Hyperdocs are interactive documents that teachers share with their students to create a unique learning experience. Most of the hyperdocs that I have seen are google slides, but the one I found was actually a google doc.

The Hyperdoc that I found for this week’s blog post is “Should Andrew Jackson Be on the $20 Bill?” This really stood out to me as a future history teacher. I like lessons where students have to research a subject and then form their own opinions with the evidence they gathered. This doc encourages students to form an opinion about changing the face on the twenty-dollar bill. They need to use critical thinking and analysis skills. I like that the doc is set up in a clear order with obvious sections to complete.

The videos are short and to the point with is helpful when you only have forty-five minutes in the classroom. There is a section where the student is asked to write a paragraph on their opinion but also include a counterargument and rebuttal. I like when lessons include this exercise because it encourages the students to look at a topic from a perspective they may not have considered; yet, their original analysis has to be strong enough to refute this point. The inclusion of polls and comments is also a really fun idea to have students interact with each other and allows the teacher to assess engagement. Overall I think this lesson is simple and fun for the students. If the teacher wanted to extend this lesson, incorporating a full class debate could break up the lesson into two days. I think this is a good idea too because it helps students practice their public speaking, yet they have evidence to suggest they did the work and do not have to solely rely on the speaking aspect for a good grade.

This post was made by Kim O’Brien so check her out on Twitter!