About the Strategy

How do you introduce a new topic in American history? Some teachers begin by telling students what they're going to study and then begin delivering content. Or, they might have students first read a chapter of the textbook to acquire background information before diving into classroom activities. While these may seem like efficient ways to get down to business, in reality these methods tend to ignore any information that students already have about the topics they will be studying.

Every student in the classroom, regardless of ability level, will have something in his or her mind when a new topic is introduced. However, if a students' prior knowledge is not activated before study begins, an opportunity is missed to engage student interest in the topic. Students themselves may not realize that they already know something about -- or can make important connections to -- the new topic. And the more students can be made to feel that they already have some understanding of new material, the easier it is to engage them.

There are many different kinds of content ice breakers to activate students' thinking and understanding. The following are just three examples:

1. Word Association: The teacher writes the word "Progressive" on the board and asks students to say what word jumps out at them. Once students hit on the idea of "progress," the teacher asks them to talk about what the longer word might mean, and then what the "Progressive Era" might be referring to. The theme of "progress" is a very helpful image for students to keep in mind throughout their Progressive Era study, and can be incorporated throughout the unit by having students explain the "progress" that was made in areas such as child labor reform, technology, and voting rights. The teacher can also ask students to look for ways in which American society might have progressed backwards during this time. The overall idea is for the teacher to help students gain an understanding of why the period from 1895 to 1920 is called the Progressive Era.
2. Time Period Association: The teacher gives each student a piece of paper with "1895-1920" written on it, and asks the students to write down anything they can think of related to this period. Students work on this activity in small groups, without teacher input. A variation on this activity is for the teacher to list broad categories on the paper for students to fill in, like: U.S. presidents, famous people, wars/conflicts, technology, economics, business and industry, law and court cases, social problems, recreation and entertainment, jobs and work, change and reform, protests, etc. The students are then asked to fill in what they already know. They can also find additional information by searching a textbook (this would offer an opportunity for students to work on the textbook reading strategy below.)

3. Textbook Scan: The teacher gives each student a textbook. He or she instructs students to go to the chapter on the Progressive Era and to read just the following: titles and headings, picture captions, charts and graphs, and the first and last pages of the chapter. As they read, students write down the section titles, key names and dates, important concept vocabulary words, and any other important information that they encounter. This can be done individually or in groups. After completing the textbook scan -- which typically takes about one 90-minute session -- students will have a basic sense of who, what, when, and where the Progressive Era takes place. They may even understand why certain things happened. Later, the students can be asked to dig deeper into each topic as part of a research assignment. A further follow-up activity would ask different groups of students to interact with each other as they attempt to integrate their in-depth topical analyses. For example, they could consider what characteristics are common to Taylorism, newspapers, and school reform so that we can understand them as part of a period or era. However, in the case of the "Time Period Association" activity above, students would use their textbook notes to complete the time period chart.

   The textbook scan is different from a typical textbook reading of five, ten, or twenty pages. Often, students who are assigned a standard reading selection will either stop reading after a few pages or read the full text, but without absorbing even the most basic names, dates, places, or other information. However, students tend to welcome the textbook scanning strategy because they are being invited to do what they naturally want do upon being confronted with a textbook -- that is, scan, read headings, and look at the pictures and charts (which are colorful, eye-grabbing, and engaging.) Students also like being given permission not to have to read every word, or to read the chapter in order. What they prefer to do is just find the information. The scanning strategy is a very useful skill for doing just that. It is also a strategy often used by scholars and teachers as they begin to study a new topic themselves, and thus an important one for students to know as they move forward in their education.