Investigating History Instructional Videos

These videos, captured in Spring 2024, illustrate Investigating History lessons from classrooms across Massachusetts. They are intended to provide examples of what Investigating History looks like in practice and the type of instructional moves and strategies that can help teachers effectively bring the Investigating History materials to life with students. We encourage you to use them either by yourself or with colleagues to build your vision of an Investigating History classroom, reflect upon and push your current practice, or engage in focused study of a particular element of instruction.

While watching these classroom videos, helpful questions to keep in mind may be:

  • How is this teacher demonstrating skillful implementation of the Investigating History curricular materials? Where do you see them making intentional choices, what are these choices based on, and what is their impact?
  • How does this teacher's instruction demonstrate the Investigating History instructional principles of historical inquiry and investigation, culturally sustaining instruction, current world and civic relevance, and historical empathy and human connections?
  • What strategies is this teacher using to engage all students with grade-level learning, assess their progress, and provide them growth-oriented feedback?

Each video is also accompanied by several more specific look-for suggestions to help elevate specific aspects of the teacher's instruction that are well illustrated in the video.

Grades 3–5

Supporting Learning Using Schema
Elizabeth Highgas | Topsfield | Grade 4

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • How Elizabeth's use of the Inquiry Chart and vocabulary review connect this lesson to prior knowledge
  • How the four methods of adding territory help students organize their thinking and learning throughout the class
  • The way that Elizabeth's clear and specific instructions for the group activity support student engagement and learning

Building Knowledge Using Stations
Christina Bonvouloir | Needham | Grade 5

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • How Christina sets a clear purpose and expectations for students' investigation during the gallery walk
  • The way that Christina uses models, targeted scaffolds, and strategic partnerships to support all students in independent work
  • What Christina looks for as she circulates during the gallery walk
  • How students synthesize their learning at the end of class to stamp key ideas

Building Off of Prior Learning
Christina Bonvouloir | Needham | Grade 5

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • What strategies Christina uses at the beginning of class and during the Launching the Question routine to activate students' prior knowledge
  • How Christina takes advantage of opportunities to reinforce students' argument writing skills
  • How Christina starts off the lesson by connecting abolitionism to what students have already learned about the time period and lesson themes

Facilitating Critical Civic Analysis
Eileen Ford | Brookline | Grade 5

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • How Eileen uses the idea of rights being extended, protected, or challenged as a framework for students' thinking
  • The way that Eileen invites students to share their questions without evaluating them and how this fosters more open-ended, generative thinking
  • The norms, routines, and skills Eileen has built in her class that lead to successful independent and collaborative inquiry

Investigating Primary and Secondary Sources
Amanda Young | Medway | Grade 3

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • How Amanda connects the source investigation to the larger inquiry arc of the unit and cluster
  • The way Amanda sequences her questions about the visual source to move students from observation to analysis
  • How students are using literacy strategies and skills throughout the stages of the Investigating Sources routine
  • The scaffolds Amanda provides before and during the reading to help all students access grade-level text

Investigating Sources with Literacy Supports
Amanda Young | Medway | Grade 3

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • The way Amanda activates students' curiosity to heighten engagement with the day's learning
  • How Amanda helps students use text features to break down the secondary source
  • How the video provides students background knowledge that supports their comprehension of the related text
  • How Amanda's questions and the card sort activity provide students repeated opportunities to practice identifying key details in a text and support their comprehension

Launching the Question
Eileen Ford | Brookline | Grade 5

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • How the activator provides students context for the day's lesson and prepares them to launch a new supporting question
  • The strategies students are using to break down the supporting question and how these prepare students to generate additional questions
  • How Eileen makes space for open-ended thinking while still elevating questions that are relevant to the inquiry
  • How the Launching the Question routine helps set up students' learning for the rest of the lesson and cluster

Scaffolding Language and Literacy
Mia Mulvey | Framingham | Grade 4

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • The way Mia breaks down the learning objective to make the lesson purpose clear to students
  • The questions and sentence stems Mia uses to promote academic discourse using evidence
  • How Mia uses her knowledge of her students to differentiate and target her scaffolds
  • The strategies Mia uses to prepare all students to participate in whole-group discussion at the end of class

Supporting All Students with Historical Empathy
Mia Mulvey | Framingham | Grade 4

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • How Mia helps students analyze historical perspectives about slavery without debating whether slavery was right or wrong
  • The way Mia's vocabulary instruction and small group intervention help all students engage in the thinking of the lesson
  • How Mia's questions push students to consider the experiences of enslaved people alongside those of factory and plantation owners

Understanding Multiple Perspectives Through Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy
Elizabeth Highgas | Topsfield | Grade 4

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • How the sequence of tasks and questions helps students critically examine the impact of the Santa Fe trail on multiple groups
  • The way that the small group activity and Elizabeth's check-ins help develop students' map reading fluency
  • How the Discussion Diamond facilitates collaboration and centers student thinking as they draw conclusions about the lesson

Grades 6–7

Helping Lessons Succeed by Adapting with Integrity
Chris LaBrache | Newton | Grade 7

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • How every part of the lesson connects back to the supporting question about geographic features and how students' thinking about this question deepens throughout the class
  • Where Chris anticipates possible student struggles with content and process and this informs his strategic adjustments to the lesson plan
  • How Chris's intentional planning and adaptations help students engage more deeply with the content

Fostering Historical Empathy
Chris LaBrache | Newton | Grade 7

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • How the lesson, and the synthesis activity Chris added, foster students' engagement with multiple perspectives and experiences
  • The way that Chris's questioning deepens students' civic understanding and their appreciation for diverse individuals' contributions to society
  • How students build historical empathy and perspective-taking through their critical analysis of Athenian democracy

Launching the Question
Sherri Rice | Newton | Grade 7

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • How the review activity helps prepare students to participate in the Launching the Question routine
  • How Sherri's scaffolding questions and use of categories help activate additional background knowledge related to the supporting question
  • The way Sherri visibly captures student thinking in order to return to it throughout the lesson and cluster
  • How Sherri wraps up the routine and transitions into the topic of the lesson

Sparking Curiosity and Engagement
Makena Rivera-Concannon | Randolph | Grade 7

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • How Makena structures the activator and sequences his questions to spark thinking about concepts that are relevant to the lesson's historical content
  • How Makena's use of technology provides students with varied means of engagement and increases participation
  • The impact of this modern-day activator on students' engagement and interest in the Launching the Question routine

Supporting Evidence-Based Discourse
Sherri Rice | Newton | Grade 7

As you watch this video, pay particular attention to…

  • How the See, Think, Wonder routine helps students engage carefully with visual evidence
  • The way Sherri provides a variety of sentence frames to help students begin synthesizing their learning and answering the supporting and essential questions
  • The protocol Sherri uses to help students share their thinking and respond to their peers