OPEN HOUSE ’20-21
1) Welcome to the Ancient World! As you can tell from entering this room, I think it is important to see and touch, build and paint, and experience the world. I want students to be enticed into learning, curious to find out, and eager to see what's next! You all signed a syllabus, so I won't go through all of the particulars of the class with you now. If you would like to revisit that syllabus you can visit the WCS Ancient History 8th Web Page. http://wcsancienthistory8.blogspot.com/
2) Thank you for sharing your children with me this year – you are the real experts on your children, so please share any information with me that you think could help me work with your child most successfully this year. Please contact me if your child is ever frustrated or bored in this class! - Email is the best way to contact me. This is my 32nd year at WCS, and my 42nd year teaching, my kids graduated WCS, so I’ve been on the parent side too. I like to say that you can't surprise me - I know a thing or two because I've seen a thing or two. (Where have I heard that before?) We can work through any issue.
3) My philosophy of teaching affects what we do in this class every day. I believe that your children should understand why they are here. I foster transparency, clear and specific goals, and self-direction. I hope we can build the foundation for this at the beginning. It will all make sense very soon, I promise. And if it isn't, please tell me. I want your students to be invested because they know the reasons behind why we do what we do. I hope to teach them to build on their strengths instead of focusing on their difficulties. We talk about challenges as "curve in the road" signs, not "stop signs." We believe in the growth mindset concept. I want to challenge them every day to push themselves and own their learning. I will not ask them to do anything that they can't do with my help.
4) All of us have learning preferences. Some of them align with the way school is traditionally taught. But some of us have learning differences that don't align as neatly with school. I really try to teach this course in as many different modalities as I can, so that all students can use their learning strengths. Rock paintings. Yes, your students have figured out that they will be painting those rocks they are bringing to school next week. I call these paleolithic images the world's first I-Phone. They are the earliest stories, our first means of communication with our ancestors. The rock painting activity is– experiential archaeology – We will explore what techniques and materials worked, how hard it was, how long it took, (any time doing this was time not spent getting food, so it must have been important to these people? Why? Other highlights of this class – WSU Anthropology Connection; a visit to the Law Court of Babylon; Independent Research Projects; Creating a Civilization, the Trial of Socrates & Feast, and others. And yes, we do write a lot. And the more we write the better we get.
5) That web page I mentioned has a list of units – can you help us in any way? Culture, travel, background, work?
6) One Note – everything is there for them! I put it right in the tab where it needs to be so they don't need to go somewhere else and get materials. Links for activities may be on the Ancient History blog or on Schoology.
7) Schoology - assignments are there. Due dates are there. Grades are there (but it may take a bit to see them, so don't expect to see assignment scores recorded immediately.) Please ignore the time that it says your student's work is due. Their work is due when their history hour begins unless I tell them otherwise.
8) Summary paragraphs – these force students to think about what they have been doing in class, why we have done it, and what they think about it. They must synthesize and see the bigger picture. It allows me to see what they know BEFORE the test, how they are thinking, what they understand and what they don’t! 13/14 year olds cognitively often write better than they speak and may struggle to speak to a teacher face to face, so I tell them they are just talking to me on paper. No grading for spelling, grammar, etc., only information and ideas.
9) History blogs – students will be creating their own ancient history e-book. The basis will be their summary paragraphs, but they can add more. (We will only use their first names on the blogs). These will be an archive of their work for this class, what they have learned, and how they feel about it. It is wonderful to look back at their growth throughout the year. Grandparents really love looking at these, so bookmark it for them! Students will create ancient history timelines on a site called Tiki-Toki (NO it is not Tik-Tok) This will help them understand the progression of historical events, cause/effect, influences, and what was happening concurrently in different places in the ancient world. It is so cool!
10) The focus of this class is not on memorizing facts and dates, though there will be some of that. But more often the students will be researching and exploring historical precedent, cause and effect, influences which affected historical events, the effects of geography on civilizations, the evolution of governments, cultures, and societies over time, and the ways history influences our world today. Recognition of iconic images from each society will give them a hook to hold the information.
A disclaimer, parents are responsible for monitoring their students’ computer use at home, whether researching or visiting sites, such as YouTube, which have certain videos I have assigned. I will monitor their computer use in my classroom, but can’t monitor them at home.
