Mr. Gibson's CULTURAL EXPLORATION COURSE OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION
Ni hao parents and students,
May I first take this opportunity to say "xie xie." I am honoured and feel privileged to teach your students as part of the Global Citizenship Program at Mingdao High School. At this point and time I want to share a few things about myself, how the course has been developed, and how I plan to teach the course.
I am a 23 year old American from St. Louis, MO, a large city in the American Midwest. I have a Bachelor's Degree in Secondary Social Studies Education from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, MO which I received in December of 2007. I have taught in the Cape Girardeau School District in Cape Girardeau, MO for two years and one year at Korean International School of Qingdao in Qingdao, China as a homeroom teacher. I am also studying Mandarin.
Your sons and daughters have a tremendous opportunity to study in two languages and two worlds. I pledge to do my best to bridge Taiwanese Culture with Western Culture during our study of World History. In the Global Citizenship Program, we want our students to become "global citizens" aware of, and prepared for, the increasingly more interdependent, multicultural and globalized world while still being aware of and proud of their cultural identity as Taiwanese. We aim for students to be like tall trees. We want them to have strong roots in their home soil, yet be tall enough to see what's going on in the rest of the forest.
WHAT CURRICULUM DOES CULTURAL EXPLORATION FOLLOW?
Since many of you are aiming to attend university in a western country such as The U.S., or The U.K., the performance expectations, learning goals and thematic strands for our World History course are based off of what was developed by the American National Council for the Social Studies (Schneider et. all, 2004). The thematic strands include...
- Culture
- Time, Continuity, and Change
- People, Places, and Environment
- Individual Development and Identity
- Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
- Power, Authority, and Governance
- Production, Distribution, and Consumption
- Science, Technology, and society
- Global Connections
- Civic Ideals and Practices
For a complete list of which learning goals and thematic strands will be used in each lesson, please see the course syllabus.
WHAT IS YOUR TEACHING STYLE?
My personal teaching style de-emphasizes rote memorization. In order to do well in my class, MEMORIZATION WILL NOT WORK!!! Instead, I emphasize a thematic, question based approach to each lesson/question that we are preparing to study based on a "Question of the Day" such as "Why does India have so many people?" or "Why don't Brazilian people look the same?" Upon being asked the question, the class attempts to answer it by reading related texts, researching, reading and interpreting maps, asking questions, and applying knowledge from other disciplines (Did you notice how each section of this course outline has a question?). I evaluate by having each student demonstrate their knowledge by writing essays, writing research papers, and answering questions about each "Question of the Day" in our daily quizzes and exams.
WHAT TEXTS/ RESOURCES WILL WE USE?
For Cultural Exploration, our main text will be McDougal and Littell's World Cultures and Geography and World and Geography: Test Practice and Review Workbook. We will also use prompts and assignments from the internet or ones that I have created. Since this is mainly a Geography class, we will also use a lot atlases and internet maps. I am expecting also expecting the students to create, use, and read a lot of maps.
WHAT ARE OUR GOALS FOR THIS CLASS?
The ultimate goal of this course is for each student, through inquiry, reading the texts, and the scientific method, to gain a large body of knowledge about the geography of the world, civilizations in the world, and basic history of the world while at the same time developing valuable critical thinking skills.
The goal of our Cultural Exploration class is not to score well on a test or simply memorize the capitals of cities and rivers. Memorizing facts only helps us in the short term and in life, no one gives you a test. We are more interested in teaching the basic themes and fundamentals of Geography. Once those basic fundamentals and themes are learned, we will use the scientific method, research and critical thinking skills to apply those themes to the various physical landscapes.
I will grade and assess each student on their understanding of those through tests and weekly homework. If students do their homework, and learn how to ask relevant questions, use the scientific method, and learn how those valuable critical thinking skills, they will do well on the test. For a complete list of our learning goals as developed by the National Council for the Social Studies, please see the Syllabus.
WHAT WILL WE STUDY?
In Cultural Exploration, we will study the fundamentals of geography, how to read maps, how to make maps, and how to use maps. We will also study each region of the world independently. After we learn the fundamentals of Geography, and as we study each region, we will focus on how Geography influences culture.
WHAT IS YOUR HOMEWORK POLICY?
You must keep up with your homework in Cultural Explorations class. We will have homework almost every day in Cultural Explorations class and if you do not complete it, you will get zero points of credit and you will have to finish it during lunch time. If you are sick, please have your parents' call my cell phone so we can arrange some way to either get you your homework or plan on how to get you caught up when you return.
HOW IS THE CLASS BROKEN UP?
The class is broken up into eight units. Each unit focuses on a specific region or continent of the world except for Unit 1 which is called "Introduction to World Geography." We will not follow the order of the units in the book. The book was written and developed for American students, so the units start in North America, move to Latin America, and then to Europe, Africa, and Asia. Since this course has been developed for Taiwanese students, we will start in Asia and move in the opposite direction and end in the Americas. Each unit will take four to six weeks. At the end of each unit we will have a unit exam. At the end of each semester, we will have a cumulative exam of everything we have studied from day one until the final.
Cultural Explorations will be broken up into two years. During seventh grade, they will start with the themes of Geography, and then study Eastern, South-eastern, and South-western Asia. After that comes Australia and Antarctica. Finally, we will go through Northern, Western/Sub-Saharan, Central, East Coast, and Southern Africa. In Grade Eight, they will review their themes of geography and study Western Europe, The British Isles, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Russia and the Steppes. Then, we will move to the Western Hemisphere and study Canada, The United States, Mexico, Central America, Spanish speaking South America and Brazil.
WHAT SHOULD I BRING TO CLASS?
Every day, each student should bring your textbook, pencils, colored pencils (for making maps), pens, English-Chinese and Chinese-English dictionary and some sort of folder in which you can …
- Keep track of papers I hand out
- Keep track of your notes
Other than that, all I ask is that you come into our classroom on time, curious, and ready to have some fun as we study.
WHAT IS YOUR POLICY ON CHEATING?
I take cheating very seriously. Cheating is dishonest, unfair to those who work hard and has serious consequences for society if it is allowed. If you are caught cheating, I will assume that you have cheated everyday! I will not show any compassion or mercy to those caught cheating. The first time you are caught cheating, your parents will be called to the school and you will receive a zero on whatever assignment you cheated on. If you are caught cheating a second time, your parents will be called again and you will receive a zero on your assignment and a zero on your next unit exam.
WHAT IS MR. GIBSON'S CONTACT INFORMATION?
Cell Phone: 093-904-5858
Email Address: mtgibby1985@hotmail.com
