|
 what's new
History and the survival
of our species
November
14, 2007
Could knowledge
of world history provide the long-range view that humans will
need in order to survive their selfish drive to destruction?
Possibly, according to studentsfriend creator Mike Maxwell in
his book review/essay in World History Connected, the
online journal of world history education. click
here
Student's Friend 2007/08
update completed
August 13,
2007
The annual revision
of the Student's Friend outline of world history &
geograpy has been posted on the website for the 2007/08 school
year. click
here
..As always, please let
us know if you have any corrections or other suggestions.
Coming next
will be a new addition to the website: study guides for each
of the 12 units of the Student's Friend.
Website facelift
July 25,
2007
After six years, we thought it might be time to update the look
of the studentsfriend.com website. We hope the new look is eye-catching
and easier to navigate than our old site design.
Who are those
two guys anyway?
Maps for Part 2 of the
Student's Friend
October 8, 2006
Like Part 1
of the Student's Friend, Part 2 now has maps to accompany
online
views
of each unit. If you're not sure of a map location listed at
the beginning of a unit, you can see it in the online view.
Part 2 Student's Friend
revision is complete
September 25, 2006
Weeeee're back!
As may be surmised from the entry below, it's been over two years
since we last made significant changes to the studentsfriend.com
website. During this time we focused on completing a major revision
to Part 2 of the Student's Friend . Part 1 underwent a
similar revision three years ago. These revisions are meant to
give the Student's Friend a more global perspective that
places somewhat less emphasis on Western Civilization.
Next, we plan
to prepare maps to accompany each of the new units in the online view of Part 2 of the Student's
Friend . Then we want to give this website a facelift along
with other updates. We hope to see you again down the road.
Student's Friend updated for new school year
August 29, 2004
In time for
the beginning of the new school year, we have posted updates
to Parts 1 and 2 of the Student's Friend, our online textbook
alternative. .Changes include corrections and clarifications
to the revised version of Part 1 (Prehistory to 1500) and updates
reflecting new developments in the world since the last revision
of Part 2 (1500 to the present). Many thanks to Jason, a social
studies specialist in Florida, who offered several suggestions
for improving the Early Middle Ages Unit of Part 1.
Customized outline maps
December 27, 2003
We have developed
three outline maps to accompany Part 1 and Part 2 of the Student's
Friend (a concise outline of world history and geography
available
free on this website).
Two maps to be used with Part 1 are:
- a map of the world without political boundaries and
- a map of the Eastern Hemisphere without boundaries. The Eastern
Hemisphere map shows rivers associated with major ancient civilizations.
The map to be
used with Part 2 of the Student's Friend is an outline
map of the world with political boundaries. Also available
are three new maps from the University of Texas. click
here.
More teacher tools
September
20, 2003
CHANGE AND COMPARISON
CHART - new
This chart helps students analyze civilizations by tracking the
development of eight major aspects of civilization: geography,
economy, technology, political, artistic, religion/philosophy,
interaction, and society. These charts can provide the basis
for answering essay questions about change over time or comparison
across cultures. click
here
SEMINAR, INNER
AND OUTER CIRCLE FORMAT - new
In many respects this activity resembles a Socratic seminar,
but students manage the seminar by taking turns discussing prepared
questions. This package includes guidelines with student instructions
and a scoring sheet for recording student participation. click
here
SOURCE ANALYSIS
FORM - updated
Students use this form to analyze primary and secondary source
documents. click
here
RESEARCH PAPER
PACKAGE - updated
An alternative (and shorter) grading rubric has been added to
this 16-page package. The explanation of references has been
improved. click
here
Improvements to Student's
Friend Part 1 and 4 Eras Timeline
August 24,
2003
After only two days of classes, my students are finding typos
in the revised version of the Student's Friend Part 1. Corrections
have been made, and new cover pages have been added to the revised
Part 1. For the pdf version: click here. For the Microsoft
Word version: click
here.
Also, our 4
Eras of history timeline has been updated to better reflect the
revised Part 1 and "the new world history." click
here
Part 1 of the Student's
Friend revised
August 19,
2003
Part 1 of the Student's Friend has been
revised to make it more consistent with the "new
world history."
The first draft of the new version is now available in pdf and
Microsoft Word formats. click here
A hundred-thousand website
visits
February
23, 2003
During the week of February 16, we reached the milestone of 100,000
visits since the studentsfriend.com website went online July
24, 2001. We are currently averaging about 2,500 visits per week.
One-page summary of world
history
February
2, 2003
A major revision of the Student's Friend is in the works
due largely to the gentle nudging of veteran teacher Heidi Roupp,
a former president of the World History Association. This one-page
summary of world history is a preliminary draft of the first
page of the new Student's Friend. Your comments or suggestions
are welcome. click
here
Contributions
from our online friends
February 2, 2003
Dan, a teacher from Arkansas, historian J.R. McNeill and studentsfriend.com
share thoughts about the dueling historical dating systems, A.D.
versus C.E. click
here
Dan
also thinks students need to connect words to mental images.
click
here
Teacher and
author Wendy Wilson offers suggestions about the use of films
in world history classrooms. click here
Mark, an "amateur
historian" from Canada, suggests some good online geography
and history resources. click here
New and improved teacher
tools
January
24, 2003
ESSAY QUESTION
FORMAT AND GRADING RUBRIC - New
This form presents the essay question to the student, provides
a format for answering the question and includes a grading rubric.
Insert your question in the blank area near the top of the form.
pdf file - click
here
(Sample essay question pdf file - click here)
SOURCE ANALYSIS
FORM - New
Students may use this form to analyze primary and secondary sources
including documents, book excerpts, films, cartoons, etc. pdf
file - click
here
SOURCE ANALYSIS
ACTIVITIES - New
These two complimentary activities involving Christopher Columbus
and Queen Elizabeth I give students practice in analyzing and
assessing the value of different kinds of sources. -
click here
RESEARCH PAPER
PACKAGE - Updated
This package has been revised to include provisions for a thesis
statement, to restrict the use of contractions in student writing
and to clarify the use source codes when taking research notes.
pdf file - click
here
CLASS INFORMATION
PACKET - Updated
This classroom management packet has been revised to reflect
improvements proposed by a work group of secondary school teachers.
pdf file - click
here
Why study history? A brief
lesson
September
8, 2002
While we may understand that knowledge of history is important
for people living in a free society, we can sometimes find it
difficult to convey this awareness to our students. At the beginning
of this school year I tried a new approach that seemed to help
my students visualize the relevance of history. It involves a
sunny day at the beach. (Revised 1/24/03) click here
New teacher tools
August 16,
2002
FILM-BASED LESSONS:
Eight film-based lessons have been added to the Teacher's Aids
area; four deal with content from the Student's Friend
Part 1, and four are appropriate for Part 2. Two of the lessons
were contributed by creative Vermont teacher Dan Deneen. click
here
OUTLINE MAPS
Prompted by inquiries from several of our friends, we have tracked
down some good sources for outline maps. (Revised 12/2/03) click here
FOUR ERAS OF
HISTORY - LARGE SCALE TIMELINE
This concise timeline provides a conceptual framework that will
help students grasp the big picture of history from the big bang
to the space age. The Four Eras timeline identifies historical
watersheds that separate the four eras, and it correlates to
units in the Student's Friend . click
here
STUDENT'S FRIEND
UPDATE
Minor changes have been made to Parts 1 and 2 of the Student's
Friend . The latest updates are now available for viewing
and download. click
here
And just so
you know, we tweaked a few other items in the Teacher's Aids
area, (there's a new cheat sheet for the timeline projects),
but most of the changes are probably too minor to mention.
How to teach: meaning
over method
August 14,
2002
A century of debate between proponents of traditional and progressive
teaching approaches may have missed the point. Perhaps we should
focus first on the important meanings we wish students to learn,
and then try to figure out the best methods for teaching them.
Perhaps meaning, not methods, should drive our teaching. click here
This page completes
our investigation of the fundamental issues surrounding the teaching
of world history and geography. Moving forward our emphasis will
be on identifying the meaningful understandings that students
should gain from history education and the best activities for
teaching them.
The Teacher's Lounge
August 7,
2002
Visit the new Teacher's Lounge and find out what other people
are saying about this website and the Student's Friend
. You might find answers to some of your questions. The Teacher's
Lounge is always open in the Feedback & Collaboration area...so
stop by for a visit, and join the conversation. click here
The nature of history
July 29,
2002
What, exactly, is this thing we call history? Does history record
all of the human experience? Where does it get its information?
Is history accurate and believable? As teachers we probably should
have some conception of the nature of history before we try to
teach history to students. These ideas are explored in the newest
addition to the studentsfriend.com website. click here
It's our first birthday!
July 24,
2002
We've been online for a year now, and we are averaging over 900
visits per week. The studentsfriend.com website has grown considerably
during the past year, and it will continue to grow as we add
more content designed to be helpful to teachers. During the past
year we received a number of thank yous and compliments. This
encouraging feedback makes me believe we are on the right track.
It's great to be part of an online community that is seriously
and optimistically dedicated to good teaching and effective student
learning. (In the Fall of 2002, we began averaging over 2,000
visits per week.)
What to teach: a body
of knowledge
March 17,
2002
The all-important question of "what to teach" drives
many other curriculum decisions. This question is considered
in a major new addition to the studentsfriend.com website. Fortunately,
a review of education literature reveals surprising consensus
on the body of knowledge to be taught in history/geography classrooms.
Accompanying this addition is a new page on the Goal of Education.
click
here
studentsfriend.com Online
Store
March 16, 2002
In preparing the new "What to teach" area, I relied
heavily on the writing of key thinkers in the field of history
education. In an effort to help repay my debt to these educators,
an online store featuring their works has been added to the website.
A few historical films are also available, and other materials
will be added in the future. Purchases made through the online
store help to support studentsfriend.com. click here
A note to new teachers
February
6, 2002
Teaching is hard. Many new teachers struggle to survive those
first few years on the job. Here are some personal thoughts about
the challenges and changes of those early years as a teacher.
click
here
Word 98 added to download
formats
November
12, 2001
Due to teacher feedback, Microsoft Word 97-98 has been added
to the available Student's Friend download formats. These
formats permit you to edit the Student's Friend on your
computer. click
here
New download formats
for the Student's Friend
September 10, 2001
The Student's Friend is now available for download in
five word processing formats which allow you to edit the Student's
Friend on your computer. The Student's Friend continues to
be available in pdf format as well. click here
Pre-opening checklist
August 25, 2001
A checklist such as this is helpful when preparing for a new
semester of school. Life can also be made simpler by gathering
in one file folder all originals to be copied for the beginning
of classes. click
here
Learning and thinking
August 13, 2001
Is brain-based research fact or fad? Are your teaching methods
consistent with scientific knowledge about learning? Find out
by visiting the latest addition to the "Teaching history
& geography" area. click here
Hello out there
July 24, 2001
The studentsfriend.com World History and Geography website went
online at 7:00 p.m.,Tuesday, July 24, 2001. I hope you find it
useful and will consider making it better though your feedback
and collaboration. click
here
|
