Sunday, January 31, 2010

Week in Review: January 25-29

American Studies: The students are learning about the "shiny" and negative aspects of the Gilded Age. Our class discussions are rich in topics that connect the 19th century to 21st century business and labor practices. We will be doing an interesting simulation in class this week where students play the role of inventors and business people preparing their business plan for a company they would like to start. They will be asking Mr. Warren Buffet to help fund their entrepreneur ideas. :)

IB History: The student presenters are now moving into Sino-Japanese relations during the 1930s and 40s. As teams present, I add information to connect their learning to the current and past units of study. We will also be doing some document analysis to continue to fine tune the needed skills for the Paper 1 exam. Each class also includes a Keynote lecture where I share themes and content to help students build out their understanding to answer the unit questions.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Week in Review: January 18-22

American Studies: The students gave their 5 minute speeches playing the role of a consultant to the people of North Korea. It offered a good opportunity to practice their oral presentation skills focusing to not only inform but also to persuade. The students did a nice job!

We are now starting a new unit on the American Industrial Revolution. We will be making connections between the latter 1800s to the idea of our need today for a "green" industrial revolution. Be ready for your children to ask you interesting questions. :)


IB History: Table teams continued to give their presentations on the assigned reading. The students are doing a nice job using Google Presentation to share their research that goes beyond the reading. We covered the big events of the downfall of the Qing Dynasty, the Revolution of 1911 and the rise of Chiang Kai-shek.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Week in Review: January 11-15

American Studies: Students continued their research at home using the ReconstructionQuest WebQuest to guide their efforts. They completed their studies of the American Reconstruction to then focus upon the economic, political, social and technological needs of the North Korean people. The students will use their knowledge of the American South rebuilding and joining with the Union to "advise" the North Koreans to rebuild and join with South Korea. The problem solving and creativity that goes with this simulation moves our students from just learning knowledge to having to use it in new situations. This is real learning for understanding.

In class, we watched a BBC documentary on North Korea to further students' understanding of what life is like in a totalitarian dictatorship. We also worked in table teams to answer the essential questions for this unit. The students then participated in a Socratic Seminar to discuss, share and learn from each other to further build their understanding of the essential questions.


IB History: We started the last unit of the year which is a double unit on 20th century China. We will look at war and the nature of single party states as we build our understanding. You can learn more about this unit of study by reviewing the China Learning Pursuit site which lists the essential questions, unit questions, important topics, project activities and resources. It is very important for the seniors to use the resource Web sites and videos as they provide additional content to the nightly assigned textbook readings.

We began this unit by having one table group in each class share a lesson on the assigned reading. The student teachers created a Google Presentation (PowerPoint) that they shared with their classmates in class and digitally so everyone has a copy in their Google Documents folder. Collaboration is so important for learning so it was nice to see our first presentation teams do a very nice job. We will have table teams giving presentations on the reading throughout the course of this unit.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Week in Review: January 4-8

American Studies: We worked on the ReconstructionQuest this past week. Students are now on their own to do their research on the US during Reconstruction and to learn more about present day North Korea. Their "consultancy reports" and speeches are due at the start of next week. Students really need to be disciplined, active and curious to complete this project work. Do ask to see their Google Docs to view their progress in recording notes from their research. Take a look at the WebQuest to learn more about the connection between the two nations and time periods.  Students picked up with their blogging this week writing about the successes and failures of Reconstruction. Remember you can access their blogs from the right side of this page.

IB History: We concluded the unit on World War II with an essay exam and three projects that were due this past week. As we approach the middle of the term, it is a good idea for parents to sit down with their children to see how they are doing with their IB history work. Several students have slipped in turning in work which has really lowered their grades as well as prevented them from being fully prepared for the last exam. Note that the history department does not all for late work so students have to work extra hard to do well on the remaining classroom activities, quizzes, projects and exams to raise their grades for this second trimester.

We have a very interesting debate simulation coming up this week. Take a look "Task 4" on the WWII Learning Pursuit Task page to see how your students will be role playing in debating the dropping of the atomic bombs upon Japan in 1945.