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Syllabus

7th Grade Social Studies

Mr. Utyro

/desertsky  (under staff websites)

Desert Sky Middle School

5130 W Grovers, Glendale, AZ 85308

Mr. Utyro # 602-467-6548  

email: keith.utyro@dvusd.org

School # 602-467-6500

(Emails and Phone calls will returned within two days.)

FAX # 602-467-6580

OFFICE HOURS - UPON REQUEST (Classroom 503)

 WELCOME TO THE WORLD-FAMOUS LEARNING EXTRAVAGANZA!!

HOSTED BY: MR. UTYRO

ROOM 503

 Learning Experience:  This class will explore, search, investigate, discover, study, and survey Integrated Global History from the examination of our nations Beliefs & Ideals; Conflict & Change; Individuals, Groups, & Institutions; and Distribution of Power.  Using this examination, we will experience the individuals and events that shaped and continue to change Global.

 Classroom Rule: This is a NO-MEANNESS ZONE!!

 Expectations:  The students should be prepared each day.  This includes having the technology and the necessary supplies to write information, completed coursework, and willingness to participate in class actively and constructively.

Cell phones and all electronic items are to be turned off with headphones/ear-buds put away while in online learning and in the classroom unless otherwise requested.   

Objectives:

7th Social Studies

1. Understand and evaluate historical documents that affected the creation of global history. 
2. Analyze the effect of individuals and events on the creation of the American System within the global system.
3. Describe the duties, responsibilities, and obligations of United States citizenship.
4. Analyze World Wars from multiple perspectives and events.
5. Represent and analyze the interactions of world powers in the aftermath of World War I and the Cold War.

 Adv. Social Studies

Big History weaves evidence and insights from many social science disciplines across 13.8 billion years into a single, cohesive, social science-based origin story. The concept arose from a desire to go beyond specialized and self-contained fields of study to grasp history. Big History explores how we are connected to everything around us and where we may be heading. It provides a foundation for thinking about the future and the changes that are reshaping our world.

Big History challenges students to think critically and broadly and tries to ignite a passion for inquiry. Access to a wide variety of learning resources encourages exploration. Students practice critical reading and writing skills through investigations, projects, and activities, and gain a strong interdisciplinary foundation, which provides a useful context for understanding world events in the past and present. 

 Grade book: I use a “Mastery” grading system in which the student’s individual accomplishment in this class will substantiate the grade earned.  In this system, only those items that a student completed on her/his own will go toward the overall grade of progress.

Exceeds: 87-100%; Meets: 70-86%; Approaches: 51-69%; Falls Below: 50%

*NOTE:  The grades will appear in PowerSchools and records in the following manner:

A = 90-100% B = 80-89%

C = 70-79% D = 60-69% F = 50-59%

 The lowest score for failed attempts is 50%.  If no attempt is made to answer a set of questions or, to do a written response or project a score of zero may be given. Tests may be made up or re-taken.

80% of grade will be based on Assessments; 20% of the grade will be based on Classwork.

 AI usage:

 To be college-, career-, and community-ready, students in the Deer Valley Unified School District are expected to demonstrate academic integrity. Academic integrity is all about being honest and fair in your schoolwork. It means doing work that is entirely your own and giving credit to others (including generative Artificial Intelligence tools) through proper citation when you use their ideas or words.

If you have questions about the guidelines for academic integrity, you should discuss them with your teacher.

Textbook:  Discovering Our Past; A History of the United States    Published by McGraw-Hill (Online Text System).   

Returned signed page only (This page) OR Send electronically by using the QR code Below

We have read and understand Mr. Utyro’s syllabus outlining the class expectations and grading procedure:

Student Name:  _________________________________________

 (Please Print)

Student Signature:  _______________________________________

Date:  __________________

Parent/Guardian   Name:  ___________________________________

       (Please Print)

Parent/Guardian   Signature:  ________________________________

Date:  __________________

Electronic signature:

Syllabus

7th Grade Social Studies

Mr. Utyro

/desertsky  (under staff websites)

Desert Sky Middle School

5130 W Grovers, Glendale, AZ 85308

Mr. Utyro # 602-467-6548  eMail: keith.utyro@dvusd.org

School # 602-467-6500

FAX # 602-467-6580

OFFICE HOURS - UPON REQUEST (Classroom 503)

WELCOME TO THE WORLD FAMOUS LEARNING EXTRAVAGANZA!!

HOSTED BY: MR. UTYRO

ROOM 503

Learning Experience:  This class will explore, search, investigate, discover, study, and survey Integrated Global History from the examination of our nations Beliefs & Ideals; Conflict & Change; Individuals, Groups, & Institutions; and Distribution of Power.  Using this examination we will experience the individuals and events that shaped and continue to change Global.

Classroom Rule: This is a NO-MEANNESS ZONE!! Be KIND!

Expectations:  The students should be prepared each day.  This includes having the technology and the necessary supplies to write information, completed coursework, and willingness to actively and constructively participate in class.

Cell phones and all electronic items are to be turned off with headphones/ear-buds put away while in online learning and in the classroom unless otherwise requested.   

Objectives:

7th Social Studies

1. Understand and evaluate historical documents that affected the creation of global history. 
2. Analyze the effect of individuals and events on the creation of the American System within the global system.
3. Describe the duties, responsibilities, and obligations of United States citizenship.
4. Analyze World Wars from multiple perspectives and events.
5. Represent and analyze the interactions of world powers in the aftermath of World War I and the Cold War.

Adv. Social Studies

* Big History weaves evidence and insights from many social science disciplines across 13.8 billion years into a single, cohesive, social science-based origin story. The concept arose from a desire to go beyond specialized and self-contained fields of study to grasp history as a whole. Big History explores how we are connected to everything around us and where we may be heading. It provides a foundation for thinking about the future and the changes that are reshaping our world.

Big History challenges students to think critically and broadly and tries to ignite a passion for inquiry. Access to a wide variety of learning resources encourages exploration. Students practice critical reading and writing skills through investigations, projects, and activities, and gain a strong interdisciplinary foundation, which provides a useful context for understanding world events in the past and present. 

Grade book: I use a “Mastery” grading system in which the student’s individual accomplishment in this class will substantiate the grade earned.  In this system, only those items that a student completed on her/his own will go toward the overall grade of progress.

Exceeds: 87-100%; Meets: 70-86%; Approaches: 51-69%; Falls Below: 50%

*NOTE:  The grades will appear normally on report cards and records in the following manner:

A = 90-100% B = 80-89%

           C = 70-79% D = 60-69% F = 50-59%                 

 The lowest score for failed attempts is 50%.  If no attempt is made to answer a set of questions, or do a written response or project a score of zero may be given. Tests may be made up or re-taken.

80% of grade will be based on Assessments; 19% of the grade will be based on Classwork; and 1% of the grade will be based on ºÃÉ«µ¼º½work.

Textbook:  Discovering Our Past; World History    Published by McGraw-Hill (Online Text System).   

Returned signed page only (Next page)

We have read and understand Mr. Utyro’s syllabus outlining the class expectations and grading procedure:

Student Name:  _________________________________________

 (Please Print)

Student Signature:  _______________________________________

Date:  __________________

Parent/Guardian   Name:  ___________________________________

       (Please Print)

Parent/Guardian   Signature:  ________________________________

Date:  __________________

Syllabus

^7thGrade Social Studies (Global History; Big History Project)

Mr. Utyro

  (under staff websites)

Desert Sky Middle School

5130 W Grovers, Glendale, AZ 85308

Mr. Utyro # 602-467-6500    email: keith.utyro@dvusd.org

School # 602-467-6500

FAX # 602-467-6580

OFFICE HOURS - UPON REQUEST (Classroom 503)

Description: Big History weaves evidence and insights from many social science disciplines across 13.8 billion years into a single, cohesive, social science-based origin story. The concept arose from a desire to go beyond specialized and self-contained fields of study to grasp history as a whole. Big History explores how we are connected to everything around us and where we may be heading. It provides a foundation for thinking about the future and the changes that are reshaping our world.

Big History challenges students to think critically and broadly and tries to ignite a passion for inquiry. Access to a wide variety of learning resources encourages exploration. Students practice critical reading and writing skills through investigations, projects, and activities, and gain a strong interdisciplinary foundation, which provides a useful context for understanding world events in the past and present. 

Expectations: 

The students should be prepared each day.  This includes having the necessary supplies to write information, completed homework, and willingness to actively and constructively participate in class

**Cell phones and all electronic items are to be turned off with headphones/ear-buds put away while in the classroom and on campus unless otherwise requested.   

Course Themes

The Big History course focuses on three essential skills and three key concepts that we want students to master as part of engaging with the material. The essential skills are thinking across scale, integrating multiple disciplines, and making and testing claims. The core concepts are thresholds, collective learning, and origin stories.

Essential Skills

Thinking across scales

• Big History encourages students to think across scales, from the massive expanse of the Universe to the smallest of atoms.
• Students need to think across both temporal as well as physical scales, looking at problems and trends through the lenses of personal, family, community, national, human, and geologic. They must also consider how scale is connected to perspective.

Integrating multiple disciplines

• Big History encourages the use of interdisciplinary thinking and methodologies. Students should look to integrate the insights of multiple disciplines when analyzing and drawing conclusions about historical information, including social, physical, and natural sciences.
• Students should develop an awareness of the focus of a variety of scholarly disciplines and understand the types of questions they ask, the types of conclusions that they draw, and the types of evidence they use to support their findings.

Making and testing claims

• Big History encourages students to develop a thoughtful, consistent, and rigorous approach to engaging with new ideas and information.
• Students should apply these techniques in their writing and other academic discourse.

Core Concepts

Thresholds

• Big History looks at the Universe as a series of moments called Thresholds. These moments are characterized by a set of ingredients and a set of ‘Goldilocks Conditions’ that result in new forms of complexity. Big History tells the story of the Universe by using these moments to describe Universal change.
• The use of thresholds is unique to Big History, but it provides a helpful means of analysis that can be applied

to more traditional historical contexts as well as other disciplines.

Collective learning

• Collective learning is the human ability to share, preserve, and build knowledge over time.
• For David Christian, this is the defining characteristic that separates humans from other species.

Origin stories

• There are numerous explanations of the origins of our planet as well as the Universe as a whole. Since the time of the earliest humans, we have struggled to make sense of our world.
• The Big History origin story is incomplete and will continue to evolve as science and scholarly inquiry continue to advance.

Course Learning Outcomes

1. Explain how thresholds of increasing complexity, differing scales of time and space, claim testing, and collective learning help us understand historical, current, and future events as part of a larger narrative.
2. Use perspectives from multiple disciplines to create, defend, and evaluate the history of the Universe and

Universal change.

3. Deepen an understanding of key historical and scientific concepts and facts, the ability to use these in constructing explanations.
4. Engage in meaningful scientific inquiry and historical investigations by being able to hypothesize, form researchable questions, conduct research, revise one’s thinking, and present findings that are well supported by scientific and historical evidence.
5. Critically evaluate, analyze, and synthesize primary and secondary historical, scientific, and technical texts to form well crafted and carefully supported written and oral arguments.
6. Communicate arguments to a variety of audiences to support claims through analysis of substantive texts and topics using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence through individual or shared writing,

speaking, and other formats.

7. Locate and understand how our own place, our community’s place, and humanity as a whole fit into and impact the Big History narrative, using the concept of “thresholds” to frame the past, present, and future.
8. Engage in historical analysis using the theories and practices from multiple disciplines, toward an integrated, interdisciplinary understanding of the history of the Universe.

Grade book: I use a “Mastery” grading system in which the student’s individual accomplishment in this class will substantiate the grade earned.  In this system, only those items that a student completed on her/his own will go toward the overall grade of progress.

Textbook:  Big History Project; school.bighistoryproject.com

Returned signed page only

We have read and understand Mr. Utyro’s syllabus outlining the class expectations and grading procedure:

Student Name:  _________________________________________

 (Please Print)

Student Signature:  _______________________________________

Date:  __________________

Parent/Guardian Name:  _________________________________________

       (Please Print)

Parent/Guardian Signature:  ______________________________________

Date:  __________________