History With Hartsell

The last few weeks my classroom has been ~simulation station~, trying to keep learning as fun as possible as we count down the days to summer…

📸 1-3: simulation in (peep one student’s v dramatic death in pic 3)

📸 4-5: experts in and pricing out and comparing the costs of life with and without insurance

📸6-7: simulation in where we made *so* many “coins” for the sh**un and emperor

📸8-10: simulation in in “family” groups facing tough 1930s decisions

Silk Road Simulation with WHI students got us up and moving this week to trade around the “world” (room) in order to learn how trade networks spread not only goods, but ideas and culture (and sometimes diseases) that changed societies!💰🔬🦠

Topped off our unit today with peer feedback on our philosophical Instagram posts. Students were tasked with choosing and researching 1 of 3 Greek philosophers and then crafting a post from that thinker’s perspective. Today they viewed one another’s posts and provided constructive criticism.

💙 Blue sticky notes were used to identify which thinker the post was from.
💚 Green sticky notes identified things each student did well.
💛 Yellow sticky notes gave one suggestion for improvement.
🧡 Orange sticky notes identified the idea being shown through the post.

Students did so well with this activity start to finish. Now on to Rome!

We learned about Classical Greek culture today by “speed dating” as Greek gods and goddesses. Students assumed the role of 1/12 major deities and asked questions to guess who they were “dating” each round. It was such a fun way to learn more about Greek religion and values. 🏛⚡️🌁

This week students tackles a map-themed breakout room of 3 tasks to demonstrate mapping skills 🌎

Task 1 required them to correctly label 9 maps with the correct map type (general reference, thematic, or topographic) to move on to task 2.

Task 2 required students to correctly match 10 maps with 3 criteria: map theme, map scale, and map purpose. The 3 criteria cards spelled out a secret code to move on to task 3!

Task 3 asked students to correctly identify 5 different map projections before moving on to identify biases of those projects and pros/cons for each.

These activities take so much front-loading, but it’s worth it to see kids actively engaged in building new skills.

First post from my new home at AHS! We spent our first week working in small groups in a baby . Students had to imagine a zombie apocalypse had swept over Charlottesville and they were tasked with creating outposts for survivors! 🧟‍♀️

We used maps to identify the best geographic areas to hide out based on location and resources, chose a type of government to rule their outposts, made plans for expansion and more.

I loved using this as a tool to get kids talking and building skills instead of jumping right into a syllabus on day 1. We’re going to have a great year!

Little dude, big views… Dave went to great heights in Paris for the final days of our journey.

On night 1, we decided to try our luck getting to the top of the Eiffel Tower, despite tickets being sold out & the top being closed due to crowds. We walked an hour from Notre Dame cathedral along the Seine river all the way to the tower, got in line, and go SUPER lucky (not only to wait in line for 25 minutes instead of the 1 hour wait time displayed, but also because we got to go to the top AND got elevator tickets instead of stair tickets. We hit the top just in time to watch the sunset AND got to the bottom just in time to catch the 11:00 light show. ✨

Dave’s 2nd favorite thing in Paris was Shakespeare & Co., a cafe-turned-bookshop where famous literary greats like F. Scott Fitzgerald spent their time writing while living overseas.

Dave spent days 7-8 of our trip in London! He got to visit Westminster Abbey, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, walked London Bridge and Tower Bridge, and ate traditional fish & chips.

Days 5-6 were spent in . Dave caught a ferry from Northern Ireland to Scotland in the morning before riding a bus into Edinburgh (with a brief stop on the beach!).

He got to visit , the castle that inspired , visited the National Gallery to see artwork, went shopping in the neighborhood that inspired , and got to see monuments galore. It was a dream day for a Harry Potter fan.

Dave’s 3rd and 4th days were spent in Belfast and Derry. Both of these Northern Ireland cities are home to communities that have a history of violence during , when Irish Protestant Loyalists in the UVF and Irish Catholic Republicans in the IRA were at physical and ideological war with one another over the future of the island and it’s relationship with the United Kingdom. The remains of this violence can still be seen in the cities’ neighborhoods, peace walls, and street art.

Dave also visited to see the natural basalt rock structures that have become famous in Irish folklore. Legend says 2 giants in Ireland and Scotland built a rocky land bridge to meet in the middle and fight, but when Ireland’s giant saw how big Scotland’s giant was, he ran to his wife to hide him. His wife disguised him as a baby, introducing him to the Scottish giant as her offspring. Scared by the size of an infant and how large his father must be, the Scottish giant ran back to Scotland, destroying the land bridge as he went and leaving the coastline we see today.

Dave did a lot of walking and needed to catch a ride in my pocket for awhile.

For those of you who are new here since COVID, meet Dave, our international educational travel mascot. He travels with me wherever I go and documents our adventures.
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I’m a little late starting posts about Dave’s adventures in Europe. Dave’s been in denial of our group’s heartbreak since we started our journey a week ago. We had a cancelled flight that resulted in separating our group to two separate cities for a layover before meeting back up in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam we were bumped from our final flight to Dublin and rebooked later in the day, losing a 2nd day of trip. When we did make it Dublin, we found out our bags had not. We’re currently still without them (but swipe to see the last photo we have of them sitting on the tarmac in Amsterdam).
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Day 1-2 were supposed to be spent in Dublin but we ended up only getting 1/2 a day there. We did a walking tour, had a traditional fish + chips dinner, and visited the Temple Bar area of the city to do some souvenir shopping.
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Spent all week getting ready for TEST DAY today. We reviewed & revised FRQs 📝 on Monday, played a new game called Not In A Pickle 🥒on Tuesday, and did hands-on model & theory reviews 💡 yesterday. Sending all my love & lots of luck to my kids as they take their exam this morning.