Course+Materials

Here are materials for the course assignments.

[|Syllabus] [|Concept Response Paper Template] [|Directions for Google Docs] [|Publishing your Unit Resources to the Wiki]


 * Questioning Techniques:**
 * One or two lower-level questions are fine, as long as they build towards higher level questions (scaffolding). Here is a sample, "[|The Role of the Church in the Spanish Conquest of Latin America.]"
 * NO - Yes or No questions. If you ask it, that is all you will get. Plus, the 50/50 shot the student has to get it right, does not display "learning".
 * Avoid leading questions that are framed in a way that lead the students in a certain direction. EX: "Analyze the reasons why Americans hated Indians and tried to wipe them all out."
 * Try to have the students "show" their knowledge. They will try to get you to tell them everything, even how they should think. Allow the questions to be open enough to find their own answer.

Lesson objectives should state what the **__students__** can do after the lesson. These should be phrased using verbs (Evaluate, Interpret, Argue, Compare/Contrast, etc). Following [|Bloom's Taxonomy]is a good way to create your objectives. Use questions from the application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Stay away from "understand" statements. How will the students "understand"?
 * Writing Lesson Objectives**:

Here are the samples Dr. Joyce provided for the "Reconstruction" unit.

SWBAT (Students will be able to): 


 * Explain how the southern economic system moved from a plantation based economy to the tenant farming economy.
 * Compare & Contrast life and opportunities for African-Americans before and after emancipation
 * Argue and defend the primary reasons why Reconstruction failed OR why the Redeemers succeeded.
 * Evaluate the long-term impact of Reconstruction and its aftermath in the south.
 * Distinguish between historical fact, historical interpretation, and popular myth.

Key concepts are the main ideas of each lesson/unit. In this class we will expect 10 key concepts per unit. These are not the "details" of the unit. Some general rules of thumb:
 * Writing Key Concepts**:


 * NO numbers, dates, specific people (roles of people are OK - for example, looking at the role of the president over time)
 * If you were to put your key concepts into narrative form, this should provide a good summary for students. That is, if your students ONLY know the concepts, they can still "get it."