First Day of School

Electrolysis in the classroom

The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail

First day of school

The first day of school can be a terrific challenge. Establishing rapport is one of the initial goals. The following exercise facilitates the process:

Lesson Objectives:

• Students will get to know me
• Students will demonstrate their ability to reflect upon themselves and their accomplishments by writing on the very first day
• I will learn something interesting/memorable about my students

Grade level and subject area:

Activities and strategies:

1. I introduce myself.
2. I discuss some of my highs and lows (dreams and disappointments) while referring to my posted copy of the sheet (see above).
3. I ask students to think of some of their own disappointments and rewards and to write them down on a sheet like the image above.
4. Students look over their papers, thinking of the stories behind each of the things they've written.
5. I tell three stories of my own:
   • a) (1-2 minutes) A story about something funny that happened to me.
   • b) (15-30 seconds) A story about something I know nothing about. This shows that we can't speak about something we don't know about.
   • c) (1-2 minutes) I tell a story about something that happened when I was a child.
6. Students write a story about a topic that they know well.

Laura Versaci, English teacher at Decatur Middle School, Indianapolis, IN

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Electrolysis in the classroom

Lesson objective:

Materials:

• 1 Nine-volt battery
• 1 Empty 35mm plastic film case with lid
• 1 Nine-volt battery clip with leads
• 2 Alligator clips attached to the leads
• 2 Small pencils with both ends sharpened
• 1 Acetate sheet, waxed paper, or petri dish
• 2 Drops of blue food coloring

Procedure:

1. Place the 9-volt battery in the empty 35mm film case.
2. Make two small holes in the lid of the case for the battery clip wires to go through.
3. Connect the battery clip to the battery and replace the plastic lid.
4. On an acetate sheet, piece of waxed paper, or petri dish, place several drops of water (A petri dish filled with water works well, if placed on an overhead projector. More students can observe).
5. Connect the alligator clips to one end of each pencil. Make sure both ends of the pencils are sharpened to a fine point.
6. Place the other sharpened ends of the pencils in the water. Bubbles of gas may come from the ends of the pencils in the water. These are bubbles of oxygen gas and hydrogen gas.
7. Place a sheet of white paper under the acetate sheet
8. Place 20 drops of water on the acetate sheet. Dissolve several crystals of table salt (sodium chloride) in the water. A toothpick may be used to mix the salt in the water.
9. Place two drops of blue food coloring in the salt solution and mix.
10. Place the two sharpened ends of the pencil in the solution.
11. Gas bubbles form at the end of one of the pencils which causes the blue food coloring to fade and finally become colorless. This is chlorine gas. After a short period, one can detect the aroma of the gas.

Jack Young, Chemistry teacher, Columbus East High School, Columbus, IN

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This multi-faceted activity examines the idea of civil disobedience and the notion of personal responsibility vs. government control. Students of all abilities, in grades 10-12, enjoy the readings and learn a lot from the projects.

The readings include The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, a play by Jerome Lawrence, an excerpt from Annie Dillard's The Pilgrim of Tinker Creek, and a newspaper article about a local political activist. Students also read the essay "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" and selections from Walden, both by Henry David Thoreau. The students learn Thoreau's views on: education, conformity, the war with Mexico, slavery, the duty of a citizen, nature and the environment; what the Walden experiment was, and why he went there. They also reflect on the readings, write in journals, and share their insights with classmates.

Over two nights, students read the play and then discuss it during class. During the next few days, students read the related articles and excerpts. Then, they explain the connections between these works and those of Thoreau, in a paper.

The major assignment for this unit is a collaborative effort in which small groups of students prepare scripts for a trial of Thoreau. Each script must include roles for the prosecutor, the defense attorney, the judge, Thoreau, and the witnesses. The remaining class members serve as the jury. Students hand in the script and then perform a play, based on the script. Historical accuracy and oral presentation skills serve as the basis for student s evaluations.

In creating the script, students select one of three cases against Thoreau:

1. Thoreau has been arrested and charged by the State of Massachusetts for tax evasion. The state accuses him of failing to pay hi s poll tax.
2. Thoreau has been arrested and charged with violation of the Fugitive Slave Law in the Henry Williams Case. Thoreau is accused of aiding and abetting Williams, in the slave's attempted escape to Canada.
3. Thoreau, school master in the Concord Public Schools is charged with insubordination and violating the constitutional separation of church and state by permitting his students to discuss theological questions in his classes. The Concord Board of Education seeks Mr. Thoreau's dismissal.

Students like The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail because the issue of civil disobedience is relevant to them. Also, in "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" students like Thoreau's display of compassion toward his cellmate and the assertive style of Emerson's wife when she tells Emerson, in the student s own words, "Take a chill pill and get real." This activity gives students a sense of this historical period and shows them how the pressing issues that existed then, still exist today.

Pat Wilson and Joanne Frye team-teach an interdisciplinary block of U.S. history, health, and literature at Bloomington High School North, Bloomington, IN

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This document was last updated 6/1/97 by Chandra Hawley.
Copyright1996 Indiana University - Center for Adolescent Studies, all rights reserved.
Kris Bosworth - Director
the class identifies the common ones. A committee of students goes through the lists and tries to find themes which connect the questions. Eventually, the students vote on them and pick the first theme (i.e. the environment or conflict).

Another committee is formed to find the original questions which fit under this theme "environment". Later the class works together to brainstorm for activities to answer their questions. The students then go through a process of deciding on activities, re-identifying questions they have (or changing them), and actually planning out the activities. Students find this very engaging. After an activity, we go back to the initial questions and ask, "How are we doing?"

The entire school day is not devoted to this at first, as it would be too much, so we do work on other things. The point is students are involved in a process where classroom learning is student-directed and democratic. We also allow for re-evaluating of the questions, themes, and activities.

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