world history Writing for World History

[bobbeym]

DH finally decide how he wants to approach World History for the kids. We'll be using this site as our spine, accounting for it's strong, scholastic historical slant and with a caveat that all biblical references are to be read as coming from a worldly point of view.

 

Many of the articles include book suggestions for further reading. I'm going to assign the kids to read one book (at minimum) from each era and write something about the book they choose.

 

Any ideas on what exactly I can have them write? I'm leaning towards a response paper rather than a more formal analysis, but I'm still not sure how to come up with something concrete since I won't have read the book they choose, and won't know what book they're reading until they choose it.

 

We haven't written papers based on books yet so this is new territory for me. All advice and suggestions are welcome!

 

(Edited)

 

I wanted to add that I'm not married to the idea of additional reading and writing papers. To be honest, I'd rather not force unnecessary reading and writing on them just for the sake of doing so. But I do feel like I need something concrete like a paper or a quiz or something as proof of their understanding and eventual grade. But at the same time, I realize that these ARE high school students and it's not all about papers and tests in a hs environment. Would simply discussion amongst the 3 of us over coffee or ice cream be enough to use as a final grade? Should I go through each section and write down a few things and make my own quizzes? Neither of my kids care for history so this is a check off the box course for us.

[dbmamaz]

Not sure if this helps or not, but this is what we are doing for US history. I'm reading Hakim to my boys, together, and sometimes bringing in other supplements such as library books or videos. My teen is also reading Zinn's People's History. I have him read the corresponding chapter after we've already covered that material. He only writes a brief paper (but one each chapter). He has to summarize what the chapter covers, explain how it differs from the other sources we used to cover that topic, and then explain anything he finds esp interesting (or, more often, disturbing), and why. He seems to do well having a specific format like that.

 

Another approach I've considered is asking him to choose a specific topic we've covered and do a research paper on it, where he would have to find books and articles, read them, etc - probably more like one paper a quarter, that way.

 

I did find, for me, that writing about a topic really made the learning deeper, so I want to try to keep my teen writing about subjects - but i find it hard to stay on top of it, esp with him having some issues with it.

[regentrude]

But at the same time, I realize that these ARE high school students and it's not all about papers and tests in a hs environment. Would simply discussion amongst the 3 of us over coffee or ice cream be enough to use as a final grade? Should I go through each section and write down a few things and make my own quizzes?

 

No, I would not consider an informal discussion sufficient for a final grade in a high school history course- especially not if you say you were not planning to read the books you assign. I am not sure how you would discuss a book you don't know.

I would expect a high schooler to be able to produce academic writing in a content subject such as history and consider this an important learning objective (especially since high school science courses do not lend themselves to a research paper to the same extent as history does.)

I am not a fan of quizzes, since these just test superficial factual knowledge; high school should go beyond that.

 

I give my children freedom to choose their history writing assignments. In 9th grade, a simple analysis of a historic theme or event from the era is fine. (DD wrote, for example, about how the Persian War affected Greek unity). Starting in 10th grade, I require a research paper with multiple sources and citations (last year's topic was Geography and destiny: how geographical situation of three Italian cities shaped their historical development in the Renaissance). It does not matter to me what the topic is, it should be something that interests the student . Usually searching for a good topic takes a while, a winner emerges from several options. If my students could not come up with anything, I would assign - but I would prefer them to identify some aspect that interests them about their studies and go with that.

I go for quality over quantity; I'd rather they write one good research paper per year than a middle-school-style book report every two weeks.

We have also used formal oral presentations with visuals on a research topic of the student's choice.

 

But I would not consider just reading and talking over icecream sufficient output for high school level history.

[regentrude]

We'll be using this site as our spine, accounting for it's strong, scholastic historical slant and with a caveat that all biblical references are to be read as coming from a worldly point of view.

 

 

 

I have looked at the link, and I must confess that I am a appalled by the quality of the writing and the imprecise nature of the statements. Chains of fancy sounding buzzwords without actual content. This is strong and scholastic???

 

The first section begins with

Time is the motion of particles relative to each other.

 

which is complete nonsense.

 

Geologists describe the earth as having come together gravitationally. Hot and fluid energy was condensing into what we now see as the solids around us.

 

Planet formation is part of astronomy, so geologists would not investigate this. What is "come together gravitationally" supposed to mean?

Energy can be neither hot nor fluid nor can it condense.

 

 

Biologists claim that earliest forms of life consisted of carbon, water, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphor (sic), sulfur and other materials. Although they were not discovered until the 19th century.

 

 

Who or what was not discovered?

Among the chemicals on the Earth's surface were two nucleic acids: DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid). These acids could divide and replicate themselves.

 

My only comment: this is not even completely wrong.

 

Looking further at actual history:

 

Into the 1200s, rope, clocks and eyeglasses were coming into use. Buttons were being sewn onto clothing. Western Europeans were doing more measuring and beginning to use navigational charts. Advances were made in the smelting of ore. More iron was being used in tool making. The use of water power was increasing. Spinning wheels and treadles for looms were being used in the fabric industry. Trade was spreading over a greater distance. And western Europe was enjoying a long period of boom in commerce.

Castles of wood had been replaced by castles of stone, with thicker and higher walls. Great Gothic cathedrals were being built – a huge investment of time and money, reflecting economic vitality, civic pride and religious faith. Grand cathedrals contributed to community. There people gathered for prayer, funerals and festivities. Marriages were performed – daughters commonly being married at ages fourteen or fifteen. Local guilds met at the cathedral, as did magistrates and municipal officials. The cathedrals were not only churches but town halls, places where actors staged plays, where couples courted and homeless pilgrims slept.

The nervous system is fibrous and glandular. Those with the right chemicals had survived.

 

If my high school student submitted a writing assignment like this, I would send the paper back for revision.

Scholastic?

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I definitely expect my high schoolers to produce written work as we study history. Our Civil War studies wrapped up with a 4-5 page essay on the failure of compromise, that included analysis of and reference to primary documents. To turn around your comment, while high school isn't only about papers and tests, those are definitely part of high school and something I want my kids to graduate with a pretty solid mastery of. If they aren't great on writing at the beginning of high school, my answer is to give them more opportunities to develop the skills, not fewer. If your kids are not yet writting essays, then I would start them with frequent paragraphs and outlining and move on from there.

 

If you aren't planning on reading the books your kids pick, I think it will be a challenge to guide and grade their writing. And if this is a get it done subject, you might find some of the books on the lists you linked to are a bit specialized. (I also have a bit of a concern with the overview "articles". I think you might be better served with a general history text like Spielvogel's Western Civilization (there is a brief edition if you want to cut it down some) or Kagan & Ozment's Western Heritage. Both of these would give better illustrations and maps than the online site and give you some one stop shopping. Both textbooks have free companion sites that have study questions, vocabulary and even some online quizes. I think both books have companion study guide books available on Amazon (I know that Western Civilization has a guide that includes matching, short answer definitions, etc).

 

I have a few concerns with the site, as I think it will be a bit unwieldy to read that much online. I have some questions about the content, but I can't really articulate what is bothering me. YMMV.

[EKS]

I have looked at the link, and I must confess that I am a appalled by the quality of the writing and the imprecise nature of the statements. Chains of fancy sounding buzzwords without actual content. This is strong and scholastic???

 

 

 

:iagree:

 

If you're wanting an excellent world history text that takes the big history approach, I'd highly recommend taking a look at Ways of the World by Robert Strayer. It is probably the most well written textbook I've ever read (and I read the entire thing aloud, which tends to uncover poor writing more readily). The questions at the ends of the chapters require some thought to answer rather than simple regurgitation. Primary sources documents are in their own section at the end of each chapter. Highly recommended!

 

As for writing assignments, I had two types. There was a weekly assignment where I had my son summarize each textbook chapter in about 500 words. The idea was for him to pick out the important points and themes write in a coherent fashion about them. The second type was along the lines of what regentrude described. I assigned about four of these per year.

[bobbeym]

No, I would not consider an informal discussion sufficient for a final grade in a high school history course- especially not if you say you were not planning to read the books you assign. I am not sure how you would discuss a book you don't know.

I would expect a high schooler to be able to produce academic writing in a content subject such as history and consider this an important learning objective (especially since high school science courses do not lend themselves to a research paper to the same extent as history does.)

I am not a fan of quizzes, since these just test superficial factual knowledge; high school should go beyond that.

 

I give my children freedom to choose their history writing assignments. In 9th grade, a simple analysis of a historic theme or event from the era is fine. (DD wrote, for example, about how the Persian War affected Greek unity). Starting in 10th grade, I require a research paper with multiple sources and citations (last year's topic was Geography and destiny: how geographical situation of three Italian cities shaped their historical development in the Renaissance). It does not matter to me what the topic is, it should be something that interests the student . Usually searching for a good topic takes a while, a winner emerges from several options. If my students could not come up with anything, I would assign - but I would prefer them to identify some aspect that interests them about their studies and go with that.

I go for quality over quantity; I'd rather they write one good research paper per year than a middle-school-style book report every two weeks.

We have also used formal oral presentations with visuals on a research topic of the student's choice.

 

But I would not consider just reading and talking over ice cream sufficient output for high school level history.

 

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear on what we'd be discussing. If I have them pick a book, read it, and write some type of response paper on it, I will not be reading those books. If we opt for discussion and/or quizzes, it would be on the spine readings.

 

DS's writing skills are only about 6th grade level and his grammar is somewhere around 7th/8th. We're just starting WWS b/c we need a solid writing program, and even getting decent short paragraph answers to anything is extremely difficult. We've done a few research-based PowerPoint presentations for science just to get him familiar with researching information, but he's nowhere near ready to write any kind of formal paper. That's why I thought some type of informal response or compare/contrast paper on a book of his choice for each of our 7 history units might be good. I thought if it was short and sweet it would be help with his writing skills and still be enough to count for part of a history grade. I just don't know how to guide him in picking what to write on, if we even go that route.

 

DD's literature course is very writing heavy, she has a 12 page research paper on parenting due for her child development class, and works 20-25 hours a week as a grocery store cashier. I'm not really hurrying to throw any additional writing assignments on her either right now but will if I have to.

 

Neither of the kids are university bound and both will probably end up with a vocational certificate from the local CC. Our primary goal is really to get them a general overview education and make sure they're well prepared to hold down a job and take care of themselves. We are definitely not hs-ing to college-prep standards by any means.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear on what we'd be discussing. If I have them pick a book, read it, and write some type of response paper on it, I will not be reading those books. If we opt for discussion and/or quizzes, it would be on the spine readings.

 

DS's writing skills are only about 6th grade level and his grammar is somewhere around 7th/8th. We're just starting WWS b/c we need a solid writing program, and even getting decent short paragraph answers to anything is extremely difficult. We've done a few research-based PowerPoint presentations for science just to get him familiar with researching information, but he's nowhere near ready to write any kind of formal paper. That's why I thought some type of informal response or compare/contrast paper on a book of his choice for each of our 7 history units might be good. I thought if it was short and sweet it would be help with his writing skills and still be enough to count for part of a history grade. I just don't know how to guide him in picking what to write on, if we even go that route.

 

DD's literature course is very writing heavy, she has a 12 page research paper on parenting due for her child development class, and works 20-25 hours a week as a grocery store cashier. I'm not really hurrying to throw any additional writing assignments on her either right now but will if I have to.

 

Neither of the kids are university bound and both will probably end up with a vocational certificate from the local CC. Our primary goal is really to get them a general overview education and make sure they're well prepared to hold down a job and take care of themselves. We are definitely not hs-ing to college-prep standards by any means.

 

What are their reading levels like? I scanned the books listed in the World War I section (picked just because that's what we're covering at the moment). I don't have a particular issue with the books (I think we own all of them) but they might be something of a challenge unless your kids are already accustomed to reading a lot of adult history.

 

I don't think that you have to be college educated to enjoy history. But I wonder if the summaries on the website would give them the background needed to understand and enjoy the books you would then be assigning.

 

Most of the books listed are often in libraries. You might want to flip through a sample of the books you would be assigning to see if they are really what you're looking for.

 

ETA: Please don't take this as a critique of you or your family. I just spent a few minutes flipping through the Civil War section, because I wanted to see what books were recommended there (Answer, books that I think would be a frustration to most high schoolers because they are either very specialized or a dense, complete survey like Shelby Foote's 3 vol history.) Without even getting into the issue of who thinks what was the cause of the war (which might be the topic of honest debate), there are simple errors of fact in the section about John Brown and Kansas (like the chronology of settling Kansas, which way the vote went when they voted for free or slave). I do not normally suggest other homeschoolers avoid particular curriculum. But I would very much suggest avoiding this one. If this isn't a favorite topic or is one you just want to get done, I don't think you'll want to invest the time to detect and refute the errors in it.

 

If you described the features that you found helpful (ex, book recommendations and historical summaries) maybe someone could suggest another option that wouldn't require an extensive background on your part.

[EKS]

Now that I understand a bit better what you're looking for, I'd recommend taking a look at K12's Human Odyssey series and/or their World History: Our Human Story (quite a bit harder to find). The Human Odyssey series is written for grades 7-9 and provides an accessible, coherent, and interesting overview of world history. Their World History: Our Human Story does the same thing (and actually takes parts directly from the Human Odyssey) but it is written for high school students.

 

And, as for writing, I would assign whatever you think will stretch your students without breaking them. I think it is important to have output in a history course that is more than discussion or fill in the blank tests, but you can tailor it to the level of your students.

[bobbeym]

Thank you everyone, for your honest feedback. Especially big thanks to those of you that took the time to read through the site and critique it. DH chose the site b/c it could be used for short daily reading assignments but had said it wasn't "enough" and I would need to add to it. He probably didn't read enough of the content to realize there were factual errors, and I *despise* history and wouldn't have a clue what was factual or not unless it was something very, very major.

 

Our dilemma is that DH is the only person in this household that likes history. The rest of us can't stand it and don't want to study or teach it in general. We do have a few select favorite eras that we don't mind delving into, but that alone wouldn't be enough for a credit.

 

What I'm trying to find is something that gives a high level overview of the major civilizations and events - meaning those things that every adult would be expect to have at least a general understanding or awareness of. A high level overview would also give us better opportunity I think to dig deeper into a few unit studies here or there depending on the kids' preferences. I'm finding very limited options that are free online and most used world history texts or curric packages are still way out of our budget. We're about to move into our spring semester and I'm really trying to solidify what we're going to be using before we get there.

 

I did find a somewhat decently priced 7th ed copy of Spielvogel's Western Civilization that I think I can manage but the 1,000+ pages makes me cringe. I wouldn't have a clue how to go about cutting it down to pull out what's most critical, and I don't see how we could possibly cover the whole thing in 18 weeks.

 

We already have a copy of Notgrass Gov't on hand and I'm half tempted to just have DS take that this term and put off world history for a couple more years.

 

ETA: Both kids have advanced reading and comprehension levels, and DD's writing skills are fine. It's only DS that struggles with writing.

[regentrude]

I did find a somewhat decently priced 7th ed copy of Spielvogel's Western Civilization that I think I can manage but the 1,000+ pages makes me cringe. I wouldn't have a clue how to go about cutting it down to pull out what's most critical, and I don't see how we could possibly cover the whole thing in 18 weeks.

 

Get the Spielvogel Western Civilization: A Brief History

It is an abridged version of Western Civ with only 650 pages. I would guess 50 pages go for intro and index and stuff like this - 600 pages in 18 weeks is only 30 pages per week or 6 pages per day.

 

(Btw, why 18 weeks? Wouldn't one normally take at least a year for a World history credit?)

 

Here's one for $3.84 and free shipping:

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=8525625733&searchurl=an%3Dspielvogel%26kn%3Dbrief%26sts%3Dt%26tn%3Dwestern%2Bcivilization

[bobbeym]

Get the Spielvogel Western Civilization: A Brief History

It is an abridged version of Western Civ with only 650 pages. I would guess 50 pages go for intro and index and stuff like this - 600 pages in 18 weeks is only 30 pages per week or 6 pages per day.

 

(Btw, why 18 weeks? Wouldn't one normally take at least a year for a World history credit?)

 

Here's one for $3.84 and free shipping:

http://www.abebooks....rn+civilization

 

SOLD! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

The one I was looking at online said it was a Spielvogel Western Civilization: A Brief History, but it had a different cover and when I matched the cover up in Amazon, it said it was 1K+ pages.

 

We did a modified block schedule for DS and DD. He took Earth Science fall term and will do World History in the spring term. DS has a gov't/w.history combo.

[dbmamaz]

also look at this website http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/

[Nscribe]

also look at this website http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/

 

This site offers units on each era and will provide you with questions and exercises that may help in your goals. I have pulled bits along the way (remembering one that showed people involved in indigo trade).

 

Spielvogel has written many versions of World History or Western Civilization over the years. I have never used the brief version, but based on several other versions I would assume it is good. He is particularly good about trying to paint an overall picture of the times including references to various aspects of living (cultural trends, spiritual movements, lifestyle choices, literature, art, music ...).

 

As daunting as 1000 pages seems, when compared to the task of trying to describe human history 12,000 plus years across the globe developing in different ways, it really is just a survey. John Quincy Adams wrote far many more pages just briefly journaling his very full life and we still wonder about so many things. History is often boring to many because it seems remote and made up of lists of a series dates, wars, rulers and such. When it becomes a story that helps us understand who and why we are, it begins to live.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

 

 

SOLD! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

The one I was looking at online said it was a Spielvogel Western Civilization: A Brief History, but it had a different cover and when I matched the cover up in Amazon, it said it was 1K+ pages.

 

We did a modified block schedule for DS and DD. He took Earth Science fall term and will do World History in the spring term. DS has a gov't/w.history combo.

 

http://www.wadsworth.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn=0534646026&discipline_number=21

This is the companion site for an older edition of the full Western Civ book. It may be helpful as a source of questions or important terms. There should be a good overlap with the Brief edition.

[swimmermom3]

:iagree:

 

If you're wanting an excellent world history text that takes the big history approach, I'd highly recommend taking a look at Ways of the World by Robert Strayer. It is probably the most well written textbook I've ever read (and I read the entire thing aloud, which tends to uncover poor writing more readily). The questions at the ends of the chapters require some thought to answer rather than simple regurgitation. Primary sources documents are in their own section at the end of each chapter. Highly recommended!

 

As for writing assignments, I had two types. There was a weekly assignment where I had my son summarize each textbook chapter in about 500 words. The idea was for him to pick out the important points and themes write in a coherent fashion about them. The second type was along the lines of what regentrude described. I assigned about four of these per year.

 

Kai,

 

This is high praise, Kai. Ds and I have been alternating between Bulliett's and Lockhard's AP text and I find them to be really dry. Did your son take notes on the chapter or was the summary proof enough that he read the chapter?

[Sebastian (a lady)]

 

 

http://www.wadsworth.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn=0534646026&discipline_number=21

This is the companion site for an older edition of the full Western Civ book. It may be helpful as a source of questions or important terms. There should be a good overlap with the Brief edition.

 

 

Also this is the World History syllabus that a friend of ours uses. It references a different book but might help with pacing, questions, projects and movie tie ins.

http://sp.stmarysannapolis.org/highschool/klatham/Courses/wh-lessons.aspx

[elegantlion]

I asked a similar question about output with a writing delayed student earlier, there might be something helpful for you. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/453265-output-ideas-for-kids-who-are-still-building-writing-skills/

 

My son has a high comprehension level, on pace reading level, and is still developing his writing.

 

I own the Speilvogel Western Civ book (brief edition) and the Human Odyssey book. The Western Civ book has been very workable for us this year, although we only focused on a few chapters. I like it over the Human Odyssey book in content because it gives enough information to make it interesting.

[EKS]

Kai,

 

This is high praise, Kai. Ds and I have been alternating between Bulliett's and Lockhard's AP text and I find them to be really dry. Did your son take notes on the chapter or was the summary proof enough that he read the chapter?

 

Since I read it aloud to him, I wasn't looking for proof of reading. I used the summary to force him to think about the material and what was important and also to give me a sense about what he was getting from the text. But another way to do that would also require a bit more in the way of analysis would be to answer the questions at the end of each chapter. They can be quite good.

 

Here are some examples taken from the chapter "Religion and Science, 1450-1750":

• Compare the processes by which Christianity and Islam became world religions.
  
• In what ways did the spread of Christianity, Islam, and modern science give rise to culturally based conflicts?
  

And some more from "Atlantic Revolutions and their Echoes, 1750-1914"

• Make a chart comparing the North American, French, Haitian, and Spanish American revolutions. What categories of comparison would be most appropriate to include?
  
• In what ways did the Atlantic revolutions and their echoes give a new and distinctive shape to the emerging societies of nineteenth-century Europe and the Americas?
  

I picked Ways of the World because after two world history cycles, I thought my son needed less history rather than more. Ways of the World is not about the details (though obviously there are some); it is about the trends, and this is reflected in the types of questions that are asked. You could easily get through the entire thing in a year (we actually did it in a semester, which I don't recommend) but I think a perfect amount of time would actually be two years, one for each volume.

[jhschool]

Get the Spielvogel Western Civilization: A Brief History

It is an abridged version of Western Civ with only 650 pages. I would guess 50 pages go for intro and index and stuff like this - 600 pages in 18 weeks is only 30 pages per week or 6 pages per day.

 

(Btw, why 18 weeks? Wouldn't one normally take at least a year for a World history credit?)

 

Here's one for $3.84 and free shipping:

http://www.abebooks....rn+civilization

 

 

I just got one too! I have two Spielvogel texts, but while they are

good resources this will be nice to have.

[EKS]

I own the Speilvogel Western Civ book (brief edition) and the Human Odyssey book. The Western Civ book has been very workable for us this year, although we only focused on a few chapters. I like it over the Human Odyssey book in content because it gives enough information to make it interesting.

 

 

Spielvogel's Human Odyssey book is the *worst* history text I've ever read. It is extremely disjointed (except for the chapters dealing with non-Western topics). I have never seen the Western Civ book, but my suspicion is that the problem is a poor editing job converting the Western Civ book to a high school world history text.

[elegantlion]

Spielvogel's Human Odyssey book is the *worst* history text I've ever read. It is extremely disjointed (except for the chapters dealing with non-Western topics). I have never seen the Western Civ book, but my suspicion is that the problem is a poor editing job converting the Western Civ book to a high school world history text.

 

 

:lol: that would probably be a good assumption. I have the TE to the Human Odyssey book, there are good notes and I like having answers to chapter reviews. It's heavy enough to be used as a lethal weapon though.

 

I've had ds read the relevant parts out of the Western Civ book and then use the questions from the HO book. I bought them all very inexpensively, so it's been worth it. However, I've read the HO section and looked at the questions to answer and wondered how the student was to infer so much from such little text.