Student Driven Timeline The student driven timeline is @ unique tool that can be adopted into ANY classroom, Start out with string around the top perimeter of your classroom, and by the end of the school year, the string should be overflowing with historical dates that have been at least touched upon in your class. (Wooten, 2000; ‘Wooten & White, 2009) Why should | use this in my classroom? The timeline is like a 2 dimensional graphic organizer that takes into count EVERYTHING student driven timeline contains | learned during the course of the school year. Content leamed ntries depicting what is studied in | becomes one visual sweep that allows students to see how 1@ classroom all through the year,| everything relates (see image above). is includes, kings, queens, xplorers, artists, inventors, inventions, discoveries, famous e0ple, books, wars, every person r event presented in the issroom that can be associated ith a date, ‘What goes on the timeline? in hort, everything, ‘Students generate the timeline! As you can tell from above, the colorful timeline pieces were decorated by the students. Teachers are urged to only go so far as to label the timeline piece and put the date on it, but the students take it from there. Students are urged to write some facts inside of the timeline piece so that further depth can be obtained ‘The timeline is not pre-programmed by the teacher! Students may come up with other people/places/events that need to be added as the year progresses. When important dates come up in class, ask a student to make a timeline piece. Make sure students get to do several during the year. low do make a timeline piece? To create timeline entries, fold an 81/2" x 11" piece of paper in half. Write the jame and date of the person or event on one side in large print. Students decorate each timeline entry with orful artwork that relates to tie person oF event, When finished, the entry is added to the timeline in is proper nological positon. Enis for —— Bees ‘Wooten, D.A. & P. White. (2009). Inviting all sudens into the literacy arena, In D. A. Wooten & B. E, Cullinan, B. E. (Eds). (2009) Children’s Literature in the Reading Program: An Invitation to Read, Volume 3. IRA ‘Wooten, D. A, (2000). Valued voices: An imerdiseiptinary approach to teaching and learning. Newark DE: TRA.