9th Grade Social Studies Ancient World Civilizations Fall 2013

Introduction: Welcome to Freshman Ancient World Civilizations! I hope that you are as excited as I am to embark on this journey through time to investigate different peoples and cultures from our lives today. Our journey together traverses through three continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe. What we learn about each civilization, the elements of each culture, can be remembered as GRAPES (Geography, Religion, Art/Architecture, Political/Government, Economics, Social Systems). We will journey through six different locations and time periods that are essentially six different units. The units will be on Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, Greece, and Rome. We will spend roughly three weeks examining each culture, which should take up the entire semester. After the completion of each unit, you should have a great understanding of the different elements of each culture! Grading Policy: The purpose of this grading policy is to see how much you gain from each unit and through the course of the semester. I want to outline my expectations for you as a student and take this time to clearly state what you can expect me to be looking for in regards to your work and your final grade. The grades for this class will be determined by how much effort you have shown and how well you meet the different objectives for each day. While grades may be important, I am personally more concerned with how engaged you are within each lesson. I will do my best to make everyday as exciting and engaging as possible while trying to maximize the time that we have to learn about these ancient civilizations. It is my hope that you can join me in our class explorations of these ancient cultures. In an effort to stress the importance of your involvement in each lesson, participation will amount to a significant portion of your grade. By participation I mean that you will be actively engaged in whatever we may be doing in class that day. It also means that you come to every class on time and prepared, while showing the proper respect for your fellow classmates, in addition to completing the assignments. There will be a number of opportunities for you to participate in class, whether through discussion, class projects, group work, etc. My goal is to keep you motivated to keep trying your best in every endeavor. To help you, I will provide a grading rubric for the larger assignments or projects. These rubrics will clearly break down the different objectives and show you what I am looking for. It will be based on a scale so you can see how well you met or did not meet the different criteria. I will go through the rubric with the entire class before every assignment so that we can address any confusion or misconceptions before you begin your assignment. I am not looking to see how I can take points away from you; I am looking to see how I can give you points. If you follow the instructions, and make sure that your assignment fulfills all of the criteria on the rubric, I have no problem giving you the (great) grade that you deserve. Even after we go through the assignment and the rubric in class, if you have any questions or are still confused, feel free to come talk to me after class. I am more than happy to clarify any questions you may have. When I pass back your graded assignments, I will provide feedback on the rubric so you can see where the points came from and how I arrived at your grade. If you have any questions about your grades or want to dispute something, feel free to talk to me after class. I want to have those discussions with you to help you understand where I am coming from, and hopefully to help you succeed on later assignments. I want to remind you that you are in control of your own destiny. How much you get out of this class really depends on how much you put into it. I promise that as your teacher, I will try my best to provide fun and engaging lessons that stir your interest. I only ask that you try to meet me where I am so we can have fun on this journey together. As this is a history class, feel free to speak your mind. Do not worry about feeling stupid. I would absolutely love your participation. History is free to be interpreted by you however you see it, and that does not mean it is wrong. My goal is to help you learn how to interpret history through what we learn and the historical evidence that we find. To help create a safe environment, I ask you as a student to please show respect to your fellow classmates and understand that everyone is entitled to their own interpretation of what we may be

studying in this class. It is inappropriate to make fun of or judge others based upon what questions they may ask or what they share. We want everyone to feel like they can share their thoughts, and to do that we have to show mutual respect for one another. I would also like to take this time to say that this grading policy is not set in stone. Things can change, but I will not make any changes without notifying you ahead of time, so there will not be any surprises. Grading Components (for the year): Assessments Bell-ringer Description Most days, we will start with a couple of questions that I will have on the board that will either connect to the lesson of the day or review what we covered the day before. The responses should be roughly half a page. We will take time to discuss our answers, but this should not take up more than 10 minutes Class work that is not completed within the period will be homework. Other times, work may be given in class and collected at the end of the class. Scaffolding questions, note worksheets, class activities, etc. We will work together as a class at first, but transition to working alone on completing the document analysis worksheet, and takehome essays. This may also include other sources like maps, music, speech, art, literature, and graphs analysis. Projects will include a written component and an oral component. Not essay based. Be creative! There will be a project for each unit (6 total) Before we leave the unit, this will see how well you did. Have you met the class objective? These will be a combination of multiple choice, identification, short answer, essay, or document analysis. (6 in total) Actively discussing the material, be prepared for every class (and on time), respect for your classmates, and completing the assignments. How is the points distributed? You will gain all of the points if you write on the topic and show effort in coming to your answers. There are no right or wrong answers; I just want to see your thoughts. If absent, you can make it up later. Each worksheet will vary by several points, but will be given and explained for each worksheet. A rubric will be given out for the document analysis worksheet and the take-home essay. At least once per unit. Total Points 10%

Class work/ Homework

15%

Document Analysis (DBQ)

20%

Projects

A rubric will be given out for the project, of both the written and oral components. The points distribution will be given for each question and will be given on each exam.

20%

Exams

20%

Participation

Attendance, how much participation is shown, respecting of others

15%

The justifications for each assessment task: Bell-ringer: I want this activity to help students start thinking about the topic that we will explore for the day. This is a low stakes assessment with 10% weight. I am not trying to trick my students with this assessment, but if they complete it, it should be easy enough for them to get all of the points. I just want to get my students thinking about the connections between the different elements of culture that we have studied and also to see how it can connect to modern day.

Class work/Homework: This work is primarily for the students to see how well they are grasping the different objectives of the unit. However, it will also provide feedback for myself to see how I am doing as their teacher. I will be able to see whether the students are getting what I want them to learn. It is meant to supplement the lesson and further their understanding of the material. This is worth 15% of the grade because I want the students to be able to analyze the material that we cover everyday. I will provide the students with feedback on their daily assignments as well to help prepare them for exams and projects. It is weighted low enough to give the students room to improve but also higher than Bell-ringers to make an impact on their grade. Document Analysis (DBQ): This is to help students think like a historian and analyze different kinds of sources from other disciplines to help them learn how to interpret primary sources from that culture. It will also help prepare students to write essays and formulate arguments that are supported by evidence. This is 20% of the grade because it is an extremely important skill for them to have, and prepares them for what they could expect in subsequent Social Studies classes, especially at the AP level. I will be very involved in helping them because I want them to know how important this is. Projects: This is a non-essay project that gives students the opportunity to be creative. They can make presentations on certain aspects of a culture or take a side in a debate and argue their sides. There is an oral component for students to be less afraid to talk and hopefully foster group discussion on their topic. This is 20% of the grade for students to find something of interest and encourage them to speak with less fear in front of their peers. These projects help them to think critically and analyze something in-depth with opportunities for research. Exams: This is to help test the units objectives through multiple choice, essay, short answer, document analysis, or identification of key terms on an exam to see how well the students had learned throughout the unit. This is 20% of the grade because I do not want one bad test to severely handicap my students grade. There are many ways to do well in the class, other than exams. Participation: In an effort to help promote citizenship, I want my students to learn how to participate and what it means to participate. I also want them to be able to respect one another and listen to what others have to say. This is 15% of the grade because I want students to be prepared for every class. I will grade this on overall participation, attendance, and respect for others. Grading approach: My grading approach for this class will be standards-based. I will clearly write and explain the points for each assessment with a standard rubric for the projects, essays, and exam. To calculate the total grade, the teacher will provide grades for assignments done and put them in the appropriate categories and multiply them by the weight explained in the syllabus. Their overall grade will be based on the following scale. 90%-100% = A 80%-89% = B 70%-79% = C 60%-69% = D 59% and below = F (Please dont get an F ) The students will not have to compete for an A. If they have the points, they will get an A. They are in control of their own destiny. I want them to be motivated to do their best while also understanding the material and having a fun experience learning history.