Boy, those grade 9 students are keen! They’ve got all their teachers hoping this a sign of things to come for the entire school year.
Grade 9 officially kicked off IGCSE History today and our first topic of the year is the unification of the German states into the country we now call German, between 1815 and 1871. This is an extremely important topic, as it sets the stage for much of world history for the next hundred years.
The text we are using for this topic is the one pictured above. Even as a history teacher and avowed history geek, I’ll be the first to admit that the title of this volume is pretty plain and not exactly teen-friendly…but then they went and put that picture on the cover?
What, a photo of Otto Von Bismarck sleeping was unavailable?
[If I ever get into the textbook industry, I’ll help the execs understand that the binding, title, and cover is so important to hooking a teen’s interest in a book.]
But any worries I had about the grade 9 introduction to IGCSE History was clearly misplaced–they had an outstanding double period reading and discussing the political and economic situation in the German states in 1815. I was impressed with their focus and seriousness, particularly because it was the final period of the week.
This course will be a real challenge for them, especially because the level of reading is much higher. They will be required to give serious thought to the topics, synthesize a whole lot of information, and write strong short and extended responses.
But, hey, if they can take a look at that book cover and still stay excited about history, they can do anything.