ESLAHistory PoliciesSkillsBenchmarks

ESLA History
August 2017
Contained Within:
1. Core Departmental Policies
2. Sequence of writing skills, methodological skills, and metacognitive skills
3. Common Core Standards
a. By grade level
b. By skill
Core Departmental Policies
Assessments:
Students should receive written or numeric feedback on at least two assessments per month.
Students should receive a weekly class participation/conduct grade posted at the end of each week.
Each semester should include assignments that require:

1. retrieval
2. chronological and causational thinking
3. narrative construction
4. analyzing and interpreting primary sources
All assessments require rubrics when first assigned. These rubrics should be communicated in writing, not just verbally.
Whenever a student does not receive an A, that student should have access to clear reasons why. Those ideally take the
form of written feedback, but can also be communicated verbally in conference with the instructor.
Homework
Some form of assessed homework should be assigned at least once a week.
On average, 10 20 minutes of homework/night for middle schoolers.
On average, 30 45 minutes of homework/night for upper schoolers.
For Middle School: Keep homework to a minimum over weekends, and none over vacations, as per MS Coordinator Laura Spencer and
Learning Specialist Chloe Adler.
Late work:
Homework: on three homework assignments throughout the trimester (MS) or semester (US), students have the
opportunity to turn in the assignment one-school-day late, with no penalty. After those three opportunities are used, late
homeworks receive a 0.
Larger assignments: The upper limit grade on late work drops 10 points each day its late. So the best an assignment can
do if late one day is 90, two days late is an 80, three days a 70, four days a 60, and five days a 50. After five days, the
assignment receives a 0.
Extensions:
Up to the discretion of the instructor. Please use sparingly though!
Grading
Grades are assigned on an A to F, or 0 100, scale. The basic breakdown is this:
a. A range (90 100) = Formally impeccable work that shows effort and either fully answers or goes beyond the prompt
or instructions. Anything above a 93 is an A, anything below an A-.
b. B (80 90) = Work that is not impeccable, may demonstrate some effort and may partially answer the prompt or
partially follow instructions.
c. C (70 80) = Work that is not impeccable, that either does not show effort or does not answer the prompt
successfully or follow instructions successfully.
d. D (60 70) = Work that is not impeccable that does not show effort and does not answer the prompt successfully or
follow instructions successfully.
e. F (59 or Below) = Work that is either missing or willfully incomplete.
Category weights across the department should generally follow these breakdowns (feel free to move a few percentages
around):
1. Class Conduct 10%
2. Homework 20%
3. Quizzes 15%
4. Tests 25%
5. Essays / Projects 30%
Communication Responsibilities
As those interacting with students on a daily basis, we the teachers are really responsible for providing continuous and
clear information about the students in our care to those who are also interested in their success, especially their parents
and school administrators. Please see this as a professional responsibility as basic as lesson planning and getting to work
on time. Here are the basics that are required:
1. Always respond to Jason Brooks weekly email asking for names of students who have missed homework
assignments or received a D or lower.
2. If a student scores a C- or below on any significant assessment, please write a quick note to the parents
informing them of suchno need to be alarmist in tone here, just convey the information and let them do
with it what they will.
3. If a student misses three consecutive homework assignments, or five total, please see Chloe Adler to formulate
an intervention plan.
4. Use your expertise and professional judgmentif you have any concerns about a student, please communicate
them to me and well figure out a plan.
Grade Level Sequences: Skills, Concepts, Metacognition
The overall goal: create students with critical historical judgment, awareness of the constructed aspects of the world
into which theyre graduating, and a basic foundation of historical information.
Below youll see the basic sequences that we hope will lead to this goal. Each core writing skill, concept, or
metacognitive skill is meant to be the fundamental emphasis for the grade levelthis is not to say that its the only thing
you should teach! It just means that, for that grade level, that writing skill, concept, and metacognitive skill should be the
fundamental emphasis in your curriculum.
Core writing skill
these are the skills that must be mastered by all students by the end of the grade level. You are of course free, to take 6th
grade as an example, to offer assignments throughout the year that require more than a paragraph, but you should make
your mission to have all students mastering the paragraph by the end of the year.
6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th

One paragraph (5 8 Five Three page Self- 5-page 8 10 page 8 10 page
sentences), w/ thesis, paragraph essay designed essay essay essay
supporting evidence, essay research
conclusion/transition, project
and proper grammar.
(mini-
capstone)
Core Methodological Concepts

Evidence Evidence Evidence Evidence Evidence Evidence Evidence
Claims Claims Claims Claims Claims Claims
Bias Bias Bias Bias Bias
Perspective Perspective Perspective Perspective
Narrative Narrative Narrative

Construction Construction Construction
Historiography Historiography
Judgment
Core Metacognitive Skills

Objectivity Argumentation Critical Perspectivalism Reasonableness Weighing Judgment
analysis and self- arguments,
critique revising
ones own
Common Core Skill Sequences.
Below youll find the common core skill sequences/benchmarks, first formatted by grade level, and then later grouped
according to their categories. Take a look at these. Of course we should always aim to be as creative and challenging as
we can be in the classroom, but we also need to be able to say were teaching the basic skills other students around the
country are learning, and we need to be able to point in our curricula to proof of where and how this is happening. If
you feel yourself adrift in course design, or find yourself adrift during the middle of the semester, come back to these
fundamentals.
Common Core, Social Studies 6 8
Key Ideas and Details:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source
distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
Identify key steps in a text's description of a process related to history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes law, how
interest rates are raised or lowered).
Craft and Structure:

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally).
Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance
of particular facts).
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:

Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:

By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band
independently and proficiently.
Common Core, Social Studies 9 - 10

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date
and origin of the information.
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key
events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply
preceded them.

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social,
or economic aspects of history/social science.
Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance an explanation or analysis.
Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details
they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.

Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.
Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author's claims.
Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.

Common Core, Social Studies, 11 - 12

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from
specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes
clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence,
acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and
refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
Analyze in detail how a complex primary source is structured, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger
portions of the text contribute to the whole.
Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims,
reasoning, and evidence.

Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually,
quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.
Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or
event, noting discrepancies among sources.

By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band

Common Core, by Skill
Key Ideas and Details
Social Studies 6 8

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source
distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
Identify key steps in a text's description of a process related to history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes law, how
interest rates are raised or lowered).
Common Core, Social Studies 9 - 10

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date
and origin of the information.
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key
events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply
preceded them.
Common Core, Social Studies, 11 - 12

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from
specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes
clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence,
acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Craft and Structure
Grades 6 8
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally).
Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance
of particular facts).
Grades 9 10
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social,
or economic aspects of history/social science.
Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance an explanation or analysis.
Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details
they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.
Grades 11- 12
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and
refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
Analyze in detail how a complex primary source is structured, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger
portions of the text contribute to the whole.
Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims,
reasoning, and evidence.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
68
Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.
9 10
Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.
Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author's claims.
Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
11 12
Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually,
quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.
Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or
event, noting discrepancies among sources.
Grades 6 8
Grades 9 10
Grades 11 12
By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band

ESLAHistory PoliciesSkillsBenchmarks

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ESLA History

Core Departmental Policies

Each semester should include assignments that require:

On average, 10 20 minutes of homework/night for middle schoolers.

On average, 30 45 minutes of homework/night for upper schoolers.

Core writing skill

6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th

Core Methodological Concepts

6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th

Claims Claims Claims Claims Claims Claims

Bias Bias Bias Bias Bias

Perspective Perspective Perspective Perspective

Narrative Narrative Narrative

Core Metacognitive Skills

6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th

Common Core, Social Studies 6 8

Key Ideas and Details:

Craft and Structure:

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:

Key Ideas and Details:

Craft and Structure:

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:

Key Ideas and Details:

Craft and Structure:

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:

Key Ideas and Details

Key Ideas and Details:

Common Core, Social Studies 9 - 10

Key Ideas and Details:

Common Core, Social Studies, 11 - 12

Key Ideas and Details:

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