Week in Review: February 1-5

American Studies: The business plans are now posted for our 21st century entrepreneurs making a connection to the 19th century business tycoons we are studying. Do go to the blogs of our 9th graders and leave a comment or two about their ideas.

We are now moving into the "reaction" phase of the Gilded Age with labor unions working to stand up for the rights of their members. Be ready for your child to ask about the nature of unions in Morocco or your home country. 

IB History: With several projects including the IA Historical Investigation coming up, it is imperative that your seniors plan ahead and work proactively. We have had a light two weeks of homework with two nights specifically set aside for them to work on their IAs. Do sit down and go through the upcoming projects listed in the China Learning Pursuit site. They really will help your child gain understanding about the nature of war and single party states in China as we prepare for the unit exam in March. Waiting to the last minute to write the IA and to do project work means less understanding and lower assessment scores.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Week in Review and Coming Week: Dec. 7-18

American Studies: We started the next unit which is on the period of Reconstruction after the Civil War. The students are reading, note taking, blogging and preparing for class discussions. An additional component for this unit is a research project and a speech. We will be doing the research via a WebQuest. Please check out our Reconstruction WebQuest. We will spend some time in the computer lab this week working on the research aspect of the WebQuest. Be ready to hear your students asking questions about North Korea as we are connecting our American Studies work to the present day.


IB History: We continue working on the World War II unit this coming week. After some good presentations and discussions last week on various resistance movements as well as the technology of war, we will be studying the Holocaust this coming week.

December 16th is the big date for students to turn in their Internal Assessments via Google Documents. The history department policy is that no late work is accepted. A zero on this project grade would definitely damage a student's grade while also taking away the opportunity to receive feedback on his/her work. So do work with your children to be turn in their work on time.

Week in Review: November 23-December 4

American Studies: Going back to the short holiday week, we completed the Civil War unit. To see what the highlights of the unit were, ask your child to share his/her study guide that we worked on in class to create. A big part of becoming an active and independent learner is to know where to get information, how to analyze it for importance and how to synthesize it into a meaningful construct. This process is what we devoted class time to. The second part of the study guide creation process is for each student to use their knowledge to write what they know about the important people, events and actions we listed from class. They also are to outline the answers to the potential questions that we put together in their study guides.


IB History: We are now in the middle of the World War II unit. You can learn more about the project-based portion of this unit at the World War II Learning Pursuit site.  Please note that with the rash of recent illness, several seniors missed the Germany unit exam and some missed in class quizzes from last week. To make sure students don't fall further behind, I emailed them with the date of December 10th as the deadline to make up missed work. Please work to help your students be organized and proactive in their planning to make up missed work and to get their Internal Assessment rough draft in on December 16th. This will be for a project grade.