Incorporating local history into the curriculum adds significant value. It helps students develop a sense of connection and belonging to the place where they live, makes the study of history more tangible and relatable, and creates opportunities for hands-on learning and the application of historical thinking skills.
Historical Thinking Skills
Teaching the Silk Roads with Primary Sources
I like to slow down in the first two units of AP World and take advantage of the time and lighter content to unpack skills, particularly primary source comprehension and analysis. This post includes several activities and resources I have used over the years to do this.
Teaching Historical Writing to English Language Learners
I have been teaching in China for nearly a decade, and in that time at least half of my students have been English language learners. Ultimately, this has made me a much better teacher. When I started teaching in Florida, I rarely used instructional time to explicitly teach writing. After all, that's what the English teachers did. When I moved to China, I was forced to stop taking writing skills for granted.
Tools and Tips for Teaching Contextualization in AP World History
Contextualization can be a deceptively easy skill for students. Many default to information overload instead of thinking through which historical facts or developments are the best choice for revealing historical insight about their topic or argument. Structure is needed.
Making the First Day in AP World Count
Start the year with something engaging that will help establish a positive class culture. Be the unique class that breaks the Day 1 stereotypes of syllabi and class rules and show students that inquiry and historical thinking can be fun.
Designing a Social Studies Course with C3 Standards
Our department's 9th grade foundational course is interdisciplinary and uses the C3 Framework; its called Geographic Cultural Studies. Courses and curriculum are always works in progress. This course has been successful so far and I am very happy with the rigor it has added to our curriculum, however, there are some adjustments needed to make it better. Some of the adjustments were related to content, so that it aligns better with our 10th grade World History course, and others are related to prioritization of the C3 standards and unit structure to support a transition to standards-based / competency-based instruction and assessment.
National History Day Workshop Take Aways
The month of March was one of the busiest I have had in a long time. Despite my frenzied to-do list, one of the highlights of the month was a two-day workshop run by Lynne O'Hara and Kim Fortney from the National History Day organization. The workshop was filled with some great tools and insights about teaching historical thinking and helping students create stronger NHD projects.
ChatGPT and AI Tools for the Social Studies Classroom
I have been playing around with some ideas on how to use AI tech tools in class. I don't want to use a tool just for the purpose of trying something new, but want to find a creative way of adding value for my students. Most of what I have explored recently has been a result of purchasing a premium subscription to ChatGPT. The additional GPTs that this offers access to are incredibly useful.
Teaching Material Culture and the Dutch Golden Age in AP World History
The Netherlands in the seventeenth century was the center of a series of economic and social transformations that would redefine the way Europeans viewed the world around. This first age of truly global commerce saw the exchange of objects of commerce, objects of beauty, and objects of science. This moment cannot be understood without considering Dutch historical trends alongside the simultaneous power of the Scientific Revolution, the rise of the Atlantic World, and the nature of global exchange. Through the exploration of changing material culture in this moment, students can be exposed to deeper historical analysis and higher order thinking.
Standards-Based Grading in AP World History
Standards-based grading and assessment can work in an AP class. It requires a shift in mindset about the role of skill and content as well as clear systems to protect the integrity of each. I favor simplicity to prevent the danger of over-engineering the grading infrastructure.