Welcome back and Happy New Year! What a start we have had. I have to admit, the writing of this weekly update slipped into the dark parts of my mind until quite late, and here it is Monday afternoon... This email will be quick and to the point.
As we head into this week I want to provide expectations for exam week and let you in on a project we have embarked upon as open wide the ideas in the Constitution. This must be done because everything that follows in the story of America is driven by this document and how Americans have striven to uphold and maintain the ideals set forth in this revolutionary document.
As we progress through exam week we will continue with the Preamble Video Assignment we began last week. I find video production to be a very fun, engaging style of project-based learning because it combines the raw, creative, and critical thinking of filmmaking with the integrated inquiry-based historical thinking and interpretation. This small scale assignment introduces the necessary production components (such as screenplays and storyboarding) for use in later assignments. There are some logistic roadblocks that are still being worked out. See the Preamble Video Assignment page for details and let me know if you have concerns about any aspect. I take these projects quite seriously and demand that parental reservations be honored and placed above academic expectations.
As for the expectations for Exam Week here in Mr. Bruce's History, I give a process-focused exam. The content will be over what we have covered in class, but the focus is on how we have learned the process of "doing" history - that is, how much can we demonstrate of the methods historians use when adding to the body of knowledge that we call the historical record. In order to prepare for such an exam, students need to review the notes we took regarding these methods. All of them can be found at mrbruceshistory.wikispaces.com/TLH. These notes should be in student binders and complete. But it might be helpful to review the slides on the TLH page and the notes.
As for what we will do in class for this exam, I can say that we will have considerable time in class to complete what is called a "Document Based Exercise". We will spend an hour of "review" time going through the documents together in class and employing some analysis tools for the purpose of understanding the documents. From there, students will put pieces together on their own regarding the topic and what the documents tell them. A simple overview of this process my Thinking Like a Historian Guidesheet.
Until tomorrow (maybe...),
Updated Exam Schedule:
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