SITE:
Deer Creek Middle School
CLASS TITLE:
Sixth Grade World History
CONTACT:
leminr@deercreek.k12.ok.us
I have been teaching at DCMS since 1995. For the 2009-2010
academic year, I am teaching six sections of sixth grade World History.
It is also my seventh year as chairman of the Middle School Social Studies
Department.
With the sixth grade faculty, I have developed four major inter-
disciplinary activities: "The Gathering," based on the Old and New Stone
Ages (October); "AGORA - The Greek Marketplace" (December); "Antlerborough
Faire," based on the Middle Ages (March); and "The Factory," based on the
Industrial Revolution (May).
Before coming to Deer Creek, I spent more than 25 years as an actor,
director, playwright, and producer in Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma. I wrote
four children's theatre scripts, all of which have been staged at various
community theatres, colleges, and public schools statewide.
I also acted in or directed roughly 150 stage productions. Among other
appearances, I was a re-enactor for the NBC Television Network's "Unsolved
Mysteries" in 1989; I worked on the mini-series "Oklahoma Passage" for PBS,
through its local affiliate the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority
(OETA) ["Oklahoma Passage" is often shown in Oklahoma History classes at
Deer Creek High School. Watch for my appearance as the Railroad Foreman in
Episode Three.]
In November 1982, I portrayed President Theodore Roosevelt in the
State of Oklahoma's Diamond Jubilee (75th Anniversary) Celebration; and in
November 2007, I again portrayed the 26th President in the City of Guthrie's
Centennial Celebration, including a speech to the Special Joint Session of
the Oklahoma State Legislature at the Scottish Rite Temple.
NEW: If you would like to see pictures from some of the productions I
have appeared in, go to the Curtain Call icon on the Home Page.
My sixth grade world history class is a survey course in Western
Civilization. During the academic year, students will study the basics of
world cultures, highlighting their legacies: their values, customs, relig-
ions, governments, and education, including language and writing systems.
During the first semester, students will experience the Old and New
Stone Ages, Ancient Egypt, the Fertile Crescent (with emphasis on Sumer,
Babylon, and the Ancient Hebrews), and Ancient Greece.
Returning from Christmas Break, study continues with Ancient Rome and
the rise of Christianity; then moves into the Middle Ages, including the
beginnings of Islam and the Crusades; on to the Renaissance, the Reform-
ation, the start of Modern Science, and the Age of Exploration; and ends
with the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution.
Additionally, students will have the opportunity to advance their skills
at note-taking, sequencing, predicting, comparing/contrasting, and summar-
izing. Students will also frequently engage in limited role-playing and
experience hands-on knowledge through my "artifacts," a collection of repro-
ductions, replicas, and toys. [For information on how you can contribute to
this collection, see the Wish List icon on my home page.]
