Strategy #12 Nonlinguistic Representations

Human Timeline
Purpose: To use movement to help students understand and remember the chronology of events. Basics: Time Allotted Materials

25 minutes A timeline prepared from the lesson

Room Arrangement Large area, whole group instruction

Process Directions: 1. Establish a context for the chronology you want students to focus upon. If you are studying a particular moment in history, such as the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, you would want students to be aware of key events that led up to this moment. Sometimes, you also want students to know what occurred after the focus even. You want enough events on your timeline so that each students or pairs of students, can be assigned one event. 2. In preparation for this activity, it is best to place each event on an index card or a standard-size sheet of paper, along with the date when it occurred. Rather than distributing the timeline slips randomly, certain students should receive easier or more challenging items, depending on their strengths and weaknesses. When students present their timeline events, it is best if they are sitting or standing so that they are able to see and hear each other. Therefore, this activity often works best if students stand or sit in a U-shaped line, rather than in a straight line formation. 3. Assign each student one event from the period that is being highlighted. Each event should be described along with the date it occurred. Whether students work individually or in pairs, here is an example of instructions that can be provided: Read over your timeline event once or twice Rewrite the timeline item in your own words. If you are having trouble writing the statement in your own words, ask for help. An extension of this activity asks students to create or find an image that corresponds with their event. 4. Invite students to line up in the order of their events. Then, students present their event. After an event is presented, students can suggest possible causes of the event, and can pose questions about what happened and why. These questions can be posted on the board for students to answer later. 5. Invite students to line up in the order of their events. Then, students present their event. After an event is presented, students can suggest possible causes of the event, and can pose questions about what happened and why. These questions can be posted on the board for students to answer later.

When/Examples: I will use this strategy to help students visualize the chronological order of events in a social studies chapter. This can also be used to demonstrate cycles within science. This strategy is used to encourage students to move around but also visually remember the order of events. Source: Human Timeline. Facing history and ourselves. Retrieved April 2013. Retrieved from http://www.facinghistory.org/resources/strategies/human-timeline