Big History

Not every lesson is a homerun and that's okay.  I hit a solid line drive up the middle with this lesson that I share below. Kids learned content, tech tools, and had fun doing it. I share this with my readers because I reference three tech tools.

1. Canva
2. BigHistory
3. Google Slides

I am using the Big History Project to supplement my World History course this fall. Big History has been valuable in letting me "set the stage".  (To see a broad overview of Big History, click here.) My course kicks off with a study of ancient religions, but it was the agrarian revolution that created the milieu in which religions would be born and I used Big History materials to teach a lesson on how agriculture started in the fertile crescent and both spread and developed independently across the globe.

After a short lecture, I had students read and watch videos about the discovery and development of agriculture across the world. To demonstrate learning, I had the students create menus as if they were opening a restaurant specializing in "first foods". Students used Canva to create their menus. It took all of about 20 minutes for most students to complete the task. I like to think that this activity allowed for a "stickier" lesson.  I'm the first to admit that the assignment challenged students and DOK level 2- not the deepest level of thinking. But they liked the task, they learned about Canva and had to show their learning in a creative way. I think the lesson is a keeper.

(BTW, I used the ever flexible Google Slides to make the presentation below- the first page of this is courtesy of the amazing Template Palooza created by Ryan O'Donnell - which is chock full of fantastic templates for student and teacher use.)