World History
The Henry Ford Academy
Sunrise in Bagan, Myanmar. Photo taken December 2015.
World History is a core class in the 11th-grade curriculum at the Henry Ford Academy in Dearborn. This course aligns with the Michigan Department of Education standards, the Common Core State Standards, and the National Council for the Social Studies' C3 Framework (College, Career, and Civic Life). The aim of this class is to give students the tools to better understand the world around them. As we examine over 250,000 years of human history, from early humans to the modern era, students will work with a variety of texts (historical documents, secondary sources, videos, art work, etc.) and learn how to evaluate evidence and make historical arguments.
About the course
About Mr. Firman
Mr. Firman has taught in a variety of contexts from college classrooms in Southeast Asia to outdoor education and adventure learning settings with middle school and high school students in Maine, Washington State, the Spanish Pyrenees and the French Alps. This year at HFA-Dearborn marks Mr. Firman's third year of classroom teaching. Before starting his student teaching in Michigan, he taught for two years as a Princeton in Asia fellow at Khon Kaen University in northeastern Thailand. Whether he is teaching English as a foreign language, leadership skills in the wilderness, or social studies, what remains consistent is a deep commitment to student-centered learning and an unwavering belief that, given the right support, all students can succeed.
Currently completing his graduate work in social studies education at the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor, Mr. Firman focuses on teaching practices that foster intellectual character and support students in their development as strong writers, readers, and critical thinkers.
Some Thoughts from Calvin and Hobbes
Ever felt like Calvin, and wondered "Why am I learning this?" or "why does this even matter to me today?" Those are the right kind of questions to be asking in history class. In order to keep history class from just being one darn fact after another, it is important to make clear connections between historical events, civilizations, and facts. It is also important to see the ways history connects to our day to day realities as well as how it relates to science, art, math, foreign language, and English. In this course we will study the big picture so that we can better understand how the details and facts fit into the arc of time. This will help us understand who we are as humans and how the world came to be the way it is.
Watterson, B. (1995). The indispensable Calvin and Hobbes (1st ed.). Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel.