World History World Mentoring Academy | FREE Interactive Learning OpenCourseware from MIT, UC Berkeley, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, U Houston, USC, UCLA, Khan Academy, NPTEL General description: The College Level Examination Program (CLEP), Dantes (DSST),TECEP, ECE, NYU-SCPS & others, are a group of standardized tests that assess college-level knowledge in 170+ subject areas that are administered at more than 1,700 colleges and universities across the United States created by the College Board, Gov & 3 State Universities. There are 1,000 to 2,900 colleges which grant Univ. credit. Each institution awards credit to students who meet the college's minimum qualifying score for that exam, which is typically 50, but it does vary by school and exam. Resources: OpenCourseware from Darden MBA, Tepper School of Bus., Harvard, Yale, UC Berkeley, Stanford, FSI, Husson along with many of the World's finest University's. Language: English Free General description: Test assesses the knowledge you’ve gained from three years of college-preparatory mathematics, including two years of algebra and one year of geometry. Professors: Default Professor, Cliff Ishii Total units: 117
The Genealogist: Search Online Census, Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Record Indexes and Directories National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies: Chapter 2—The Themes of Social Studies Standards Main Page Executive Summary Preface Introduction Thematic Strands Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity. Human beings create, learn, share, and adapt to culture. Cultures are dynamic and change over time. Through experience, observation, and reflection, students will identify elements of culture as well as similarities and differences among cultural groups across time and place. In schools, this theme typically appears in units and courses dealing with geography, history, sociology, and anthropology, as well as multicultural topics across the curriculum. Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of the past and its legacy. Studying the past makes it possible for us to understand the human story across time. Knowing how to read, reconstruct and interpret the past allows us to answer questions such as: How do we learn about the past?
www.hyperhistory.com A warning to college profs from a high school teacher For more than a decade now we have heard that the high-stakes testing obsession in K-12 education that began with the enactment of No Child Left Behind 11 years ago has resulted in high school graduates who don’t think as analytically or as broadly as they should because so much emphasis has been placed on passing standardized tests. Here, an award-winning high school teacher who just retired, Kenneth Bernstein, warns college professors what they are up against. Bernstein, who lives near Washington, D.C. serves as a peer reviewer for educational journals and publishers, and he is nationally known as the blogger “teacherken.” By Kenneth Bernstein You are a college professor. I have just retired as a high school teacher. I have some bad news for you. No Child Left Behind went into effect for the 2002–03 academic year, which means that America’s public schools have been operating under the pressures and constrictions imposed by that law for a decade. Troubling Assessments A Teacher’s Plea
www.digitalhistory.uh.edu Common Core poses big challenge for students, big opportunity for teachers The complex language skills that are the focus of Common Core’s English language arts standards will be needed to excel in Common Core math and the new science standards. They are stressed, too, in California’s new language standards for English learners. Courtesy of Dr. With an emphasis on developing verbal and analytical skills, the new Common Core standards will pose a big step up for most students. “Common Core is pushing us toward a higher level of achievement, and that depth is predicated on an ability to use language in sophisticated ways,” said Ben Sanders, director of standards, assessment and instruction for the 10 districts that formed the nonprofit California Office to Reform Education, or CORE. Recognizing this will also be a unique opportunity and a heavy lift for teachers. Robert Linquanti, an adviser on both the new state English Language Development standards and the new Common Core English language assessments (photo by John Fensterwald).
Lessons & Activities Thinking about Lesson Plans The most effective technology integration lessons put students at the center of the learning process. These lessons empower students by fostering creativity and innovation and they enhance collaboration and communication. Look for lesson plans that help build 21st century skills such as inventive thinking, communication and collaboration, and information literacy. There are great lesson plan resources available online that help build 21st century skills. A Vision of K-12 Students Today, created by Professor Michael Wesch at Kansas State University Instead of focusing on "canned" lesson plans, concentrate on finding "lesson ideas" that can be adopted and integrated into your lesson objectives. Best Sites for History Lesson Plans and Activities These websites are a gateway to a vast number of history and social studies teaching resources, including lesson plans, curriculum units, presentations, primary sources, Powerpoints, quizzes, and more. Mr. Registration
10 Ideas to Get Those Back-to-School Juices Flowing Teaching Strategies Amy Alana Star/Flickr Educators are getting prepared to welcome students back to school this month. Many have spent the summer reading up on new teaching strategies or getting inspired by colleagues across the country. FOR STORYTELLING PROJECTS, COOL NEW MULTIMEDIA TOOLS: Writing will always be important, but weaving text, images, sound, and presentation together can give students more and different ways to express themselves. Explore: coding, design thinking, game-based learning, multimedia, project-based-learning, tech tools Teachers Telling Tales | History Today Richard Kennett calls on his fellow history teachers to embrace narrative. There is no better way to inspire the historians of the future. The Bayeux Tapestry is both a rich source and a riveting account of the events of 1066If you have read anything about the proposed new English and Welsh history curriculum you will have noticed that, according to politicians, academics and journalists, school history teachers do not teach facts. We avoid knowledge as if it were the plague. Dates, names and statistics repulse us. Yet all this is far from the truth. However, in my experience the one thing that history teachers – and I point my finger at the secondary sector – are scared of is storytelling and this seems a deep shame. History is the story of the past. Yet narrative at school is often a dirty word. Primarily it can have a huge effect on engagement. I don’t think that the only thing students should learn is the story. Finally narrative creation in itself is a challenging skill.
Inquiry-based Learning: Explanation What is inquiry-based learning? An old adage states: "Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand." The last part of this statement is the essence of inquiry-based learning, says our workshop author Joe Exline 1. "Inquiry" is defined as "a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge -- seeking information by questioning." A Context for Inquiry Unfortunately, our traditional educational system has worked in a way that discourages the natural process of inquiry. Some of the discouragement of our natural inquiry process may come from a lack of understanding about the deeper nature of inquiry-based learning. Importance of Inquiry Memorizing facts and information is not the most important skill in today's world. Educators must understand that schools need to go beyond data and information accumulation and move toward the generation of useful and applicable knowledge . . . a process supported by inquiry learning. The Application of Inquiry Outcomes of Inquiry
Let’s Shake Up the Social Sciences In contrast, the social sciences have stagnated. They offer essentially the same set of academic departments and disciplines that they have for nearly 100 years: sociology, economics, anthropology, psychology and political science. This is not only boring but also counterproductive, constraining engagement with the scientific cutting edge and stifling the creation of new and useful knowledge. Such inertia reflects an unnecessary insecurity and conservatism, and helps explain why the social sciences don’t enjoy the same prestige as the natural sciences. One reason citizens, politicians and university donors sometimes lack confidence in the social sciences is that social scientists too often miss the chance to declare victory and move on to new frontiers. Like natural scientists, they should be able to say, “We have figured this topic out to a reasonable degree of certainty, and we are now moving our attention to more exciting areas.”
GUIDING QUESTIONS Taken from: Traver, R. (March, 1998). What is a good guiding question? Educational Leadership, p. 70-73. DEFINITION: "A guiding question is the fundamental query that directs the search for understanding. Good guiding questions are open-ended yet focus inquiry on a specific topic. Determine the theme or concept you want students to explore Brainstorm a list of questions you believe might cause the students to think about the topic but that don't dictate conclusions or limit possible directions of investigation. Environmental Studies: Who will survive? Question: Who will survive? English - Novels, essays, and poems that explore how American culture values some organisms more than others are read and analyzed.