Friday, October 30, 2009 - The Renaissance (video)

Kudos to those that dressed up today besides me & Mr. Powell! We were few, but we were AWESOME!

Today we:

• Finished watching "A World Reborn" (see previous post if you need to watch it: here are the filled-out notes if you missed class)
  
• Got cool cool prizes for wearing costumes

The essay has been pushed to Tuesday as an in-class open-note essay, and you'll fill out an outline form in class before you start writing.

Homework:

• Cartoon Assignment (and make sure to look at the questions on top: they're your options for the essay on Tuesday!). This is due at the beginning of the period on Tuesday.
  
• Bring back the green Renaissance homework that was due today (I let you keep it to help you for the upcoming essay).
• Have a fun, safe, happy Halloween!
  

Want to win a cool prize?

Dress up tomorrow (Friday) & come to class! I have some pretty neat prizes for those who dress up....

In other news, I've decided that we need a little more time on the Renaissance, so we'll do the essay in class on Tuesday instead of as a take-home over the weekend. I'll have a fun comic strip assignment to help get you ready for the essay. Remember, it's open-note, so take great notes!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 - Renaissance Day 1

Today we started an extremely intellectual video called "A World Reborn" by Dr. Theodore Rabb, which we will finish watching on Friday. We used guided notes to help solidify the big ideas in this film, and we stopped the video periodically to make sure we were all on the same page.

If you missed class, please watch the videos on You Tube here. The videos listed should be the ones we watched in class. Be sure to use the guided notes

Homework:
Renaissance HW

Monday, October 26, 2009 - The Reformation

Today was a lot of fun...mostly because I tricked the class and we got to watch a music video. But I also enjoyed the Powerpoint & the activities :).

Today we:

• Bought Extra Credit (and later found out it was a joke about the indulgences)
• Experienced the Reformation Powerpoint (sorry, too big to upload: email me if you need this)
  
• Jammed to the 95 Theses Rap Music Video
• Completed an activity on the 95 Theses
• Started group Poster Projects using children's books about the Renaissance
  

No Homework tonight!

Next class we start our 2 day video on the Renaissance. If you're absent, check back here for the link to the video on YouTube & the guided notes to go along with it.

Thursday, October 22, 2009 - The Power of the Church

Sorry if I was a little out of it today. My cat Gryphon got hit by a car last night & had to go the emergency vet, so my mind was with him instead of the content today (he's mostly ok).



Today we:

• Turned in Middle Ages homework
• Reviewed the Middle Ages & Feudalism
• Talked about the Power of the Church
• Had workshop time to complete the "Power of the Church" handout

We also went over that next Friday is a half day, so the open-note in-class essay I had planned will now be a take-home. Hopefully you'll have time after the film to write on outline of what your essay will look like.

Homework:

• Finish the Power of the Church handout (due Monday)
• Complete the Reformation handout (due Monday)
• If I gave you a progress report, have your parent sign it and bring it back to our next class (this lets you avoid a call home). Complete the attached missing work.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - Feudalism & the Middle Ages

This outline might be a little different if you were in the afternoon class, but this is the general gist of what we did today:

• Mr. Powell taught how to write an effective thesis statement.
• We talked a bit about how the fall of the Roman Empire gave way to the Feudal System in the Middle Ages (homework review).
• We did a simulation on how the Feudal System was composed of interdependent symbiotic relationships.

Homework:

• Finish the pink Middle Ages homework sheet assigned at the end of our last class.
• If I gave you a progress report, have your parent sign it and bring it back to our next class (this lets you avoid a call home). Complete the attached missing work.

Friday, October 16, 2009 - Grading Day

Today was a bit hectic because we had a very short amount of time. Mr. Powell updated you on Projects for part of the class, and for the rest we either made Posters of the Self-Assessment Outcomes or jumped straight into Feudalism depending on which class you are in. Regardless, the homework was to finish the worksheet on the Middle Ages, which is due on Tuesday when we reconvene.

Homework:

• Middle Ages homework
  

Monday, October 12, 2009 - What is Learning?

Today we had a great conversation about what it means to be a good learner & how that relates to grades. We had a lot of insightful comments, and then brought it home by taking about Learning & Behavioral Outcomes. I let the class know part of their final grade (about 5%, or half a letter grade) will be based on their own self-assessments of how their learning has improved. The first one was given as homework due this Friday. I let the class know it is IMPERATIVE students save their graded work so they can use them as evidence to demonstrate improvement on specific goals.

Homework:
* Read through the Global History Learning Outcomes & Behavioral Outcomes
* Fill out your first self-assessment form (no evidence required) & bring it back Friday for a completion grade.

Extra Credit Opportunity!
If you have lower than a C in this class, you can earn extra credit by creating a nice poster of one of these Learning or Behavior Outcomes. Talk to me first!

Wednesday, October 7 - Test on Greece & Rome

Today we took the test on Greece & Rome, and we decided to push the Tic Tac Toe project back until next class (Monday, Oct 12) since you guys were having such a full, hectic week already. That's the only homework, and then we'll start up on the Middle Ages next week. Some people had missing work in their lockers they were going to put in Mr. Powell's box in the IHS office, which I will accept, collect & grade when I come back to Sheldon on Monday morning. After this, no more late work will be accepted with the single exception of the class syllabi that I am still missing from a few people.

If you were sick or absent, please email me & I'll send you a take-home version of the test to turn in to me when we regroup on Monday.

As always, feel free to email me if you have any questions. I'm usually glued to my computer, so I'm pretty good about giving prompt responses :).

Have a fantastic weekend!

Monday, October 5, 2009 - Roman Law: The 12 Tables

Today we:

• Reviewed the Roman Military Homework (the pink sheet)
• Did a super-cool activity on the 12 Tables & discussed what social problems Romans must have faced for these to be developed.
• Played a Jeopardy review game to help prepare us for the test on Wednesday

If you have questions about the Tic Tac Toe Choice Project, please email me! I am happy to work with you on changing/modifying projects on an individual basis so you can get as much as possible out of this project and have fun while you're doing it!

As a reminder, the 50 minute test on Wednesday is composed of:

• 10 multiple choice ?s
• 5 short answer ?s
• 1 essay ? (you can choose between 2 essay options & write on one of them.

For you overachievers out there (of which you all most certainly are), be sure to bring a book so you have something to do if you finish early.

See you Wednesday, and don't forget: no class on Friday.

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Belated post for last week (Thursday, Oct 1 - Roman Empire & Military)

Today we:

• Ate delicious apples (thank you, overachievers!).
• Watched "Empires & Armies" and took guided notes. Fabulous film about the development of Rome.
• If we had time, we discussed a few questions from the guided notes.
• Received our study guide for the test on October 7th over Greece & Rome