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History

Explore tools, strategies, and resources for teaching history. Engage students with activities and insights to bring the past to life.

AI/VR English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)History Math Reading Science Social Studies Writing

The 20% AI Policy Won’t Work. Here’s What May.

by Miguel Guhlin May 1, 2026

written by Miguel Guhlin

A teacher at a high school opens the semester with a policy: Your work may contain up to 20% Gen AI content. Cite it, or you get a zero. Is this an enforceable policy? It’s built on the assumption that an AI detection tool will catch what the policy intends to prevent. That assumption has been wrong for a long time and a lot of teachers are finding that out the hard way. Across the country, educators are writing AI policies that name a number they cannot verify, backed by detection tools that flag innocent students and miss guilty ones with comparable frequency.

A better move may be to stop designing assignments that Gen AI can complete. That means shifting from product to process, from long take-home essays to shorter in-class work, and from “write what you know” prompts to strategies that require students to think out loud, in front of people. None of the following require a detection tool. All of them generate real evidence of learning. This blog entry continues to offer suggestions in the spirit of getting students to show what they know, not unlike these other blog entries about VIVA framework and embodied learning.

1. Build Writing as a Process, Not a Submission

“Wait, we have to turn in the outline too?”

Yes. That is exactly the point. A finished essay submitted Sunday night is a product. Gen AI is very good at producing products. What it cannot produce is a documented, in-class process that matches a specific student’s thinking on a specific day. I still recall relying on manila folders to capture students’ thinking from day to day, week to week, in their own handwritten drafts.

Outlining and Organizing carries an effect size of d = 0.84 in Hattie’s research, making it one of the stronger instructional moves available for writing instruction. The Visible Learning MetaX database entry describes it as a strategy that develops cognitive clarity by helping students categorize and structure information before they write.

This is a surface-to-deep learning strategy. Concept maps and rough outlines build the foundation. Annotated drafts and revision reflections move students toward deeper processing. Together they give you multiple data points over time, and if the final essay shares no DNA with the outline a student submitted in class on Tuesday, you have an honest conversation to have, and actual evidence to ground it.

Claim, Evidence, So-What Statement

Use a simple three-column table in class: initial claim, key evidence, so-what statement. Students fill it out by hand in ten minutes. That may show you more about what a student actually knows than most submitted drafts ever do.

Initial Claim (Main Idea/Goal)	Key Evidence (Strategies/SOLO Levels/Data)	So-What Statement (Meaning/Gen AI Connection)
1. Learning must progress from surface-level understanding toward genuine deep knowledge and the ability to transfer that skill.	– SOLO Levels define the stages (Uni-, Multi-structural → Relational → Extended Abstract). – Strategies like Jigsaw (d=0.92), Argumentation (d=0.82), and Problem-Solving (d=0.61).	To distinguish genuine student learning from AI-generated “words only,” educators must focus on assessable, in-class timed tasks that require students to transfer internalized conceptual frameworks to completely new, novel scenarios.
2. Effective lesson design requires a structured, interconnected framework that prioritizes psychological safety first.	– The ALDO Framework (5 Steps): 1. Build Relationships/Safety, 2. Pre-Assess, 3. Select Strategy (based on SOLO phase), 4. Post-Assess, 5. Reflect/Share. – Students need psychological safety to discuss and teach.	Modern lesson planning requires connecting social-emotional learning (SEL) with high-effect cognitive strategies; the “ALDO” structure ensures these phases are deliberate and connected, moving beyond passive learning activities.
3. High-effect feedback is the critical factor that closes the learning gap, and AI can accelerate its delivery.	– Reinforcement/Cues (d=1.01). – Timing of Feedback (d=0.89). – Immediate feedback prevents misconceptions. – Key feedback questions: What can/can’t the student do? How does it compare? How to improve?	Instead of banning AI, teachers should utilize it as a tool to rapidly generate varied scenarios and feedback templates. This frees the teacher to provide the essential, immediate human reinforcement and immediate guidance needed to support deeper reflection.

Try Google Drawings or Canva for digital concept maps, or skip the tech and use paper.

2. Assign Shorter, In-Class Pieces

“We’re writing right now? I didn’t bring anything.”

That is the idea. A five-paragraph essay assigned for homework is an open invitation. A one-paragraph response written in 15 minutes at the start of class is not. Timed, in-class writing gives you a direct sample of what a student can produce without outside assistance.

Spaced practice and retrieval practice each carry effect sizes in the d = 0.46 to 0.55 range, and short in-class writes activate both. The Visible Learning MetaX entry on spaced practice confirms that frequent, low-stakes tasks spread across time outperform single high-stakes assessments for long-term retention.

This is a surface learning strategy. The goal is fluency and retrieval, not extended analysis. Students who rely on Gen AI at home cannot fake that fluency when the clock is running, and students who write consistently in class develop the stamina longer assignments require.

Replace one major out-of-class essay per grading period with four shorter in-class writes on related prompts. You will collect more useful data, and you will spend less time second-guessing what you receive.

3. Use Reciprocal Teaching to Surface Real Understanding

“I have to explain evaporation to my group? I just read it.”

Reading it and explaining it are not the same skill. Reciprocal Teaching is a structured discussion strategy where students rotate through four roles: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. It requires students to engage with a text in real time, in front of their group, and respond to what their peers actually say.

Reciprocal Teaching carries an effect size of d = 0.74. The Visible Learning MetaX entry notes that its strength comes from making reading comprehension visible and social rather than private and assumed.

This is a deep learning strategy. Students must connect ideas, elaborate on their peers’ contributions, and adjust their thinking mid-discussion. Gen AI can write a summary. It cannot sit at a table and answer a classmate’s follow-up question on the fly. Students who read and processed the material handle those moments. Students who outsourced their reading do not.

Assign Reciprocal Teaching groups for your next unit’s primary texts. Rotate roles so every student leads at least once. Observe. What you see during those 20 minutes will tell you more than a detection report.

4. Run a Jigsaw Activity Instead of a Written Report

“My group is counting on me. I better actually read this.”

Jigsaw divides content across students, then reassembles them to teach each other as they move from home to expert to home groups. The research report becomes a teaching performance. Students who used Gen AI to “read” their section will struggle in front of peers who actually want to understand the material. Students who did the work won’t.

Jigsaw carries an effect size of d = 0.92, placing it among the highest-impact strategies in Hattie’s database. The Visible Learning MetaX entry attributes its strength to peer teaching: when students know they must explain content to others, they process it more deeply during preparation.

This is a deep learning strategy. The cognitive demand shifts from recall to explanation, and explanation requires genuine understanding. No policy required, no detection tool consulted.

After any Jigsaw, add a short in-class reflection: one paragraph, no notes. What you hear and read tells you exactly where each student’s understanding actually sits.

5. Assign Argumentation Tasks That Require Real-Time Thinking

“But she just said the opposite of what I was going to say. Now what?”

Now they have to think. Structured academic controversy, Socratic seminar, and four-corners debate all share one useful characteristic: students must construct and defend a position in response to what someone else just said. That is a live, improvised task, and a chatbot cannot prepare them for it in full.

Classroom discussion carries an effect size of d = 0.82. The Visible Learning MetaX entry identifies its value in pushing students past surface-level recall into reasoning and evidence evaluation, which is precisely what argumentation requires.

This is a deep-to-transfer learning strategy. Students begin by applying a position to known content, then adapt their reasoning in response to live challenge. A student who read and engaged with the material can respond to a peer’s counterargument on the fly. A student who submitted a Gen AI summary usually cannot. You’ll know the difference within the first two minutes.

After any reading assignment, assign two students to argue one position and two to argue the opposing view, then bring all four toward consensus. What they say during that exchange is your real assessment data.

6. Use Problem-Solving Tasks That Require Transfer

“I’ve never seen this passage before. How am I supposed to analyze it?”

With the framework you built over the last unit. That is the answer, and the test. Problem-Solving Teaching places students in a scenario where they must apply a concept or framework to a new, unfamiliar situation. Prior exposure to the content is necessary but not sufficient. Students have to think.

Problem-Solving Teaching carries an effect size of d = 0.61. The Visible Learning MetaX entry notes that its impact is strongest when students have enough foundational knowledge to attempt transfer, making it a natural capstone for any unit sequence.

This is a transfer learning strategy. In AP Literature, the task might be: “Here is a passage we have not read. Apply the analytical framework from the last unit.” In history, it might be a document-based question using a source students have never seen. A student who internalized the framework can use it here. A student who submitted a Gen AI version of someone else’s understanding cannot.

Replace one end-of-unit comprehension check per semester with a short problem-solving task: two to three paragraphs, written in class, using new material.

What These Six Strategies Have in Common

None of them require a detection tool. None ask you to enforce a percentage you cannot measure. All of them generate evidence that is genuinely difficult to outsource.

Strategy	Learning Phase	Effect Size
Writing workshop and outlining	Surface to deep	d = 0.84
In-class short writes	Surface	d = 0.46 to 0.55
Reciprocal Teaching	Deep	d = 0.74
Jigsaw	Deep	d = 0.92
Argumentation and discussion	Deep to transfer	d = 0.82
Problem-solving tasks	Transfer	d = 0.61

The 20% policy is a genuine attempt to address a real problem. The problem, though, is not that students have access to Gen AI. It is that the assignment gives them a reason to use it. Change the assignment, and the policy becomes much less necessary.

A Tool for You

Explore this tool for more ideas about applying what you can do. Use the classroom scenario generator.

Classroom Scenario Generator:

Every scenario is drawn from the research-backed examples in the Strategies tab. Use the dropdowns to target a specific context, or randomize to surface a strategy you might not have considered. All examples are aligned to Hattie’s Visible Learning database and Texas ELPS standards where applicable.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

May 1, 2026 0 comments

AI/VR English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)History Science Social Studies

Use Tasmap to Design and Share Custom Maps

by Miguel Guhlin October 2, 2025

written by Miguel Guhlin

Have you ever wanted to create a truly unique map that tells a visual story? With a daughter who professionally visualizes places and data spatially, I was instantly drawn to Tasmap. I immediately passed this tool focused on personal map design to her to share with her students, as it’s a great way to explore and create custom maps that combine geography, history, and storytelling.

What I like most about it? I gave it a prompt for a random book and it came up with a corresponding map!

What Is Tasmap?

Tasmap is a platform for creating custom, visually-driven maps. Unlike tools that focus on plotting data points, Tasmap is all about the art of the map itself. It gives you an incredible amount of control over the aesthetics, allowing you to “create your own map design” with fine-grained detail.

Data Privacy: Per Tasmap’s website, they follow “a privacy-first approach and doesn’t collect or share personal information (like GPS data). We only store essential information.”

The idea is that you start with a location and then act as the designer. You can control the look of individual streets, buildings, parks, and water features. Imagine you are crafting a visual story with maps.

Key features include:

Deep Personalization: Change the colors and visibility of almost any map element.
Curated Themes: Start with professionally designed themes and then customize them to fit your vision.
Rich Color Palettes: Apply unique and beautiful color schemes to make your map stand out.
Custom Icons and Paths: Add your own markers, draw routes, and highlight specific areas of interest.

Tasmap enables you to be a creative director of your map’s final look and feel.

Ways to Use Tasmap in the Classroom

This tool opens up many possibilities for creative and visual projects in the classroom. Here are a few ideas aligned with educational standards.

Idea	Content Area	Suggestion	Relevant TEKS (Grades 6-8)
Design a thematic map for a historical event	Social Studies / History	Create a map of a key historical battle or campaign. Use different colors to represent opposing forces’ territories and movements. Add custom icons to mark significant locations, and draw paths to illustrate troop movements or supply lines. The final design should visually tell the story of the event.	Grade 6 §113.18(b)(21)(C) Create written, oral, and visual presentations of social studies information Grade 7 §113.19(b)(21)(C) Create written, oral, and visual presentations of social studies information Grade 8 §113.20(b)(10)(B) Analyze the effects of physical and human geographic factors on major historical events
Create a literary map for a novel	English Language Arts	Design a map of the setting from a novel (e.g., the neighborhoods in The Outsiders or the fictional world of a fantasy book). Use colors and styles that reflect the mood and theme of the story. Add custom icons for key locations where important events took place.	§110.22(b)(7)(C) (Grade 6) Analyze how the setting influences character and plot development §110.23(b)(7)(C) (Grade 7) Analyze how setting influences character and plot development §110.24(b)(7)(C) (Grade 8) Analyze how the setting influences the theme
Visualize a local ecosystem	Science	Map a local park or nature preserve. Use different colors to designate different zones, such as wetlands, forests, and open fields. Students can then add custom icons to mark sightings of specific plants or animals, creating a visual biodiversity guide.	Grade 7 §112.27(b)(12)(A) Diagram the flow of energy within trophic levels and describe how the available energy decreases in successive trophic levels Grade 7 §112.27(b)(12)(B) Describe how ecosystems are sustained by the continuous flow of energy and the recycling of matter and nutrients within the biosphere
Illustrate geographical features	Earth Science	Choose a region with diverse geography, like a national park. Design a map that emphasizes its key features. Use a specific color for rivers, another for mountain ranges, and a third for valleys. This helps students learn to identify and differentiate various landforms on a map.	Grade 6 §112.26(b)(10)(B) Model and describe the layers of Earth, including the inner core, outer core, mantle, and crust Grade 8 §112.28(b)(9)(B) Interpret topographic maps and satellite views to identify land and erosional features and predict how these features may be reshaped by weathering
Plan a hypothetical city	Social Studies / Economics	Design a map for a brand-new city. Use a clear color-coding system to lay out different zones: green for parks and recreation, blue for commercial, yellow for residential, and grey for industrial. This becomes a visual exercise in urban planning.	Grade 6 §113.18(b)(5)(A) Identify and describe the patterns of settlement and the factors that influence where people live Grade 7 §113.19(b)(8)(B) Analyze how physical and human geographic factors have influenced settlement patterns

Let’s take one of those suggestions and make a map.

An Example

For fun, I pulled up a popular book (Kacen Callendar’s The Hurricane Child) and dropped this prompt into the Create Your Own Map (with AI) space:

Design a map of the setting from a novel (e.g., The Hurricane Child by Kacen Callendar). Use colors and styles that reflect the mood and theme of the story. Add custom icons for key locations where important events took place.

You will notice this mirrors the first suggestion in the table above. Tasmap asks “The AI Council for wisdom,” and shares other humorous messages as it processes your request. The result is a colorful, themed map. In the example below, the language threw me off since it wasn’t in English:

Fortunately, a separate tool allowed me to translate it to English, then copy-n-paste the English version into the Tasmap. In my original prompt, I lacked a specific direction to “Make sure all language displayed is in English.”

Applying a new theme to the map is straightforward:

Tasmap also makes it easy to share the map, including social sharing links and QR codes.

How Much It Costs

After creating three maps, I was unable to add more. That’s because I was on the Free tier. At that point, I couldn’t help but wonder, “How much does Tasmap cost?” Refer to their pricing guide for free, basic, and premium options, below. The free account allows you to create three maps as you explore various features. While the free tier has some limitations on exports and advanced customization, it provides enough functionality for classroom projects and basic designs.

For educators wanting more capabilities, paid tiers offer additional features. Tasmap’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) offer hope for educators and non-profits:

… we offer discounts for educational and non-profit purposes. The free plan includes all features. You’ll only need to upgrade when you need more storage or maps.

I do wish there was a specific educator discount or school-friendly package that would make the premium features more accessible for classroom use. Plus, an easier way to translate text would also be nice.

Give Custom Map Design a Try

Tasmap empowers you to move beyond standard map templates. It saves you time on the technical side of cartography and lets you focus on the creative aspects of visualizing information. It’s still a little rough around the edges, but worth stowing in your mapmaking toolkit. Take a minute to try it out. It will spark your creativity and may help you and your students see the world in a new, more colorful way.

October 2, 2025 0 comments

English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)History Reading Science

Quadrant Outlining: Simplify Learning and Writing

by Miguel Guhlin March 3, 2025

written by Miguel Guhlin

When reading an academic text, have you ever felt the way Mateo does in the vignette below?

Mrs. Carter watched Mateo erase his work, rubbing the eraser across the page with frustration. She knew that feeling. A jumble of idea with no way to start except to plunge in.

“I don’t know where to start,” he muttered.

She pulled a fresh sheet. “I used to feel the same way,” she said, sketching four boxes. “Main idea, details, connections, summary. One box at a time.”

Mateo tapped his pencil. “So, I don’t have to get it perfect?”

“Nope. Give it a try.”

She once struggled the same way. Writing felt like a chore, outlining a roadblock. Then she found quadrant outlining. Four sections. A structure that made sense. Now, it helped her students too.

In the past, I often felt like Mateo. As a student, I never really got the hang of outlining. The good news is that quadrant outlining can be game-changer, a way of overcoming what many newbie outliners struggle with.

A Simple Yet Powerful Strategy for Student Success

Think of quadrant outlining as a visual tool for organizing ideas. The spatial aspect (d=0.56) helps students, as well. Quadrant outlining is a visual tool for organizing ideas. It splits information into four sections, making complex topics clearer and writing stronger.

Quadrant outlining engages spatial reasoning skills. When students divide information into four sections, they mentally map relationships between concepts. This can strengthen their ability to structure thoughts in a logical fashion. Chunking information also lowers students’ cognitive load. Another way to reduce cognitive load? Use a template. You will find two in this blog entry. Dr. Bruce Ellis elaborates on the benefits in his blog entry, Teaching Templates:

Reduce cognitive load – Providing a template that already has an acceptable structure to follow means that students can focus their attention on the content instead of having the added expectation of being skilled at design and layout which is most likely not one of the standards they are expected to learn in your content area.

In addition to mind mapping, spatial reasoning helps with categorizing and sequencing. This method also ties into John Hattie’s Outlining and Organizing strategy. That strategy enjoys a high effect size (0.84). When students use it, they think deeper, write better, and understand more.

What Is Quadrant Outlining?

Quadrant outlining divides a page into four sections, each serving a specific purpose. It provides a clear framework for organizing ideas. The goal is to make it easier for students to plan their writing or analyze texts. When planning a lesson, set the quadrants as needed for different subjects. A simple structure often includes:

Main Idea – The central concept or thesis.
Key Details – Supporting facts, evidence, or arguments.
Examples – Techniques, applications, related concepts, real-world applications, or counterarguments.
Takeaways – A summary of why it matters, and how to apply it. Or, a concise conclusion or next steps.

This approach mirrors the dual coding theory. This theory suggests that combining visuals with text improves learning. When students rely on mapping of ideas, they keep and organize information better.

Another structure might include:

Main Idea: The central concept or thesis.
Key Details: Supporting facts, evidence, or arguments.
Connections: Related concepts, real-world applications, or counterarguments.
Summary/Synthesis: A concise conclusion or next steps.

A quadrant outline worksheet with a playful design. At the top, there’s a section labeled “Topic:” with a bold Quadrant Outline title. Four labeled boxes appear below, each with an icon:

Big Idea: Represented by a glowing lightbulb.
Juicy Fact: Shown with a bold, stylized “Juicy Fact” text.
Connections: Illustrated with three puzzle pieces.
Summary: Depicted as a walnut shell, symbolizing the “nutshell” idea of summarizing.
On the right side, a bulleted guide explains the purpose of each section in simple, engaging language. The design uses fun icons and clear labels to make outlining visually appealing for young learners. — Created by author

The Research Behind Quadrant Outlining

John Hattie’s research emphasizes that Outlining and Organizing deepens learning. This occurs because students are developing cognitive clarity. That is, when students categorize and structure information. This supports their efforts at critical thinking and problem-solving.

Quadrant outlining supports this process by:

Encouraging active engagement with content.
Helping students see relationships between ideas.
Reducing cognitive overload by breaking down information into manageable sections.

Let’s take a look at some classroom applications.

Ms. Lopez’s third graders huddled over their papers, each with a quadrant outline. Maria jotted down her main idea—why rainforests matter. Jack filled his “key details” with facts about deforestation. Across the room, pencils scratched. Students tried to make connections, linking ideas to pollution and animals. “Now wrap it up in the summary,” Ms. Lopez called. Heads nodded, hands moved. Writing no longer felt like a guessing game. It had structure. It made sense.

Classroom Applications

Quadrant outlining is versatile and works across grade levels and subjects. Here’s how educators can integrate it into instruction:

ELA & Writing: Students outline essays by structuring arguments, evidence, counterpoints, and conclusions.
Math: Use it for problem-solving. Students can define the problem, list steps, show work, and reflect on the solution.
Science: Organize concepts like hypotheses, methods, results, and conclusions.
Social Studies: Analyze historical events. Divide them into causes, effects, perspectives, and significance.

Tips for Implementation

Maximize the effectiveness of quadrant outlining with these steps:

✔ Model the process – Demonstrate how to create and use a quadrant outline.

✔ Use templates – Provide structured guides to help students start.

✔ Encourage customization – Allow students to adapt quadrants to fit their needs.

✔ Pair with discussion – Have students explain their outlines to peers to reinforce understanding.

Example Template

Looking for a way to get the templates for quadrant outlining shared in this blog entry? See below for another template and a Canva template link.

A structured quadrant outline template with a clean, colorful layout. The title "Quadrant Outline" appears in bold orange text, with a lightbulb icon next to it. Below, a "Topic:" section allows students to write the subject.

The page is divided into four color-coded sections:

Main Ideas (Green): “What is the topic?”
Key Details (Blue): “Supporting concepts and strategies.”
Examples (Yellow): “Techniques and applications.”
Takeaways (Beige): “Why it matters and how to apply it.”
The layout uses soft pastel colors for visual clarity, making it easy for students to organize and categorize ideas effectively. — Created by author

Some examples can found online in this Google Doc. Get a copy of all Quadrant Outlining templates via this Canva template link.

Why Quadrant Outlining Works

Quadrant outlining helps students see the big picture while managing details. Students learn to organize, find clarity in the process. This results in deeper engagement with content. Over time, students can internalize the quadrant outlining approach to their benefit and long-term information retention.

March 3, 2025 0 comments

History Social Studies

Spectrum of History Learning with the PRISM Framework

by Miguel Guhlin February 13, 2025

written by Miguel Guhlin

What if middle school students could analyze history as interconnected ideas, not just facts? Social Studies offers the ideal platform for critical thinking. The PRISM Framework moves students beyond memorization, engaging them in patterns, connections, and multiple viewpoints. It helps them see how past events connect to the present and future.

Other Approaches

Analyzing history as interconnected idea can heighten critical thinking. Some other frameworks to consider include the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. It suggests an inquiry arc that students can rely on to formulate questions, evaluate sources, and share conclusions. There are other approaches, as well.

Another approach is the Historical Thinking Project. It suggests that students can think historically if they can do the following:
To think historically, students need to be able to:

Establish historical significance
Use primary source evidence
Identify continuity and change
Analyze cause and consequence
Take historical perspectives, and
Understand the ethical dimension of historical interpretations.

To these approaches, I’d like to add the PRISM Framework.

What is The PRISM Framework?

The PRISM Framework is a structured approach to guide students in critical thinking and analysis. It consists of five key elements. Each element assists students in moving from simple identification of facts to deeper analysis and hypothesis testing. These elements each include a core question and sentence stems (see diagram):

Patterns: Identifying recurring themes and ideas. What patterns do you see?
Reasoning: Understanding how different elements connect. How do things fit together?
Ideas: Exploring and combining different perspectives. What different ideas can we mix?
Situation: Analyzing the broader context. What’s the bigger picture?
Methods: Verifying and testing conclusions. How can we check our answers?

It’s different from C3 and The Historical Thinking Project in that it is applicable across disciplines. It also scalable from simple tasks to complex problems. Let’s see what that might look like.

The PRISM Framework makes history engaging and meaningful by fostering critical thinking. Through UDL principles and edtech tools, students:

Recognize patterns with collaborative tools.
Reason through connections using timelines.
Combine ideas through multimedia platforms.
Situate events in broader contexts via maps.
Test conclusions with evidence and accessible visuals.

PRISM helps students develop analytical skills for academic success and informed citizenship. Let’s see it in action.

Let’s explore how PRISM transforms learning using educational technology tools. Give PRISM a try on topics such as the American Revolution or Civil Rights Movement. You can see Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and digital tools included in the activities below.

Sample PRISM Activity: American Revolution

P – Patterns: What patterns do you see?

Key Questions: What events or ideas recur during this period? How do similar patterns emerge elsewhere?
Example Activity: Students use Padlet or Miro to map recurring themes collaboratively.
“Here, I noticed that revolutions often start because people feel unheard. The American colonies experienced this, like other independence movements.”
UDL Connection: Enable students to add images, text, or audio for diverse representations.

R – Reasoning: How do things fit together?

Key Questions: How did events or decisions shape outcomes? What makes sense when viewed together?
Example Activity: Students create timelines with TimelineJS or Sutori to connect battles, policies, and alliances (read TCEA blog entry).
“The Boston Tea Party connects to the Intolerable Acts because it united the colonies against harsher British rules.”
UDL Connection: Chunk tasks and use visuals for clarity.

I – Ideas: What different ideas can we mix?

Key Questions: What happens when exploring new perspectives? How do differing views deepen understanding?
Example Activity: Students record and share insights on Loyalist and Patriot perspectives using WeVideo (read TCEA blog entry).
“Another way to think about this is: Why did some colonists stay loyal to Britain while others fought for independence?”
UDL Connection: Allow students to express ideas through video, visuals, or writing.

S – Situation: What’s the bigger picture?

Key Questions: How does this connect to other movements? What else influenced these events?
Example Activity: Students use Google Earth or ArcGIS StoryMaps to explore global impacts of revolutions (read TCEA blog entries).
“The bigger picture shows that the American Revolution inspired other countries, like France, to fight for their freedom.”
UDL Connection: Engage learners with interactive maps.

M – Methods: How can we check our answers?

Key Questions: How do we verify historical interpretations? What evidence supports our conclusions?
Example Activity: Students design infographics summarizing primary source findings using Canva.
“We can test this by comparing accounts from both British and colonial leaders.”
UDL Connection: Integrate visuals and text for accessibility.

Sample PRISM Activity: Analyzing the Civil Rights Movement

Objective: Students analyze the Civil Rights Movement with PRISM and technology, guided by UDL principles.

Instructions:

P – Patterns: Identify recurring themes, like peaceful protest and leadership.

Use Mentimeter for real-time input (read TCEA blog entries).
“The pattern I see is that civil rights leaders often used nonviolent methods to fight for change.”

R – Reasoning: Connect events, like the Montgomery Bus Boycott, to broader changes.

Create a timeline with Tiki-Toki.
“The Montgomery Bus Boycott connects to the Supreme Court ruling against bus segregation.”

I – Ideas: Compare Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X’s approaches.

Use WeVideo for debates or reflections.
“To add to that idea, their methods differed but both aimed for equality.”

S – Situation: Explore global connections to anti-apartheid movements.

Use Google Earth to visualize parallel struggles.
“This connects to other freedom struggles worldwide.”

M – Methods: Analyze speeches, photos, and interviews for accuracy.

Create visual presentations with Canva.
“We can test this by analyzing MLK’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.”

Reviewing Why PRISM Works

Let’s take a moment to review why and how PRISM works in social studies.

PRISM Letter	Action Step	Activity Description	Technology Tool
P – Patterns	Recognize patterns	Collaborative tools for mapping themes	Padlet, Miro
R – Reasoning	Reason through connections	Create timelines to link events	TimelineJS, Sutori
I – Ideas	Combine ideas	Share insights via multimedia platforms	WeVideo
S – Situation	Situate events in broader contexts	Explore global connections using maps	Google Earth, ArcGIS StoryMaps
M – Methods	Test conclusions with evidence	Create visual summaries with infographics	Canva

Final Thoughts

Try PRISM in your next Social Studies lesson. Combine PRISM with technology and UDL. It’s sure to deepen learning, spark discussions, and connects the past to the present. PRISM turns history for students into a spectrum of learning opportunity.

Please find a more detailed table depicting the contents of the infographic appearing earlier in the blog entry.

PRISM Element	Core Question	Deep Questions	Sentence Stems
P – Patterns	What patterns do you see in historical events?	• What events or ideas recur during historical periods? • How do similar patterns emerge in different historical contexts? • What general patterns help us understand historical events better?	• “Here, I noticed that…” • “The pattern I see is…” • “This reminds me of…” • “Historical events often show a pattern of…” • “This pattern is similar to what happened in…”
R – Reasoning	How do historical events fit together?	• How did events or decisions shape historical outcomes? • What makes sense when viewing historical events together? • How do different parts of historical events work together?	• “This connects to… because…” • “The reason for this is…” • “One thing that makes sense is…” • “The event of [X] led to [Y] because…” • “The relationship between [X] and [Y] is…”
I – Ideas	What different ideas can we mix to understand historical events?	• What happens when exploring new perspectives on historical events? • How do differing views deepen our understanding of history? • What other historical perspectives should we consider?	• “Another way to think about this is…” • “I have a different viewpoint…” • “To add to that idea…” • “Considering the perspective of [X], we can see…” • “This event can also be understood from the viewpoint of…”
S – Situation	What’s the bigger picture of historical events?	• How does this historical event connect to other movements or events? • What external factors influenced these historical events? • What’s important beyond the immediate context of the event?	• “The bigger picture shows…” • “Beyond what we see here…” • “This connects to other things by…” • “This event is part of a larger trend of…” • “The global impact of this event includes…”
M – Methods	How can we check our answers about historical events?	• How do we verify historical interpretations? • What evidence supports our conclusions about historical events? • What different ways can we evaluate the impact of historical events?	• “We can test this by…” • “One way to check this is…” • “Another approach would be…” • “To validate our understanding, we can analyze…” • “By comparing primary and secondary sources, we can…”

February 13, 2025 0 comments

AI/VR History Social Studies

Deconstructing Infographics with AI

by Miguel Guhlin July 15, 2024

written by Miguel Guhlin

Infographics tell stories, but they can do so much more. In this blog post, you will see how you can deconstruct infographics into their data components, then reconstitute it in new AI-powered visuals. Using the steps below, you can create something new that’s interactive.

It’s so easy, students could do it, so long as they’re allowed to use AI, and you can, too! You don’t even need to know how to code. This method works for any history or infographic where you have numbers in a picture. Let’s get started.

Note: All images in this blog entry generated by author. Photos featured in slide deck are in public domain. This blog entry was inspired by this video.

Get To Know the Vocabulary

In this article, you will likely run across some vocabulary words you may not have encountered before. The goal is to use AI tools (e.g. Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity) to generate code and diagrams, but if you don’t know the vocabulary, you may be unable to direct the AI. That’s why these words matter. They’re a special language spoken by the AI that will enable you to ask for what you want, specifically.

Term	Definition
JS-based Presentation	A slideshow-like display created using JavaScript, allowing for interactive elements in a web browser.
JSON	A simple text format for storing and transporting data, often used in web applications.
Mermaid	A tool for creating diagrams and charts using text and code, similar to markdown for visual elements.
Plotly.js	A JavaScript library for creating interactive and customizable graphs and charts on web pages.

Making an Infographic

Making timeline infographics with artificial intelligence (AI) is drop-dead easy. Start with an infographic of the Panama Canal, displaying dates and facts. You can use a prompt like the one below to match historical dates and events:

Prompt: Come up with a timeline showing key events in the construction of the Panama Canal. Include relevant years or date ranges, key events or milestones, brief descriptions of challenges faced, or achievements made.

Then, you can easily make a timeline in a tool like Canva (see example). But how do you turn an existing infographic into data that you can work with? AI can help! Let’s follow these simple steps.

Did you know you can use Canva for Education's free online infographic maker? Find it online. They offer a video walkthrough their amazing templates and resources.

Step 1: Create an infographic.

To convert an infographic into data, start by providing the AI with an infographic. Here’s one I made on the construction of the Panama Canal.

Step 2: Convert the infographic into JSON data.

Now, convert that infographic into a JSON dataset. To do that, use the following prompt:

Create a JSON of the data in the attached infographic.

This will give you a result that looks like this:

At this point, you can create several different diagrams or outputs.

Step 3: Generate the desired output.

Now that you have your infographic’s data in JSON format, you can turn it into any of the following:

an interactive timeline using Plotly.js
a diagram or chart with Mermaid
a web-based (HTML) presentation you can share.

Let’s take a look at some examples of these outputs:

Interactive Timeline

To get an interactive timeline, use Plotly.js prompt below:

Create a plotly.js interactive graph. Make it vertical.

This generates a graph like the one shown below:

Diagram or Chart with Mermaid

You may recall this blog entry, Flowcharts and Mermaid Code, that walks you through the basics of creating charts. AI chatbots like Claude, ChatGPT, and Perplexity can take your data and put it into Mermaid code. You can then use a free editor (see the linked blog entry) to convert that code into a diagram. Some chatbots, like Claude, can generate the diagrams.

Create a top-down Mermaid chart of the timeline data.

With a simple prompt like the one above, you get an overview of the key phases in the Panama Canal’s history.

This timeline can make understanding infographics easier for middle and high school students. Not only can they visualize the data, but they can also interact with it.

Web-based Presentation

Another way to represent the JSON data of the timeline is to have the AI create a javascript-based (JS-based) presentation. This presentation (see example below) is easy to share and is not dependent on Google (e.g. Slides), Microsoft (e.g. PPTx), or OpenDocuments formats (e.g. ODP). Instead, your end result is a single webpage out of HTML. Students can easily modify the code in a text editor.

The prompt to convert your timeline data in JSON format to a browser friendly presentation is simple:

Make a JS-based presentation from the data. Include image placeholders on each slide.

The resulting HTML code can be edited or modified. Students can add authentic photographs or images to the HTML. That’s the most I would have fifth through eighth grade students do, although it’s quite possible some would be able to complete more.

Visualizing the Data

For older students, particularly those in high school or college, incorporating data visualization can add depth to their understanding. Here’s a sample chart reflecting workforce growth during U.S. construction of the Panama Canal:

This is based on the code that can be displayed on a webpage:

This code would create a line graph showing the growth of the workforce over time. This kind of visualization assists students in grasping the scale of the construction project.

Understanding the vocabulary of what an AI chatbot can produce extends what you can create with the data you bring to the table. If a teacher is analyzing aggregate student data (no personal information shared), then they can more easily generate graphs and diagrams. I can also put that data in presentation format that is easy to share.

The Power of Deconstructing Infographics with AI

Using existing infographics available on the web, students can learn how this data fits together and informs the visuals they see online every day. It empowers them to use the AI as a partner in understanding the information around them. A simple timeline might be perfect for younger learner, while a coding project to create an interactive chart could engage older learners. Students of all ages are capable of using AI-powered coding and tools to transform pictures into data, then make new visual creations.

More Examples

Take a look at this video that features a few infographic deconstructions using AI. It highlights that, while this process can be successful, it might not always work. Keep exploring new approaches to find new and exciting ways to create data plots and instruct your students!

July 15, 2024 0 comments

Created by author, adapted from Mike Bell (2021) The Six Steps.

Artificial Intelligence Educational Research English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)History Math Reading Science Social Studies

The LEARNS Cycle: Putting AI in Instruction, Part 1

by Miguel Guhlin June 13, 2024

written by Miguel Guhlin

“There are a bucket-full of AI tools, apps, and suggestions, but how does any of this fit within the learning cycle? How does it align to evidence-driven, research-based instructional strategies?” Those are two questions that have been going around in my mind recently. It doesn’t matter if AI is the latest thing since sliced bread. How does it fit into teaching and learning?

To answer the question, I turned to the work of Mike Bell, author of The Fundamentals of Teaching. This blog entry makes an explicit connection between each step with AI tools available now to educators. Come along and see how AI fits what you already know works in the classroom. This is the first of a multi-part blog series that digs into this.

Finding Reliable Research and Strategies

Mike Bell’s work is genius in that it aligns the research of several different sources of evidence. In analyzing reliable sources of evidence, he overcomes several problems:

Confirmation bias taints our perception of evidence since people pick out evidence which supports their preconceptions.
Research can be contradictory, so it is necessary to combine results from different sources.
It’s hard to figure out the level of quality for research since not all research is of the same quality.

Since reliable evidence is hard to come up with on our own, all of us are tempted to listen to popular assertions. Bell suggests you do the following when someone (e.g. AI or an ed tech consultant or vendor) says, “The research says it’s effective:”

Ask for the effect size.
Gauge how much work is required to implement the suggestion.
Pause if the effect size is low and a lot of work is required to implement the suggestion.

A Quick Reminder about Effect Size

To that end, Bell offers an overview of effect size on learning, which readers of TCEA TechNotes will be familiar with:

0: No effect
0.2: Small effect
0.4: Average effect (what John Hattie calls the “hinge point”)
0.6: Good effect
0.8 And above, high effect

Now that these key concepts are out of the way, let’s take a look at Bell’s Five Steps plus a post-assessment stage. These steps identify key strategies that are supported from several research sources. Those five major research studies include: EEF, Dean, Hattie, IAE, and IES. Explore these and other evidence-based research sources via this blog entry, Brain-Based Strategies That Work.

The Stages of the LEARNS Cycle

The five steps are detailed on Mike Bell’s website and include five big steps plus a post-assessment. The diagram below adapts the first five steps as The LEARNS Cycle. My goal was to place AI tool usage in the context of evidence-based teaching and see what might happen. Could AI tools be relied upon to assist with supporting classroom teaching and learning on a foundation of research-driven steps?

Here’s an overview of the LEARNS cycle:

LEARNS: Locate, Explore, Apply, Review, Nurture, Shine

Locate (Know what you know): Identify your current knowledge and skills related to the topic or learning objective.
Explore (Learn New Stuff): Discover and engage with new information, concepts, and resources to expand your knowledge and skills.
Apply (Challenge Yourself): Put your newly acquired knowledge and skills into practice by tackling challenging activities or real-world problems.
Review (Get feedback): Seek feedback from peers, mentors, or self-assessment to review your progress, identify strengths and weaknesses, and gather insights for improvement.
Nurture (Practice, Repeat, and Reflect): Continuously refine your knowledge and skills through repeated practice, reflection, and incorporation of feedback.
Shine (Re-assess, Progress Check, and Master): Re-assess your performance to track progress, ensure a high level of understanding, and achieve mastery of the subject matter.

What might putting Bell’s steps in our own words, and then connecting them to existing AI tools, look like? Let’s take a closer look at each of the stages in the recursive, iterative cycle. Remember, this is the first of a multi-part blog series.

1-Locate

In stage, you are activating prior knowledge. This involves knowing what you know, or what students know.

Locate (Know What You Know) Prior Knowledge

Instructional Strategy	AI Tool	Description
Graphic Organizers	Creately	Creately offers templates and drag-and-drop tools for Venn diagrams, concept maps, and flow charts, helping students organize information visually.
Structured Note-Taking	Notion AI	Notion AI helps organize notes using methods like the Cornell method or mind mapping, making students’ notes clear and structured.
K-W-L Charts	Padlet	Padlet is a collaborative tool where students create and share K-W-L charts, activating prior knowledge and tracking learning progress.
Anticipation Guides	Google Forms	Google Forms creates anticipation guides where students record initial thoughts and revisit them post-lesson to reflect on learning.
Case Studies	Nearpod	Nearpod presents case studies and engages students in decision-making activities based on prior knowledge with the ability to revisit and adjust responses.

Here’s the infographic version:

A copy of the infographic will be available in the final blog entry in the series, so be sure to check back for the next part.

LEARNS Cycle: Sample Prompts

Another way to approach this is to generate prompts that supplement each strategy. These prompts would be usable in any AI chatbot, free or paid. This can be helpful if you do NOT have access to a paid solution, like MagicSolution.ai or the others I will mention in future blog entries.

Here are some sample prompts for the Locate stage. Note that the AI Tool Suggestions are tools you could use, but you could also just drop these prompts into a free chatbot.

Instructional Strategy	AI Tool Suggestions	Sample Prompt
Graphic Organizers	Creately, MindMeister, Lucidchart	“Create a concept map to visually represent the key ideas and relationships in [topic].”
Structured Note-Taking	Notion AI, Roam Research, Obsidian	“Develop a structured note-taking system using the Cornell method to organize your understanding of [topic].”
K-W-L Charts	Padlet, Jamboard, Miro	“Collaborate with your classmates to create a K-W-L chart for [topic], documenting what you already know, want to know, and have learned.”
Anticipation Guides	Google Forms, Microsoft Forms, SurveyMonkey	“Complete this anticipation guide by indicating your initial thoughts on statements related to [topic] before we begin the lesson.”
Case Studies	Nearpod, Pear Deck, Explain Everything	“Analyze this case study on [real-world scenario] and make decisions based on your prior knowledge of [topic].”

This is what the K-W-L Chart prompt from above generates in assorted chatbots:

Author generated animated GIF composed of KWL charts generated by ChatGPT, Perplexity, MagicSchool, and Claude — *Author generated animated GIF composed of KWL charts generated by ChatGPT, Perplexity, MagicSchool’s Raina, and Claude*

Wait, There’s More AI Magic Available!

If you use school-focused AI tools, you may notice that there are none mentioned specifically in the chart for Locate stage in the cycle. You can find many of the activities for instructional strategies in these multi-purpose school AI tools.

AI Solution Providers: At the risk of incurring the ire of solution providers, here are what these look like in only one of the tools, MagicSchool.ai. In future blog entries in this series, I will introduce others.

Using MagicSchool.ai’s Raina, you can easily generate many of the items in this step. Let’s take a look at some sample prompts.

Screenshot of MagicSchool's Raina by author — *Screenshot of MagicSchool’s Raina by author*

Sample Prompts

Here are some example prompts (see 60+ prompt suggestions) that you can feed into any chatbot. These are meant to reflect actual tasks for the LOCATE stage of the LEARNS Cycle.

Graphic Organizers (Science): “Create a graphic organizer for the seventh grade science unit on ecosystems. Use a concept map to show the relationships between producers, consumers, and decomposers, and how energy flows through a food web.”
Structured Note-Taking (Social Studies): “For eighth grade social studies, organize notes on the American Revolution. Use the Cornell method to outline the causes, key figures, and major battles. Create a mind map to connect the outcomes of the war to the formation of the U.S. government.”
K-W-L Charts (Science): “In sixth grade science, create a K-W-L chart for the unit on the water cycle. Begin by listing what students already know about evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. Include what they want to learn, and update the chart with new information as the unit progresses.”
Anticipation Guides (Social Studies): “Design an anticipation guide for a fifth grade social studies lesson on the Civil War. Have students record their initial thoughts on the causes and key events of the war. After the lesson, revisit these thoughts and reflect on what they have learned and how their understanding has changed.”
Case Studies (Science): “Present a case study for eighth grade science on the impact of human activities on climate change. Engage students in analyzing data on carbon emissions and their effects on global temperatures. Allow students to revisit their initial conclusions and adjust their responses as they learn more about the science behind climate change.”

ChatGPT Plus generated those sample prompts. Of course, you can write your own and then feed them into MagicSchool.ai’s Raina.

Getting Raina’s Help with LEARNS Cycle

In the screenshot above, you can see that Raina has taken the fifth grade social studies lesson prompt for an anticipation guide. The result is as follows:

Anticipation Guide for 5th Grade Social Studies Lesson on the Civil War

Before the Lesson:

Causes of the Civil War

I believe the Civil War was primarily about __.
I think the issue of states' rights played a significant role in starting the war. (True/False)
Slavery was a major cause of the Civil War. (True/False)
Key Events of the Civil War

The first battle of the Civil War was fought at __.
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in the year __.
The Civil War ended at the Appomattox Court House in the year __.

After the Lesson:

Causes of the Civil War

My initial thoughts on the causes of the Civil War were __.
After learning more, I now understand that __ was a significant cause of the war.
My thoughts on the importance of states' rights in the Civil War have changed because __.

Key Events of the Civil War

Reflect on how your understanding of the first battle of the Civil War has evolved.
How did learning about the Emancipation Proclamation change your view of the Civil War?
Discuss how your perception of the end of the Civil War at the Appomattox Court House has shifted.
This anticipation guide will help students engage with the lesson content, reflect on their initial thoughts, and track their learning progression throughout the study of the Civil War.

Tying AI tools to proven effective instructional strategies is a non-brainer and will ensure that student learning is the focus.

June 13, 2024 0 comments

Hand clicking on box to drag-and-drop it in the activity.

English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)ESL/ELL Good Teaching Google Tips and Tricks History Math Science Social Studies Writing

Customizable Drag-and-Drop Google Slides Templates

by Dr. Bruce Ellis June 11, 2024

written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

In today’s digital age, integrating technology into the classroom is not just an option, but a necessity. One effective way to do this is through interactive activities that engage students and make learning fun. One such activity is the drag-and-drop exercise, which can be easily created using Google Slides.

Google Slides, a versatile and user-friendly tool, is typically thought of as just a presentation tool. Since it is so easy to use however, it allows educators to design a variety of interactive activities that cater to different learning styles and needs. These activities can range from matching vocabulary words to definitions, sequencing events, categorizing items, solving math problems, and labeling diagrams. The possibilities are endless!

Using drag-and-drop activities in your teaching arsenal offers several benefits. They are engaging and interactive, encouraging students to actively participate in the learning process. They also provide a unique way to assess student understanding, offering immediate feedback and opportunities for differentiated instruction.

Below we explore the value of using Google Slides for creating drag-and-drop activities, the importance of varying your assessment strategies, and share some customizable templates that you can use in your classroom. Whether you are a tech-savvy teacher or just getting started with digital tools, you’ll find that Google Slides is a powerful ally in creating a dynamic and inclusive learning environment.

Value of Using Google Slides

Google Slides is an intuitive and user-friendly tool that doesn’t require extensive technical skills. Both teachers and students can quickly learn to create and interact with drag-and-drop activities. The simple drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to move elements around, fostering a hands-on learning experience.

And because Google Slides is accessible from any device with an internet connection, including computers, tablets, and smartphones, students aren’t limited to just using a shared classroom laptop. This accessibility ensures that students can participate in activities whether they are in the classroom or learning remotely. Additionally, Google Slides offers various accessibility features, such as screen reader support and keyboard shortcuts, making it inclusive for all students.

Value of Drag-and-Drop Activities

Drag-and-drop activities are highly engaging and interactive, capturing students’ attention and encouraging active participation. They cater to kinesthetic learners by incorporating physical movement, which can enhance understanding and retention. These activities also offer flexibility for differentiation, allowing teachers to tailor tasks to varying levels of difficulty and meet diverse student needs. By providing immediate feedback, drag-and-drop exercises help students quickly identify and correct mistakes, reinforcing learning in real-time.

Consider scaffolding so that students observe completed diagrams/models before moving to drag-and-drop activities. Afterwards, you can have students draw and label the diagrams themselves without the needed supports provided in drag-and-drop activities.

In addition to these benefits, drag-and-drop interactives foster critical thinking and problem-solving skills as students analyze information and make decisions to complete tasks. They promote collaboration when used in group settings, encouraging teamwork and peer learning. These activities also break up the monotony of traditional instruction, making learning more dynamic and enjoyable. By integrating these tasks, educators can create a more engaging and effective learning environment that supports skill development and enhances overall student achievement.

Varying assessment strategies in the classroom is essential to accommodate the diverse learning styles and abilities of students. Traditional tests and quizzes may not accurately reflect every student’s understanding or potential. By incorporating a range of assessment methods—such as formative assessments, project-based learning, interactive activities, and peer evaluations—teachers can gain a more comprehensive view of student progress. Diverse assessments also keep students engaged and motivated, as they provide multiple ways to demonstrate knowledge and skills. This approach fosters a more inclusive and equitable learning environment, ensuring that all students have the opportunity to succeed and that instruction can be tailored to address their unique needs.

Looking for Drag-and-Drop Inspiration

When creating drag-and-drop activities, teachers can draw inspiration from various sources like game boards and graphic organizers. Game boards, with their clear and structured layouts, can be easily adapted into engaging educational activities. Consider classic board games such as Scrabble or Memory Match, where students can drag letters to form words or match pairs to reinforce vocabulary. Similarly, graphic organizers like Venn diagrams, flowcharts, and T-charts are excellent for visually organizing content, helping students categorize and sequence information. For instance, you can design a Venn diagram activity where students drag items into the appropriate circles to compare and contrast concepts. By examining how these tools organize information, you can replicate similar structures in your drag-and-drop activities, making them visually appealing and effective for student understanding and retention. So, don’t hesitate to draw inspiration from these familiar formats to create dynamic and interactive learning experiences for your students. A few sites to consider exploring include The Teacher Toolkit, HMH Free Graphic Organizer Templates, Canva Graphic Organizer Templates, and just searching for graphic organizer images.

If your slide is going to have a diagram, such as parts of an animal cell, life cycle of a butterfly, or other instance in which students will drag-and-drop words to designate part of an image, consider searching images for ideas. Begin by searching for your term (i.e.: parts of an animal cell). If you are using Chrome, click on Images and then the Tools button. Next click on Color and choose Black and White. Here you should find many ideas of how to organize your drag-and-drop slide to accommodate the learning activity. Here are sample search results for parts of an animal cell, life cycle of a butterfly, parts of a flower, regions of Texas, and the chemical structure for glucose..

Steps to Creating Drag-and-Drop Activities

Creating drag-and-drop activities in Google Slides is straightforward and can be a fun way to engage your students. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started:

Step 1: Set Up Your Google Slide

Setting up your Google Slide is quick and easy. If you plan ahead, you can reuse the slide for many different drag-and-drop activities.

Open Google Slides and start a new presentation. Or, just go to http://slides.new.
Choose a blank slide to have a clean canvas to work on.
Title your slide to indicate the type of activity (e.g., “Vocabulary Matching Activity”).
Consider adding related graphics and images to the title slide. Use sites such as Pixabay and Pexels if you need free images. Or, if you have a Canva for Education account, search for related images within their repository.

Step 2: Design Your Activity Background

Create a visually appealing and organized layout for your activity. You can use shapes, text boxes, and lines to guide where students will place the draggable items.

Go to the “Background” option in the toolbar and select “Choose image” to add a background image if needed. This can be a grid, a diagram, or any relevant image.
You can also use shapes, text boxes, and lines to design the background directly on the slide. For example, create boxes where students will drag and drop items.
In step 5 below you’ll make it so these items are one static image and cannot be moved or rearranged.

Step 3: Add the Drag-and-Drop Items

Incorporate the elements that students will interact with, such as text boxes or images. Make sure these items are clearly labeled and easy to move.

Insert the objects that students will drag and drop. These can be text boxes, images, shapes, or a combination.
To add text, click on the “Text box” tool, click on the slide where you want to add text, and type in your content.
To add images or shapes, use the “Insert” menu and choose the appropriate option. Resize and position these items as needed.
You may want to group each text box on a shape or set the background of each text box so it stands out.

Step 4: Make Objects Movable

Ensure the draggable objects are separate from the background so they can be easily manipulated. This setup allows for a smooth drag-and-drop experience.

Select the objects you want to be draggable by clicking on them.
Ensure these objects are not part of the background. They should be separate elements that can be moved around on the slide.
If there is not enough space on the slide itself, consider moving draggable words/content off to the side of the slide.

Step 5: Lock the Background Elements

To keep your background intact, convert it into a static image. This prevents students from accidentally moving parts of the layout.

To prevent background elements from being moved accidentally, create the background layout in a separate slide.
Download this slide as an image (File > Download > PNG or JPEG).
Create a new blank slide and set the downloaded image as the background (Background > Choose image).
Alternatively, you can create the background elements using the Theme Building (View → Theme Builder), This would still allow you to edit the slide at a later date. When students are viewing the slide, though, items would appear to be locked.

Step 6: Provide Instructions

Include clear and concise instructions to guide students through the activity. Good directions help students understand the task and reduce confusion.

Add a text box at the top or side of the slide with clear instructions for the activity. For example, “Drag each word to its correct definition.”
Use concise and straightforward language to ensure students understand the task.

Step 7: Share with Students

Distribute the Google Slides presentation to your students, making sure they have the appropriate permissions to interact with the activity. Using platforms like Google Classroom can streamline this process.

Once your activity is ready, share the Google Slides presentation with your students.
Make sure to change the sharing settings to “Anyone with the link can edit” if you want them to interact directly with the slide.
Alternatively, you can assign the slide via Google Classroom or another learning management system.

Step 8: Practice and Adjust

Test the activity yourself to identify any issues and refine it based on your findings. Student feedback can also provide valuable insights for improvement.

Before using the activity with your students, test it yourself to ensure everything works as expected.
Be prepared to make adjustments based on your observations or student feedback to improve the activity.

Drag-and-Drop Activity Templates for You

To help you get started, we’ve created a collection of customizable drag-and-drop activity templates that you can easily adapt for your classroom. These templates include a variety of activities such as vocabulary matching, sequencing events, categorizing items, solving math problems, and labeling diagrams. Simply copy the template you need, tweak it to fit your specific lesson, and you’re ready to engage your students with interactive and meaningful learning experiences.You can access the editable Google Slides template here.

screenshot of slides in drag-and-drop templates slide deck

Here is a drag-and-drop activity that has been created for fifthth grade social studies. Additional slides in the Theme Builder have been deleted while others have been added that are relevant to this activity. In this activity, students are expected to become secret agents to correct a timeline that has been messed up by a historical villain. After researching to correct the mistake, they work to find out other important information to complete the slide deck. When done, they present their findings to their team to successfully correct the error in history. The main image (excluding the words) was created in Ideogram (log in in see the actual image and prompt).

Drag-and-drop activities can be used for most content areas and in many grade levels. How you tweak it for second graders will differ from using drag-and-drop with high school students. And, as you include it as part of an assignment (as opposed to the complete assignment), students will find it to be a helpful learning aid as they solidify their understanding of the content they are studying.

Do you already use drag-and-drop activities in your classroom? If so, please share with us and let others know how you set your activities up and what students like most about them!

June 11, 2024 1 comment

An 81 piece Quaker friendship quilt pictured on the left. On the right is a picture of one of the quilt blocks showing a hand-written message and signature.

History Math Social-Emotional Learning

Friendship Quilts Bring History, Math, and SEL Together

by Emily Horn January 31, 2024

written by Emily Horn

You’ve heard of friendship bracelets… but what about a friendship quilt? Whether it’s for a back-to-school community builder, a social studies tie-in, or just a feel-good class project, creating a friendship quilt is a meaningful way to celebrate connection and belonging. First, we’ll explore the history and symbolism behind quilts—especially friendship quilts—and share a hands-on activity that brings students together, stitch by stitch (no sewing required). Bonus: You’ll get plenty of additional resources for weaving quilts into your lessons, too.

If you’d like to skip right to the project, click here.

Why Are Quilts Important?

My grandmother, Ma, made each of her children and grandchildren several quilts throughout our lives— Christmas quilts, quilts for graduation, quilts made of old blue jeans, quilts made from material with patterns representing hobbies or interests, etc. She wasn’t a show quilter or professional, but she would spend hours choosing material, measuring, piecing patterns, pinning, and sewing. My ever-patient grandfather, Pa, was called upon for all the meticulous cutting that my grandmother did not particularly enjoy. She would always include a little cross-stitched patch with our name, “Love, Ma,” and the date, which is my favorite part. I will cherish and keep these quilts forever!

Photo of a quilt with a cross-sticked message from the quilter. — Quilt made by Ma in 2002

As a young girl, my mom saved up all her extra money over time to get me an American Girl Doll, the absolute prized possession of so many children in the late 80s and 90s. I had wanted one for a long time! And my first experience with quilting myself was when my Ma helped me sew a small quilt to cover my American Girl Doll with at night, you know, while she was sleeping. I’ll never forget sitting with her, talking, and learning about sewing and how to cut and measure the squares. Now, this is just a bit of my personal experience with quilts and quilting, but it is a very teeny tiny reflection of how quilting is passed down and how relational it can be.

A 16x16 inch (4x4 quilt block) doll quilt sewn by the author and her grandmother. — 16″ x 16″ babydoll quilt made with my Ma circa 1990.

Quilting is a skilled art passed from generation to generation. It spans cultures and peoples. Quilts require mathematical skills, creativity, patience, focus, and precision. They were, and are still, handmade and given to commemorate special occasions— a form of both artistic expression and documentation. Additionally, quilting bees and circles were a way for women to socialize and spend time together. It was at one time a very community-driven and relational art, and in some areas and cultures, this is still very much the case. Over time, there have been many different types of quilts and quilt patterns, like Double Wedding Ring, Patchwork, Log Cabin, Crazy Quilts, and more, but one of my absolute favorites is the friendship quilt.

1974 Friendship Quilt Displayed at The Airing of the Quilts, Greenwood, Arkansas — 1974 Friendship Quilt | The Airing of the Quilts, Greenwood, Arkansas | “Made by Milltown Methodist Church and given to Rev. J.M. and Jane Rogers, Owned by Jane Rogers”
Note the signatures of the ladies who made each square on the white diagonal pieces.

What Is a Friendship Quilt?

Friendship quilts are a traditional form of quilt made collaboratively by a group of friends or even family. They have a rich history and special significance in American culture and are some of the very few quilts that have names associated with them. They sometimes even included dates, special messages, and addresses as well, making them very special. Originating in the Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Jersey areas, the tradition of friendship quilts spread to become more popular in areas west, north, and south. The form and patterns of friendship quilts have changed and adapted over time.

The Making of a Friendship Quilt

A friendship quilt is made by having each member of a friendship group contribute a quilt block that they have sewn. The quilt blocks are then assembled and sewn together into a single quilt. Each block is unique and represents the individual who made it. The blocks often contain personalized decorative elements like embroidered names, initials, symbols, dates, or short messages. Names, initials, and messages may be hand-sewn, written in ink, or even stamped.

The Meaning of the Friendship Quilt

Friendship quilts first became popular in the early 1800s. Groups of women would gather together for quilting bees as a social occasion. They would work collaboratively on quilts for members of their community while also using it as a chance to talk and build friendships. The quilt they produced represented the bonds of sisterhood, community, and connection between those who worked on it.

The History of the Friendship Quilt

These quilts were especially meaningful on the American frontier. As women headed west from the east coast with their families, the quilts served as a record of the long journey. They also helped pioneer women maintain social networks in isolated areas without extended family nearby. The quilts connected them to friends and home.

Over time, friendship quilts began to mark major life events like births, deaths, weddings, or relocations. They took on special significance as historical records of women’s lives and friendships. The communal creative process represents shared experience and cooperation.

1933 Carolina Lily friendship quilt displayed at The Airing of the Quilts in Greenwood, Arkansas. — Carolina Lily Friendship Quilt Displayed at The Airing of the Quilts, Greenwood, Arkansas | The quilt top was pieced by friends in 1933. In 2017, relatives and friends of the original group quilted it.

Today, many antique friendship quilts are preserved in museums. They are valued as culturally important folk art celebrating relationships between women and documenting American history through intricate stitches and patches.

Making a Class Friendship Quilt

If you’re looking for a class project, why not piece together a paper friendship quilt with students that represents your classroom community? Each student can make a quilt block to contribute to the class friendship quilt and sign their name on it. A quilt block is a unit (in this activity it will be a square) that is sewn together to make up a full quilt.

For this activity, students will each construct their own quilt blocks out of paper. Essentially, they will:

Cut the shapes out of a quilt block pattern.
Trace the shapes onto a variety of colorful, patterned paper.
Cut those colorful shapes out.
Glue them onto a plain white square made of posterboard, card stock, or paper.
Admire their created quilt blocks!

Here is what a finished quilt block made by a student might look like. This was a student-created pattern, meaning the student did not follow a quilt block pattern but made up their own using shapes.

Here is a list of materials and a few suggestions for choosing quilt block patterns. It can really be as simple or complex as you’d like it to be!

Materials List:

Three examples of quilt block patters that could be used for a friendship quilt. — Screenshot by the author: **Example Quilt Block Patterns** from Free Quilt

Plain white square (6×6, 9×9, or 12×12) made of posterboard, cardstock, or paper.
Quilt Block Patterns: When it comes to patterns, I’ve listed a few approaches for you to choose from. Choose which option works best for you and your students.
- Pattern Option 1: Preselect one quilt block pattern for all students to use as their template. Distribute a copy of the pattern to each student in the correct size.
- Pattern Option 2: Preselect 3-4 quilt block patterns for students to choose from for their template. Distribute a copy of the pattern to each student in the correct size.
- Freeform Option: Have students create their own special patterns using traceable shapes, rulers, or freeform drawing!
- Digital Option: Have students design their blocks online using line tools, shapes, and elements in Google Slides, Canva, Adobe Express, or similar tools.
Paper: Scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, and colorful paper with a pattern will work great. Some solid paper would also be good to incorporate. Note: For younger students, sticking with just solids may be best if you’re having them follow a quilt block pattern.
Crayons, Markers, Colored Pencils: If you opt for students to create their own patterns on white paper, you’ll need plenty of coloring options!
Scissors: Regular scissors or scissors with fun edges are both great.
Glue: You can use glue sticks, from a bottle, or Mod Podge (I prefer using old paint brushes with liquid glue).
Ink: Sharpies or paint/gel pens are great.
Ruler: Measuring to make sure the squares and pieces are straight and the correct size will be important!
Pencil: Mistakes will happen. Using a pencil when measuring and tracing will be helpful.

This can be just a fun arts and crafts activity for students to celebrate Palentine’s (or Valentine’s) Day. But you can also incorporate some math and history standards as well!

Suggested Lesson Plan Structure

This is an adaptable lesson that can be completed in a short period or span multiple periods. Feel free to adapt it to meet your needs and desired outcomes! For example, if you’d like the activity to go more quickly, you can provide precut shapes for students to glue (no cutting or tracing involved) or have them design squares in Canva to be printed. If you’d like to take more time, incorporate some of the math ideas and history of friendship quilts.

Screenshot by the author of a Quilt Block Template Being Created in Canva — Screenshot by the author: Quilt Block Template Being Created in Canva

Introduction:

Introduce students to the concept and history of the friendship quilt. Look at pictures of different friendship quilts and talk about what students notice. How do students imagine these quilts were made? What do friendship quilts tell us? Why might they be important in a community or group of people? Read an article or book as a class and discuss (see resource list). Explain that students will be making a paper friendship quilt as a class. Each student will contribute one square, and when they are all put together, it will create a full-sized paper quilt.

Activity:

Explain and briefly demonstrate how:

Students will either choose a block pattern or create their own block pattern for their square. Look at some examples of quilt block patterns together, if appropriate.
Explain and demonstrate how students will cut out the shapes from their printed block pattern and trace them onto the colorful paper of their choice.
Then, show students how to cut the traced shapes from their colorful paper and position them on their white squares. They should lay out their shapes to match their block pattern.
Demonstrate how to glue the pieces of the block to the plain white square.
Show students an example of a finished square. You could make your square in advance to show them!
Distribute the quilt block pattern you chose, have students choose a pattern, or let them create their own patterns.
Pass out the plain white squares (whatever size you choose, 6″, 9″, 12,” etc.).
Have fun cutting, tracing, gluing, and signing squares!
Hang students’ blocks individually on the wall, grouping them together to create a visual quilt. Or create your quilt by gluing the squares together before hanging the full quilt on the wall.

Ideas for Incorporating Math Skills

After you determine how big you would like your overall quilt to be, here are some math skills you can work with students on before and during the activity:

Determine the perimeter and area of the full quilt.
How many rows and columns should the quilt have in order for each student to have the same size square? Calculate how big each individual student’s square should be.
Identify the shapes within your block.
Explore symmetry by creating block patterns with symmetrical sides.
Measure and record the angles of the shapes within your block.
If designing your own pattern, use a ruler to draw out and measure shapes in your pattern. Record your measurements.

Lesson Plans and Resources about Quilts

History in Quilts (lesson plan) by EDSITEment!
Stories in Quilts (lesson plan) by EDSITEment!
Friendship Quilts (article) by World Quilts, The American Story
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt (book) by Deborah Hopkinson
The Friendship Quilt (lesson plan) by Carmel Mountain Preschool
Friendship Quilts: The Gift of Remembrance (article) by the Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
The Keeping Quilt (book) by Patricia Polacco
The Keeping Quilt (supporting materials) by Reading is Fundamental
Quilt Squares (lesson plan) by Craft Revival: A Project of Hunter Library Digital Initiatives at Western Carolina University
Quilts and the Underground Railroad (lesson plan) by Craft Revival: A Project of Hunter Library Digital Initiatives at Western Carolina University
I Sang You Down from the Stars (book) by Tasha Spillett-Sumner
International Quilt Museum Educational Resources
The All-Together Quilt (book) by Lizzy Rockwell

Besides friendship quilts, there are many other varieties of quilts, each with their own significance and meaning. I hope you’ll enjoy exploring some stories, history, resources, and information on the great personal and historical significance quilts hold. And if you try making a friendship quilt with your students, please leave us a comment and link to a photo! We’d love to see your class’s friendship quilt.

January 31, 2024 0 comments

Medal of Honor, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

History Social Studies

Seven US Military History Teaching Resources

by Miguel Guhlin November 3, 2023

written by Miguel Guhlin

With Veterans Day coming up on November 11, you might be looking for some great resources to teach US military history and give insight into the lives, work, and sacrifice of our Veterans and to honor their service. Let’s explore seven resources on US military history that cover everything from maps and battlefields to museums, memorials, Veterans, and more.

Teaching History

Wondering how to teach battle geography and history? Check out what educator Runie Aleema suggests. She advises history teachers in the Social Studies Network. Here are her suggestions from the conversation held August 26, 2023. Her remarks were edited and adapted for readability:

Start with a geography lesson with each major battle. One alternative is to begin with the use of new military weapons or strategies. For example, trench warfare in World War I, as well as the evolution of planes in war. Some more tips include:

Split each war into sections

Timeline or map out dates and/or reason(s) for a war

Discuss allies and enemies, including an introduction of major players, like generals

Highlight major battles, including geography

Explore new technologies and/or strategies employed

One great tip she suggests is spotlighting lesser-known people. This is true especially for those who played an instrumental role. Consider viewpoints such as:

African Americans
Women
Indigenous Peoples

Runie Aleema also suggests asking how these viewpoints impact either side of a conflict and what names need to be highlighted. She also includes in her suggestions (among others from contributors appearing below) covering:

The allowance for women into the armed forces
The integration of the military that happened in the 50s after WWII
Research groups such as The Red Tails, 442nd Regiment, Harlem Hellfighters
Other such noteworthy individuals/events often not spoken about
Analysis of propaganda
Using EduProtocols

Let’s take a look at a few resources that were presented in the Social Studies Network.

1. ESRI GeoInquiry Lessons

“There are map-based lessons for US History and wars here,” says M. Kate Sutter. The focus is on GeoInquiries for US History. These map-based accounts focus on assisting students in experiencing the past. Here’s what their website says:

Experience the past with this collection. It highlights critical map concepts in American history. This includes the original 13 colonies, expansion, and resettlement. Also covered are the World War I, World War II, and the Cold War.

You can find fifteen-minute activities designed to teach standards-based content. A student login is not required, and the installation of ArcGIS Online is not needed for Level 1 activities, but it is needed to access those in Level 2.

Here’s a breakdown of the various Levels available:

Level 1

13 Colonies (1700s)
The War Before Independence
The Second American Revolution
Westward, Ho!
Underground Railroad
A Nation Divided: The Civil War
Native Americans Land (1819-2015)
Steel and the Birth of a City
World War I
The Dust Bowl
From Compromise to Conflict
A Day that Lived in Infamy (Pearl Harbor)
Operation Overlord
Hot Spots in a Cold War
The Great Exchange

Each of the items in Level 1 offer some instructions for guiding the activity. See an excerpt below from the “Native American lands, 1819-2015” guide:

ESRI Native American lands GeoInquiries lesson — Screenshot by the author: Research Guide for History GeoInquiry #7

What’s at the heart of these activities is the geoinquiry:

GeoInquiry Map — Screenshot by the author of a GeoInquiry

Making geoinquiries of interest makes it easy to apply history to maps. For example, the map below focuses on Native American lands from 1819 to 2015, comparing land areas. You can also see sites of historic battles and trails:

Annotated GeoInquiry Map — Annotated screenshot by the author of a GeoInquiry

2. American Battlefield Trust

The American Battlefield Trust offers the promise of exploration. You can see military events and engagements. These are occurrences that “shaped America over the course of two centuries,” from the “beginning of the French and Indian War in 1754 to the end of World War II in 1945.”

American Battlefield Trust home page — Screenshot by the author: American Battlefield Trust, **Learn Page**

You will find a searchable website of educational resources. Popular areas of interest appear as well, including:

Fighting for Freedom: The Role of Black Soldiers in America’s First Century
The Emancipation Proclamation
Women in War
John Brown’s Harpers Ferry Raid
The Gettysburg Address
Battlefield Archaeology

What’s more, there are several historical periods covered. They include:

The Civil War
The Revolutionary War
The War of 1812

A special section for educators is available, and the website has a video library. The video library focuses on the different time periods. Here’s one example from “How We Became America: The Untold Story.” It is a video addressing the lives of the enslaved during the Civil War.

Google Classroom support is available, and you can share videos to Google Classroom and then assign them to students.

3. National Medal of Honor

These are actually two different resources about an important topic, the Medal of Honor.

National Medal of Honor Museum

This site offers a searchable database of resources. If you ever wondered who has received the National Medal of Honor, you can do a quick search by name, service branch (e.g. Army), or conflict.

History.com

You can find rich resources, including articles and other content, on this site. Here are just a few examples of many articles available:

Six Surprising Facts about The Medal of Honor
First Medal of Honor Action
Has Anyone Earned Two Medals of Honor?

There are many others, and each one provides rich opportunities for access to historical data.

4. Military Women’s Memorial

Military Womens Memorial home page — Screenshot by the author: Military Women’s Memorial, **Home Page**

“Her Service. Her Story. Her Legacy.” These are the first words you see when visiting the Military Women’s Memorial website. So often, men are the primary focal points of documentaries and histories. But women have had, and continue to have, a powerful role in conflicts.

You can visit the Memorial’s library in person to access a wealth of resources. I found the Military Women’s Memorial Oral History Collection to be more accessible. What a powerful collection to introduce young ladies and men to. You can complement these with children’s books from Military Family Books.

>> Learn more about Military Family Books.

5. The National World War II Museum

The National WWII Museum offers a variety of tools and resources for educators. Per their website, you will find rich historical exhibits and artifact collections. You can register for free to get access, and, like other resources on this list, professional development opportunities are available.

Students can also explore and gain access to recommended books, websites, research starters, and fact sheets. The Digital Learning Projects section offers insights into how teenagers experienced this time through digital collections and authentic yearbooks from WWII.

6. Veterans History Project

Available as a part of the Library of Congress, the Veterans History Project (VHP) offers collections, story maps, and more. The VHP Collections is particularly accessible due to audio and video interviews. With each collection, you get access to helpful research guides:

Research guides provide a curated starting point. Use them to explore the Veterans History Project collections online. Subject experts create research guides that range from deep dives into topical areas. They also highlight collections selected by VHP staff over the years. More curated explorations are available. These appear as Story Maps and through the “Serving: Our Voices” presentations (source).

Their D-Day Journeys offer personal geographies of D-Day Veterans seventy-five years later.

7. National History Day

National History Day Site resources for teaching history — Screenshot by Emily Horn: National History Day, **Home Page**

This final site makes many resources available to teachers. Educators can find the following on the National History Day website:

Classroom Tools aligned to content areas, developed by teachers for teachers
Teaching Research Skills resources
Courses that offer virtual programs for teachers
Institutes for study and additional professional development

The Classroom Tools section includes over 167 topics with a guide and resources (i.g. map analysis chart and exit ticket questions).

More Resources to Explore

But wait, there’s more! Here are a few other wonderful websites to aid you as a history teacher:

Do you have favorite resources for teaching US Military History? Please share them in the comments. Ready to get started? There’s a lot to process, but these seven US Military History teaching resources will assist you in getting off to a great start.

Featured Image: Medal of Honor, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Check out Five Veterans Day Activities for Your Classroom

November 3, 2023 0 comments

4 Reading Comprehension Strategies of CSR: Preview, Click & Clunk, Get the Gist, and Wrap up. Adaptable for any grade level.

Common Core State Standards Content Areas English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)History Reading Science Social Studies TEKS

The Four Reading Comprehension Strategies of Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR)

by Emily Horn November 2, 2023

written by Emily Horn

What is CSR?

CSR is a cooperative learning approach that can be used in any grade level and with students of varied reading levels and abilities. It’s meant to primarily boost reading comprehension when it comes to expository and nonfiction texts, like for science and social studies. However, it can be used for narrative texts as well. CSR is an evidence-based approach where students work through the text together in small groups using four reading comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading:

Preview (before reading)
Click and Clunk (during reading)
Get the Gist (during reading)
Wrap It Up (after reading)

Explanations of 4 Reading Strategies of CSR from IRIS Center — Screenshot by the author: The Iris Center, **Overview of the CSR Reading Strategies**

Getting Started with CSR

It’s important to note that before students begin using the CSR process in a group, they will need to learn and practice the four strategies on their own. Using a Gradual Release of Responsibility approach, you can introduce each reading comprehension strategy in a separate mini-lesson, modeling it for the class. Then, students can practice the strategy with a partner or in a small group. Once they’ve got the strategy with guided support, they can begin to practice it on their own until they are ready to use the strategy cooperatively.

Materials Needed for CSR:

Learning Log: A graphic organizer where students make notes throughout the process.
Cue Cards: Prompts for the different roles in the groups to use.
Clunk Cards: Four “fix-up” strategies for students to use if they reach a roadblock.
Timer (optional)

Here are some great free CSR materials, complete with cue cards, clunk cards, and a learning log, available for download from IRIS Center at Vanderbilt University. Also, they provide role cards with explanations for each student’s role in the group.

IRIS Center Leader Cue Card for CSR tasks — Screenshot by the author: Example Leader Cue Cards from IRIS Center’s Free **Materials for CSR**

Student Roles:

Each group member is given a specific role, so all students in the group are responsible for a task. Potential student roles (depending on group sizes) are:

Leader
Gist Expert
Announcer
Timekeeper
Clunk Expert
Encourager
Reporter

Let’s take a more in-depth look at the four reading comprehension strategies that make up this approach!

The Four Reading Comprehension Strategies

1. Preview

Example Preview section of the CSR Learning Log created by the author (provided at the end of the article).

During the text preview, students work together for a short period to look at important text features like headings, subheadings, bolded words, charts, graphs, images, etc. The purpose of the preview is to activate students’ prior knowledge and get them to ask questions, make predictions, and boost their curiosity on the topic. During this time, the teacher can walk around and ask each group about their observations, predictions, and questions regarding the text. Helpful prompts for students (that can be included in a learning log graphic organizer) might be:

What knowledge do you already have on this topic?
What do you expect or hope to learn?
What questions do you have on this topic?

IRIS Center suggests giving students 12 minutes for this reading comprehension strategy. Once they’ve shared with the group and completed the “Preview” section of the learning log, it’s time to share with the class.

2. Click and Clunk

CSR Clunks & Gists Strategy - Learning Log — Example Clunks and Gists section of the CSR Learning Log created by the author (provided at the end of the article).

During this part of CSR, students begin reading a section of the text and monitoring their comprehension. This means students are using metacognition (thinking about thinking) to check their understanding as they move through the text. “Clicks” are parts of the text that the readers understand. “Clunks” are aspects of the text that readers find to be roadblocks to understanding, like unknown words or concepts.

Monitoring comprehension builds confidence and independence when it comes to reading. Working on this in a group can push students who may not usually stop to explore “clunks” to do so, resulting in increased reading comprehension. After reading a pre-determined section (a paragraph, a few paragraphs, or a page, for example), the students go over clicks and clunks. After identifying the “clunks”, the Clunk Expert can guide the group in the following reading comprehension strategies:

Reread the sentence with the clunk and look for key ideas to help you figure out the word. Think about what makes sense.

Reread the sentences before and after the clunk, looking for clues.

Look for a prefix, root word, or suffix that might help.

Break the word apart and look for smaller words that you know.

“Toward a Humanistic Instruction: Collaborative Strategic Reading Approach and EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension”

3. Get the Gist

After previewing the text, identifying clicks and clunks, and working through clunks, students begin to identify the main ideas of the predetermined sections of text together to demonstrate reading comprehension. This is a summarizing activity that gets students to restate what they read in their own words (IRIS Center suggests 10 or fewer words) without getting too detailed. CALIReads suggests students follow three steps:

Name the who or the what.
Tell the most important thing about the who or the what.
Say it in about 10 words.

Get the Gist is a great retelling reading comprehension strategy that allows students to recall important information from the text and summarize it, which solidifies their learning.

4. Wrap Up

Example Wrap Up section of the CSR Learning Log created by the author (provided at the end of the article).

In this final step, students work with their group to come up with questions and correlating answers about the reading. They can think about “who, what, where, when, why, and how,” and they can speculate as to what questions a teacher might ask about the text. If needed, question stems can help prompt students to form deeper questions. After noting questions in their learning logs, they share them with their group and answer the questions together, writing down and reviewing what they learned.

CSR Learning Log Editable Template — Created by the author: Access the **editable template**.

This cooperative learning approach to content-based reading can boost comprehension of everything from textbook chapters to nonfiction articles and more. Can you picture using CSR in your classroom? If you introduce these strategies to your students, let us know how it goes! We’d love to hear about your results.

November 2, 2023 0 comments

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History

1. Build Writing as a Process, Not a Submission

Claim, Evidence, So-What Statement

2. Assign Shorter, In-Class Pieces

3. Use Reciprocal Teaching to Surface Real Understanding

4. Run a Jigsaw Activity Instead of a Written Report

5. Assign Argumentation Tasks That Require Real-Time Thinking

6. Use Problem-Solving Tasks That Require Transfer

What These Six Strategies Have in Common

A Tool for You

What Is Tasmap?

Ways to Use Tasmap in the Classroom

An Example

How Much It Costs

Give Custom Map Design a Try

A Simple Yet Powerful Strategy for Student Success

What Is Quadrant Outlining?

The Research Behind Quadrant Outlining

Classroom Applications

Tips for Implementation

Example Template

Why Quadrant Outlining Works

Other Approaches

What is The PRISM Framework?

Applying PRISM to Social Studies Topic

Sample PRISM Activity: American Revolution

P – Patterns: What patterns do you see?

R – Reasoning: How do things fit together?

I – Ideas: What different ideas can we mix?

S – Situation: What’s the bigger picture?

M – Methods: How can we check our answers?

Sample PRISM Activity: Analyzing the Civil Rights Movement

Reviewing Why PRISM Works

Final Thoughts

PRISM Framework Chart for History and/or Social Studies

Get To Know the Vocabulary

Making an Infographic

Step 1: Create an infographic.

Step 2: Convert the infographic into JSON data.

Step 3: Generate the desired output.

Interactive Timeline

Diagram or Chart with Mermaid

Web-based Presentation

Visualizing the Data

The Power of Deconstructing Infographics with AI

More Examples

Finding Reliable Research and Strategies

A Quick Reminder about Effect Size

The Stages of the LEARNS Cycle

1-Locate

Locate (Know What You Know) Prior Knowledge

LEARNS Cycle: Sample Prompts

Wait, There’s More AI Magic Available!

Sample Prompts

Getting Raina’s Help with LEARNS Cycle

Value of Using Google Slides

Value of Drag-and-Drop Activities

Looking for Drag-and-Drop Inspiration

Steps to Creating Drag-and-Drop Activities

Drag-and-Drop Activity Templates for You

Why Are Quilts Important?

What Is a Friendship Quilt?

The Making of a Friendship Quilt

The Meaning of the Friendship Quilt

The History of the Friendship Quilt

Making a Class Friendship Quilt

Materials List:

Suggested Lesson Plan Structure

Ideas for Incorporating Math Skills

Lesson Plans and Resources about Quilts

Teaching History

1. ESRI GeoInquiry Lessons

Level 1

2. American Battlefield Trust

3. National Medal of Honor

4. Military Women’s Memorial

5. The National World War II Museum

6. Veterans History Project

7. National History Day

More Resources to Explore