracket board, as I don't want them to know exactly who will have to face off with their opponent until it's actually time.  

We will go through the first round with the 16 patriots, then will start the second round with the elite 8, then will move to the final 4, and then the finals with the top 2.  Then we crown the winner of the Great Debate.  It goes pretty fast.  

Usually in the classroom the kids listen to the speeches, and then move to either side of the room - example George Washington on this side and Thomas Jefferson on this side... then no one can possibly change their hand based on what their friends are doing. This year we will still be virtual during March Madness, so I'll use a poll app so it will be a little more secretive. 

Do you do anything like March Madness in your classroom? Hope you had a great day!

Virtual Puppet Shows Anyone?

Let me first tell you the B.C. (before covid) version of this activity...

In a normal year, during the end of the Causes of the American Revolution unit, my grade level usually has students get into groups to act them out. The idea of students teaching it meaning they really understand it. We have a total of 12 teams - 3 groups per class, about 10 kids per group - where students creat a backdrop for their cause, and a short skit to act it out. They would come to school dressed up and with props.  It would be like a wax museum.  On show day, parents would line up outside my door, and they would walk through the 4 connected classrooms to view all 12 scenes - scenes being in the correct timeline. 

A narrator would lead each group from one to another. The scene would start frozen, then would come to life for about a minute, then freeze again. Families would stand in the middle of the room and turn to view all 3 scenes before moving on to the next room.

Last year the world shut down before we got to do it.

This year has been kind of hard... it's understandable.

But I wanted to still have the kids do something that required them to act it out.  We need to have some fun. They need to have group time. I need to see their creativity and how they work in a group situation, 

We have gotten used to using specific channels in TEAMS for our group projects.  I have 28 students, so the kids formed 7 teams. They chose their groups - we combined some of the causes to cover more ground.  For a week they discussed, chatted, and I started meetings in their skit groups - about 15 minutes per day.

I gave them these directions and showed them these screenshots of puppet ideas.  I just did a quick google search of puppet ideas.  

I added their specific article over in the channel for them to reference. I highly recommend the articles from Collaboration Cuties: Cutesy Clickables.

It was simple - talk with your group about your specific cause.  How can your group teach the class about that cause?  Create a character using a puppet - sock or stick - and during your skit have your puppet act and speak as part of the scene. How would your character feel?

I stuck popsicle sticks into our class’ office crate in case they were needed.  They were so creative. Lots of sock puppets! They went from brainstorming, to creating a script, to choosing parts, to practicing and performing in 5 days. Each person had to participate. 

On Show Day, I called a specific group.  Everyone turned to large gallery option and had cameras off.  The 4 actors turned on their cameras and pointed them up a little high so we could only see the puppets on the screen.  They taught us about the cause (which was really review for the entire class) by acting it out, and had their characters speak and show emotion. 

Then as we always do, each actor was able to call on an audience member to hear a compliment. I was so proud of them. Not only did the actors do a great job but the audience came up with specific feedback to show they were paying attention.  :)  Now onto the next group project...