Ages: mature history enthusiast 9+

Class will be somewhat self-differentiating and pitched to 7-10th grade, so if you think your child has the requisite skills and fits this description despite not being the listed age, reach out to me.

This engaging, hands-on history class will cover an in-depth study of the main features of the 19teens-1940s from the world wars to the roaring twenties, stock market crash, Great Depression, and so forth.  We will spend 2 weeks on every decade.  

This class will facilitate the students interacting with history in a creative way, bringing history to life through participation in 

• topical skits, 
• short films, 
• debates, 
• poetry, 
• song, and 
• the culminating project will be each student presenting one event from this time period in the fashion of their choice using their own talents & interests (giving a speech, making a graphic novel, performing a ballet about the topic, etc.), lasting 5-10 minutes long on the last day of class.

Most of the minimal reading will be done in-class, and students will be coached on note-taking techniques and study skills during this time.  

Goals of Class: 

• To teach the students how to use their own talents in a class presentation
• to help the students to develop a personal, emotional (but age/personality appropriate) relationship with history
• to enable students to experience history deeply and promote retention of the material
• to have fun and feel empowered by history rather than only being depressed by it; to learn how to get through our sometimes sensitive, difficult past and see hope and progress in it

Workload & Homework

In Class

• articles, short readings, poetry, songs, short videos, etc.  will be viewed/read/heard and discussed
• the class will be surveyed before the session starts so that the teacher will know the students' preferred creative forms of expression (visual art, building, music, etc.) and I (the teacher) will model how these forms of expression can be used to convey messages in history throughout the semester, which will help to prepare the students for their culminating project
• students will perform topical skits, poems, etc. for each other and re-enact history
• students will be coached on note-taking and will receive weekly 5-or-fewer question quizzes to give them some accountability and motivate them to be attentive...  and to let me, the teacher-- know what they are understanding and retaining of the material.  I will teach test-taking skills before these quizzes as well, and we will get practice with scantrons, short answer sheets, and so forth, to prepare students for any classes requiring that sort of thing.
• learning games and game-show-like competitions with buzzers will be held, to help students to retain the material in a fun and active way

Homework

• This class is not designed to be homework-heavy, since it's meant to compliment AP world history and any other history classes the students may be taking, which are likely textbook heavy.  Therefore-- 
• Students may have lines to memorize for a 3 minute skit, or pro-con sheets to write for a classroom debate, that sort of thing. I would not expect any of the homework to exceed 15 minutes per week until the culminating project, which can be worked on throughout the semester and will only be 10ish minutes long anyway on the last day.
• I will share recommended historical and historical fiction readings, videos, etc. for students to read/watch over the summer and during the semester if they are interested in further exploration of the topic
• I will also share optional activities and readings/films etc. that would be appropriate for families, in case your student has younger/older siblings who would like to study the same subject at home

Teacher: Mary Poole.  

Mary is certified in k-9th grade and enjoys teaching gifted children because aside from being fascinating & creative, they are usually also hilarious, and they understand her sarcasm and dark sense of humor and get her puns and jokes.  Mary was not alive during the 19teens-40s, but if she was, she would like to have Katherine Hepburn's wardrobe, the Great Gatsby's money, and a job in Hollywood. 

Materials, to be brought every week: 

• 2 sharpened #2 pencils with art gum or pink pearl erasers (ie erasers that actually work), labeled with student's name on them

• a lined notebook reserved just for this class, labeled with the class name and student name

• colored writing implements of your student's choice-- pencils, markers, oil pastels, etc., labeled with your child's name on them

• a loaded nerf gun of your choice, with your child's name on it and on each of its bullets (for shooting answers on the wall to things that are boring to memorize but are important to know like dates etc.)

Cost (covering photocopies, printouts, iTunes purchases, cds, props, and so forth)

• $57

Class Min.: 6

Class Max.: none

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Family must register for LOGYC Coop in order to sign up for classes.