For some reason, the Statue of Liberty question on my art endorsement test stands out. The endorsement test required a broad overview of fine arts, and apparently my BFA from the 1980s was still fresh, I didn’t have to study for this test, and passed with flying colors. That’s one of the cool things, at least in Washington State, is adding teaching credentials and endorsements requires a certain amount of study and basically a “driver’s test” of content knowledge and acuity.
And what I’ve noticed for the past, approximately, ten years or so of my eighteen year teaching career is that kids still want to know stuff, and the stuff has been largely fed to them on the internet via Youtube and social media, and it’s mostly — wrong. Or at least doesn’t provide context, relevance, is void of critical thinking practice.
My teaching plan: (and I will share my materials; if you would like to give me a Kofi tip, I would appreciate it): I cite other sources, too, meant for educational purposes.
I’ve been embedding this practice in my instruction for a while, but realize I need to be much more intentional about it:
- Every sentence stem and introduction/thesis writing practice includes context.
- Context may include all or part of the following:
- Author’s time period and historical framing
- Art, politics, religious beliefs, cultural framing
- Human rights
- Laws (see politics) and other societal or civilization framing
- Context of the piece and essential questions
- Author’s time period and historical framing
Shared materials:
These materials are intended to help instructors build the “why” and the how to help build background knowledge. The first presentation is a Google Slide Show with steps.
Thesis Writing Google Slides with materials from Purdue OWL
This is from Developed by Secondary English Department – Greece Central School District, NY
