7th Grade:History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond - TCI

ContentHistory Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond, developed by Teachers’ Curriculum Institute (TCI), allowsstudents with diverse learning styles to “experience” history. Based on the principles of Multiple Intelligences,spiral curriculum, and cooperative groupwork, TCI’s powerful teaching strategies offer students many forms ofaccess to historical content, including solving complex problems in groups, learning social studies skills in pairs,and reliving key moments in history through experiential exercises. History Alive! The Medieval World andBeyond contains eight units covering Europe during medieval times, the rise of Islam, the cultures and kingdomsof West Africa, imperial China, Japan during medieval times, civilizations of the Americas, Europe’sRenaissance and Reformation, and Europe’s entry to the modern age. History Alive! The Medieval World andBeyond contains thirty five lessons that tightly integrated classroom activities, reading passages, and standardsbasedassessment. Each lesson revolves around a graphic organizer that helps students make sense of, andremember, key historical information.Student ExperiencesHistory Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond provides students with many opportunities to be successful insocial studies. The program incorporates a variety of teaching strategies and taps into students’ multipleintelligences so that all students, even those who are challenged by linguistic skills, learn and truly understandimportant moments in our world’s history. Because content spirals from basic to more complex, students arechallenged to think critically and often at a higher level than with traditional social studies programs. A set ofcolor overhead transparencies offers large image stimuli for students who are visual learners. An audio CDsupplies aural inputs for students who learn via musical-rhythmic intelligence. Placards designed to be posted atstations around the classroom provide students with an opportunity to do cooperative/collaborative grouplearning with other students.AssessmentHistory Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond offers a variety of ways to measure students’ understanding ofhistorical content. The Interactive Student Notebook pages can become part of a portfolio showing a student’sprogress through the year. An assessment in the Lesson Guide for each chapter measures learning of key terms,historical information, and critical thinking issues.OrganizationEach of History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond’s thirty five chapters are arranged into lessons. Thelesson starts with an overview, objective, and material list for the teacher. A simple Preview activity starts offthe lesson. This “Preview” is designed to motivate students and help them drawn on prior knowledge andexperience to access the lesson’s content.Suggested replacement for the next PP: The lesson then employs a graphic organizer found in the student editionand reading notes in the students’ Interactive Student Notebooks. The graphic organizer gives student a visualmetaphor and inspires them to think carefully about what they have read as they record main ideas in a form thatengages both their visual and linguistic intelligences. Graphic organizers help students see the underlying logicand interconnections among concepts. Reading notes guide notetaking and lend structure to the chapter reading.The next element of the lesson uses the Graphic Organizer found in the Student Edition. This provides a visualmetaphor to further organize learning. Reading notes are then distributed to students. These are designed aroundthe graphic organizer, and guide student note taking. The Reading Notes lend structure to the chapter and helpstudents understand and record information on the main ideas.Finally, students participate in a classroom activity based on one of the multiple intelligences. These multipleintelligence teaching strategies incorporate six types of activities: Social Studies Skill Builder, ExperientialExercise, Problem Solving Groupwork, Visual Discovery, Response Groups and Writing for Understanding.Each strategy concludes with a “Processing” assignment that challenges students to use higher order thinkingskills as they reflect on the lesson. These Processing assignments could be essays, poems, advertisements,annotated diagrams, mosaics, or a host of other differentiated assignments.

Resource MaterialsGratis Items To Be Provided And Under What ConditionsUser’s Guide with Reading Toolkit, a CD-Rom of digitized resources of the lesson guides, student notebook,transparencies, and assessment builder, and Lesson Guides 1 and 2 are provided gratis to each teacher withpurchase of program. In addition, along with each Student Edition purchased, you will receive one InteractiveStudent Notebook gratis.Available Ancillary MaterialsThere are no ancillary materials with this program.RESEARCH DATA/EVIDENCE OF EFFECTIVENESS**The TCI Approach—a series of instructional practices that allows students of all abilities to experience keysocial studies concepts—has been implemented by schools throughout the nation. The input gathered from theseschools shows that TCI programs engage students in active learning, provide opportunities for students to useand improve critical thinking skills, encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning, and arenarrowing the achievement gap. Data suggests that school systems that implement the TCI Approach have seena bump in assessment scores rates in history. In a recent study, researchers found that students in History Alive!classrooms using active learning principles, scored higher in critical thinking tests than their peers in traditionalclassrooms. In a Masters thesis study, it was concluded that students in TCI classrooms reported higher levels ofenergy and awareness in class. Teachers report higher levels of retention among TCI students and a greaterunderstanding of broad historical concepts than students taught using a more traditional approach. Objectivethird party reports on the effectiveness of TCI products are available upon request.

Basal ISBNBasal Title:Publisher:1-58371-376-XHistory Alive! The Medieval World and BeyondTeachers' Curriculum InstituteBasal type: P1 P2 E1 E2Copyright: 2004Edition: 1stGrade(s): K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Subject:Readability: 6.5-7.5Social StudiesVerify that the information above exactly matches the information provided on/in thebasal itself.EvaluatorsDate of evaluationIs there a Teachers Guide indicated for this ISBN?Directions: Complete one form for each basal resource you review. Evaluate the basalresource according to the criteria below. First, determine the extent (STRONGEVIDENCE, MODERATE EVIDENCE, or LITTLE OR NO EVIDENCE) to which thenumbered criteria (1, 2, 3 …) are met by the resource. [Consider the bulleted items inmaking this determination.] Based on these initial ratings, assign a rating for the majorsections (A, B, C and D) Use the comment section under each major section to give thereasons for your ratings. After completing sections A through D, determine whether toRecommend as a Basal Resource or Not Recommend as a Basal Resource, andwrite comments about your decision. Finally complete section E indicating the extent towhich the free-with-purchase/gratis items and the ancillary items as groups (notindividual items) support the basal.YesIf any of the major categories A, B, C or D has a rating of Little or No Evidence for thequalities considered for the category as a whole, Do Not Recommend as Basal.The rating of major category E should not be considered in determining the rating of theother four major categories.Overall Recommendation:Recommend as BASALOverall Strengths, Weaknesses, Comments:

CRITERIAThis basal resource ….A. Encompasses KY Content Standards and Grade Level Expectationschoose from list1. Includes the 5 strands of social studies to the following extent: choose from listHistorical Perspective ------------------------choose from listGeography --------------------------------------choose from listEconomics --------------------------------------choose from listGovernment and Civics----------------------choose from listCultures and Societies -----------------------choose from list2. Addresses content-specific enduring understandings * choose from list3. Addresses content-specific concepts and skills * choose from list4. Makes explicit connections/ integration among strands choose from list5. Strengths, Weaknesses, Comments:* Use the appropriate pages from the Program of Studies for reference.B. Incorporates Other Related Concepts and Skills choose from list1. Incorporation of content from subject areas other than social studieschoose from list• Promotes interdisciplinary teaching and learning through incorporation of skills and contentfrom other subject areas2. Balanced and Unbiased Representations of People and Perspectiveschoose from list• Presents a balanced and unbiased representation of people and perspectives on issuessuch as race, ethnicity, gender, religion, environment, business, industry, and politicalorientation; is free of stereotyping or bias of any kind• Reflects the pluralistic, multi-ethnic nature of society, past and present, with a wide varietyof examples in both pictorial and written content• Is free of factual errors3. Connections to Literacy choose from list• Employs a variety of reading levels and is grade/level appropriate• Provides opportunities for summarizing, reviewing, and reinforcing vocabulary skills and

concepts at multiple levels of difficulty for a variety of learning styles.• Integrates reading and writing in the student text• Uses vocabulary that is age and content appropriate• Identifies key vocabulary through definitions in both text and glossary4. Connections to Technology choose from list• Integrates technology and reflects the impact of technological advances5. Strengths, Weaknesses, Comments:C. Supports Best Practices of Teaching and Learning choose from list1. Engages Students choose from list• Includes content geared to the needs, interests, and abilities of students• Engages and motivates students using components such as real-life situations, primarysources, simulations, experiments, and data gathering.• Includes information and activities that assist students in seeing relevance of concepts totheir own lives and experiences• Provides a variety of strategies, activities, and materials to enhance student learning at theappropriate learning levels2. Promotes Inquiry, Research and Application of Learning choose from list• Provides opportunities for inquiry and research that includes activities such as self-selectingtopics, formulating authentic questions, gathering information, researching resources,observing, interviewing, evaluating information, analyzing and synthesizing data, andcommunicating findings and conclusions.• Requires students to use higher-level cognitive skills (analysis, synthesis, evaluation, etc.)• Provides activities and project for students to deepen their knowledge and cultivate andstrengthen problem-solving and decision-making skills• Provides opportunities for application of learned concepts• Uses a variety of relevant charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, and other illustrations toinvite and motivate students to engage in discussion, problem solving, and other higherorderthinking skills• Emphasizes conceptual understandings that invite students to predict, conclude, evaluate,develop, and extend ideas to support reasoning3. Uses Assessment to Inform Instruction choose from list• Includes multiple means of assessment as an integral part of instruction• Provides evaluation measures in the teacher edition that supports differentiated learningactivities4. Strengths, Weaknesses, Comments:

D. Has an Organization/ Format that Supports Learning and Teachingchoose from list• Presents chapters/lessons in an organized and logical sequence• Provides clearly stated objectives for each lesson.• Uses text features (e.g., titles, headings, subheadings, review questions, goals, objectives,space, print, type size, color) to enhance readability.• Makes use of various forms of media (e.g., CD’s, recordings, videos, cassette tapes,computer software, web-based components)• Includes clear, accurate and appropriate illustrations and/or graphics that reinforce contentstandards.• Provides clear explanations of illustrations• Incorporates a glossary, footnotes, recordings, pictures, and/or tests that aid pupils andteachers in using the book effectively• Uses grade-appropriate type size• Includes user-friendly electronic materials that are easy to operate and allow user control.(Students can shift among activities.)• Includes media that are durable, easy to use and have technical merit• Is accompanied by a teacher’s edition that offers clear and accurate background information• Is constructed in what appears to be durable and able to withstand normal useStrengths, Weaknesses, Comments:E. Has available Ancillary/ Gratis Materials choose from list• Coordinates teacher resources easily with student material (e.g., accompaniments included,student pages shown, instructional technology indicated).• Are well-organized and easy to useStrengths, Weaknesses, Comments: