Back to School Night 2011

Back to School Night 2011 Kim Barben kbarben@gvsd.org 10th Grade Western Civilizations All students who did not take AP

Background Information on Ms. Barben • This is my 19th year teaching high school Social Studies. • I taught for 7 years at Haverford High School---the public school. • This is my 12th year with Great Valley. • Most of my years of teaching have been in European History---it is my passion.

My Overall Educational Philosophy • My goal is to bring European History to life to my students. • To get them to see that history is not dead and just the memorization of facts. • But to see the individuals who made history and to understand their motivations, obstacles, and impact. • It is also to show my students how much of who we are today as American citizens of the 21st century is rooted in the formative events of European History.

My Educational Philosophy • It is also important to teach our students the importance of questioning and to appreciate the rights we have with freedom of speech, press, religion, the vote, etc… • They must understand all the struggles and sacrifices that were made by previous generations to truly appreciate what we have today. • To do this, we will be using a multiple of sources: • We will start with the textbook. • Then we will move to supplemental secondary readings. • And then working with primary sources.

My Educational Philosophy • I will also support the readings with my Historical PowerPointsand personal experiences traveling in Europe. • This also helps to prepare the students for the expectations for the American Studies Program, and the American History Research Paper. • In my classroom, students are not allowed to be passive learners. • Each day they are expected to play an active part in the learning process through a variety of activities. • This is how true learning occurs.

My Educational Philosophy • To create this active learning experience, my lessons will utilize: • A mixture of individual, pair, group, and whole class activities. • Working with a wide variety of primary sources. • Creation of higher level thinking projects and assessments like political cartoons, propaganda posters, hero and wanted posters, etc… • Doing a variety of creative writing assignments to help bring history alive and to also target literacy skills to support GV’s English Program. • Doing a variety of visual assessments. • Presentations of ideas to the class. • Full integration of the District initiatives of Reading Apprenticeship and the Collins Writing Program

Recent Parent Testimonial • “You are held in high esteem in our house. You are a remarkable and gifted teacher and we are so pleased that Joy’s high school years were enriched by having taken your course. You made a real connection with our daughter.”

Course Requirements • Midterm: Multiple choice questions that come from their old unit tests and an essay (covers first semester content) • Final: Multiple choice questions that come from their old unit tests and an essay (cover second semester content)

Pacing • The Social Studies Dept Chair has set covering through the Causes of World War One for our end of the semester curriculum ending point. • This means we will be covering European History from the Age of Absolute Monarchs in the end of the 16th century to 1914 in the first semester. • This is a lot of curriculum to cover, especially for students who have little to no background in European History. • However, I will not be sacrificing long-term understanding of the concepts and skills development to race through content. • It is a carefully planned balancing act.

Skills To Be Addressed: • Reading Comprehension---A major emphasis this year with the school district in all the content areas---will be a regular component of all lessons. • There will be with a variety of texts and through the use of primary and secondary sources following the Reading Apprenticeship Program. • This is when the students will be doing the Talking to the Text. • Organization---Notebooks • Time Management---Homework Assignments and Notebooks

Recent Talking to Text Testimonial • Hey Ms. Barben! • I'm sure your busy getting ready for the upcoming school year and everything, but I just wanted to let you know that I have officially moved into Liberty University and have already had one class! Guess what my first homework assignment was? TALKING TO THE TEXT. I had to read 4 Chapters and highlight and comment on everything! I now fully appreciate your teaching techniques =] • Thanks! • -Katie Pagan • P.S. I give you full permission to show this e-mail to your classes when they complain about talking to the text. =]

Skills To Be Addressed • Writing Skills---A major emphasis this year with the school district in all the content areas---will be a regular component of all lessons. • There will be a variety of writing activities following the Collins Writing Program. • Type Ones are to introduce a topic, a brainstorm, and are graded on participation. • Types Twos are to review and check for understanding. They are graded on content and format. • Type Threes: This will involve editing of a rough draft to be included with a final draft and have the FCAS. • Formal Thesis Writing/Persuasive Writing---Editorials, Speeches, Thesis Essays • Comparative Writing---Transfer, Triple, and Double-Entry Journals, Artwork Explanations, and Thesis Essays • Analytical Writing---Journals, Newspaper Articles, Writings based upon Primary Sources • Creative Writing---Diaries, Poetry, Music, etc…

Skills To Be Addressed • Note-Taking--- • Interactive Notebook Method, • A Wide Variety of Graphic Organizers, • Anno-Lighting---Talking to the Text, • Pre-Write Organizers • Working with Primary Documents---This will be done in class with Quiet Questions, in Group Activities, and in Homework Assignments. • Public Speaking---Presentation of Group Projects

Former Student Testimonial • Hey Ms. Barben, • Just wanted to let you know that I am taking a Holocaust class this semester to fulfill a Humanities requirement. We are working jointly with a Holocaust center in Rochester archiving information. I am using some of the skills that you taught us during the big project and am starting to appreciate how valuable those skills are. College is hard, but I really like Hobart. Thanks for everything. • Alex Abel

Former Student Testimonial • Hello Ms. Barben,First, I wanted to say, I've actually been thinking about emailing you since my first semester of college about something, but I have a bad habit of always keeping myself busy. Although, I don't think that's a bad habit. • But in my first semester, I had to take a class about writing papers and thought it was funny because my professor complimented me on how well I knew how to work on research papers, and I kept telling her that's because of one class I took in high school. And then next thing I knew, I was doing research papers in all my classes. It amazed me how many people knew nothing about writing research papers nor did anybody know how to cite sources within papers. And all I could think was how lucky I was so I wanted to say thank you. I felt well prepared and a little ahead of the game upon entering a lot of my classes, I even made a lot of friends in my classes because I would help them with editing and little tips on all their papers.Thanks,-Ariel Marie McManus

Grades • Homework---This is posted on Skyward on a regular basis; there is ONE major homework assignment a week that the students should work on for 20 to 30 minutes each night. • Most homework assignments are assigned for multiple nights. • Students should not PROCRASTINATE. I call this the Eighth Deadly Sin! • My homework assignments are not designed to be completed in one night. They are higher level than that. • Group Projects---There is usually at pair or group project every other week. • Unit Tests • At the end of each unit and usually in two parts---objective and writing • Study guides are provided the first day of each unit. The idea is that as we complete each lesson, the student should go back and answer the study guide questions that correspond. • For the students may answer all the study guide questions as detailed as they would like on separate paper. • They may then use it on BOTH parts of the test: Objective and Written. • And the students can earn 15 points extra credit added to the test score.

Grades • Attendance---For each day the student arrives on time, the student earns 2 points. For each day the student arrives unexcused late, the student will lose 2 points. • Notebooks: These are collected on the test days. • Opening class activities---Quiet Question Collins Prompts • Lessons Plans • Supplementary Readings • Class Notes • All class work. • Returned graded work • In chronological order • Extra Credit in Notebook---Options are provided on the Unit Study Guide at the start of each unit. • There is unlimited extra credit. • It is to be done in the notebook. • It is due when the notebook is due. • There are no last minute extra credit assignments to bring up a marking period grade.

Instruction Guidelines • Students are presented the lesson plans in THREE different forms: • PowerPoint Slides • Photocopied Typed Lesson Plan • Oral Discussion of Lesson • Typed Grade Sheets are provided when a homework assignment is given • Examples of different activities as models are presented on the Smartboard, passed around in class, hung on the bulletin boards, and/or uploaded on my teacher page • This is to address any accommodations or missed instruction due to absences. My expectations and directions are very clear. • For all reading activities, students are expected to read, Annotate, and Anno-Light the readings. • This is called “Talking to the Text” or “Reading for Meaning”. • Last year, Mr. Oswald, Ms. McGregor, and Ms. Carlino introduced this practice. • And I spent two days of class time teaching this process last week. • The students were given directions, in the course overview with different methods and examples to help guide them with this.

Instruction Guidelines • For all note-taking activities, students will either receive a graphic organizer or modified teacher notes to do the Interactive Notebook Method with. • The Interactive Notebook Method utilizes Left and Right Brain, Learning Styles, and Multiple Intelligences research. • The students received instruction on this first week of school and were provided a handout to help them with this. • All lesson plans, power points, and supplemental readings are posted on my Teacher Page for students, Guided Study Teachers, and colleagues to access. • This is so they know exactly what we are doing in class and can use Guided Study time effectively.

Instruction Guidelines • If your child is absent, he should read over the lesson plan to see what was missed and be sure to make it up. • I am uploading all the lesson plans, power points, and supplemental readings to my website, so if a student is absent, he can just visit it and download what is needed. • Step by step directions are provided for all activities, and student models are provided for all new activities. • This is to ensure that your child understands my expectations and can follow each step to success.

Teacher Page • Units of Study: • United Streaming Video Clips on topic covered are uploaded and can be watched to review material. • You Tube URLs are listed for when students miss a film in class. • The You Tube URLSs are also to be used to review material. • Historical Content Powerpoints that notes are based upon are uploaded for students to review and fill in gaps in notes. • Weekly Lesson Plan Powerpoints are uploaded for students and parents to use to monitor daily learning and what needs to be made up when absent.

Teacher Page • Instructional Strategies: • On this page are examples of all the different types of activities we do in class for the kids to use as models. • These are a tool for parents and students. • There are also Instructional Powerpoints on some topics like: • Political Cartoon Strategies • Propaganda Strategies • Interactive Notebooks • Collin’s • Etc…

Homework • There is usually one major homework assignment per week and usually one or two reading and note-taking homework assignments per week. • This means your child should be doing some form of homework assignment for me at least 20 to 30 minutes a night. • I will try to post the weekly homework assignments ahead of time in Skyward to help you monitor your child’s workload. • It usually takes me one to two weeks to grade the collected major homework assignments. • If your child did not turn the assignment in, it will be indicated in Skyward with a 0 and Late comment. • If there is a * and a comment about it being Missing in Skyward, this is because I am still grading the work. • It does not mean your child did not turn the work in. • I know this is confusing with Skyward, but teachers do not have the ability to change this. • Please remember this, so you are not emailing me to see if your child turned in the assignment. • It will save time and effort on both our parts.

Extra Help • I am available for extra help before school from 6:45AM through 7:30AM. Please make arrangements ahead of time with Ms. Barben. • I am available for extra help after school from 2:30PM through 3:15PM on twice a week depending upon the meeting schedule. • I am also available for extra help during the 8th Periods for Western Civilizations Remediation. • My duty period is Period Four. And I can work with students then as well. • Peer Tutors are available during certain periods on certain letter days to help students with notebook checks, homework, projects, and preparing for tests. You need to check with Ms. Barben to schedule a time.

Final Former Student Testimonial • My name is Alyssa Pearson, I graduated in 2008, and though I haven't met you, my younger sister, Bryn Pearson has had positive things to say about your job at Great Valley. The purpose of my email is to share with you the contribution Ms. Barben has made directly to my college experience here at Hartwick. I'm not sure who the department head is any longer, but I feel compelled to let someone know the events that have taken place for me these past two years. • Last year in my writing class, we were asked to provide any past projects/papers written so our professor could make comparisons of our high school work and beginning college writing levels. I brought in my research paper from my sophomore year with Ms. Barben. It was a fifteen page paper and he met with me and a couple other English department faculty to let me know that it was the highest quality research paper he's seen from incoming freshman, and that it was better than a number of college level papers he's seen. Had Ms. Barben not been as helpful, and challenging as she was, I wouldn't be equipped to be here. • Secondly, I somehow found myself in a Political Research Methods class meant for juniors and seniors completing their final thesis projects for college and it's my first Political Science class. I should feel over my head, however, I used the index-card citing method Ms. Barben made us do and used all the research method resources and helpful packets she supplied me with sophomore year and my paper came out really well. My professor for this class was also impressed, and surprised, with how I organized my work was in completing the paper. • Ms. Barben is a tough teacher, she is. I noticed in my peers their complaints were driven by their unwillingness to work at a higher level. She's also the only teacher I had that actually prepared me for anything that happened here at college. Her challenging style comes across as "too much" because I realize my other teachers were lagging; they had become too accustomed with curriculums they had been doing for years, and as wonderful as they are as people, they didn't hold me accountable to my work as she did. She is very clear with her expectations, she's very interactive and uses activities that hit every learning style. • I was just reading two pieces of literature that struck me as important; in the Times Obama's call for us to have higher academic standards, and a political writer, Mill, talked about how [negative] feelings often replace real reasons for being against something. I felt the need to say something on her behalf, even if a couple of years later. She has also been a huge, huge help to my personal life as she gave me great advice in decision making, caring about others and being more sensitive to their needs, and just being a role a great model for me. • Anyhow, if you've read this, I very much appreciate it. I realize it's rather long, but I want you to know what an incredible staff member she is from my perspective, and that of my family, and we fully support her. • All the best, • Alyssa Pearson

Back to School Night 2011