Brooke Barr

Professor Suk
Education Field Experience DUC 230-02
Spring 2015
Welcome Letter Assignment
NJPTS #10 CL02

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Dear Students and Guardians,

I cannot wait to start our year together in Sophomore World History. Before I talk about my plans
and goals for this year, I want to tell you a bit about myself. I received my Bachelors Degree in
Education from Centenary University in 2017. This is my first year teaching and I am eager to
put everything I have learned from my education and personal experiences to teach and push
each of my students to their full potential. In my spare time I enjoy taking care of my horses and
other pets. I also love to cook and travel. I have been fortunate enough to travel to Costa Rica,
London, France, Spain, Belgium, along with spending a fare amount of time out west. I like to
think that the traveling I have done will allow me to bring personal experiences into the
classroom and create engaging conversations about some of the places we will be studying in
class.
I believe in a flipped classroom style of teaching. This style can be explained more in depth in
the syllabus I handed out to the students. The main goal of this style is to be sure every student is
learning the most they can in the period of time we are given and it flips the idea of doing
lectures in class and applying the knowledge learned in school to homework. Students will be
expected to watch a 7-12 minute lecture online every weeknight and one over the weekend. At
the end of each video there will be five questions about the video for the student to answer. Then
when they arrive at school everyone can be on the same page and we can start to apply the newly
learned material to projects and discussions.
My main goal is that by the end of the year, my students will have a basic understanding of and
will be able to intelligently discuss these main ideas:
1. What were the main turning points in world history? Why were they significant?
2. Compare our society today with those of the past. What choices have humans made
over time and how have they ended up affecting us today?

3. What are some of the practices, ideals, and historical developments of major belief
systems of the past?
4. What are some achievements we, as a species, have made over time in art, literature,
discoveries, inventions, scientific achievements, and philosophy?
5. How have groups of humans come in contact with each other over time?
6. Finally what challenges have we faced throughout time? And what were our responses
to these challenges?
In this class, we will be taking a trip to the national history museum and we will also have a
heritage day where students can tell us a bit about where their families are from. We have several
extra curricular programs at our high school for students to be involved in. In class, we will be
having a lot of debates about topics and I want every student to be heard and take advantage of
having their voice heard. If this is something you enjoy and want to do more of I am the head of
the schools debate team and I encourage all students interested to join. This would also be a great
opportunity for students who don't quite yet feel comfortable voicing their opinions to learn
some tools and to gain experience debating and discussing big ideas. For this class, you will need
the traditional materials like a binder, pen or pencil, and notebook. We will be doing a lot of
projects in class, so if parents wish to donate materials such as markers, poster board, and other
craft materials it, would be greatly appreciated.
I expect students to come to class with the required materials, an open mind, and ready to
learn. I cannot wait to begin this new school year with all of you and look forward to all the
new ideas and voices this class has to bring.

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Sincerely Your World History Teacher,
Brooke Barr