European Renaissance X Us = Our Place in History

DISCUSSION PROMPTS: RENAISSANCE, RE-BIRTH, EUROPE, REFORMATION, INQUIRY QUESTION, OUR PLACE IN HISTORY

UP NEXT: the European Renaissance Inquiry Showcase 

Final Renaissance Projects are done for some, and almost done for most!

Integrated in the project from day 1 for the students and me, assessment is essential, but very complex. This year in grade 8 humanities, the students and I have worked to focus on assessment of their "work" as a conversation between each of them and me, primarily, and at times their peers, and even sometimes their caretakers/guardians/parents. In fact, the roots of the word "assess" tell us a lot:

Joe Bower's short piece on this fact is an interesting read.

Using the assessment tool, and in-class check-ins and conversations, students worked throughout the project to inject assessment into each step.

I am really excited to have the students present their final projects. Here is a sneak peak of some from each class:

8.1


8.2

The European Renaissance Inquiry

DISCUSSION PROMPTS: RENAISSANCE, RE-BIRTH, EUROPE, REFORMATION, INQUIRY QUESTION, OUR PLACE IN HISTORY, CURRENT EVENTS

UP NEXT: the European Renaissance Inquiry Assessment 

Our Renaissance inquiry is almost over! Students are soon going to complete their individual projects on their inquiry questions just in time for the showcase after winter break. (More details on this soon!)

As well as developing strong inquiry questions that will allow them to think critically about the European Renaissance (some examples of which I mentioned last week), students have been challenged to consider how they will communicate their ideas. Choosing a format requires students to consider the method that would best match their findings AND enable them to effectively engage an audience. Some of the formats they have chosen include:

• an infographic
• a kinetic text
• a debate
• a newscast
• a Ted Talk
• an interactive timeline
• a two-sided puzzle
• a time capsule
• and much more!

Another essential component of these projects is organization. For this inquiry, students have created dedicated Google docs to house their planning. A few examples show the different approaches students are taking in organizing their ideas:

Student 1
Student 2
Students 3, 4, 5

Free Reading
We are also continuing our commitment to 15 minutes of free reading every school day. We usually start our day with reading, taking the first 15 minutes of our 80 minute morning humanities period to read. Students are expected to come to class every day with something to read; most students have chosen novels, although some are reading graphic novels while others are reading non-fiction books.



Free Reading! from Jaime Groeller on Vimeo.

The Renaissance: Homestretch

DISCUSSION PROMPTS: RENAISSANCE, RE-BIRTH, EUROPE, REFORMATION, INDULGENCES, OUR PLACE IN HISTORY, CURRENT EVENTS

UP NEXT: the European Renaissance x ME

We are well into our final part of our Renaissance inquiry. We have come a long way! We spent just over a month learning about the details and importance of the European Renaissance, and then we watched this:

Click the image to watch the video.

This perspective on the European Renaissance left many in the class thinking critically about what we had just spent a month exploring, and prompted some interesting inquiry questions for the final project. Some of the questions students developed and are exploring include:

• How do we define an era?
• How do we make decisions about how to organize history?
• What other "renaissances" exist?
• What era are we living in right now?
• Should the European Renaissance be part of our curriculum?

Last week:
-We finally finished our spread of the Renaissance presentations. We learned a lot about the European Renaissance outside of Italy, as well as some historical figures that made major contributions to European history.

-We worked on building our vocabulary by creating crosswords for our peers! We have yet to complete these crosswords created by our peers, but that is coming soon!

-We did a mini-lesson on the Protestant Reformation, an example of major worldview change in Europe. We also watched a video on the Reformation and Luther, and practiced our "live" note-taking.