How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So goes the ancient proverb. The longer I teach, the more I know it is true. I want so many good things for my students. Principally among them is a complete immersion in formative content. But how do I make sure they can take in everything I teach? I teach in little, tiny, bite-sized amounts.
We were learning about the Articles of Confederation last week. The first laws of our nation. The first form of our government. To be sure, it was a lofty class for 4th grade students. So, how did we break it down and create digestible sections so all students could access the heart of the lesson?
First, since we had already been sitting for a while during a previous science lesson, we stood and took a 5-minute stretch break. We moved our bodies, stretched our muscles, relaxed our hands from taking notes, and increased our blood flow to our brains. We took some deep breaths and sat together, ready to learn.
As students prepared their notes for class, a focus question was on the board to narrow their attention to an important point for the lesson. “What were the Articles of Confederation”?
We began with a review of the American Revolution and the Second Continental Congress. We looked at a timeline of events that would parallel the drafting and ratification of the Articles of Confederation. This review activated background knowledge and reminded students of things they already knew to build upon for this lesson.
We have been memorizing the Declaration of Independence so we recited it chorally and stopped at the words “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government”. This launched us into a discussion of what would be needed to form a new government. Would the task be easy? If not, what would make it challenging? The discussion was alive and rooted in historical references from past history classes. We took a few notes after each section of our discussion.
So, what did the colonies actually have to define their government? The country began with the Articles of Confederation. We looked at a picture of the original document, all 6 parchment pages of laws. I outlined the powers of government, the limitations, and the rules that the document contained. But could it be effective in forming a new country as it was written? If you had the power to form an army, but no way of gaining funds to pay them, would you be successful at your task? Class discussion ensued.
What kind of government was chosen? A representative government called a republic. What is that? We broke the class into states and each sent a representative to the front of the classroom to vote on an important issue. Everyone was involved and moving. Some were standing in the front of the class. Students were engaged and excited as they watched their peers cast votes on their behalf.
Finally, as we ended the lesson, students answered the focus question at the end of their notes with a detailed sentence about what exactly were the Articles of Confederation. They were prepared to answer it well and in detail after we ate our elephant in bite sized spoonfuls.
