I have been teaching for 13 years. I have taught in New York, Connecticut, California, and Colorado teaching US History, Modern World History, Ancient World History, Social Problems, World Religions, Geography, Economics and more.
I believe teaching is an art and find joy in creating hands-on activities that engage my students. My expectations are high for my students and myself.
I have been teaching for 13 years. I have taught in New York, Connecticut, California, and Colorado teaching US History, Modern World History, Ancient World History, Social Problems, World Religions, Geography, Economics and more.
I believe teaching is an art and find joy in creating hands-on activities that engage my students. My expectations are high for my students and myself.
The War in the Pacific: Map Activity
Background:
Japan took over large chunks of eastern Asia in the late 1930s. In 1941, Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Then, Japanese forces quickly took over American, British, Dutch, and other territories in Asia and the Western Pacific. Starting in mid-1912, Allied (mostly US) forces began fighting their way back across and up the Pacific towards Japan.
Directions:
Locate and label the Islands and countries listed below
Then, Locate and Label, as well as date the battles, invasions, and other military actions listed below
Next, trace the movements of Allied forces toward Japan. They moved west across the Pacific from Pearl Harbor. They also moved northwest up the Pacific from Eastern Australia.
Countries and Islands
Hawaiian Islands Malaya Australia Midway Islands
Singapore New Guinea Gilbert Islands French Indochina
Aleutian Islands Marshall Islands Thailand Philippine Islands
Marian Islands Burma Formosa Solomon Islands
China Japan Mongolia Korea
Dutch East Indies (including Borneo, Celebes, Sumatra) Soviet Union
Manchuria
Military Actions:
Midway Tarawa Coral Seas Guam
Tinian Guadalcanal Leyte Gulf Iwo Jima
Okinawa Pearl Harbor Wake Kiska Landing, Attu
Eniwetok Philippine Sea Palau Islands Brunei
Hiroshima Nagasaki
ROMAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE
OBJECTIVES: Describe the daily lives and occupations of Roman citizens, and explain the role of science and the arts in the Roman Empire
MAIN GOAL: To understand how over the course of centuries, the Romans built a cultural heritage that continues to influence us today.
Time: 2 Class Periods (57 mins)
LESSON PLAN IN DETAIL:
1. Bell Ringer. Place various pictures on the board that illustrate aspects of Roman life and culture
a. Ask students what assumptions they can make about imperial Roman life and culture based on these pictures
b. Tell students that in the next two days they will be exploring how the Romans built a strong empire, describing the daily lives and occupations of Roman citizens, and explaining the role of science and the arts in the Roman Empire
2. Go over the directions. Students will be traveling through seven stations located throughout the classroom in their assigned group. Stations include: 1) Daily Life; 2) The Roles of men, women, and children; 3) Early Religion; 4)Fun and Games; 5)Science, Engineering, and Architecture; 6)Literature; 7)Language. In each station they must read the assigned reading, answer the questions to go along with that reading, and complete the task asked of them. Students will have 15-18 minutes at each station.
3. Closure Day 1: At the end of day one, students will write on a sheet of paper four things that they learned that day
4. Closure Day 2: At the end of day two, students will be asked to create a thesis statement based on what they have been doing for the past two days
BROWN VS. BOARD OF EDUCATION (1954) - How does Segregation Affect Education? Worksheet
BACKGROUND:
Until the 1950s, many public schools through the United States were segregated by race. This separation for students was legal because of the 1898 Plessy vs. Ferguson decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” facilities did not violate the Constitution. However, many believed that segregated schooled could never provide an equal education.
The Facts The Issue The Decision
• Linda Brown was an African American student in the segregated school district of Topeka, Kansas
• Linda’s parents tried to enroll her in an all-white school closer to home, but school officials denied the application on the basis of race
• The NAACP filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education on behalf of the Brown and several other black families • The NAACP argues that segregated schools deprived African American students the equal protection of the law required by the Fourteenth Amendment The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that segregated schools were inherently unequal and violated the Fourteenth Amendment
WHY IT MATTERS
Brown vs. Board of Education was an important first legal victory in the civil rights movement. This landmark decision brought America one step closer to securing equal rights for all. Chief Justice Earl Warren declared that segregation in education was unconstitutional because it prevented an equal education for all races”
“In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity… is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms… To separate them (Children in grade and high schools) from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority… that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlike to ever be undone…”
CONNECT TO YOUR WORLD
Use the data in the table to create a graph, and describe the trend that you see. Then, research school segregation today. Have schools become more or less segregated since 2001? What might explain this change?
School Desegregation After Brown
Percentage of African Americans students in 90 percent minority schools
1968 1988 1991 2001
South 78 24 26 31
Northeast 43 48 50 51
Midwest 58 42 40 47
West 51 29 27 30
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data
BACKGROUND: In the coming days we will be learning more about genocide We will be focusing on the years of the genocide in Cambodia -a time when millions of men, women and children were murdered solely because of their ancestry and color of their skin. It is one of the darkest chapters in human history. Yet an appalling number of people, young and old, know little or nothing about it. Even today the world has not yet learned the lesson of those terrible years. There are far too many places where hate, intolerance, and genocide still exist. Thus Cambodian Genocide is no less a “Asian story” it is a human story. Moreover, its subject matter applies to every generation. This Genocide simply about racial hatred-which is the state of mind that attacks not what makes us people but what makes us different from each other.
TASK: You will create a portfolio that reflects your feelings about the event and how it relates to our world today.
REQUIREMENTS: To complete your portfolio, you will:
1. Create a title page that includes an original title, an illustration and a quotation from the event that exemplifies the message and or meaning.
2. Create a table of Contents
3. Write an introduction that explains your title, illustration and chosen quote.
4. You will complete 4 one-paragraph journals what you learned each day. It should deal with the following:
• Record what you remember about events that day. What images or scenes stand out? Which characters stand out in your mind? What qualities make those characters memorable?
• On the last day: What did you learn from this? What questions do you have, that you did not find a “clear” answer about? How does this relate to the world today?
5. Find an example of modern day genocide in the news. Make a copy of the article you find (and include it in the project), summarize it, and explain how it relates to the Cambodian Genocide and or the a different genocide in no less than 100 words.
INTERNET TASK: Choose ONE of the following:
1. Find an account of a survivor. Print a copy of that person’s account (to submit to teacher along with project) and write a reflection. What occurred? What questions would you want to ask this person if you had the chance to meet them? What new information have you learned as result of hearing their story?
2. Find three photographs that relate to this subject. Write a minimum of four sentences for each picture. Explain its meaning and how it relates to the Genocide.
LITERATURE TASK: Choose ONE of the following:
Writers of the “Lost Generation”
During the 1920s, many American writers, musicians, and painters left the United States to live in Europe. These expatriates, people who left their native country to live elsewhere, often settled in Paris. American writer Gertrude Stein called them the “Lost Generation.” They moved frantically from one European city to another, trying to find meaning in life. Life empty of meaning is the theme of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925).
And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night. Gatsby believed in the green light, the . . . future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
- F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, The Great Gatsby
Conspiracy Theories Assignment/ Project- Students love this!
this includes, background information, research tasks and topics with graphic organizer for students to complete with an annotated bibliography and rubric
Background:
One guilty pleasure in the life of a curious person is indulgence in the world of conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories serve an important purpose for one major reason: they contain plenty of truth or of verifiable fact in resistance to secret, corporate or government entities that are not forthcoming with the truth about strange, criminal, covert or extra normal events.
Conspiracy theories help humans to imagine the worst. Imagining the worst helps to prepare the human mind and society for the worst. Preparing for the worst is essential to survival.
Your Task:
To Research One Great Conspiracy in the world, and come up with your own conclusion to help shed “new” light and truth to the conspiracy, or to prove the “conspiracy” to be false.
What were the roles of the Congress, the press, and the courts in investigating President Nixon’s unchecked presidential power?
Background:
President Richard Nixon’s administration was marred by political scandal, called Watergate. That led to his resignation. What were the roles of the Congress, the press, and the courts in investigating President Nixon’s unchecked presidential power?
Task:
Use your knowledge of World War II and the documents to answer the questions and then the essential question
You are hosting a dinner party and are inviting 12 historical figures from our unit this school year. Some of your guests may not get along, they are from different cultures, and some may not eat what you have planned. It is your job to create a successful dinner party using the criteria below.
PART 1: CHOOSE YOUR GUESTS
You must have people from the following time periods. You can only be general about one person from each column, otherwise they all have to be specific individuals. (Example of general would be : War Hawk “someone doesn’t like war” during Vietnam era. Be sure to give a BRIEF Description of who they are
Step 2: SEAT YOUR GUESTS.
Draw a table and explain you seating choice. (You might not want someone people to sit next to one another b/c they might fight, or you might want them to sit next to someone else b/c they might fight; you might want to group people with common interests…you decide and tell why thoroughly
Thorough explanation of seating:
Step 3: Topic of Conversation
A good host NEVER lets his/her guests sit in silence and knows their guests well. For each person come up with a topic of conversation or a question for them to answer.
Step 4: Food
What will you serve your guests? Think of their needs and or what they are associated with (example is someone fought in Germany, serve them German food; Gandhi cannot eat meat, so you might want to order him lettuce)
Step 5: Entertainment
You might want to provide a song that represents your guests. (Example: Rosa Parks is known for not sitting on the back of the bus- therefore she might really enjoy OutKasts “Rosa parks song where the line quotes “everybody move the back of the bus…” , Whereas Agent Deep Throat (from the Nixon hearings, the informant that refused to give up his name might use the Ting Ting’s “That’s not my name” because he refused to reveal his identity) Be sure to give reasons as to why they get that song
Step 6: Party Favors
Dinner guests love party favors. What will you give each of your guests as they leave your dinner party? Tell Why (example Martin Luther King Jr. might get a dream catcher b/c of his I have a dream speech)
What is an Empire?, How is an empire formed?, Do people benefit from an empire? Lesson Plan
OBJECTIVES: Students will define and explain what an empire is
MAIN GOAL: To understand what an Empire is
LESSON PLAN IN DETAIL:
1. Bell Ringer Questions: What is an Empire?, How is an empire formed?, Do you think people benefit from an empire? Explain, Can you name one Empire in history?, Are empires likely to remain a crucial part of the human landscape for the foreseeable future?
o Students will fill out the bell ringer activity of the sheet of paper handed out by the instructor.
o I will ask several students to volunteer their answer
(10mins.)
2. I will then tell students that “Bitter Political Power struggles within the Roman Republic led to the creation of the Roman Empire. Today we will read “Introduction: What is an Empire?”
(1 min., Total 11 mins.)
3. I will then instruct students that they will be working in one of their assigned groups and reading the article. In their groups they are to read the article page by page, and target the key ideas on each page. The number of key ideas and bulleted information is to be written down on the paper handed out by instructor.
(30 mins., Total 41 mins)
4. We will then discuss what each group bulleted.
(15 mins. 56 mins)
The Great Flood -- Two Different Versions: Hebrew Scripture and Epic of Gilgamesh -Babylonian - worksheet
The story of the flood that appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh closely resembles the account of the flood in the Hebrew Scriptures. In Gilgamesh, the tale is told by the aged Utnapishtam, who was chosen by the god Ea to survive the rising waters.
