To See the Forest from the Trees

These last few months in United States History and Government and Global History and Geography I tried to prepare for the Regents exams which took place in early June. Part of this preparation was to help the students see the forest from the trees.

What this means is that often students of history get bogged down in so many facts and details that they panic and think that there’s no way that they can remember so much information for the Regents exam. But the point is that the student is not supposed to remember so much information, he or she is supposed to see how certain general ideas and concepts can tie together facts.

For example, in U.S. History the term Cold War covers the Korean War, Vietnam War, Arms Reductions Treaties and other historical events. By putting these within the Cold War framework, students have an easier time putting historical information in context. In the case of Global History and Geography, the term Economic Interdependence covers the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

So with all of this in mind, study guides and review sessions for the Regents exams in Social Studies for 10th and 11th grades emphasized students being able to put historical facts and information into broad topics and categories. Hopefully the end result will be more positive results on the Regents exams for as great a number of students as possible.

Mr. Drake

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Topics: 10 Tenth Grade, 11Eleventh Grade
Date: Monday, June 17th, 2013 10:59 am