Welcome back to MPA World History. (Or, welcome if you are new to
MPA...) As I said back at Upper School
Back-to-School Night, I taught all of the brand new World History 9
classes four years ago, as well as one section of 9th grade the last two years. I have also taught the new World History 10
curriculum the previous three years.
Basically, we'll pick up with Unit #5, and our goal will be to get up to very recent/current
events around the world.
What will be the same as last year? For those of you I worked with last year, you should have a good feeling for what to expect this year.
I recognize that you are a year older (more mature???) and you no doubt
have some more developed skills in many areas than you had at the start
of 9th grade. We'll try and challenge those new abilities.
Now that you've had a year with your laptops, I'm
expecting that you've got all those annoying 9th grade computer
behaviors under control...
Daily reading quizzes: You can expect a short and,
hopefully, straight-forward quiz at the start of class each day a
reading assignment is due. I will rotate through the following four types of quizzes. All quizzes will be worth five points.
- Multiple choice (10 questions)
- Fill-in-the-Blank (10 questions)
- True-False (10 questions)
- Matching (10 items)
In
all cases, these quizzes will focus on the "big picture" ideas,
examples and specifics. They will be easier than the multiple choice
questions on the unit exams. I'll always have a key ready, and you can
immediately see what your score will be.
We'll start with a quiz tomorrow on Chapter 21, Section 1 (Spain's Empire and European Absolutism) on pages 589 - 595.
Introductory / Review Activities: We'll begin with Unit #5 tomorrow, but we'll do a couple of
other things today. I propose the following:
1. Current Events
- We can briefly discuss some major events from recent weeks and months, but I'd
also like us to brainstorm a list of ten stories we should be watching
closely over the course of our time together.
2. Twenty-Five Events
- We'll have you work in groups of four on this one. We'll make it a
"competition" to spice things up. I'll give you slips containing 25
events from World History 9. Your job is to put them in the correct
order. Once you think you are ready, let me know. If you're right, I'll
give you a sheet with all 25 events listed in order to aid in your
review. If you're wrong, keep working.
3. Password, Pictionary and/or Charades -
We'll give you each a chance to shine with this activity. When it is
your turn, you'll draw a slip which features a person, place or thing
from last year. Your job is to communicate it to the class in one of
two ways - Password, Pictionary or Charades.
If you choose
Password, here are the rules. You give single word clues, one at a
time. Call on someone who raises their hand to answer. If they are
wrong, you give another clue. You can give up to five clues before
you're done.
If you choose Pictionary, here are
the rules. You may draw on the whiteboard, but you cannot talk or use any words/abbreviations/etc. in your drawing. You have 30 seconds to convey your clue's meaning to the class.
If you choose Charades, here are
the rules. You cannot talk, and you cannot write out your clue. You
have 30 seconds to convey your clue's meaning to the class.
HOMEWORK for tomorrow - Tuesday, August 30th:
Please
read Chapter 21, Section 1 (Spain's Empire and European Absolutism) on
pages 589 - 595. You will have a reading quiz (multiple choice) at the start of the hour.
If you are looking for ideas to help with your reading,
I'd recommend watching this short video. Ms. Murr and I are working to put together some videos designed to help you with topics like this. For those of you who already miss her, she is doing the narration on this one. (A couple comments apply more specifically to 9th grade, but the basic ideas are the same for 9 and 10.)
Here is the
Unit #5 Review and Study Guide Review and Study Guide in digital format. Many of you made effective use of these last year.
