CICERO: History Beyond the Textbook™

After consulting with teachers throughout the nation, it became apparent that teachers need substantive resources packaged in a user friendly format to use in their classrooms. Many teachers have asked for a vehicle to explore the substantive content found in their state standards that will also help them bring that content to their classrooms. Teachers whom have used the history teaching methods found in CICERO have experienced salient increases in student achievement and disposition.

CICERO provides teachers with a password-protected website that contains 15 Units and over 75 lessons at each the high school, middle school and elementary school level. All units provide teachers with a multitude of professional development vehicles that offer both substantive historical content and superior methods and formulas to bring the historical content to the classroom. Section one of each unit provides teachers with the means to obtain greater content knowledge and history education methods that will enliven the teaching of history in their classrooms.

CICERO will be available to every teacher in the TAH grant district for perpetual use.

Section one contains tools to help teachers learn more about American history and proven history education methods to use in their classrooms.

• Videos of University Historians and Scholars discussing the unit topic
  
  
• Other videos from the web or reenactor footage for classroom use
  
  
• Photos of the historical sites discussed in the unit topic
  
  
• Audios of speeches from the period
  
  
• Songs from the period or about the period
  
  
• Art pieces from the period or about the period
  
  
• Maps of the areas were the historic event takes place
  
  
• Tools to have students think historically
  
  
• Primary Sources resources

• The E.Q.U.A.L. method of examining primary source

• The S.P.E.E.C. method of comprehensively examining an historical event
  
  
• Bracketing History—Method to help students comprehend the historical event’s place in time.

• Heroes from the time period

• Video of Heroes—Character actors playing heroes such as, Ben Franklin, Abe Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Teddy Roosevelt, inter alios

• Tools to check for understanding
  
  
• Mnemonic devices
  
  
• Wrap around
  
  
• The Word Method
  
  
• Electronic Resources
  
  
• Lesson Creations—How to create standards-based lessons.

Section two: Tools and Lessons for the Classroom

• Background text for students
  
  
• Binary Paideia chart and explanation
  
  
• Bubble Map to help students organize information and answer key
  
  
• The unit topic “project” directions and resources
  
  
• PowerPoint about the unit topic for classroom presentation
  
  
• Three- to Five Lessons dealing with the unit topic
  
  
• Three to Five Homework worksheets and answers
  
  
• An Interactive Quiz for each unit topic
  
  
• Essay questions with Rubric for each unit topic
  
  
• Alternative Assessments for each unit topic