"Historical Jigsaw" 5Ws and Growth Mindset

Dover Bay Secondary School | Humanities 8

Mercedes DuBois
19 October 2016

Rationale:
This lesson builds upon previous class work on the topics of Growth Mindset, 5Ws, and Famous Failures. It
reinforces Dover Bays 4Cs Community of Learners, and it also encourages non-fiction reading comprehension.
This lesson is relevant because it builds on real-world skills (exchanging ideas and viewpoints, explaining
different perspectives, using inquiry processes, becoming educated and engaged citizens, making connections to
others and the world, thinking critically and reflectively).

Curriculum Connections:
English Language Arts 8
Big Ideas:
-Questioning what we hear, read, and view contributes
to our ability to be educated and engaged citizens.
-Exploring stories and other texts helps us understand
ourselves and make connections to others and to the
world.
Curricular Competencies:
-Think critically, creatively, and reflectively to explore
ideas within, between, and beyond texts.
-Construct meaningful personal connections between
self, text, and world.
-Respond to text in personal, creative, and critical
ways.
-Exchange ideas and viewpoints to build shared
understanding and extend thinking.
Core Competencies:
-critical thinking
-personal and social responsibility
-communication
Content:
-metacognitive strategies (thinking and talking about
learning to develop an awareness of self)
Social Studies 8
Big Ideas:
-Changing ideas about the world created tension
between people wanting to adopt new ideas and those
wanting to preserve established traditions.
-Contacts and conflicts between peoples stimulated
significant cultural, social, political change.
Curricular Competencies:
- Use Social Studies inquiry processes and skills to ask
questions; gather, interpret, and analyze ideas; and
communicate findings and decisions
- Assess the significance of people, places, events, or
developments at particular times and places
- Explain different perspectives on past or present
people, places, issues, or events, and compare the
values, worldviews, and beliefs of human cultures and
societies in different times and places
Core Competencies:
-critical thinking
-personal and social responsibility
-communication

Learning Intention (shared with students on white board)

-I can read about an historical person and exchange ideas and information about that person with my peers

Learning Intentions: Activity: Assessment:

-I can use the 4Cs to communication
information and collaborate with my
peers (DBL8 values)
-I can assess the significance of
people, places, events, or
developments at particular times
and places (Social Studies curricular
competency)
- I can construct meaningful
personal connections between
self, text, and world (English
-students participate in expert and
learning groups to share information
(LI: 1)
-students read about historical
figures and answer questions related
to W5 and historical significance
(LI: 2)
-students fill out the jigsaw piece
about their own lives to think about
their own successes, challenges, use
of growth mindset, and ability to
-students are informally assessed
based on observing and listening to
group discussions and the exchange
of ideas and viewpoints (LI: 1)
-teacher collects jigsaw handouts at
the end of class for review to see if
students can assess significance (LI:
2, 3, 4)
-teacher makes mental note of
strategies that work for each student
as a learner and their level of
curricular competency)
-I can think and talk about my own
learning [metacognitive strategies]
(cross curricular outcome)
overcome (LI: 3, 4) engagement with the jigsaw activity
-students participate in concluding (LI: 4)
discussion about why we chose this
activity, what they learned, and if it
worked for them (LI: 3, 4)

Prerequisite Concepts and Skills:

-Grade 8 reading comprehension level
-previous knowledge of W5 and Growth Mindset
-interpersonal skills

Materials and Resources:

Teacher Students
-30 copies of jigsaw puzzle handout (per class) -pen/pencil
-6 copies of 5 different biographies (per class)
-lesson plan
-whiteboard marker
-number cards for tables

Differentiated Instruction:
-Mentor teacher, Education Assistant, and other Student Teachers available to assist, monitor, direct students to
proper tables, answer questions, and check for understanding
-Peer (expert and learning) groups tend to benefit all students
-Students can flip over the handout and fill in the jigsaw piece about their own life to make the learning relevant

Organizational/Management Strategies:
-hand out worksheets and biographies before class begins to save time
-desks should be arranged in 5 pods of 6 students
-learning intentions and instructions on the whiteboard before class begins

Possible Aboriginal Connections / First Peoples Principles of Learning

-Learning requires exploration of one's identity.
-Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.

Lesson Activities:
Teacher Activities Student Activities pacing
Before Class:
-place biographies and jigsaw handouts on 5
desks minutes
-write learning intentions and instructions on (before
whiteboard class)

Introduction:
-introduce selves (students seem interested in -students enter class and select a seat
learning about their student teachers) -they may look at learning intention, and 15
-take attendance biography/handout minutes
-lesson "hook" "Famous Failures" YouTube
clip

-ask students to think back to the activity they -students answer and share their knowledge
did on growth mindset last week of these historical figures
-does anyone recognize the person on their
handout? Who are they? (Pre-reading activity)

Body: Jigsaw Activity

Part I: Learning Group
-explain the activity: each student will read
the worksheet on their desk and, as a group,
will answer questions on the jigsaw puzzle
handout
-let students know that they will eventually be
sharing their answers with another group so it
is important that every person collaborates,
contributes, communicates, and commits to
the activity
-tell students they have 15 minutes
-student teachers/education assistant may help
some students to read the biography and write
out their questions
-observe students, listen to discussions, check
for understanding, assess
3
-students listen to instructions minutes
15
minutes
-students read the biography individually
-students work together to answer the
questions on their handout
-W5:
who is the person? when and where did they
live? why are they significant? in what way
did they demonstrate growth mindset?

Part II: Expert Group 5

-after 20-25 minutes, see if students need -each student gets a number minutes
more time
-after 30 minutes, number students 1-6
-place number cards on each table (plus one
on the couch area or the sitting area in the
hallway)
-explain the expert group: students will move
into a new group based on their number and 15
will take turns sharing information about their -students move into expert groups minutes
person with the group. Each person fills out
their worksheet. -students take turns sharing their
biography/W5 information while the other
students in their group fill out their handout

-Begin class discussion: ask students to share

their information with the group (eg. someone -students participate in discussion as a whole 15
who did not read the biography on Princess class Minutes
Diana, can you share one fact/piece of -students may fill out any "gaps" in their
information about Princess Diana? Martin jigsaw
Luther King Jr? Mahatma Gandhi? JFK? Etc.) -student volunteers write information on the
-ask for specific evidence from text re: how board
did this person demonstrate growth mindset?
-what did these people overcome?
-do you see any patterns?
-why did we choose these people from
history?

Begin self evaluation:

-have students flip over their worksheet and
fill in individual puzzle piece on themselves, 10
just as they did the historical figures (name, -students work individually to fill out the minutes
birthday, place of birth, successes they've jigsaw on themselves; may also represent
experiences, challenges they've overcome, themselves visually
etc.)

Closure:
-last 5 minutes of class:
-What did you think about this activity? Why -students share their thoughts and opinions
do you think we chose it? on jigsaw activity/how it worked for them as 5
-What did you learn? a learner (metacognition) minutes
-Thank the class and dismiss them