I have some standards my district wants me to teach, but I have no clue on how to do that or where to find information. So here they are: 1. Describe the historical development of the different means of payment, such as barter, precious metals, or currency to faclitate exchange (cannot find any resource materials on this) 2. Understand the historical roots of Americans with ____ (insert any area here) backgrounds. With the suggested activity of: Create a web that traces the roots of Americans with ____ backgrounds (how do I do that without doing serious geneology?) 3. Analyze whether Eastern European governments are based on values similar to our core deomocratic values; representative governement, individual rights, etc. (I have to do this with every region but don't know how to show which things would count as the other countries core values, nor can I find a simple article on the types of governments that are there.....the textbook is a bit hard too) 4. Explore whetehr our core democratic values are held by Asian governments as well. I am stuck on my planning because I don't know how to compare our core democratic values with those of other countries and back it up with refrences. I also don't know how to show the historical (ie cold war) economic condtions in Eastern Europe and some Asian countries.....I did hours of research on both and go nowhere. Any help appreicated
I teach ALL OF IT. I have a 6th grade Social Studies, western hemisphere.....all of it, prehistory to modern times with attention to economics and the regions of the United State, 7th grade social studies, Eastern hemisphere, all of history. I cover from prehistory, ancient civiliztions to modern history, with emphasis on making money. I also teach 8th grade US history, pre history to 1877. So basically, all of it. :help:
Cyberchase does a very low- level (but entertaining) intro to bartering: http://www.pbs.org/teachers/search/results.html?q=barter&x=28&y=7
2. Understand the historical roots of Americans with ____ (insert any area here) backgrounds. With the suggested activity of: Create a web that traces the roots of Americans with ____ backgrounds (how do I do that without doing serious geneology?) You could choose a group who moved to America relatively recently. I know that my hometown (Fargo, ND) is a refugee hub for the Lost Boys of Sudan, Bosnians, and Kurds. Any of those sorts of groups would give you a lot of fun background information, and there wouldn't be years and years to trace since they first came to the US. 3. Analyze whether Eastern European governments are based on values similar to our core deomocratic values; representative governement, individual rights, etc. (I have to do this with every region but don't know how to show which things would count as the other countries core values, nor can I find a simple article on the types of governments that are there.....the textbook is a bit hard too) 4. Explore whetehr our core democratic values are held by Asian governments as well. An easy starting point would probably be in Greek history. You could compare the Greek model of democracy to other Eastern European and Asian governments.
k question for you...are these standards derived from your state's standards? Because if you teach 6-8...i know in California at least...we have specific history standards for each grade... perhaps you could cut and paste those requirements (and the grade levels associated) and PM those to me?
I also think with #3 (and I may not be hitting it right..its just my opinion) what you should do is introduce the forms of government FIRST (oligarchy, democracy, monarchy, etc---which btw TCI has an activity for) THEN you compare them to our form of democracy. Don't forget there's two types of democracy: direct vs representative
Here are the standards I am going by. The 6th and 7th grade ones have since been flipped. Also MI does not have Grade level content expectations, we have standards, but they are so general you could drive a bus through them. The specific ones most states go by are held up AGAIN (since 2004 mind you) and the draft ones we finally get to look at are being reviesed AGAIN. So they are not much help.
This is the situation, our state standards are currently vague, "teach students about the historical importance of the revolution while covering the important people, places, events, of the era." That helps narrow it down, not! The grade level content expectations (or GLCES) which state things specifically, like "draw a sketch of the world from memory and label the contients and major bodies of water" are specific. We KNOW the kids have to know how to do that stuff. Problem is the curriculum maps for 6th and 7th grades are just as vague as the first quote from the state. I don't know how to teach it if I don't understand what they want me to teach....... Is that clearer than mud now????? :sorry:
salt-for-gold The Ghana civilization of Ancient Africa (700's) used a system of salt-for-gold. The Ghana had gold, but no salt needed to be able to store food. They were located along the major trade routes to and from North Africa. West Africa was the major source for gold for the Mediterranean world. They traded gold for salt and the kings controlled the gold-for-salt trade and set up its rules. He set up a system of supply and demand by keeping the amount of gold to a set limit. The ancient civilization of Mali did the same thing during the 1250s. Trading actually began with the Neolithic Age: Stone Age (10,000 BC to 4,000 BC). As the civilizations developed they were able to have a surplus of food and began trading for things that they needed. As for the core values, etc., of Europe look for information on the Twelve Tables from Ancient Rome...this is where the principle of "innocent until proven guilty" come from and Rome was the basis for all forms of democracy by example. They created a form of government called a republic with citizens having the right to vote their leaders. Hope this helps!
I've taught geography forever and our state has changed our curriculum for 7th grade. It is now World History so I've been working on my alignment and just happen to remember doing those so I pulled them up. Let me know if you need a bit more and I'll check what I have. I don't have anything on US history...sorry, but might be of some help with the others.
3. Analyze whether Eastern European governments are based on values similar to our core deomocratic values; representative governement, individual rights, etc. (I have to do this with every region but don't know how to show which things would count as the other countries core values, nor can I find a simple article on the types of governments that are there.....the textbook is a bit hard too) I do not no what you mean in regards to regions, but I would just research the governments of a few European Countries and compare that to our own. A good way to show this would be in some type of movie that depicts the government of an Eastern European Country. When you said you cannot find any information about these do you mean that your textbook does not contain information> If you are then you need to look elsewhere! Your textbook is not your curriculm, it is a suplement to it.
Sorry I am referring to all areas of Eastern Europe, and from what I gather from the suggested activies and such it is referring to the time during and after the cold war. I cannot find any material to suppliment the textbook ... the books reading level is too high for most of my students. I was in Poland 5 years after the fall, and I know what I saw about the economic conditions, the square cement apartments, the russian cars, the gray clothes, the lack of choice in the stores, I would like to show that ....but have no resources. In addition I do not know how to present the core democratic values to countries whose governments are not based on core democratic values. What do I look up, the core not quite communist any more values? What values is the governement of Romania built on, or how about Serbia? (definatly not freedom....if you remember the war) I guess I know too much and my head is crowded with info and I cannot narrow it down by fiinding resources, which is how I usually do it. I searched for photos of a communist era apartment building for hours, and also searched for hours for an article about the lack of choice in the stores....found nothing. Thanks, just sorry I typed it out so fast I didn't explain myself well. Ms Geography, I am good on US History, I taught that last year, I am just teaching different eras, it is the new stuff for world history I am stumped on. I would appreciate any and all help as I am overwhelmed being a 2 year teacher, starting school with students the first time, and prepping 3 classes......
Email me at danta @ suddenlink dot net and I'll send you what I've done for history. I don't know how to do an attachment on here, but will attach my history curriculum and forward it to you if you'd like.
Is this the district you teach in? I have to tell you, (not that it makes ANY difference) the 6th grade has been been Western and 7th grade has been Eastern for probably 10 to 15 years. I say it doesn't make any difference because they were not state tested until 8th and last year they switched to 9th. They probably based it on the text books they had. BTW: We do have GLCE's, but they were pulled when they started revising them. Sixth and Seventh Grade GLCEs did not change much between the "old" ones and the draft we just got. Are they revising everything again, including Middle School? Last I heard - about six month ago - is that the high school ones are the ones they keep revising and what has been holding up everything, (ELA and MS as well, for years. Frankly, I am going with the one that has worked best for me - the Macomb model. First of all I know one of the developers of the Macomb one is (or was) also on the state committee. Secondly, and probably more important, they cannot test on the new ones until the students have been TAUGHT under the new ones. Our students have always met or exceeded expectations, so I really think they will work for a while However, I can tell you, I am VERY frustrated. I cannot believe they are taking so long on the new GLCEs.
I have some standards my district wants me to teach, but I have no clue on how to do that or where to find information. So here they are: There is to much to cover to spend a lot of time on any one thing. I have always felt that what they expect us to teach in 6th and 7th is ridiculous. I just tell you this to encourage you and help you not get tied up in knots over this. I did the first year and finally just went with my best. I know that you are well aware that the book is not your curriculum. Am I understanding that your district is telling you what to emphasize? That is not a bad thing. It is hard to teach economics in History (5th and 8th) and easier to do so in 6th and 7th and truthfully it is easier to cover past history as opposed to recent history, and knowing that, they are probably encouraging the teachers in this. 1. Describe the historical development of the different means of payment, such as barter, precious metals, or currency to faclitate exchange This is a very helpful site. http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/llyfr.html We made a timeline similar to this one only illustrated http://library.thinkquest.org/28718/history.html#top of page I usually take a unit like this and use it as a filler (close to the end of a long break and you don't want to have a long break in the middle of a unit) 2. Understand the historical roots of Americans with ____ (insert any area here) backgrounds. With the suggested activity of: Create a web that traces the roots of Americans with ____ backgrounds (how do I do that without doing serious geneology?) I do this in sixth grade. The only serious geneology we do is the students come in with their ethnic background. (Lots of German and Swedes, Hispanic, African Americans and Hmong) and then they did research why these cultural groups came to the United States and what their contributions were (are). Because I also teach 6th Language Arts they each chose a famous person from their cultural background and did a powerpoint presentation and presented to the class. 3. Analyze whether Eastern European governments are based on values similar to our core deomocratic values; representative government, individual rights, etc. (I have to do this with every region but don't know how to show which things would count as the other countries core values, nor can I find a simple article on the types of governments that are there.....the textbook is a bit hard too) 4. Explore whether our core democratic values are held by Asian governments as well. I divide the 7th grade class into several groups assigning them an Eastern Hemisphere Region (except Africa). They make a chart comparing the different types of government in each country in the assigned region. Then I divide them into different groups and they each get a type of government and become the experts on that type of government. Once we have an understanding of the governments, we can compare them to ours. List the CDVs down the side of the board. Put the types of governments on the top (gridlike). We then put a check mark on the grid where the CDV is a part of their government. This unit takes me about a week and a half. Truthfully, it is a semester course so doing an overview is the best you can do. I am stuck on my planning because I don't know how to compare our core democratic values with those of other countries and back it up with refrences. I also don't know how to show the historical (ie cold war) economic condtions in Eastern Europe and some Asian countries.....I did hours of research on both and go nowhere. Any help appreicated The books you have (PH, right?) will not help much in these areas. By 6th and 7th grade the students (at least in my school) are pretty good at doing guided research (give them key words). Let them do some of the work for you, as in the government thing. Some are more difficult than others. You will never be able to cover all of the objectives in detail unfortunately. If you get a chance, look up the released items from the MEAP SS tests. That will give you an idea of the type of questions they ask.
Thanks wig, and yes that is the district I teach in, (its safe because my name appears nowhere on the site, not even in the directory!) Anyway, thanks for all your help. I was just feeling a ton overhwelmed with the amount of material to teach. I have done 7th grade before, but we chose certain topics to cover and left the rest. My current district wants me to do it all! Each one of those classes is three terms of college coursework! I understand I can only do an overview, Im getting that now....even overviewing, how in the world are we to do it all??????? Add to that the fear I have that my teaching ablility last year was a fluke and I will crash and burn this year and you have one teacher who is going NUTS! :help:
I strongly suspect that your teaching ability is not a fluke. There is WAY too much to cover and I NEVER finish, but my students do great on the MEAP (or rather they did, I don't know about the bunch that took it in 9th grade last year.)If you cover a standard in one country don';t worry about covering it in another country. Choose something else. When they test they are looking for concepts - not specifics.
Is is a county that has excellent standards for their classes, the best layout of the material I have ever seen. Heres the link http://www.misd.net/Socialstudies/sequenceofstudy.htm
Wig, the high school standards are the ones being reviesed I think. I know a teacher that is helping to work on them, everytime they think they are close, someone throws a wrench in the works. Maybe they decided to stop fighting over it and let them be? Could we be so lucky?
Econ Thanks for the link. I'm printing off the economics section now. I've got to work on the economics section of AR new curriculum and this will help with some ideas!
That's what I heard from someone in the MDE office. That's why I figure our MS ones are OK. It was supposed to be approved by the Bd of Ed this month.
