Colors and the Constitutional Convention
I've been reading the book Making Thinking Visible which has really been inspiring my classroom activities lately. Actually, the book is what encouraged me to start a blog in the first place. The authors argue that documenting thinking as it occurs in the classroom can actually facilitate more thinking, as students can look back and see how their thoughts developed over time. I love this idea, and I love the idea of actually making our thinking visible and connecting our thoughts from the concrete to the abstract. That's why I loved this activity--CSI for short--because it can take an historical event like the Constitutional Convention and encourage students to think abstractly.
My adaptation of the CSI activity required that students first outline a section of the textbook on a poster (working in groups). After the groups finished the posters, other groups walked around the room to gather the information for their notes. Rather than just gathering information and moving on, I wanted students to really think about the material on the posters. At each table the students took a square of paper and represented the information on the poster with a color. They briefly explained their thinking underneath. Some of the responses were really interesting!
(Drafting the Constitution)
(Meeting place of the Constitutional Convention)
(Drafting the Constitution)
(Anti-Federalists and Federalists)
(Three-Fifths Compromise)
(Connecticut Compromise)
I love this activity and I loved reading all of the responses.
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