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"Why haven't you gotten to Mesopotamia yet..."

Denise Ford

I need support from my wonderful WHP community.  I am the only teacher my building doing World History Project (good for me...). However, as we progress through our studies of village networks and ancient trade networks, I'm confronted with "It's almost November.  When are you going to start teaching about Mesopotamia?"  I know I'm doing this the right way, but I'm faltering in my school environment. I need some support to remind me why this is so much better for my students in their long-term learning of the immensity and wonder and big important ideas of Ancient History.

We are almost ready for the "Early Agrarian Societies jigsaw" so we will be "getting to Mesopotamia" soon (uggh) -- I just need my community to remind me. Anyone else find themselves in a party of one at their school and need to stay strong to keep doing the right thing?

Parents

  • As our colleagues here have already stated, you are not alone.  We've all been there (especially in our first few years transitioning to an OER course).  I teach BHP as our 9th grade world history course.  I've been teaching since September, and I won't be up to Mesopotamia until next week.  I remember at a back to school night years ago a parent asked me what we took out of the curriculum to fit all this other material in.  We've all seen it, parents thinking about what they learned in school and colleagues thinking about what they are used to teaching for years, wondering how/why we're able to transition to those courses.  The truth is things are different now.  The minutia is not as valuable as the critical thinking skills we are able to teach them while at the same time giving them an incredibly unique interdisciplinary approach to world history. 

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  • As our colleagues here have already stated, you are not alone.  We've all been there (especially in our first few years transitioning to an OER course).  I teach BHP as our 9th grade world history course.  I've been teaching since September, and I won't be up to Mesopotamia until next week.  I remember at a back to school night years ago a parent asked me what we took out of the curriculum to fit all this other material in.  We've all seen it, parents thinking about what they learned in school and colleagues thinking about what they are used to teaching for years, wondering how/why we're able to transition to those courses.  The truth is things are different now.  The minutia is not as valuable as the critical thinking skills we are able to teach them while at the same time giving them an incredibly unique interdisciplinary approach to world history. 

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