Laura Leeson Grade 12, "Current Events" History 4.2.1: “Evaluates how individuals and movements ...

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Laura Leeson Grade 12, "Current Events" History 4.2.1: “Evaluates how individuals and movements have shaped contemporary world issues.” by Mind Map: Laura Leeson Grade 12, "Current Events"  History 4.2.1: “Evaluates how individuals and movements have shaped contemporary world issues.”

1. Big Idea #4: People and Movements

1.1. In American history, students would have studied the Civil Rights movement, and most of them are already aware of some of the current movements like Black Lives Matter or #YesAllWomen. Students are also familiar with some of the individuals within movements such as Martin Luther King, Jr, and Emma Watson. Connecting this Idea back to these concepts students are already familiar with, and in some cases, supporters of, is one way of making the lesson interesting and relevant. The NearPod activity attached to this offers quite a bit of scaffolding-- discussions, review of key concepts and vocabulary, chunking of material. The students can also apply the previous lesson to identify whether their movement was solving a global, regional, or local issue. (Though, this could also make for a great Do Now for the next lesson.)

2. Big Idea #5: Shaping Current Events

2.1. On further reflection, I like starting the day with recalling their NearPod assignments from the previous lesson, as students are usually fairly invested in them. The Do Now of evaluating what they know about the movement they studied on NearPod and local, regional and global events leads very nicely into this lesson. (Do Now followed by Think-Pair-Share). This reviews everything they already know about this unit and can prepare them for learning about how events can be shaped by people and movements. A negative example students would be familiar with is ISIS-- which is a movement made up of a group of people-- which has impacted current events due to their takeover of Syria. This Idea would benefit from using the "Pause. Ask Questions. Pause. Review." strategy as it is a heavy-duty concept even adults can struggle with.

3. Big Idea #1: Evaluate

3.1. By 12th grade, most students in a private school have learned to write research papers and have had some experience evaluating data and sources. Tying evaluation back to their previous experience is one way of scaffolding this. Another way is to review what makes a source credible. During my lesson on sources as tools, I would think aloud to model evaluation. The activity they do in this lesson, Corners, gives them time to talk about their own process of evaluation.

4. Big Idea #2: Local and Regional Issues

4.1. Regional and local issues can be easily tied back to things happening in the students' day to day lives. Students are already familiar with the vocabulary and concept as it would have been covered in 'Global Studies' in 10th grade. The discussion and taking notes, such as using graphic organizers, should help to refresh their memory. The 'new' material covered today is updating their understanding of regional and local to fit with the current context of current issues. They are also given an opportunity to practice the evaluation skills from Idea #1 to determine whether an issue is local or regional.

5. Big Idea #3: Global Issues

5.1. This is primarily a further expansion of Idea #2. Global issues would have been brought up in 'Global Studies' to some extent, so refreshing their memories to explore what they already know, such as in the Do Now and Think-Pair-Share combo would be a good way to start the lesson. The 'new' material to be covered is to fit the definition to include issues and current events. Venn Diagramming the similarities and differences between local, regional, and global issues would offer further scaffolding.This is primarily a further expansion of Idea #2. Global issues would have been brought up in 'Global Studies' to some extent, so refreshing their memories to explore what they already know, such as in the Do Now and Think-Pair-Share combo would be a good way to start the lesson. The 'new' material to be covered is to fit the definition to include issues and current events. Venn Diagramming the similarities and differences between local, regional, and global issues would offer further scaffolding.