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World History ACP

Erin Sullivan 

 sullivane@wellesleyPS.org

 

Dear Scholars,

Welcome to World History! (And welcome to WHS!) It is an honor to be a part of this particular year in your high school career. It is also an honor to have you join me in the study of World History, a task that is truly worth our time and effort because it helps us become better writers, readers, critics, thinkers and citizens, and because, as we step forward across the Artificial Intelligence (AI) threshold into a new era in human history, your expertise and knowledge matters more than ever. The Massachusetts History and Social Science Framework tasks me with helping you and your classmates become “thoughtful and active participants in a democratic society and complex world.” The world is changing fast. This discipline is part of what will help us all keep up, and more than that, have power in it.

 

ESSENTIAL CONTENT 

This course will start with the study of the different, but also interacting regions of the 12th century world. 

The course is designed to study different places in the world and how they are, or are not, interacting at the same moment in time. Once we have identified these ways we will analyze the impact these interactions have on the development of societies and how these developments led to an interconnected world by the early 19th century. We will finish in June with a required final experience that will guide you through a synthesis of what you learned and be an opportunity to meaningfully showcase that learning.

 

ESSENTIAL SKILLS

The course is designed to provide you with a strong foundation for further work in Social Studies and other courses, and for the ways you will learn and contribute beyond the classroom. It will support your growth in in the following areas:

 

  • Reading, watching, and listening to understand 
  • Analyzing events by noting connections, making comparisons, documenting patterns, and explaining change over time
  • Selecting and using effective evidence in all work
  • Making, supporting, and interrogating historical claims
  • Communicating ideas and understandings with clarity

 

ESSENTIAL POLICIES 

Academic Integrity

We will collaborate, but work you submit and notes you take are assumed to be your own unless you state otherwise. In general, acknowledge what you owe to others (this includes machines) and make sure you understand when it’s appropriate to share your own work with other students. You should review the school’s policy on academic integrity on pages 39-41 of the Student Handbook. Violations of the policy can result in you earning no credit, and consequences grow stiffer if violations pile up over your time at WHS.

  • When you use others’ exact words in your own work, use “quotation marks” and cite your source. 
  • When you use others’ ideas, give credit. 
  • When you get help from others on an assignment, acknowledge that. 
  • NOTE: Providing dishonest help (helping someone else cheat) is also a violation of academic integrity. 
  • NOTE:  The Student Handbook states that “Students may not use an artificial intelligence program to aid their work on an assignment unless explicitly directed to do so by their instructor.” We will talk about and *perhaps* use some AI tools, but it would be a mistake to show up to a gym, watch people work out and think you are building your strength. Relying on AI for your school work would be a similar mistake. 

 

Grading

Assignments are designed to assess your knowledge and skill and will take many forms throughout the term ranging from formal essays, paragraphs, reflections, inventories, small and large projects, tests, quizzes, creative performances and presentations. A record of completed/missing assignments, scores, and sometimes comments and feedback will be posted in PowerSchool. Feedback will also come to you in places like written assignments, in class during whole-group instruction, and in group and individual conferences. In each term, assignments fall into two main categories and will weigh as follows:

 

Category 

Weight

Year-Long Grade Calculation

Major Assignments (2-3/term)

50%
  • Terms 1-4: 22 % each

Minor Assignments (4-6/term)

50% 
  • Final: 12%

 

  • Major Assignments: These 2 assignments per term will range in value from 50 to 100 points. You will have at least a week’s advance notice and often 1 or more days in class to work on them. 
    • You will have an opportunity to resubmit one Major Assignment each term to earn up to 80% of that assignment's possible credit. 
    • To qualify for resubmission opportunities, you must have submitted on time an honest attempt at completing the assignment in the first place.
    •  When you may resubmit work, you will have 1 week after receiving a score to do so. This allows time to use feedback, and possibly office hours and/or the SS Lab, which you should do.
  • Minor Assignments: These 3-5 assignments per term will range from 5 to 50 points. You will have advance notice and need to prepare for these. These minors will be open notes. Therefore, keeping an organized notebook and binder will help you complete the minor assignments in a scholarly manner.  
  • Though not all class activities will be “graded,” they all matter. It is a mistake to skip or brush off ungraded assignments; they are designed as opportunities to practice core skills, develop and refine your grasp of course content, and receive feedback. 

 

Deadlines, Late Work, Extra Time

Do your work and be honest with yourself and with me when you miss something or need help—HONESTY is one of your most important “character muscles,” and muscles gain strength with repeated use. Flex! Be sure to communicate with me when deadlines and/or workload are getting tricky. 

    • DEADLINES:  Assignments will have clear deadlines that will be explained in class and will be posted in our daily calendar. It is your responsibility to know the deadlines, and or know where to check on Canvas in order to find these deadlines. Homework assignments will be used in the next class period. 
    • LATE, INCOMPLETE, MISSING & MAKE-UP WORK: It is important to complete work according to the assignment schedule and to take advantage of the time provided in class to start and or get work done in order to avoid work pile-ups. 
      • Neither Late nor Incomplete work qualifies for resubmission, and after 2 calendar (not school) days it will be graded as is. Work you miss due to an absence from school is MAKE-UP WORK, not Late work (see below).
      • Work that is not submitted is MISSING and will be marked as such in Powerschool. Powerschool will have the note "Did not Submit" and it will equate to a 0. 
      •  Submitted work is LATE if it is submitted after the assigned deadline. 
      • Work is INCOMPLETE if it does not reasonably demonstrate an honest attempt to complete all parts of an assignment on time. 
  • EXTENSIONS/EXTENDED TIME: Individual’s education plans, religious and ethnic holidays, having 3 major assessments on the same day (see Handbook page 45), and other circumstances may mean you need consideration around assessment and/or assignment schedules. When you become aware that you need more time than is planned, it is your responsibility to be in communication with me AT LEAST 48 HOURS in advance to discuss the possibilities. Extensions are not a guarantee, and multiple extensions throughout the year will not be granted. 

 

Attendance and Make-Up Work

There may be times when you miss class. You can’t really make-up the magic of an in-person class, but you should do the best you can. It is your responsibility to let me know (ahead of time if possible) if circumstances are such that we need to make special accommodations for an absence. It is your responsibility to go on Canvas and identify the lesson you missed, and the pages in the reader you missed. All the work will be on Canvas, under modules, under daily powerpoints. 

 

  • Be ready to take a quiz or test you miss or turn in any papers or projects that were due the day you return from an absence, unless we have arranged otherwise in advance. 
  • If you miss class with an excused absence, you may have up to a full week to make up work that was assigned while you were away, but you need to be in communication with me as soon as you return to school. 
  • Email is great, but you will likely need in-person support, so check my and the lab schedule. 

 

Extra Help

  • The work we do in this class is important. You can do it. I will help you. Effective students ask questions and get help. They also responsibly help each other. Be effective.
  • The Social Studies Lab is a rare and wonderful resource--take full advantage for help with reading, writing and studying! It will be staffed by history department colleagues and me sometimes who give expert advice that is in-line with my and the department’s expectations. The schedule is posted in our room and linked on Canvas.
  • If you would like to receive additional support please check my schedule and send me an email that states the times that align with your schedule and we will set something up. 

 

WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE STUCK ON A HW ASSIGNMENT AND CAN’T REACH ME 

  • Take a breath, don’t panic, reread the directions, look up a couple of iffy words, review what we’re up to in class…basically, do an appropriate and responsible amount and style of work…make an “honest attempt.”
  •  In general, the purpose of HW is to do your best in a setting where you are on your own, so you have a chance to experiment and develop your knowledge, strategies and skills and so we can learn what your best looks like at that particular moment. 

  

Materials to bring to class every day 

  • A 3 ring small binder exclusively for Social Studies. Looseleaf in the binder. You will bring this back and forth from home to school. It will not live in the classroom. It is your responsibility to learn how to keep track of your own materials.  
  • Writing Utensil
  • An open mind that is willing to learn  

 

Cell Phone Policy 

Per Wellesley High School’s cell phone policy all students will “park” their phones in the cell phone lot that will be hanging up in class. The phone will stay parked for the duration of the class. 

Understanding Ethical AI Use for Adult Supporters and Scholars 

 

Scholars, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a tool that has been created in order to make human lives more efficient. Beyond the walls of Wellesley High School you will be asked by employers, teachers, mentors, and others to engage with AI- whether you want to or not. In order to be successful beyond high school and within the job market you will need to know how to manipulate this tool in order to have it work for you. We will work with AI this year to find creative ways to use it in order to enhance YOUR OWN thinking. My goal this year, in regards to using AI, is that you find ways to use it as a thought partner, and not have it do the work for you. The work that you create using AI needs to be done in an ethical manner and to that end:

  • If I use AI to create something, I will let you know by citing it. 
  • If you use AI to create something, you will let me know by citing it. We will review what this will look like. Students can use AI for brainstorming topics, key terms, and research questions. Students can use Google Tools and Basic Grammarly for help with spelling and grammar. Students cannot use AI to write their assignments for them. 
  • There will be moments where I will ask you to engage with the use of AI in order to learn ways to work with it. However, this is not an open invitation to use it on all assignments, however you would like.
  • If you use AI to create work, and you do not use citations, then there will be consequences similar to the plagiarism policies that already exist in the student handbook. 
  • The use of resources like Chat GPT, Brisk, Grammarly Premium, and others are all forms of AI. If the computer is doing any of the writing for you, it is AI. 


Adult Supporters, my hope is that you work with me to help your Scholar better understand when, and how, to use AI. If you ever have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me, and I will do the same. My hope is that Scholars can use this course as a place where they learn about AI, and engage in teachable moments, and not punitive ones.

8/27 HOMEWORK 

COMPLETE THE INTRODUCTORY PODCAST WHICH CAN BE FOUND UNDER MODULES. 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due