1200 U1 Guide
Unit 1 Guide
2Unit 1: Narratives and FramesEverything has a history, and these histories come in many shapes and sizes. To make sense of this complexity, we often “frame” history within time or space, much as we might crop a photograph to fit into a smaller picture frame or blow it up to fit into a bigger frame. The size and shape of the frame defines and constrains our perspective. Temporal and spatial frames—or scales—do just that for the stories we tell about the past. Often, history courses limit themselves to a few temporal and spatial scales to tell the story of a group of people or a nation. In OER Project: World History, we will move between histories of various shapes and sizes, a practice we call scale switching.
Unit 1 Learning Objectives1.Examine how historians frame history by creating narratives at different scales of time and space. 2.Evaluate how historical accounts are complicated and enriched by multiple perspectives.3.Understand the course frames of communities, networks, and production and distribution, and how they can be used to analyze history. For individual lesson learning objectives, please review the lesson teaching guides.
Big Questions In this unit, students will consider this Unit Problem: How does changing perspectives change our understanding of history?To help them answer the Unit Problem, students will also consider the following questions:1.How do historians use evidence to create narratives about the past?2.How can frames help us understand history?3.How does scale switching help you make sense of your world?
Lessons OverviewLesson 1.1History StoriesLesson 1.2 What Is World History? Lesson 1.3 History Frames Lesson 1.4History and MemoryFollow the links above to explore each lesson in this unit. Look for this symbol to find the lesson guides, which provide teacher guidance, including sample answers.
6Teaching Tips
Openers and ClosersYou’ll find quick opener activities at the start of each lesson. They’ll help students preview the upcoming material and engage their prior knowledge. Although we’ve written them to align with the content of each lesson, feel free to swap in any openers/do-nows/bell-ringers that you already use! You’ll find closer activities at the end of all lessons—they’re meant to give students the opportunity to reflect and show their understanding. While we’ve written them to align with the content of each lesson, feel free to swap in exit tickets or other checks for understanding. Check out the complementary Zooming Outopener and Zooming In closer in Lesson 1.2!For more information, check out Openers and Closers Quick Tips.
VideosWe use videos as a visually engaging approach to course material. While students are often excited to learn that they’ll be watching a video in class, video-watching is a skill, just like reading an article. Here are a couple of quick strategies to get you started:•We suggest students first read the video description and Guiding Questions, or even skim the video transcript. We’ve provided you with time stamps and sample answers, which students will not see. •We recommend chunking the videos using the Key Ideas feature, which pauses the video at the specific times of the corresponding Guiding Questions, and provides an opportunity for discussion or note-taking.•You can also play the video twice: once straight through and once with pauses at key ideas.•Check out How to Watch Videos—it’s a great way to introduce instructional videos in your classroom. For more information, see our Video Guide.
ActivitiesActivities are an important part of OER Project lessons and serve to build student understanding and engagement. Activities provide an opportunity to get students moving and “doing” history through exercises like informal writing, group work, simulations, and debates.Progression activities appear in multiple units and are based on historical thinking skills like sourcing and contextualization. Each activity in a progression is meant to be more sophisticated than the one before, challenging students but also supporting them as they do this work.For all activities in OER Project—except for some openers and closers—teachers can find directions and sample answers in the accompanying lesson guides. Don’t miss The Historian and the Authorin Unit 1!Click here to learn more about activities.Click here to learn more about historical thinking skills.
ReadingsOER Project includes primary sources and articles written by a diverse group of scholars and OER Project staff. Some of the reading involved in OER Project courses can be challenging, but it is vital for engaging with the course content. All texts in the course—other than those that are part of DBQs (document-based questions) or are primary source materials—have been Lexile leveled, and each article has three or four versions to accommodate students of all reading abilities. OER Project provides Guiding Questions alongside each reading. These questions encourage students to approach the text at three levels—first by skimming the text, next by reading to answer Key Ideas questions (“While You Read”), and finally by evaluating the text through “After You Read” questions that encourage connection and synthesis.In Unit 1, make sure to use Introduction to Three-Step Reading. For more information, see our Reading Guide.
Graphic BiographiesOER Project’s graphic biographies are one-page histories of people. Whether they’re “important” or “everyday,” each of these individuals has their own story, their own history, and those stories weave in and out of the global themes of their era. Their experiences highlight, and sometimes bring into question, developments on a global scale that students are studying as part of the frame narratives presented in the course. These biographies are one of the best ways for students to zoom in, and doing so helps bring nuance to their understanding of history. In some cases, the biographies will complicate the frame narratives—the experience of an individual will not necessarily fit with the global experience—but they don’t invalidate the frames; they just deepen and enrich them.Check out How to Read Comics for an introduction to reading graphic biographies. Click here to learn more about our Graphic Biographies.
Frames of World HistoryLesson 1.3 introduces you to the OER Project: World History frames of communities, networks, and production and distribution. This course asks you and your students to examine world history through different lenses, or frames. The frames help students organize the vast amount of information they will encounter in world history, giving them a framework to help make sense of all the ways in which someone might tell the history of the world. This approach highlights the idea that historical accounts are based on particular perspectives. More important, these frames provide students with big picture, historical “stories,” thus providing a cohesive backdrop against which students can construct their historical understanding. As students move through the course, they will examine how each frame has changed over our long history. Learn more in our Frames Guide.
AssessmentOER Project values a comprehensive approach to assessment. We embed assessments throughout the course—every activity is developed to allow students and teachers to gain insight into their understanding. Our courses give teachers many opportunities to review student work—both formally and informally—and determine areas for improvement and enrichment. However, all assessments are optional and to be used at the teacher’s discretion. We stress the use of rubrics throughout the course. We have a set of rubrics for teachers to use to give consistent feedback to students on their participation in discussions, their presentations, and on their writing. We also provide a standardized set of “thinking tools,” with accompanying feedback forms, to help students understand the goals and targets of each activity.OER Project does not provide guidance on grading. Teachers know their students, instructional context, and routines best, and are without doubt in the best position to assess them fairly. Learn more in our Assessment Guide.
Unit NotebookUnit Notebooks are found throughout this course and offer a great opportunity for informal writing and assessing understanding. The aim of these activities is to keep students and teachers connected to the core themes of the unit. The first time students encounter the Unit Notebook (Unit 1 Notebook: Part 1), they’ll be asked to evaluate each of the statements based on what they currently know. The second time they encounter the Unit Notebook (Unit 1 Notebook: Part 2), they’ll be asked to more thoroughly respond to the questions and revise and refine their initial understanding of the unit’s core concepts. The point here is for students to focus on concepts rather than formal writing. Additionally, the Unit Notebook helps both you and your students assess how their thinking is progressing, where they’re gaining mastery, and where they might need additional instruction.Check out Unit 1 Notebook: Part 1 and Unit 1 Notebook: Part 2