Community Review of OER Project | Common Sense Education

Write your own review

Teacher Review for OER Project

Lisa E.
Classroom teacher
Summit School

My Subjects Social Studies

Save Changes

My Rating

Learning Scores

Engagement

Pedagogy

Support

Classroom feedback

My Students Liked It Yes

My Students Learned Yes

I Would Recommend It Yes

Setup Time More than 15 minutes

Great for Further application
Individual
Knowledge gain

Great with Advanced learners

How I Use It

I choose pieces of the Big History curriculum that fit with my seventh grade Ancient Civilizations course. In particular, I used Big History's "claim testing" method to teach my students to evaluate sources and arguments within sources. I also used some of the leveled reading (mostly linked from another awesome resource - Newsela), video and other activities to round out some of our units.

My Take

As the name states, Big History is a great resource for helping students tackle big questions. The curriculum pulls together thematic resources from various civilizations to help students investigate important concepts like how humans populated the globe or how trade networks developed. Since I teach middle school, a lot of the material is too advanced. I like introducing students to this sort of thinking, though, and many of the resources are leveled. My class - mostly ancient civilizations with some modern connections - doesn't lend itself to the entire course (which would be awesome to teach), so I pick and choose.

Pick and Choose Resources to Lay Foundational Middle School Skills

Learning Scores

Classroom feedback

How I Use It

My Take

Other Teacher Reviews For OER Project