US History
Ms. Cantos / Ms. Timothy / Mr. Gates
Course Description/Objectives: This course teaches students to understand and demonstrate knowledge of concepts in
political organization and government, the industrial revolution and economic theory, social policy (including civil rights),
and foreign relations. The focus will be on change and evolution in the above topic areas. Passing this course fulfills the
American History graduation requirement.
Grading: This course will follow RHS’ policy for formative and summative assessments. Please note that the grading
scale is now: 90/80/70/60.
Course Calendar and Outline for the School Year (all assessments and topics subject to change)
Unit One – Freedom and Oppression
Week Theme
1
2
3
4
5
Colonial America and
the Revolution
Topics
Assessments
US Map
Colonies
Slow burn to Lexington
Political and Physical Map Work
13 Colonies Assignment
Declaration Analysis - Would you sign it?
Stepping stone to Rev War timeline
Patriots Party
Who got left out of the Constitution?
Impact of the key players in the abolition
movement.
Booker T Washington v WEB DuBois
Analyze MLK Letter from Birmingham Jail
The role of women in different time periods project
19th Amendment
Seneca Falls Convention/Declaration of Sentiments
Analysis
Map of Native American settlement and removal
Chief Joseph
Read 1st hand accounts of life in the Japanese
internment camps
Revolutionary War
Constitution
African Americans
Women
6
Inequality in America
Native Americans
Mexican Americans
Chinese Americans
Japanese Americans
Arab Americans
7
8
Unit Exam
9
Unit Two – War and Peace
Week Theme
1
Manifest Destiny
2
Topics
Assessments
Expansion Westward
Mexican-American War and
precursor to Civil War
Civil War
Manifest Destiny Assessment
Stepping Stones to the Civil War project
The World at War
Spanish-American War &
World War I
World War 2
Analyze political cartoons from Spanish-American
War era
Analyze FDR’s Day of Infamy speech
6
7
1960s and 1970s
Cold War & Korean War
Vietnam / Counterculture
8
Our current world
Contemporary Problems
3
Civil War
4
5
9
Civil War Map Activities
World War II Scrapbook Project
The Iron Quilt Project
War Assessment: Synthesis Scrapbook (Web 2.0
Tools: Prezi, iMovie, Keynote, Instagram)
Scrapbook Project
Unit Exam
Unit Three – The Changing American Economy
Week Theme
Topics
History Fair
1
Jefferson and Jackson
2
3
1800s
Reconstruction
4
Robber Barons
5
6
Progressives
Roaring 20s
7
8
9
1900s
2000s
Great Depression
New Deal
Dot Com Bubble
10
Unit Four – The American Dream vs. Our American Reality
Week Theme
Topics
- Salem Witch Trials
1
A Culture of Fear
2
3
4
Developing Chicago
5
6
7
8
9
Chicago: Today
- Race Riots
- Red Scare
- McCarthyism
- Wikileaks
Immigration to the US
- Waves
- Fear of new immigrants
Chicago
- Native Americans
- Fort Dearborn Massacre
- Chicago Fire
Columbian Exposition
Labor Movement in Chicago
- Haymarket Riot
Meatpacking
Immigration to Chicago and
Culture
- 1933 World’s Fair
- 1968 Democratic Convention
- Obama’s Chicago
Challenges facing Chicago and
major cities today?
- Development of American
cities over time
Connections over the course
Studying for final
Assessments
Work on History Fair Project
Andrew Jackson - Hero or Villain?
TJ vs AJ - compare and contrast
Was Reconstruction a Revolution?
Compare and Contrast Today’s Robber Barons to
the former ones.
Progressives trading cards
1920s Day
1920s Carousel
Analysis of photographs of the Great Depression
New Deal Alphabet Soup - New ways to remember
Prediction: What might our lives be like had the
bubble not burst?
Unit Exam
Assessments
Venn Diagram, Dream v Reality
Flow Chart/Map of Immigration waves
Timeline of the development of Chicago
Chicago Fire Project
Legacy of the Fair
Culture Project
Compare and contrast the 1893 and 1933 World’s
Fair
Fixing Chicago: create a plan to help desegregate
Chicago.
Final Exam
US History Essential Questions
Theme 1: Freedom and Oppression
1. What rights should all people have?
2. What rights are Americans entitled to by law?
3. What rights do children have in our country?
4. What kinds of oppression have occurred throughout American History?
5. How have Americans fought against oppression?
6. How have other cultures resisted oppression?
7. Why have Americans been intolerant toward different groups in the past?
8. What are the best methods to create change in society?
9. Is the Constitution still a “living” document that works? Should it be changed?
Theme 2: War and Peace
1. Under what circumstances should the US take an active role in foreign affairs?
2. How have people throughout history used political and economic power? What were the effects?
3. What is America’s greatest success? America’s greatest blunder?
4. What are the greatest issues facing America today and in the future?
Theme 3: The Changing American Economy
1. Has increased government involvement improved the daily lives of its’ citizens?
2. Have economic changes improved the lives of citizens?
3. Is capitalism really the best economic system? What are its greatest strengths? Its greatest weaknesses?
Theme 4: American Dream v. Reality
1. Have American values changed?
2. What is the “American Dream”? Does it still exist?
US History Outcomes
A. Skills
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Students will integrate reading, writing and speaking in an effort to develop critical thinking
Students will research using a wide variety of sources.
Students will write using primary and secondary sources
Students will analyze and use appropriate primary sources to develop their own ideas.
Students will integrate information from diverse primary and secondary sources and develop a historical argument or thesis
that shows cause and effect, change over time, long and short term impact, and historical significance.
Students will communicate historical interpretations through a History Fair project.
B. Content
1. Students will understand America’s long history of immigration including: factors pushing immigrants out of their countries
and pulling them to the US, the living conditions that immigrants face upon arrival, and finally, the successes and failures in
pursuit of the “American Dream”.
2. Students will understand events, issues, developments, interaction, and perspectives of American expansionism as well as
current trends and issues.
3. Students will understand the causes and effects of American wars and their impact on American society, the economy and
government.
4. Students will understand the struggle for equality among American minority groups and their impact on society.
5. Students will understand the role of industrialization and technological change on American social, political, and economic
life
6. Students will understand the rise of America as a world power.
7. Students will understand how economic decisions can have far-reaching impacts on society, geography, and political
systems.
8. Students will understand how political decisions can have far-reaching impacts on society, geography, and the economy.