Understanding history through the lens of many perspectives is our chief aim in middle school social studies. Our state standards require that students learn to understand how perspectives differ and why. 
These images from our Chopped: 1850 presentations makes one reason why perspectives and experiences differed very clear. It's structural. This week students researched 8 different real people from the antebellum era. They used primary and secondary sources to identify what obstacles and opportunities each person faced. Together we defined the ten elements in the Pantry of Democracy. The pantry on the Food Network show Chopped is filled with foods and tools anyone can access equally. Today students evaluated whether their person from history had full access to the pantry, as we imagine all Americans do.
Few eighth graders will realize this on first glance, but they've proven the importance of not white-washing history through the work they've done. The pantry on the bottom left belongs to Nathan Appleton, a wealthy industrialist from Boston. Top left is Angelina Grimke, an abolitionist who came from a wealthy white family. Top right is Caroline Quarrls an enslaved woman who liberated herself using the Underground Railroad and the bottom right is  Lucy Larcom, a white woman who worked in the Lowell cotton mills starting at age 11.
The other four people from history include Solomon Northup from 12 years a slave fame, a slaveowner from Louisiana, an Irish immigrant and a Cherokee woman. To model our work this week, I shared the profile of Juana Briones.

I can't wait to see what conclusions they draw when they compare next week.

We could read from the textbook and take a test on the differences between North and South but that leaves out the richness and complexity of America's reality.

It's no secret that every social studies teacher in America feels that extra scrutiny of any assignment, reading or activity lurks around every corner. 
I'm taking a proactive approach and being as transparent as possible about every source we read. On Friday we learned the ART of reading laterally.
The Civic Reasoning Online curriculum from the Stanford History Education Group has great materials but it assumes a deep dive into, well, civic reasoning. 
What we need in 8th grade - an honestly every user of the internet or consumer of any media needs - is a 3-step process to slow us down before we share, like or fail to question. 
The lesson plans from Common Sense Media: Flex Your Fact-Checking Muscles has many great tools and resources. On day seven of the school year, before we research the attacks of September 11, 2001, as history the graphic above is the bite-sized, 3-step process we need to proceed with some curiosity-driven research.
Credit for the visual is the Elk Grove Unified School District.

  "What's a problem with school that you'd like to talk about and possibly fix?"
With this question, we launched an appreciative inquiry activity in 8th grade. Despite many concerns, one clear answer emerged in all four classes - Homework.
"So there isn't enough homework?" I asked.
"What? No!!" the 8th graders incredulously replied.
Using mentimeter.com, we collaborated to create a problem tree. What causes the perception or reality of too much homework? Between my four classes, students offered an array of causes and put the responsibility on teachers, students, and outside forces:

• Teachers assume kids are absorbing the HOW, but they aren't
• Learning time and work time aren't used well
• Kids are busy after school
• What's done in class and the work don't seem connected
• Kids aren't listening
• Kids waste time in class because they are distracted by friends
• Sports practices take hours after school
• Dance and other activities take up hours on multiple days after school

Then I asked what the result of having too much homework is. These answers were very eye-opening: 

• Stress
• Anxiety
• Bad grades/not learning or mastering the material/falling behind
• Conflict with parents
• Not getting enough sleep
• Less free time to pursue their interests
• Less time with family
• Pressure
• Exhaustion​

My favorite part of this activity is creating a solution tree. Three of four classes thought the solution was completing work in class, and one class thought teaching time management was the answer. (Note: This is what we already try to do on our team.)
How to make that happen involves shared responsibility between students and teachers and a mindset shift.

The fruits of getting work done in class that my students foresee are: 

• Less stress
• Family time
• Better grades
• Happier
• More sleep
• Time for relationships
•  Teachers and students working together
• Students feel in control of their own time.

So, we have a starting point. We have talking points when we have class time, but distractions are eating away at pressure work time.
Mostly this discussion felt serendipitous. One day earlier, I gave what felt like too much work time to complete a class assignment. It felt uncomfortable and even wasteful, but all my kids disagreed. Yes, they are teenagers who often want to take the easy way out, but they are also humans living through an ongoing pandemic. 
This extra work time feels like the change I need to make this year to make my class more equitable. I can continue to make our work relevant, engaging, and rigorous. However, the world beyond my classroom is beyond my control. My students are over-scheduled, have heavy home responsibilities, are pursuing their passion outside of school, have no internet access, have no quiet place to work, have no support at home, or JUST WANT TO BE CHILDREN a LITTLE LONGER. For these and a myriad of other reasons, I'm going to focus on slow thinking, working in class, and giving feedback when we are together
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