Glance through the material on the Constitution Day and National History Day sites (www.constitutionday.com, www.nationalhistoryday.org) and think about how events like Constitution Day and National History Day might enrich the curriculum and stimulate increased student interest in history and government. What kind of activities would you be most likely to use for a Constitution Day celebration? What would be the advantages/disadvantages of having your students prepare History Day projects?
For Constitution Day, I would want my students to read through at least preamble and the bill of rights if there wasn't time for the whole thing. Taking a day off from my class to show how important that document has been in the formation of the United States is super important. I am getting a sense that the Constitution is not being taught as vigorously as it needs to be in order for high school students to fully understand its purpose and limitations it places on our government.
ReplyDeleteThe History Day also has potential. My high school started participating just as I was leaving. I think it is a great way to get kids excited about history which is not always the easiest thing to do, but it also shows them the importance of looking at primary source documents themselves. Ultimately it teaches them to think for themselves, a trait that is rapidly disappearing when it comes to subjects like history. A clear disadvantage for the classroom, however, is that it does take a fair amount of planning and class time to help make the student's projects worthwhile. But overall I believe that the sacrificed time is well spent.
It is hit and miss, but you are right: the Constitution doesn't get taught as thoroughly as it once was. Part of the problem is the division of U.S. history typical now in most districts. High schools focus only on the the 1877-on period, so the Constitution is included only in government class, not so much in the high-school level U.S. history class.
ReplyDeleteThe National History Day website was way better than the Constitution Day website, which I found odd considering NHD was a .org ran by a not-for-profit and the Constitution Day website was a private .com. I liked the classroom connection area on NHD; it gave great ideas for the classroom. The project sounds like a large undertaking, but on a secondary school level, and a yearlong project, it would be doable. It sounds like something I would have been interested in during high school. The drawback would be how long it takes and keeping the students interested.
ReplyDeleteMy Constitution Day project would be to turn my students into the founding fathers and have them debate ratification of the “New Cafeteria Rules.” They could debate who has veto power over the menu, who has the power to raise revenue…I think it could work. Give them each 2 minutes at a podium to convince their fellow delegated.
Regardless of the websites content, the spirit of these “holidays” raises awareness, gives talking points, and they makes history a current event which is always good. I see these days as something I could really rally around, highlighting them and their historical significance might inspire the next generation of historians.
I agree scott in that the National History Day website is better. The Constitution Day website is similar to a monotone voice in the classroom, just boring. The other website is very colorful and easy to navigate tabs with contest and classroom connect that provide ideas to engage one students. The number one problem with these kinds of days is time. To have a project to excite students without losing focus on main purpose of the day is tricky. The Constitution gets little focus to none throughout many high school classes, so to squeeze a day out of it is difficult to catch people up to speed. But, with an good outline sheet or video can get them up to speed and get them excited about it, hopefully enough to do outside research on.
ReplyDeleteOnce everyone was caught up to speed. We could divide the class into historical figures that helped influenced the Constitution to end the class with a skit in what they had just learned.
Unfortunately, I am not too keen about either of these "days". I am ultimately negative towards these holidays simply because they have no lasting effect in education. Every day should be history day. I have seen too many students become so easily disgusted with history simply because many educators (k-12) have little to no passion in its implementation. Students should be constantly aware of history and the constitution and if that were the case then these "holidays" would become inherently pointless as they should be. How absurd it is that we think we need to have 1 SINGLE day out of the year were we are supposed to think about history for A SINGLE DAY. History is all around us and we should CONSTANTLY think about it. Call me extreme, but that is my ethos and I follow it to the letter.
ReplyDeleteWell, the History Day idea doesn't mean one focuses on history only that day: quite the reverse. Students may focus for weeks on their project. It's only the competition part that merits the history "day" idea.
ReplyDeleteI participated in History Day all 4 years I attended NSU as a full time student. Each year I had a great time reading the senior entries in the writing category. The most interesting thing I found doing this was seeing how each student could find a topic to write about and relate it that years theme. Some of the students really had a knack for writing which as History majors we all know how important writing is. The best entries we would see one could really tell if the student put a substantial amount of time into their project. For instance when I would read these papers the first thing I would look at is the students sources. If the student used a lot of book sources or newspaper articles you could tell they would have a great paper. Other students you could immediately tell they did this project because the "had to" namely using websites or wikipedia as sources.
ReplyDeleteIn relation to the idea behind Dr. Marmorstein's blog questions. I would say that Constitution Day and History day would enrich ones curriculum a lot. It helps students make the connection between what work they are doing and what you are teaching in the classroom. It even creates a bit of competition for the student, because hey who doesn't want to win a ribbon at History Day! So in the end I believe that doing projects like this could only increase the students interest in the history you are teaching. Yes, there are some downsides because, no you are not always going to get a student to be interested in what you are doing. These are the students that feel they are being "made" to do a project. But I believe if you can find something they are interested in and can relate that to History Day and some how turn that into a project you would be able to peak their interest and in turn help them learn more about some aspect of history and get them excited about doing that project.
I have not participated in History Day until last year when I volunteered to be one of the judges. I thought that it was awesome seeing what these students accomplished and would definitely try to make a push for integrating History day into my classroom. I might have it as an assignment for the year or as a large piece of extra credit. I know at Central they did an extracurricular activity for history day. It would be hard to integrate it into the classroom but there definitely would be beneficial.
ReplyDeleteConstitution Day would be integrated into class also. In one way I would do like Clint said and have the students read the constitution. In the classroom I was in created their own declaration of independence as a history class. I would be neat to do something similar with the constitution and the bill of rights.