All World History A students: Please complete this survey!
 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AX9_6wXRbUQinB6-rUQSOyh_i5JlOHDC0JxUplgO_lI/viewform

Please consider using these questions to help guide your reading. The blue and black questions are taken right out of the textbook. The red questions are questions I've created to help you read more deeply.

Please take this survey at the end!!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pNPmue1kCh7lkJ-YojqPd5EjqPHUR1GQNhwqrY0jx7U/viewform

Chapter 2 Section 1 Focus Question

What were the characteristics of the world’s first civilization?

Checkpoint Questions and Teacher Questions

What geographic characteristics made the Fertile Crescent a good place for civilization to develop?

When did the first civilizations appear in Mesopotamia?

What geographic feature was this civilization centered around?

What did the Sumerians have to control in order to survive?

What were the building blocks for the first early cities like Ur and Uruk?

How was Sumerian society structured?

What does hierarchy mean?

Who were the people in the highest class?

What was the lowest class?

Describe the social status of women in early Mesopotamia.

What was a ziggurat?

What did the Sumerians believe about the afterlife?

In which book can you read about the afterlife (from this section)?

What is cuneiform?

What advances did the Sumerians make in mathematics and astronomy?

What happened to Sumer over time?

What parts of Sumerian civilization were passed along to other civilizations?

Don't forget the survey!!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pNPmue1kCh7lkJ-YojqPd5EjqPHUR1GQNhwqrY0jx7U/viewform

Hi everyone, ...just wanted to repost something from last year. This is a sample body paragraph from a unit 2 essay. I've underlined the vocabulary we've used in class and found in the outline, so you can see what support looks like.

Try writing your own drafts for achievement points and feedback. This weekend would be a great time to organize your thoughts for Tuesday's essay.

repost {{  Was civilization spread more by trade, religion or nomads? (Make a choice by the end of the week...trade, religion or nomads)... Then write an intro and body paragraph. After today it would be easy to write a body paragraph about religion spreading civilization.

From its beginning, Islam spread civilization by conquering new places and through the Hajj. When the early Islamic caliphates, like the Umayyad caliphate, were growing they would conquer new places and require a tax from non-Muslims. Sometimes they would pay the tax, which would help the empire to grow and sometimes they would convert to Islam and avoid paying the tax. As more people converted to Islam, they took the Hajj which is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. When traveling long distances people brought with them ideas and goods. In the same way, people brought back goods and ideas when they returned from the Hajj. ....wrap up however you'd like...  }}

Chapters 7 and 8 Notes

...annndd....

I almost forgot I'd like to apologize for the delay in posting the unit 1 test items. I'll do better next time.

Unit 2 Post

Greetings World History Students,

So we have been hitting the books hard for a few weeks now and have even completed our first unit test. We've been studying the spread of regional civilizations (unit 2) for the past week and have an exciting few weeks ahead of us before our next test.

It's always good to sit back and think about where we've been. If I were to ask you in a sentence what unit 1 was about ...what would you say? Would you use words like domesticate or food surplus? Could you give examples of early river valley civilizations and would you be able to discuss similarities and differences across those examples? Flip back through your notes or book and refresh your memory. ...even better, if you feel stuck ask a friend! Be brave and challenge yourself, especially if you think talking to your friends about school stuff isn't cool.

Things I've noticed:
-most of you are highly motivated and take notes on a regular basis
--sometimes your notes need more developing ...see below

incomplete notes---
Mansa Musa  = African ruler

well developed notes ---
Mansa Musa ruled Mali after Sundiata. He converted to Islam, but was tolerant of other religions. He went on the Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca, and brought back scholars to help promote Islam in Mali and further strengthened ties with other Muslim states.

Do you see the difference?

Advice:
-continue trying to complete your notes within 25 minutes (25 minutes of FOCUSED effort)
-check out the achievement points list to the right if you are concerned about "points"
-check out all of the links to the right...
-read with purpose...if you ask yourself "why am I reading this anyways?" ...go back to the learning target(s) AND check out the essay question for the current unit.
-If you don't understand the learning targets or the essay question ...see me or ask a friend.

That's it for now...don't hesitate to contact me via email (callendr@ghaps.org).
 Keep up the hard work. Your efforts will pay off!

Mr. Callendar

Academic Year 2013/14

Welcome to my blog!!

Here is my corner of the interwebs, where I will post things related to what I teach.

Let's start slowly!

I'd like to start by encouraging you to sign up for my remind101 feed. Then I'd like you to spread the word about this webpage and the link to remind101. I'll make an announcement during class, too.

More to come.