World History class - where are the books??

[Anonymous]

OP here - I am answering my own question. I met the teacher and discovered that there is indeed a book - electronic, but still, a kind of book. The random texts from last week were just to get kids used to some of the exercises they would be doing, and because it takes some time to teach kids how to use the book and get everyone logged in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is by design.

It is a horrible way to teach as many websites are completely inaccurate or politically biased.

Do you think that textbooks are not inaccurate or biased?

I don’t think textbooks are a good value - they are very expensive and fall out of date. Even if a particular period of history hasn’t changed, how we think about it and what about it should be emphasized and how it impacts the present does change.

Though text books do tend to have exercises, and extra info for the teacher which would seem to make lesson plans more easy and much more organized. Would also appear to make things consistent among classroom.

Don't know why admin would make more work for the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I'm sorry if this is a dumb question but if there is no textbook what do they test on? If they are all finding information on various websites then what do they study? Are the tests essays or multiple choice? I would be puzzled on how to help my kid prepare.

You shouldn’t be helping your child to prepare for a test. A teen who is in high school should be old enough to figure out how to prepare for tests in his own classes. What will your child do when it’s time for college if you are preparing him/her for every test

This is not correct. Many 9th graders have NO idea HOW to study for an exam. Learning this skill is important, and just like other skills, it is better to teach it and then back off than to let your child figure it out through trial and error.

Some kids have parents that dont have time to help them, therefore, parents should not help kids with school work or tests. This practice of 'parents helping' perpetuates inequity.

Too bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid in AP world history came home with an enormous textbook.

What textbook?

AP world and most of the AP classes use textbooks.

AP classes are required by their agreement with the College Board to have a college level textbook available. Test prep and AMSCO books do not satisfy the requirement. If your school does not provide a textbook for an AP class, you can report them to the College Board.

My daughter's AP World class offers an electronic textbook. I bought the paper book off Amazon for 28$.

Are they required to have a REAL book or can it be electronic crap?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I'm sorry if this is a dumb question but if there is no textbook what do they test on? If they are all finding information on various websites then what do they study? Are the tests essays or multiple choice? I would be puzzled on how to help my kid prepare.

You shouldn’t be helping your child to prepare for a test. A teen who is in high school should be old enough to figure out how to prepare for tests in his own classes. What will your child do when it’s time for college if you are preparing him/her for every test

This is not correct. Many 9th graders have NO idea HOW to study for an exam. Learning this skill is important, and just like other skills, it is better to teach it and then back off than to let your child figure it out through trial and error.

That is how people learn, including teenagers. They figure out what works for them.

By failing tests; great idea!

That is EXACTLY how they learn. We all learn by failing.

Or you could spend an hour a few times at the beginning 9th grade and help your child learn how to study for an exam...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid in AP world history came home with an enormous textbook.

What textbook?

AP world and most of the AP classes use textbooks.

AP classes are required by their agreement with the College Board to have a college level textbook available. Test prep and AMSCO books do not satisfy the requirement. If your school does not provide a textbook for an AP class, you can report them to the College Board.

My daughter's AP World class offers an electronic textbook. I bought the paper book off Amazon for 28$.

Are they required to have a REAL book or can it be electronic crap?

Unfortunately, electronic books would satisfy the requirement. But I recommend buying a used hard copy as well. Research shows that comprehension and retention is better with print format.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I'm sorry if this is a dumb question but if there is no textbook what do they test on? If they are all finding information on various websites then what do they study? Are the tests essays or multiple choice? I would be puzzled on how to help my kid prepare.

You shouldn’t be helping your child to prepare for a test. A teen who is in high school should be old enough to figure out how to prepare for tests in his own classes. What will your child do when it’s time for college if you are preparing him/her for every test

This is not correct. Many 9th graders have NO idea HOW to study for an exam. Learning this skill is important, and just like other skills, it is better to teach it and then back off than to let your child figure it out through trial and error.

Some kids have parents that dont have time to help them, therefore, parents should not help kids with school work or tests. This practice of 'parents helping' perpetuates inequity.

Please, please tell me that you do not actually believe this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I am answering my own question. I met the teacher and discovered that there is indeed a book - electronic, but still, a kind of book. The random texts from last week were just to get kids used to some of the exercises they would be doing, and because it takes some time to teach kids how to use the book and get everyone logged in.

Did you ask the teacher if the school can get you a hard copy? Many times they have them for those who ask, just not for everyone in the class.

My child prefers the hard copy version of the history text because she got in the habit of reading on the entire topic prior to the lesson being taught in class, and finds it more efficient to do so than when using the e-text.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid in AP world history came home with an enormous textbook.

What textbook?

AP world and most of the AP classes use textbooks.

AP classes are required by their agreement with the College Board to have a college level textbook available. Test prep and AMSCO books do not satisfy the requirement. If your school does not provide a textbook for an AP class, you can report them to the College Board.

What's wrong with the AMSCO AP books?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I'm sorry if this is a dumb question but if there is no textbook what do they test on? If they are all finding information on various websites then what do they study? Are the tests essays or multiple choice? I would be puzzled on how to help my kid prepare.

You shouldn’t be helping your child to prepare for a test. A teen who is in high school should be old enough to figure out how to prepare for tests in his own classes. What will your child do when it’s time for college if you are preparing him/her for every test

This is not correct. Many 9th graders have NO idea HOW to study for an exam. Learning this skill is important, and just like other skills, it is better to teach it and then back off than to let your child figure it out through trial and error.

Some kids have parents that dont have time to help them, therefore, parents should not help kids with school work or tests. This practice of 'parents helping' perpetuates inequity.

Possibly a troll comment.

But the practice of sending kids home after the short school day and not offering additional support perpetuated inequity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is a high school freshman taking World History, and just spent 6 hours this weekend doing a writing assignment that consisted entirely of answering questions about history by going to a list of about 4 websites to find the answers, or using some obvious cut and pastes from such sites that the teacher put on Schoology. The websites were totally random and not great sources for this particular information. If the point was to dig through hundreds of web pages for factoids, then I guess the teacher succeeded, but this certainly isn't the best way to learn about history. It seems that every assignment is like this all year. There is no textbook - the teacher just posts a bunch of general websites or copied texts from websites and has the kids dig for information on the internet. I studied history in grad school and I'm horrified because searching websites for facts has nothing to do with the actual field of history. Some of the sites the teacher provided aren't even very good or well-written. Is the whole county like this? Are there no actual history books, or history articles, or any kind of real history text written by historians?

You studied history in grad school and didn't once mention primary sources? Hmmmmm.

And to answer your question: Yes, by and large, American education is in a terrible way. This is especially true of social studies and science ever since NCLB emphasized ELA and math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I am answering my own question. I met the teacher and discovered that there is indeed a book - electronic, but still, a kind of book. The random texts from last week were just to get kids used to some of the exercises they would be doing, and because it takes some time to teach kids how to use the book and get everyone logged in.

I mean thanks for the update but maybe the lesson here is to reach out to teachers vs. coming to DCUM to vent and start inflammatory posts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I am answering my own question. I met the teacher and discovered that there is indeed a book - electronic, but still, a kind of book. The random texts from last week were just to get kids used to some of the exercises they would be doing, and because it takes some time to teach kids how to use the book and get everyone logged in.

Did you ask the teacher if the school can get you a hard copy? Many times they have them for those who ask, just not for everyone in the class.

My child prefers the hard copy version of the history text because she got in the habit of reading on the entire topic prior to the lesson being taught in class, and finds it more efficient to do so than when using the e-text.

My little genz-er actually prefers the electronic book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I am answering my own question. I met the teacher and discovered that there is indeed a book - electronic, but still, a kind of book. The random texts from last week were just to get kids used to some of the exercises they would be doing, and because it takes some time to teach kids how to use the book and get everyone logged in.

Did you ask the teacher if the school can get you a hard copy? Many times they have them for those who ask, just not for everyone in the class.

My child prefers the hard copy version of the history text because she got in the habit of reading on the entire topic prior to the lesson being taught in class, and finds it more efficient to do so than when using the e-text.

My little genz-er actually prefers the electronic book.

Not surprised. But they aren't retaining much from it. If that matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I am answering my own question. I met the teacher and discovered that there is indeed a book - electronic, but still, a kind of book. The random texts from last week were just to get kids used to some of the exercises they would be doing, and because it takes some time to teach kids how to use the book and get everyone logged in.

I mean thanks for the update but maybe the lesson here is to reach out to teachers vs. coming to DCUM to vent and start inflammatory posts.

Better to upset people here than to upset the teacher.

If you don't like the thread, there is a solution for that.