1. History 7
Mrs. Lofthouse

2. About your teacher 9 years teaching, 4th year at FMS
1st year as a Teaching VP and Activities Director!
Former Bear, Jaguar and Bulldog :)
I have taught all three grade levels in middle school
I coach for the Folsom Lake Earthquakes (and have played soccer my entire life)

3. Outside the classroom I have three daughters (Almost 10, 3.5 and 1)
I LOVE to travel!
I LOVE the beach (If we have a break at school I am usually heading there!)
I own a photography business

5. History 7 Four themes we will focus on throughout the year:
Environment and Society
States and Power
Religions and Philosophies
Increasing Interconnection between regions over Time
There has been an extensive revision of units for 7th grade, more focus is placed on the interconnectedness and the sites of encounter. Although the standards have remained the same, the framework (the way we teach them) has changed. Rather than looking at each civilization in isolation and independent of one another, there is a greater depth of the global perspective and interconnectedness than in the past.
“. . . [W]orld history in this period can be a bewildering catalog of names, places, and events that impacted individual societies, while the larger patterns that affected the world are lost. To avoid this, the focus must be on questions that get at the larger world geographical, historical, economic, and civic patterns. To answer these questions, students study content-rich examples and case studies, rather than surveying all places, names, and events superficially.”
- Chapter 11, p. 238

6. Units of Study
1) The World in 300 CE (Interconnections in Afroeurasia and Americas)
2) Rome and Christendom, 300 CE to 1200 (Roman Empire, Development and Spread of Christianity, Medieval Europe, Sicily)
3) Southwestern Asia, 300 to 1200; World of Islam (Persia, Umayyad & Abbasid Caliphates, Development and Spread of Islam, Sicily, Cairo)
4) South Asia, 300 to 1200 (Gupta Empire, Spread of Hinduism and Buddhism, Srivijaya)
5) East Asia, 300 to 1300 (China during Tang & Song, spread of Buddhism, Korea & Japan, Quanzhou)
6) West Africa, (Ghana, Mali)
7) Americas, 300 to 1490 (Maya, Aztec, Inca)
8) Sites of Encounter in Medieval World, (Mongols, Majorca, Calicut)
9) Global Convergence, (Voyages, Columbian Exchange, Trade Networks, Gunpowder Empires; Colonialism in Americas & Southeast Asia, Atlantic World)
10) Impact of Ideas, (Spread of Religions; Reformation; Renaissance, Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment)

7. Essential Questions and Learning Targets
Every Unit of study will be introduced with an essential question. This question will be the overarching theme and big picture of the unit; all practice and assessments will use the essential question as a focus and end goal of knowledge.
Every Unit of Study will also have Learning Targets. Students will be front loaded with these and each Learning Target will receive a practice grade as well as an assessment grade. (More on that in a bit)

8. What are Learning Targets?
Learning targets are short term goals or statements. Our learning targets will clearly state what I expect students to know and be able to do at the end of the lesson(s) and prior to the assessments.

9. Grades We will be using standards based grading on a 1-6 scale.
Assessments will be 80% of the grade and practice will be 20% of the grade.
Students will self monitor progress with their “practice” on a running record assignment sheet. Prior to the assessment we will have a short conference and determine the practice score together (based on their running records).
On PowerSchool you will also be able to see these practice scores individually they will just not count towards the final grade- ONLY the grade determined during our conference (which will be the mode of the practice scores) will count towards the total grade.
Assessments and projects will be divided into learning targets and each learning target will receive a score 1-6 and put into Power School individually.

10. 1-6 Scale
A list of learning targets will be given to you at the start of each chapter. Each learning target (LT) will be graded according to the following scale.
At the end of each unit, we will convert the 1-6’s into a letter grade/percentages.
Level
What Does This Mean? 6
Almost perfect understanding of the concept or performance of the skill 5
Great understanding and performance, only one small error 4
Good understanding and performance, a few consistent errors 3
You are starting to understand things, but are missing major concepts 2
Minimum level of understanding and performance to receive credit 1
I have not shown enough understanding to pass this learning target

11. Percent Conversion for the 6 point scale
For final grade purposes, a percentage score will be assigned using the scale below.
Sub-Category
Ranking
ONLY at the end of each semester – to determine a percent for report card
Expert 6 95 97
100 5 86 90 94
Apprentice 4 73 80 85 3 60 66 72
Novice 2 50 56 59 1 30 40 45

12. Reassessments
Students are invited to reassess on any summative assessments which include:
Tests
Essays
Projects
A reassessment form will be completed and a date will be scheduled to reassess the learning targets that need improvement.

13. WHY? We all have a clear understanding of expectations of learning
We eliminate the punitive nature of zeros and current grading practices
My goal is for students to learn- this will demonstrate truly what students have learned.
Students have a greater level of investment and accountability because they are involved in the monitoring process