curriculum units -- seminar review

[Anonymous]

HI Heather,

Very nice lesson! I will admit I was confused on why it took until the third day to bring in any Chinese poetry, but after looking back at the standards and such, this was able to make much more sense. I really like your comparison chart, and I of course love SHakespeare's sonnet 116! I would have preferred a bit more historical context about each poem, as this would address the standard 3.0 a bit more. And in particular add more chinese history about the Tang culture and their emphasis on poetry. And finally I loved your explanation of chinese poetry through the human body- I had no idea!

Also be a little more clear with your lesson conclusions, making sure students are leaving the class understanding the clear objectives. Otherwise these were great lessons, very cohesive and well-connected! And of course I love your primary sources! Do you mind if I pass this along to a fellow colleague of mine?

Emily Isler

[Anonymous]

Hi Lucas,

Very nice lesson! I really liked your use of primary sources! I have been teaching 10th grade imperialism and we looked at the White Man's Burden in a similar manner but in relation to European colonization, so it was fun seeing your use of the source. My only critique is I am not sure if you have provided enough material for students to really understand the Open Door policy (at least through what is given on the lesson plans, but I know as teachers our ad-lib is what really provides a huge amount of substance). Are there textbook pages you would refer to for students to use as a further resource? Also, maybe be more specific in the second-day lesson with the anticipatory set of how the Americans pushed into the Philippines. Be more clear with the treatment of the Filipino tradition, culture, and people so the students can write about the harshness and invasion of privacy that occurred to them.

Otherwise very nice! Wonderful/creative ways of meeting the state standards.

Emily

[Anonymous]

I like the fact that Korea is covered as a topic. It is often overlooked in the curriculum, and I like how your student population is driving the curriculum.
My question would be does this cover enough of the government of Korea to match your constitution unit? Or is the focus on civil rights and the struggle to acquire them? If that is the case, then the emphasis on the movie is appropriate.

I think the use of the graphic organizer is very good and any unit that incorporates culture is great!

[Anonymous]

[font=Times]The unit presented by Mr. Christov has a clear objective to internationalize the curriculum of the 10 grade. The 3-day- unit plans will be able to help students identify universal values and their specific realizations from different perspectives.[/font] [font=Times]You really take into consideration the needs of all of your students while preserving the rigor necessary to challenge them and help them to improve their grasp of critical thinking and writing skills. I definitely agree with Ms .Petkova that the unit presented by Mr.Christov will be great benefit of all students at ISLC, especially for the students who enrolled in Mandarin and Japanese classes. [/font] [font=Times] Great lesson plans!!![/font]

[Anonymous]

I like the use of primary documents. I think the one you chose is pretty good for being readable and not too long. I am very curious about the background information that you will be providing for the Boxer Rebellion. I'm afraid that the students will be equating the Boxers to common gang members. The role of the Chinese government in the Boxer rebellion is quite complicated and needs a lot of detail which you might not have enough time to go into.
The questions are good and should spark interesting discussions.

[Anonymous]

Feedback for Genein Letford – Andrew Mercado
I hope you don’t mind me commenting on your project, but I needed to give feedback to one more person.
So let me start by saying….WOW! Your lesson plans are some of the most thorough I have ever seen. The fact that you incorporated so much more than music is what makes this lesson unit extraordinary! You are taking your students learning to an extremely advanced level. They will now learn to associate the music they listen to with social conditions and cultural values!
The only questions I really have are what/how will you assess the students. Will you be grading them just on their ability to sing/play each song, the vocabulary they are learning, or the cultural aspects of the lesson? Will there be some kind of project or performance that they do that can incorporate a little of each?
I think that it is great how many visual aids you use in order to help the students learn new vocabulary. I would also be curious as to how these discussions would go. I am sure that they would have TONS of questions!
Again, excellent lessons; I feel like I could teach this lesson tomorrow without any problem because of the clarity and detail of your plans.

[Anonymous]

What a well thought out lesson! This is a good way to expose students to different cultures and allow them to be analytical at the same time. This could also be used in a social science class with perhaps different objectives from the literary devices you've included. I would really like to know how this works out for you. Some suggestions you may want to consider would be incorporating cooperative groups somewhere in the process or perhaps including art to accompany the poetry.

[Anonymous]

This is a good way to get students interested in Japan. I like how the project lends itself to the different learning modalities. This will definitely allow students to exercise academic skills they need to master. A suggestion you may want to consider is including a more detailed rubric for the writing component as well as a project requirement check off list for students. I'd like to know how this works out for you.

[Anonymous]

What I liked most about your lesson plan was how you connected the content to your students own lives. I think having students examine schools rules and asking them which ones they would change is a great way to help students make that connection. I also like the part about looking at a modern problem through the eyes of a historical figure. The only suggestion I would make is to provide rubrics for the projects so students know how they will be graded.

[Anonymous]

All three lessons were extremely thorough. I feel that if I picked up the plan I could teach these; they are well mapped. I found your first and third lesson's to be particularly interesting. I believe our students have not often been exposed to the roles of women in the present or the past. I really like how you choose to do comparison. I would perhaps suggest as a closing activity, have them make a comparison to the roles of women now to see how much things have changed, if at all since then. With lesson two, I may also suggest having the students making a connection to the present. How have the contributions of these dynasties held up today?
Great work!

[Anonymous]

To begin, I believe the incorporating the European countries in your project is a major plus. I understand our projects need to be about Asia. I really think it's crucial that countries our seen by our kids in terms of more of a world view. I think your project does this well. The questions leading to the reflective writing are great. They will serve to be highly useful, purpose setting research questions. Your acrostic at the end was great. It would be great to have kids connect what they have learned in a historical context to how fascism exists in many different forms and settings today.
kudos.
d

[Anonymous]

Very interesting approach to enhance limited information in WH textbook. Also, I appreciate the high expectations of the lessons since the ultimate product involves Bloom's highest levels of thinking including synthesis, application, and creation. Also, I like the fact that you address multiple learning modalities of students and provide a visual as well as written format. The lessons also reinforces historical thinking in that its goal is to connect ancient and recent history to trace continuity and change over time. You might want to create a powerpoint or gallery walk of ANcient Warrior Garments and juxtapose them with contemporary costumes from Star Wars movies as a way of hooking students, since the contemporary costumes will be familiar to them, plus it's cool.

[Anonymous]

Very interesting approach to enhance limited information in WH textbook. Also, I appreciate the high expectations of the lessons since the ultimate product involves Bloom's highest levels of thinking including synthesis, application, and creation. Also, I like the fact that you address multiple learning modalities of students and provide a visual as well as written format. The lessons also reinforces historical thinking in that its goal is to connect ancient and recent history to trace continuity and change over time. You might want to create a powerpoint or gallery walk of ANcient Warrior Garments and juxtapose them with contemporary costumes from Star Wars movies as a way of hooking students, since the contemporary costumes will be familiar to them, plus it's cool.

[Anonymous]

Jonathon: I really enjoyed your unit, probably because I am also a history teacher, and am very interested in "rules" and "why rules". Linking the different philosophers for students to read is very good. I guess I just have to ask if you have to provide some kind of alternative, for those that might (on the outside chance) not have the internet? I know that our library has a computer lab. I wasn't sure what the last document was, except that perhaps it was a worksheet that you had downloaded for your use, regarding the standards. Maybe I didn't read it hard enough, but wasn't really clear on how you were going to test their knowledge. Do the students fill out the rest of the outline, as you lecture? Again, as I stated in the beginning, I love the topic, and would love to be a fly on the wall during your class discussions.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your great remarks. You are right, I may have kind of tough time getting GDP through to them, as I wonder whether I know it well enough either. I think I might change that, or simplify somehow. Thanks for the advice, and yes, I think my kids would love to have you as a teacher. See you on Tuesday!
Elsie

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