Course Syllabus
9th Grade World History
Honors
Syllabus: 2021-2022
Instructor: Emily Giddings
Hello and welcome to 9th grade World History class! This year, we will build important synthesis and research skills while studying world history between the 12th and 19th centuries. Keep this syllabus in the front of your binders all year, as it includes important information about our curriculum and classroom expectations that you may want to reference later on. I’m excited to work with you this year!
Curriculum - what will we be learning?
Guiding Questions for the Year |
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Units of Study & Subtopics |
Introduction: What is History? |
Exploring the Myth of the Dark Continent: Historiography and African History |
Consolidating Regional Empires: Trade & Regionalization 1100-1450 |
Collision & Empire Building: Global Encounters 1450-1850 |
Revolutions in Thought: Scientific and Philosophical Revolutions (1700-1800) |
Revolutions in Action: Movements Inspired by Revolutions in Thought (1700-1850) |
Supplies to bring to class daily
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Building a Restorative Community
One time per cycle for about 15 minutes and each half-day we will engage in community-building activities using a Restorative Practices curriculum. Restorative Practices is a social science that strives to build engaged, healthy, and safe communities using guiding protocols. This will allow us to learn about one another as people, to build foundational relationships that will support our academic collaborations, and if necessary to work through difficult conversations as a group.
Policies & Expectations - How is class run?
Values to Live By |
Diversity: We value our differences as they allow us to learn to see the world through varied perspectives. Kindness: We treat one another with patience, respect, and empathy. We hold each other to high standards while actively supporting one another’s efforts to grow. Integrity: The work and ideas we present are our own. We give credit to the scholars who help us shape our understanding. We support one another in developing our own ideas while respecting our ability to think and succeed as individuals. Resilience: We lean into challenges and persevere when we face something new or difficult. We build strategies that help us be successful when we struggle. Humility: We celebrate our strengths and we openly reflect in order to recognize and improve upon our weaknesses. |
Makeup Work & Late Work |
Makeup Work:Students who are absent have the same number of days that they were out to complete missed work (with the exception of Cycle Quizzes - see below). For example, if a student is out on Monday and returns to school on Tuesday, any work that was assigned on Monday is due Wednesday. However, assignments that were due on the date of the absence will be collected immediately upon the student’s return to school. For example, if a major paper was due Monday and the student was absent, the student must submit that paper when they return to school on Tuesday. Cycle Quizzes: Must be made up the day that you return to school. Please email me or see me first thing in the morning to find a time. Quizzes that are not made up on the day you return will not receive a grade. Late Work: In order to align with restorative practices, this late-work policy offers intervention supports rather than punitive consequences. Students can submit late work without grade penalty if they participate in the following interventions. Students who do not participate will not receive credit for late work.
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Standards Based Grading |
For students... In Social Studies, we strive to follow where scholarship and research takes us - whether that be in the content we explore or in the instructional and assessment models we use. The movement towards standards-based grading fits this aspiration. More importantly, it more fully aligns with the values we bring to our work with you: wanting all students to succeed, fostering a growth mindset, and prioritizing the development of transferable skills.
In 2021-2022, the core history courses at WHS will use a shared grading system. We linked it here, and you will find it in other parts of Canvas and throughout our work together. Remember that this type of system helps us orient our instruction and feedback to key competencies within the system. Remember too the importance of feedback - we worked hard over many years to bring more feedback into major projects and papers, and understand the value of conferencing with you when work is on-going. These feedback loops remain, and will be combined with frequent, targeted, and often verbal feedback during class time. It is going to be important for you to distinguish between feedback - those suggestions, affirmations, and questions we offer to you when work is on-going and formative - and scores - when the work is evaluated with the rubric. Rubric scores are what will be used to determine your grade within a standard, and 3 of the standards will factor into your term grade. One last point, and this practice will be new: if we do not have evidence of learning approaching a standard, likely through non-submission of work, PowerSchool will show an Incomplete within that standard. Unresolved ‘Incompletes’ at the end of a quarter within a standard will become a D or an F when the school requires us to translate that ‘Incomplete’ to a fixed letter grade.
Several points in the previous paragraph bear repeating, as we want them to be clear takeaways:
For parents... Schools historically and typically provide students with numbers, percentages, and letter grades on each individual assignment within a course, resulting in an averaged score when reporting a singular grade. A standards-based system moves away from such averages and towards the determination of when/where/how often a student’s work meets standards, to provide feedback and information about work in relation to these standards. This year, we adopted a blended approach to best align our values to quarterly reporting requirements and the separate functions of Canvas and PowerSchool. You will notice that this blended approach
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Promptness and Behavior |
We start and end class on time. Late arrival will cause you to miss important material. Students are expected to actively contribute to a productive and respectful work environment. Students who disrupt learning in the classroom will be expected to reflect on their behavior with the group during our community-building sessions. |
Technology |
Canvas:
PowerSchool:
Cell Phones:
Laptops:
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Signature & Questions
Please sign and return this sheet to indicate that you have read the syllabus and have no further questions about Ms. Shapero’s academic, behavior, and technology policies. If you need any clarification before signing, please email me at giddingse@wellesleyps.org
Student signature: _______________________________________
Parent/Guardian signature: _____________________________________
Date: _______________
Course Summary:
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