SOCIAL ISSUES IN HISTORY I & II Credit: ½ unit per semester Weight: 4/4 Course Open To: Grade 11 & 12; This course will be offered every other year. Students may register for this course in the 2011-2012 school year. Social Issues Course Description: Social Issues is a performance-based class. Students will learn research skills, and critical evaluation of evidence. Students will be required to produce projects, write papers, and give presentations. We will engage in an intensive study of local, national, and global issues.
Objectives:
1. Students will develop research skills and learn to evaluate sources.
2. Students will develop critical thinking skills, as they learn to collect and evaluate
evidence for accuracy and bias.
3. Students will build their reading, writing, evaluation, and discussion skills.
When I was hired in late July to teach this class, the above is all that I was given--no materials, no book(s) of any kind--in addition to some verbal suggestions from my principal. Over the course of the year, in which some students dropped the class after the first semester, others remained for both semesters, and several picked up the class second semester, we studied a number of different issues, beginning with the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a definition of a "social issue." This proved important as many students entering the class believed it was simply "Current Events" or a sort of self-help, talk-therapy class dealing with their "social issues" at school.
After determining that the class was not exclusively current events and most definitely was not a talk-therapy session, we proceeded from the UN and human rights to studies on globalization, consumerism, and production by examining the country of origin for our clothes ("What's In Your Closet?") and the history of colonization and labor practices in those manufacturing countries--we also watched the film What Would Jesus Buy?, which was difficult for many students to swallow due to Reverend Billy's antics. We examined the decades of the 1950s and 1960s in American History, studying issues of race, gender, class, politics, war, and various protest and social movements. We also briefly considered the memorialization of the Holocaust and its history of remembrance in those immediately succeeding decades by watching Nuit et brouillard (Night and Fog) and reading Sherman Alexie's "Somebody Else's Genocide." Much of the final quarter of the year was devoted to students selecting their own issues of interest and researching their topics.In the course of the year, students gave presentations on the UN's human rights; wrote a research paper on two countries and two companies that produced their clothing and presented findings; completed a number of mini-projects on the "Radical Sixties," which included illustrating a LIFE magazine cover, composing lyrics or a poem, graffiti-ing a mock Berlin Wall, creating a political cartoon, and filming and editing a short movie; developed several research projects, which led to academic papers and physical products; and more (largely a project-based class with occasional daily work).
Here are student evaluations from Social Issues in History I/II
Social Issues in History I/II:
-Student expecting B (Does not indicate level of interest in subject)
Course Strengths: interesting
Course Weaknesses: some stuff wasn't interesting
Instructor Strengths: knows a lot
Instructor Weaknesses: talks a lot
Overall Comments: n/a
-Student who does not indicate an expected grade or a level of interest in the subject
Course Strengths: Lots of reading & writing
Course Weaknesses: alot of online prompts.
Instructor Strengths: Good speaker
Instructor Weaknesses: Spekes too much
-Student expecting A+ with "Much" interest in subject
Course Strengths: Unique class/curriculum. Interesting topics, Great freedom in projects, not locked down
Course Weaknesses: Sporatic assignments earlier in the year, online prompts are sometimes hard to remember. Deadlines were hard to meet .
Instructor Strengths: quite profluent in social issues and topics, knows how classes function in college and applies it to this class.
Instructor Weaknesses: Not enough interesting attire. mellowed down the outfits towards the end of the year. I really liked the sweaters and I think you need more variety.
Overall Comments: I liked the class, its like a college humanities class. Pretty solid class. I think you're a good teacher.
-Student expecting A with "Much" interest in subject (signs evaluation With you always, The Earl of Springfield)
Course Strengths: The course was pretty enjoyable, and, although it was was engaging, it was not too difficult.
Course Weaknesses: Sometimes there was not really a sufficient amount of time to finish a project or just not enough class time.
Instructor Strengths: The Professor appeared to put effort into the class to teach us something.
Instructor Weaknesses: The instructor, you, failed to establish a consistent wardrobe.
-Student expecting B with "Much" interest in subject (signs evaluation The Serf)
Course Strengths: Instructer seemed dedicated to the course
Course Weaknesses: Sometimes the curriculum could meander (sp?) off in different directions
Instructor Strengths: Extremely educated in wide variety of topics
Instructor Weaknesses: Poor at putting together outfits and/or ensamble
Overall Comments: I thought it was a pretty solid class. Instructor seemed to know what he was talking about
-Student expecting A with "Some" interest in subject
Course Strengths: It was fun and easy to understand
Course Weaknesses: It was boring and unorganised
Instructor Strengths: Fun and lax
Instructor Weaknesses: Unorganized & confusing
Overall Comments: I didn't really learn anything I didnt already know
-Student expecting 100% with "Much" interest in subject
Course Strengths: Interesting material/extra material
Course Weaknesses: Lectures could be better explained sometimes--ex. "sexy holocaust"
Instructor Strengths: you really want to engage students
Instructor Weaknesses: Ability to explain opinions
Overall Comments: I learned a lot from you and this course--I wish you were continuing with teaching--you're good at it. (even though I don't always agree with you)
-Student expecting A++++++++ (JK. Just an "A") with "Much" interest in subject*
Course Strengths: Always prepared, Different materials used (books, videos, etc.)
Course Weaknesses: Research papers--could have had some different types of projects.
Instructor Strengths: Recomending books/movies if the student is interested in a certain topic. Relaxed in the classroom. Knowledge, perspective on topics
Instructor Weaknesses: A little confusing--goes off into a few rants
Overall Comments:
*This evaluation was also turned in folded into a cootie catcher
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