The World Since 1945 Projects

The week after Spring Break, students began working on a research project for the last two chapters of the textbook.  The last two chapters covered the World Since 1945 and modern global issues.  The included document is the Project Guidlines and rubrics.  Students were broken up into groups of 3-4.  They had to select a topic from the given list.  Topics includes Globalization, Environmental Movements, Issues in Latin America since 1945, Europe since the end of the Cold War, etc.  Students were given three class days in the library to research their topics and to create a PowerPoint presentation.  Student were put in the role of teacher, and had to teach the class about their topic.  In addition to creating the PowerPoint, each group had to create 3-5 multiple choice questions to be used on a quiz.  Students were given two test grades for this project:  a group grade and an individual grade.

Student Sample Project

The following is a sample of one of the student's presentations.  This group examined Changing Social patterns, which included urbanization, global epidemics such as AIDS/HIV and SARS, women's rights movement, and religious fundamental movements in the 20th-21st centuries.

Religions and Belief Systems Review Lesson

This was used for one of my regents review classes.  Originally the lesson was designed for my regents review sessions at PCS, but I modified it for my classes.  Students were given a graphic organizer breaking down each religion/belief system into its' core beliefs and sacred texts.  To visually help students learn/review the material, I color coordinated the slides based on religion.  For example, the background for all slides on Buddhism were orange, the slides on Judaism were green.

The Partition of India Notes

This lesson was the first lesson I created when I took over as a long term substitute teacher at Norwood-Norfolk.  The note sheet is a cloze-note, and includes graphic organizers.  The lesson began with a discussion of the student's homework assignment.  For homework, the students were to read the section in the textbook on the Partition of India and list three interesting facts from the reading.  I used PowerPoint to present the Cloze Notes, and included a number of visuals, such as maps, to help the students.  At the end of the lesson, students filled in a web map to help them organize the information and to review that day's material.

Regents Review Materials:  Quizlet

Quizlet is a website for students and teachers to use to create virtual flash cards.  The website can turn those flash cards into quizzes and games for students to use to review.  I used this website during my long term substitute teaching experience.  I took all of my old regents review flash cards from my review sessions at PCS and uploaded them to Quizlet.  A number of students in both my Global 9 Honors and Global 10 classes used the website to help them review key terms.

 

To access my flash cards, click on the link to the right.  Each set of flashcards is password protected.  When it asks you for the password, enter NNCS14

Music and Awareness Lesson

This was the last lesson covering new material for the school year.  It was designed to tie in with the last two chapters of the textbook.  The last two chapters cover modern issues (such as environmental destruction, civil wars, the Cold War, etc.)  The lesson looked as ways in which musicians have tried to raise awareness for a number of these issues.  For example, the class discuss the USA for Africa supergroup, and how it tried to raise awareness of the famine in Ethiopia.  In addition, I played a clip of the music video for We Are the World.  Students were given a lyric packet so they could follow along with all of the songs played during the lesson.  Other songs included "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel, which examines major events and figures during the Cold War Era, "Bullet the Blue Sky" by U2, which is about the civil war in Guatamala, and "Land of Confusion" by Genesis/Phil Collins, which is a satire about global leaders.  There were a number of other songs discussed during the lesson.  For each song, the class would listen to the music then discuss their meaning and what issues they were about.

Regents Review Sessions (PCS 2012, 2013, and 2015)

For two years, I volunteered at Potsdam Central School by providing sophomores with regents review sessions. In June 2012, I provided three review sessions. At the first review sessions, I covered Geography, which ended up being the essay topic for the thematic essay on the regents. The second review session covered topis from the Ancient World, Medieval Europe, and the Modern World. The final session covered 1945 to the Present, Key Terms, Historical Figures, and Chronology. This past June (2013), I held the same review sessions for a second time, but this year I added a fourth review session. By hosting regents review sessions for a second year in a row, I have been able to use what I learned from my first year hosting the regents review sessions, and improve upon them. For the second year review sessions, I updated all of my materials and added a review session covering Religions and Belief Systems. For both years, I used PowerPoint presentations to present an overview of key material the students need to know. The first year, I followed up the review PowerPoint with a Jeopardy PowerPoint game. This year, I used the Jeopardy games again, but I included a variety of other activities. For example, to review Geography, I had students listen to the theme song from Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. As students listened to the song, they had a copy of the lyrics and they had to underline the geographical locations mentioned in the song. Then, they had to mark those locations on the map they were given.

 

The first year I held the review session, I had students complete an activity on historical figures and their geographical location. For the activity, I put a list of names on the Smart Board, and students had to mark on their maps where each figure lived. For the second year, I updated this activity. Instead of putting a list of historical figures on the screen, I had each student downloaded a PowerPoint file containing three rounds. When given the signal, students moved the images of the historical figures to where they lived.

 

During my long term substitute teaching experience, I incorporated many of the materials from my Potsdam review sessions into my review lessons.

 

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