Preparing for 2019-2020 in the Classroom - Starting with Primary Sources

As I am wrapping up my fellowship and preparing to return to the classroom for the 2019-2020 school year, I find myself very excited about the possibilities in front of me. I have been out of the general classroom for going on seven years. During my six years as the K-5 Engineering Teacher at Galileo STEM Academy, I felt as though what I was doing could be integrated into the general classroom. Now is my chance to put it to the test. I have begun mapping out the various resources I now have in addition to my engineering tools and identifying ways they can be integrated into the general elementary classroom.

Since my passion for integrating primary sources has been deeply embedded during my time at the Library of Congress, I first went through standards and district curriculum looking for areas that would easily integrate with primary sources. I highlighted areas I felt could be easily integrated with the use of primary sources. Since primary source analysis uses similar strategies as science based claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER), I also noted areas where I could integrate the use of CER with primary sources and various content areas.

I look forward to the challenge of integrating the various resources I have accumulated in my teacher tool box and the lessons learned from the elementary engineering lab.

So Much Fun Creating Lessons!

I have spent several weeks now exploring, or should I say scratching the surface, of interesting and engaging primary sources at the Library of Congress.  There is something for everyone in the digitized resources, not to mention the vast materials housed by this amazing institution.  I am finally at the point where I can bring in my own classroom experiences and connect them to the primary sources for use in the classroom or a makerspace.  It's been interesting and frustrating that it took me three months to get my feet under me, but my excitement as I developed two new lessons this week, one connecting iceboxes from the 1800-1900s and insulation boxes and another using Scratch (scratch.mit.edu) to code Civil War bugle calls, brings back memories of collaborating at my school.  The Scratch lesson was even more fun to develop because I was able to collaborate with our Teacher-in-Residence to share with her the possibilities of Scratch with music.  It never ceases to amaze me how fun it can be to collaborate with other educators on projects.  Lessons also come out so much better when they build off of each other's strengths.  These lessons are still being developed, but keep an eye on the Library of Congress, Learning and Innovation, Teacher's Blog for these and other lessons https://blogs.loc.gov/teachers/.