Masterpiece Matchup and Other Instructional Strategies You'll Love

 

Masterpiece Matchup

It's brilliant, and yes, I learned about it from my favorite social studies blogger, Glenn Wiebe. He in turn learned about it from Kansas middle school teacher Laura McFarren, who adopted the idea from California teacher Amanda Sandoval. What's the "It" I'm talking about? Masterpiece Matchup, an "activity is to encourage kids to think and talk more deeply around a set of primary sources."

Here's how it works:

1. Find several written primary sources about a single topic. Laura used a Stanford History Education Group Reading Like a Historian Lesson that focused on Lewis and Clark's treatment of Native Americans. (If you teach 8-12 grade and aren't already using SHEG's Reading Like a Historian Lessons, I promise you want to start.)

2. Have students read through and analyze all of the sources using a traditional primary source analysis worksheet (Laura did this as an all-group activity.) 

3. Give each student one specific document to re-read and then have them "'recreate' the source visually." (Stick figures are fine.) Make sure they label their drawing with a letter that matches their document. (e.g., Doc. A, Doc. B., etc.)

4. Post all of the drawings of Doc A together on one wall, all of the drawings of Doc B. on another, etc.

5. Then have all of the students try to match the primary sources to the drawings. Encourage conversations during this activity and have them justify their thinking.

Laura followed this activity with a Structured Academic Controversy around the SHEG lesson's original question: “Were Lewis and Clark respectful to the Native Americans they met on their journey?“

She said that because they took part in the Masterpiece Matchup, students "really knew their documents and were able to dig into the SAC conversations at a deeper level. Definitely a redo."

I'd encourage you to read more details about this activity on Glenn's blog and if you do this in your classroom, tell me how it goes. 

Looking for More Great Instructional Strategies?

Or do you have a great one to share? Join Teacher Leader in Montana History Jennifer Graham February 13, 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. for the online PD, Instructional Strategies You'll Love. Jennifer will share Collaborative Instructional Strategies (CIS) that she says will improve students' Social Emotional Learning skills and increase student engagement. Participants are invited to bring their best strategies to share or just come to listen. Register here.