Teachers In Training
Akron - Ohio
2007
McDougell Littell : Patterns of Interaction.
World History
World history is taught in the United States in seventh and ninth grades. The subject matter covers what has happened in the world from four million B.C to the present.
At Barberton High School, world history teachers have been using the McDougell Litell textbook since 2005.This publisher is one of the most recognized American publishers of textbooks.
This textbook, titled Patterns of Interactions, is divided into eight units that you can view on a website, in the heading: Table of Contents
In ninth grade, social studies start from the chapter on "Enlightment and Revolution, 1550-1789".
On the website page, McDougell Littell proposes also to look at the beginning of a chapter, in the section Samples Pages, with the example of "The Age of Imperialism, 1850-1914". The Chapter is in fact divided into five sections as the others chapters in the book. Every chapter starts with a main idea, a map of the place being studied, a time line and, an exercise for the students: Interact with History. In this chapter, the question asked to the students is: "how would you react to the colonizers?". The goal is to put the students in the role of the people who were colonized.
After this exercise, the first section subject is "The Scramble for Africa" starts with different themes. On the margin, there are suggestions to help the students organize their notes, and also questions that focus on main ideas. All the text is illustrated with different kinds of illustrations, pictures and primary sources.
At the end of each section, there is an assessment that reviews all the important terms, main ideas and some questions to help the students develop critical thinking in the section. Finally, at the end of the chapter, the students have the opportunity to review all the main ideas in that chapter.
Moreover, teachers have a multitude of tools to help them diversify their activities in the classroom. Indeed, in the teacher's edition of the textbook, few activities are proposed with using the other resources which are provided to the teachers.
For example, geography transparencies, primary sources like texts with questions, different kinds of Power Point presentations, electronic review games and tests.
So, the social studies teachers who work with the McDougell Littell edition have a multiplicity of tools to use with their students. Unfortunately, they don't have enough time to use all that the book offers.
By Marie-Pierre