B Block: Socials 8-2

Today we talked about different approaches to teaching secondary history.  I indicated that I would use a mix of the "mile-wide, inch-deep" and "inch-wide, mile-deep" styles.  We will start using a very teacher-directed focus and work our way towards giving students more choice.  I hope to engage in the inquiry model as a means to make your learning more authentic.

We created a timeline and I tried to help students grasp what, for example, 500 years means.  For example, what is a generation, and how many of those fit into 500 years?  After we got issued our textbooks from the library, I read the introductory story about the Vikings on pp 3-7.  We'll discuss the answers to the questions next class: there is no homework.

F/H Block: Socials 8-1/8-3

Today we left the Guns, Germs and Steel examination of the role of geography in our past and introduced ourselves to the historical timeline that supports this course.  We talked about different approaches to breadth versus depth and then read the beginning of the opening chapter.  We then started to answer the focus questions together.  Here are the notes:

F-block notes

H-block notes

There is no homework.  REMEMBER: TOMORROW AT 3:10 YOU WILL RE-WRITE THE UNIT TEST (IF YOU CAME TO THE TUTORIALS). Make sure your parents know you'll be late.

Tuesday: History 12-2/12-3

We began the day by checking in with the "Purges" study guide sheet.  There were no questions, so we moved on without reviewing each response.  Next, I did a timeline check-in on three main aspects of the Russia unit: the shifts in leadership, the shifts in economic policy, and the crises that fueled the Revolution.  Here are the board notes from that:

Can you follow the connections?

We also read an excerpt from Donald Rayfield's Stalin and his Hangmen.  This piece outlined the means Stalin employed to force compliance with collectivization.  In the small class I shared my "bullet point" notes from my reading of the article and then offered a topic sentence.  I asked students to take the bullets and combine them to create a succinct paragraph of about four sentences.  We didn't have time to do that step in the big class.  Here are the notes:

This synthesizing activity is a scaffold to practice for today's homework paragraph

We also looked at a few quotations.  One is a (primary source) recollection of the type of treatment that was given to elicit confessions during the Great Terror:

Another was a (primary source) poem about Stalin:

Finally, we looked at the quotation at proposes the importance of CRISIS to keep any revolution going: both Stalin and Castro (of Cuba) speak to this need:

Source for the homework writing prompt

For homework, write an 8-sentence paragraph that connects this principle of the need for crisis, with the events we've examined in Russia/USSR between 1917 and 1941. (look at the board notes at the top of this post if you need help).

DON'T FORGET THAT TOMORROW IS THE EXAM RE-WRITE.

Here is a link to Newseum a site that highlights examples of how photos were manipulated under Lenin and Stalin (we'll look at this tomorrow: http://www.newseum.org 

B Block: SS 8-2

Today we watched the rest of Part One of Guns, Germs and Steel.  See yesterday's Socials 8 post for the notes.  The class brought up some very interesting points during the discussion of luck.  I also was impressed with the broad range of ideas people came up with regarding reasons why some cultures/societies/civilizations advanced technologically more than others.  There is no homework.  Enjoy the long weekend.

C/A Block: History 12-3/12-2

Video questions

Today we debriefed Ex 4-9 in Chapter 4 of DeMarco and then watched the Stalin video from the 20
th Century History series: I had nine study focus questions for the video.  I also put some questions on the board relating to Lenin's Kulak hanging order of 1918.

I asked the class to consider what an essay question for this unit might look like.  By reviewing focus cues such as "evaluate, compare and contrast, describe, and summarize" we can imagine ways to ask big questions: example, "Summarize the steps used to implement a Marxist economy between 1917 and 1940," or, "Describe the steps that caused the Tsar's regime to collapse," or, "Compare and contrast Lenin's rule with Stalin's," or, "Analyze the steps taken to modernize Russia before the Second World War." The end of every chapter in your Falk workbook has good summary questions.  If you can answer them then you will do well on any unit test.

I don't like to give homework on holidays, but ask that you complete the "Purges" study guide for next class.

Kulak questions

Remember that Wednesday after school we shall write the 1919 era unit test - yesterday's post outlines the three things that need to be brought to the test to gain admittance."

Comparing collective farms to state (factory) farms

Thursday, Socials 8-1/8-2

Today we continued with Guns, Germs and Steel.  As well as discussing the content and the theories of Diamond, we also introduced the idea of "determinism" - one of the chief criticisms of his work.  Do you believe in "luck?"  Please  remember to come to the classroom tomorrow at lunch if you wish to re-write the geography unit test.  There is no other homework.

The re-write is scheduled for Wednesday next week at 3:10 p.m.

Learning to synthesize ideas

Thursday, History 12-3/12-2

Today we debriefed Ex 1-4 of Chapter 4 in DeMarco.  I suggested that from now on I will randomly call on students to share their answers to get a wider participation during discussions.  I was pleased with the tone of today's sharing and enjoyed hearing from students who as less inclined to raise their hands.  Next, we discussed the study guide for the Five-Year Plans.  We also watched a short clip from Youtube on the Five Year Plans.  For homework I asked that you finish Chapter Four and the exercises.  Tomorrow we shall watch the Stalin documentary.

Figuring out the amount of increase between 5-Year Plans