KCC

We reviewed tornado procedures -- from my room we go down the stairs and into the Guidance hallway; turn, crouch, cover, and remain quiet so we can here any important instructions.  Reminder to students that the skills re-do work is today, Thursday, and Friday during Advisory -- to be completed by Friday.  We finished our discussion about minimum wage as spill over from the Socratic discussion about the Great Depression.  Maps were distributed as cheat sheets for the "teams" for WWI and WWII -- see a reliable classmate for color-coding and added labels.  We then began viewing and taking notes -- the documentary of Elie Wiesel going back into Auschwitz...through 11:40.

U.S. History

We reviewed tornado procedures -- from my room we go down the stairs and into the Guidance hallway; turn, crouch, cover, and remain quiet so we can here any important instructions.  In 2nd hour a map handout was provided for WWII and we color-coded it together and added some notes to it, as well.  5th hour the requested handouts for WWI and WWII were distributed, color-coded, discussed, and notes added.  Pick up the handout/s and see a reliable classmate if you were absent.  We continued with EQ notes and CQ questions while viewing more of the Elie Wiesel at Auschwitz documentary (2nd hr through 36:23; 5th hour through 40:25) -- catch up with this viewing at home; it is loaded in Google Classroom.

World History

We reviewed tornado procedures -- from my room we go down the stairs and into the Guidance hallway; turn, crouch, cover, and remain quiet so we can here any important instructions.  We continued our 2-page C&E of Guns, Germs, & Steel -- completing the "Out of Eden" episode.  If you were absent, please make up this viewing at home.  At this point there are at least 6 of the thesis flow chart items that can and should be put into place by numbers.  We'll begin episode 2 tomorrow.

KCC

Today is the deadline to sign up for skills re-dos and this Friday is the deadline to complete skills re-do work.  We edited and discussed the thesis for Crash Course #33, 35, & 36 via the answer key on the Smart Board with extra discussion of #35 with regard to scoring for clarity.  We also had the post-Socratic discussion fact-check follow up; score sheets were also distributed.  

U.S. History

WWI and WWII "teams" cheat sheets were viewed, discussed, printed, color-coded, and where needed, additions and corrections made.  If you were absent, please pick up an extra handout and see a reliable classmate or if you'd like a printout out the one you created, please email me.  We then began viewing Elie Wiesel's last visit to Auschwitz concentration/death camp in a 46-minute Oprah special episode -- it does a solid job of primary source interview, contextual information overlay, primary source photographs and video footage -- all in a relatively small space of time.  Today we watched through 13:33 -- please catch up at home if you were absent today, while adding E.Q. notes and C.Q. questions to those 2 pages AND be mindful that it is graphic material and small children should not be in the room.

World History

A bit of time was given for remaining work on the Reading Claim & Evidence on the Reformation article to be completed with the option of additional work time in Advisory.  If you were absent, see me to set up a time to make up this scored work.  We then began a Claim & Evidence on the extended documentary Guns, Germs, & Steel -- using a flow chart handout for the complicated thesis, and setting up a sheet of your own paper for all of the evidence notes.  On the thesis flow chart, use the numbers associated with each idea in the "answer bank" when you plug the stuff into the oval and boxes so that as you change your mind and revise throughout the many-day viewing of the film, you can easily erase/cross-out and replace numbers; at the very end, when you are confident in the accuracy of the flow chart THEN we'll write in the actual words.  On the evidence page, title it "Guns, Germs, & Steel Evidence" and then create a subheading for this first of three parts of the film: "Part One:  Out of Eden."  We viewed through 20:26.  All materials are loaded in Google Classroom.  This work, if missed, can and should be made up as homework -- the Claim & Evidence will not be collected for a C&E score, but rather, will be used for a scored Socratic discussion.

U.S. History

Socratic scores were distributed, follow-up fact-checking discussed by me with the classes, and we also finished editing and discussing the thesis for CC#36.  Take time, then, to think back through your theses and evidence notes for WWI, the Great Depression, and WWII to pull out big ideas and detailed, descriptive notes for the E.Q, focusing on what it would have been like to have been a human in that time period -- what was that human experience like?  Finally, finish the work on the WWI and WWII "team" cheat sheets as detailed in the post on Tuesday, and turn them in via Google Classroom.

World History

We continued work on our Reading C&E assessment.  ~10 minutes at the start of class will be given to complete the work before we move on to the next subtopic; at that point any students with work remaining are welcome to come in during Advisory to finish.

KCC

CC #35 (scored A/V C&E) was returned to students to use in the Socratic discussion alongside the unscored C&E over the other 4 films.  We then began the scored Socratic discussion.  (Follow-up clarification on the #35 thesis answer key and scoring criteria will come when we do post-Socratic follow-up.)

U.S. History

We finished Socratic discussion and then checked, edited, and discussed the theses of the five films, one-by-one via Smart Board.

World History

We went over the Crash Course Renaissance #22 answer key via Smart Board and with discussion as students edited their papers.  We then shared on the board, also, students' submissions of their choice of Renaissance art from the web.  We then began part 2 of our unit -- The Reformation -- by way of a scored Reading Claim & Evidence.

KCC

CC#35 absolutely has to be finished in class today, as I have to grade them tonight in preparation for tomorrow's Socratic discussion.  CC#36 also needs to be completed, but can be finished up for homework as needed.  

U.S. History

CC#35 was returned to the students with scores.  Today we began our Socratic discussion over the 5 films -- to be continued in class tomorrow.

World History

Finish the casual C&E on the E.Q. page over Crash Course World History Renaissance #22.  If time permits before tomorrow (Thursday), do the "Renaissance Art" assignment in Google Classroom -- the top item is where you'll create your doc, the item posted immediately below it gives the instructions.  I'll share them with the class tomorrow via Smart Board just as a point of interest. ; )

KCC

Instructor evaluations were conducted for KCC today.  Today is the day to finish the scored assessment work in my room on CC#35.  All students should begin their casual C&E on Crash Course #36 (thirty-SIX) in preparation for Thursday's Socratic discussion, to go along with the C&Es on the previous 4 videos.  

U.S. History

Today is the last day to complete any remaining work on Crash Course #35 for a score in my room (assessment) and also to complete remaining work on Crash Course #36 (thirty-SIX) in preparation for tomorrow's Socratic discussion (5 videos to discuss-- CC#30, #33, #35, #36, and the BBC's "The Necessary War), as detailed before we began this series of work.  Most students also began work on creating a one-slide visual page to show the "teams" for WWI:  flag, country name, year entered, and reason entered for all of the Central Powers...and the same for all of the Allied Powers.  There is a spot set up on Google Classroom to do this as a single Google Slide.  Then, do the same for WWII's Axis versus Allies in the separate assignment slot set up in Google Classroom.  (A few students had some other ideas for how to best create their own cheat sheets of the teams -- so, see me if you have an alternate idea.)  We will finish those on Thursday and then we'll discuss together about printing them (on B&W printer) and then using markers or colored pencils to add in necessary color...

World History

Finish taking E.Q. notes from the TICE ART video.  (A spelling helper page was provided for the potentially trickier terms and students were given time to collaborate on their notes afterward.)  Then, on the E.Q. page set up a C&E for Crash Course Renaissance and then begin work right there, on the E.Q. page, on a casual Claim & Evidence for that video with some time given tomorrow to finish. (You can skip the highlighting step on this one, as it's not for a score, but for skill practice, and most importantly, for the information!)  Remember these two videos are the info sources for the Renaissance portion of the unit; extract all the info you can from them.

KCC

Students worked on CC#35 for an IN-CLASS scored assessment, and some finished.  When ready, begin the 5th of 5 Socratic-prep videos -- Crash Course #36 (part II on WWII), as a casual C&E (no highighting required)...more time will be given on our next class day (next Tuesday) to complete this work.  If you were absent -- you need to set up a time with me to complete before the end of Wednesday #35 for a direct score, and #36 can be completed on your own before class time Thursday.

U.S. History

Finish Crash Course #35 in the classroom (!), as it's a scored assessment.  If you were absent, see me to set up a time BEFORE WEDNESDAY to complete this work.  As time permits, finish a casual C&E on CC#36 (thirty-SIX) in preparation for Wednesday's Socratic discussion.  (On Tuesday, our first day back from break, we'll do a different in-class activity.)

World History

CC#40 was returned (an A-V C&E score) and the thesis answer key on the Smart Board to edit and also to discuss as needed.  The two key things to keep in mind to unlock progress to the B or to the A level are:  1.  Be specific in the thesis...and... 2. Let the title, intro, and conclusion work for you (you don't have to get inventive; simply identify what the author is claiming....you can even quote them).  Students collaborated on their notes from the Islamic Enlightenment video.  We then wrote the Essential Question for the unit onto our E.Q. page (What was significant about the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Age of Exploration?) and highlighted it in a color to match the title of the entire E.Q. page ("Modern Europe").  Finally, watch the TICE ART video and add bullet-point detail notes about the Renaissance directly onto the E.Q. page.  (You will have ~10 minutes in class on Tuesday to finish this.)

KCC

Finish Crash Course U.S. History #33 as a casual Claim & Evidence to use later in Socratic discussion.  Then, begin work on an assessment/scored Claim & Evidence -- IN CLASS, WITH ME -- on Crash Course U.S. History #35 -- to be finished in class tomorrow.  Also, the Turn of the Century Research was returned via Google Classroom with scores and feedback. 

U.S. History

See your scored Research in Google Classroom>Classwork...toward the bottom -- "Turn of the Century Research."  If you were absent, see me to set up a time to make up the scored A/V C&E.  Do a casual C&E on Crash Course #36 in preparation for the Socratic discussion.

World History

We finished the remaining 1/2 hour of "Islam: Empire of Faith, The Awakening" while adding notes to our E.Q. page of the positive cultural aspects (which will later inform the European Renaissance).  

KCC

Finish the BBC's "The Necessary War" and the C&E work to prepare for Socratic discussion.  Tomorrow we will finish CC#33 (also for Socratic discussion prep) and then we will begin a new video analysis for a C&E score....

U.S. History

We worked on Crash Course U.S. History #35 for a score today -- this needs to be completed in my classroom with me, as it is an assessment.  More time will be given in class tomorrow to finish this skills work.  (Tomorrow we will begin a casual C&E over CC#36 for the Socratic discussion that will be held next Wednesday.  Thursday we'll finish CC#36.  Tuesday we will have some new collaborative work to do...)  

World History

1st hour -- we finished our notes via Smart Board.  All hours -- we color-coded those notes we put on the E.Q. page with highlighters (see a reliable classmate).  We then took "Islamic Enlightenment" notes onto our E.Q. page from the video "Islam Empire of Faith" (part 2: the Awakening) -- this 53-minute segment is loaded into Google Classroom for you.  Watch through the first 25 minutes, and we'll have time in class tomorrow to finish the remaining ~30 minutes.

KCC

We set up our E.Q. page with title (Global Issues Come Home) and question:  How were the issues of the United States emblematic of human issues at large?  We then finished our casual C&E over Crash Course #30 -- finish for homework as needed.  If time permitted, begin a new, casual C&E for socratic over the BBC's "The Necessary War" (loaded in Google Classroom for you) -- to be finished in class tomorrow.

U.S. History

Finish Crash Course U.S. History #30 (for Socratic discussion) -- finish for homework as needed.  

World History

See your returned research -- Empires Case Study Research....there is a score and feedback on that Google doc, and there is also a score sheet paper that gives additional feedback.  As always, see me if you have any questions.  We discussed the Bizarre Foods show from Friday.  We then set up a new EQ page for our new unit -- Modern Europe.  We opened by watching the first five scenes of Monty Python and The Holy Grail as a humorous hook into discussion of fact versus fiction of the Medieval Era of Europe, and we added context notes on the top of our EQ page, putting them in parentheses.  If you were absent, copy these notes from a reliable classmate.  

KCC

To start our new unit -- Global Issues Come Home -- view Crash Course U.S. History #30 about World War I, and do a casual Claim & Evidence over it -- not for a direct C&E score, but for a future Socratic discussion!

U.S. History

Watch the rest of the BBC's "The Necessary War" (in Google Classroom or from You tube) from 35:10 until the end (~20 minutes total) while completing the Claim & Evidence work page begun Monday.  (Tues was SAT; Wed and Thurs the internet was down.) Keep this work page to be used in Socratic discussion next week.  Then, get done 25 minutes of work on a new Claim & Evidence for "Crash Course #33: The Great Depression" (You tube), which will also be used for next week's Socratic discussion.  You will have some time in class Monday to finish CC#33.  (If you get video errors for Crash Course, go to the PBS link ("Plan B") in Google Classroom and search the episode there.)

World History

As an energizing palate cleanser between units, we took a trip to Japan via Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods -- the Japan episode.  Instead of recording CQs, as you've done in the past, this time, set up a 2-column note page with the left side entitled "Similar to U.S." and the right, "Different from U.S."  While viewing make notes of where you see cultural similarities and differences.  We will discuss this together on Monday.

U.S. History

Due to internet issues in the district, we had to put on hold the video analysis work and jumped ahead to some music samples from the era, making note of impressions, discussing, and then adding a few things I suggested as contextual information.  If you were absent, see a reliable classmate from whom to copy the musical samples notes.

KCC

We went over the content of the Turn of the Century test.   Time was then given in class to work on the Turn of the Century papers since the internet at school was down yesterday.  Tomorrow we will being in-class work on the new instructional unit, and so, the papers will need to be finished for homework -- due by Friday night.

World History

Today we did structured review of the UCWP, including a whole-class review game.  

WEDNESDAY KCC

The final in-class writing day!  Remember that we will be moving on to instructional activities for the new unit in class tomorrow, and so, the remaining writing work needs to be completed as homework.  The writing is due by Friday -- UNhighlighted in turnitin.com and HIGHLIGHTED in Google Classroom.  

WEDNESDAY World History

Hours 1 & 4 have the PSAT10 testing.  Hour 7 had class and used that time to complete the UCWP with hashtags and/or picture notes for both sides of the paper.  Study the material in preparation for Thursday's review game!  : )

WEDNESDAY U.S. History

Due to internet issues in the district, the video analysis work had to be postponed; due to Mrs. Cluver's absence wherein she was unable to pinch hit a swap of lesson plans, the time was provided to the students to work on their AR reading and/or other homework.

KCC

SAT!

U.S. History

PSAT Testing today!

World History

Students finished any remaining work on their A/V C&E scored assessment; if you were absent and not already finished, see me to set up a time to make up this work.  Students began collaborative work on the Empires Unit-Closure Work Packet, adding picture notes and/or hashtags to both sides of the page.  Then, review the information in preparation for Thursday's high-stakes review game with fabulous grand prizes!  ; )  (Tomorrow -- Wed. will be the PSAT10 testing for hours 1 & 4.  Hour 7 will meet for history class, which coincidentally gives that hour extra time to get caught up on the above work after being behind ~30 minutes from doing the PSAT10 paperwork during 7th hour last week.)

KCC

Writing day 2 of 3!  Tomorrow is ACT.  Wednesday is day 3 of 3 for in-class writing.  Thursday we move on to in-class activities for the new unit.  Friday the writing is due!

U.S. History

Reminder -- Crash Course U.S. History #30 should be completed and saved for use in Socratic discussion later.  Today we moved on to film #2 of 5 in preparation for that discussion -- the BBC's "The Necessary War" - do a C&E on this one, also not for a score, but for preparation for the discussion -- watch through 35:00 -- we'll finish the rest tomorrow.

World History

We finished the A/V C&E assessment work.  If you were absent, see me to set up a time to make up this scored work.

KCC

Research is due!  Today is day 1 of 3 for writing.  Monday & Wednesday in class will also be given.  (Tuesday is the ACT.)  The writing is due by class time Friday.  (We'll start in-class work for our new unit of study on Thursday; so, after Wednesday, the writing is homework.)  

U.S. History

We finished our C&E work on Crash Course U.S. History #30:  America in World War I.  Please complete this for homework; you can, however, skip the highlighting step.  ; )

World History

See your returned World Religions E.Q. Writing.  Some of you have MLA formatting and/or turnitin.com issues to resolve and resubmit before I can score your work.  For those of you whose papers were ready to grade -- you will find a grade and feedback on your work; take time to look through all of it, and please talk with me about any questions you may have.  The writing scores will start to go into Power School Monday; so, if you have an unresolved issue, you have the weekend to correct it.  We started and/or continued (depending on the class hour) the Claim & Evidence scored work on a video -- if you were absent, see me to set up a time to make up this assessment.

KCC

The end of unit test is today for those who are eligible to take it.  The remaining time was allowed for work on the research, which is due tomorrow.  

U.S. History

Students shared what they pulled out of the artifacts piles yesterday as classmates added occasional ideas to their E.Q. and C.Q. pages.  We then began the first of 5 videos that will be used as material for our unit Socratic discussion -- Crash Course U.S. History #30 America in World War I (set up your notes as a Claim & Evidence) -- to be finished in class tomorrow.  (Three of the remaining videos are from the Crash Course series -- one of which will be a C&E score, and one of the remaining videos is a BBC documentary focused on WWI.)

World History

We worked on an in-class, scored Audio-visual Claim & Evidence assessment.  If you were absent, see me to set up a time to make up this missed work. 

KCC

Research day!  Flex time was allowed so if students prefer to research at home and want to use their in-class time together to finish up the UCWP or to study together, they may.  The test is tomorrow.  It will be short and it will be focused exclusively on the content on the UCWP.  After the test, students will be given the remaining time to work on research, which is due by Friday.  On Friday we will begin the last end-of-unit E.Q. writing.

U.S. History

Writing should already be turned in.  (Officially due by today.)  We set up our new E.Q. and C.Q. pages -- see a reliable classmate and then students collaboratively waded through piles of teacher artifacts (loads of posters and documents and pictures) from the first half of the 20th century, adding E.Q. notes and C.Q. interests, being sure to tag the items so as to be able to easily share their findings with their class tomorrow.

World History

Any remaining slideshows were presented.  7th hour finished viewing the last few minutes of the video from yesterday.  In all classes we discussed the correct thesis points (that the writer of the film script was claiming) and HOW we arrive at recognizing them.  Students then added notes to the back side of that page from an "East v. West" slideshow I presented to give large time frame historical perspective on why there tends to be biased groupings of folks with regard to "Western culture."  Then, students collaborated to discern from the film notes and slideshow notes what can be added to the E.Q. page, and we then discussed together as a whole class.  We set up a new sheet of paper for a new, scored Audio-visual Claim & Evidence to be started in class tomorrow.

KCC

Finish "The Pres" video as needed.  Complete the U.C.W.P (to help with the writing, the exam, and the final exam).  Begin studying the UCWP for Thursday's exam if you've earned the testing option by having the Civil War Era writing submitted by yesterday.  Some students may wish, also, to begin the Curiosity Research (12+pages=3.0; 12+ w/ commentary on time=3.5; 14+ w/ histo paragraph on time or 20+ w/ commentary on time = 4.0)....we will have in-class work time for research and studying tomorrow and then more research time after the test on Thursday.  Research is due by Friday.

U.S. History

Today is the last in-class writing session -- due by tomorrow.  Check that you've covered all key topics in your thesis, that the wording of your thesis answers the assigned E.Q., and that the evidence/guts sections of your paragraph are full of detailed examples.  Once finished, take focused time to use the "Edit My Writing Now" doc in Google Classroom > Classwork...at the very top click on "view more" and open the Writing section of docs.  When the final draft is polished, submit an UNhighlighted copy to turnitin.com and a HIGHLIGHTED copy to Google Classroom.

World History

Students finished collaborating on their empires E.Q. notes.  We then did a practice A/V C&E on the first 45 seconds and then from 1:08:41 to the end of The History Channel's Engineering an Empire: Persia (available on You tube).  Students then collaborated to check and edit their thesis.  We'll discuss as a whole class tomorrow.

KCC

Finish the video as detailed Friday.  Then begin work on the Unit-Closure Work Packet over which the test will be this Thursday.  (Reminder, again, that you must have your Civil War Era writing submitted by this evening at the very latest to qualify for the test-taking opportunity.)  (We will begin our end-of-unit research tomorrow and continued Wednesday and after the test on Thursday -- to be due Friday.)

U.S. History

Writing day #2!  By tomorrow you should be well over 1/2-way finished with this last mandatory writing of the year so that tomorrow's class can be to finish and edit.  Be sure to look at your old writings' feedback and also the helper docs in Google Classroom.  (As always, I am here to talk through it with you when needed and to give you work-in-progress feedback.)

World History

We added notes to our EQ page of empires case studies and then small groups collaborated to go through all of their notes together to make additions and corrections, especially to check for any places in which we might have been ethnocentric, judging too harshly other cultures and having a chance to be sure we have our "historians' eyes" on the info.  Tomorrow will be the last day for any students to share their information with us, and then we will move on to our last few activities of the unit.  If you've been absent, be sure to get caught up with missed coursework.