Welcome Letter 2011-2012

Welcome to Ms. Holland’s World History Class!!

I am so excited to begin this year learning about the exciting subject of history, geography, and world cultures! In this class you will be pushed to do your best work and we will ALL be learning from each other (me included! I have a lot to learn from all of you!) We will explore all different parts of the world and use new technologies to gather and use information in new and creative ways.

For the first time, I am going to try and incorporate a lot of new technologies into our classroom to help us engage with history and learn in new ways. This is going to be collaborative- meaning we will be creating learning environments together (not just me giving you information) and we will have to discover, play with, and use these tools together throughout the year. This is my first year trying this with a class so we will be learning it together. For example, we have a class blog where I will post thoughts on the class, interesting news about history or current events, and homework assignments. You will need to check that regularly. In addition, you each will have your OWN blogs. On these blogs I will ask you to answer questions, write reflections and more which will serve to help your own learning and allow others to learn from your thoughts (which ARE interesting, new, and important!). When you “publish” these posts, I will read and grade you as a homework assignment. We will be doing more with technology but will discover those things throughout the year.

The most important part about this class is YOU. You need to learn information and skills which will help you throughout your school and professional lives. I hope to teach you how to become critical thinkers and readers, and how to be global citizens. What does that mean? The world is getting smaller (through quick connections such as planes, internet, television etc). We are connected to people all around the world.

Because of that, we have a responsibility to know something about people and cultures besides our own. We should know how the world has come to look the way it does and many different cultures and races had a hand in that (not just the USA!). Also, politics and the economy are strongly connected globally. For example, do you know anyone who is unemployed? The US economy is currently weak and has a lot of people without work. Many companies are creating jobs in India instead of the US. Why are they doing that if so many people here don’t have jobs? We will learn why that is culturally, historically, and geographically.

I look forward to this being a GREAT year! I hope you do as well. I am accessible during school, after school, and online. You are free to email me with any questions about class or concerns you have if you think you are falling behind. Tell your parents or guardians about our class blog so they can also keep track of what you are doing in this class and can contact me.

Let’s begin this year!!

Ms. Holland