American History
Course Description: Many people view history merely as a set of dates and facts to be memorized, but history is much more than that. History is an organic and ever-changing discipline, periodically discovering new evidence and revising old commonly held beliefs. It’s not enough to learn history itself; one must learn from history the true essence of the human experience. This course designed for that purpose. Through this course, students will be provided with content, practical knowledge of U.S. history, practice in critical thinking activities, and experience in effective writing techniques that will better prepare them for their future educational areas. This course is divided into periods of time and emphasizes themes throughout American history. These themes include the American identity, economic evolution, and American foreign policy. This will be a rigorous course, but it will also be enjoyable. Hard work and dedication will be essential to success.
Course Objectives
Students will:
Additional Requirements:
1. DO NOT COPY. Homework assignments are meant to reinforce the lesson that was just taught to you. Copying is a waste of time and is of no benefit to you. Plus you risk receiving a zero or splitting the grade in two with your comrade.
Cheating & Plagiarizing:
1. When writing a paper, students must make sure that they are citing their sources (giving the author credit). Any student caught plagiarizing will receive a zero on their paper. Citing must be completed in either APA or MLA format.
Cheating on exams, quizzes, homework, etc. is strictly prohibited. If caught, the students will receive a zero or I will split the grade in two.
Make-Up Procedures
It is the responsibility of the student to make-up all missed work. Be sure to check with me, the teacher, to see what you missed in class. Your grades along with your missing assignments will be displayed on the desktop computer in the back of the classroom for you to see at all times. You will be given sufficient time to turn in all missed work. If you do not have your work the day it is due, then you can turn in the assignment for a late grade. One day late will result in a loss of one letter grade. After one day late, then you can receive half credit for each late assignment.
Missing Class
If you miss class during a day when a participation grade is being taken, then you will have to complete an extra credit assignment to make-up for the missing participation grade. It is your job to find out what you missed.
Extra Credit
There will be opportunity for extra credit. I will determine what will be suitable for an extra credit assignment but I am always open to your ideas of what you would want to do for extra credit.
Beginning of Class
At the beginning of each class you will be given a DO NOW question which you must give a response to. At the end of the week students will turn these assignments in for a grade.
Notes
THIS IS A NOTE TAKING CLASS!!!!!!! The student is responsible for taking all notes given in class.
Students are responsible for all material covered in class for your quizzes and exams. If you miss a day of notes there will be an extra of copy of notes in on both of the desktop computers in the back of the room.
Classroom Goals:
Course Objectives
Students will:
- Demonstrate a mastery of a broad body of historical knowledge
- Use historical evidence to defend and support basic arguments and positions
- Differentiate between various schools of historical thought and interpretation
- Interpret and draw conclusions from various pieces of historical data including
- DBQ’s, original documents, cartoons, graphs, etc.
- Demonstrate an effective use of analytical skills of evaluation, cause-and-effect
- relationships, and compare and contrast
- Work effectively in groups to produce products, make presentations, and solve problems
Additional Requirements:
- In addition to content mastery, students will:
- A. Write effective historical essays with a strong thesis, supporting information,
- and develop a collegiate-level writing style.
- B. Analyze historical documents for meaning, context, and relationship to historical
- topics and issues.
- C. Develop techniques (essential questions, Socratic questioning, debate) to
- discuss and critically analyze historical topics.
- D. Develop personal interpretations of different eras of history by reading and
- interpreting various historians’ work.
- E. Keep a reading journal, taking notes while completing reading assignments.
- At the end of each reading assignment, students will also include two essential
- questions concerning the content of the reading.
- F. Create knowledgeable presentations and developing the interpersonal and intrapersonal skills needed to be successful with the assigned projects.
- Students will be assessed in a variety of ways through formative and summative assessments such as: Benchmarks, teacher made tests/quizzes, essays, webquests, and projects/presentations.
1. DO NOT COPY. Homework assignments are meant to reinforce the lesson that was just taught to you. Copying is a waste of time and is of no benefit to you. Plus you risk receiving a zero or splitting the grade in two with your comrade.
Cheating & Plagiarizing:
1. When writing a paper, students must make sure that they are citing their sources (giving the author credit). Any student caught plagiarizing will receive a zero on their paper. Citing must be completed in either APA or MLA format.
Cheating on exams, quizzes, homework, etc. is strictly prohibited. If caught, the students will receive a zero or I will split the grade in two.
Make-Up Procedures
It is the responsibility of the student to make-up all missed work. Be sure to check with me, the teacher, to see what you missed in class. Your grades along with your missing assignments will be displayed on the desktop computer in the back of the classroom for you to see at all times. You will be given sufficient time to turn in all missed work. If you do not have your work the day it is due, then you can turn in the assignment for a late grade. One day late will result in a loss of one letter grade. After one day late, then you can receive half credit for each late assignment.
Missing Class
If you miss class during a day when a participation grade is being taken, then you will have to complete an extra credit assignment to make-up for the missing participation grade. It is your job to find out what you missed.
Extra Credit
There will be opportunity for extra credit. I will determine what will be suitable for an extra credit assignment but I am always open to your ideas of what you would want to do for extra credit.
Beginning of Class
At the beginning of each class you will be given a DO NOW question which you must give a response to. At the end of the week students will turn these assignments in for a grade.
Notes
THIS IS A NOTE TAKING CLASS!!!!!!! The student is responsible for taking all notes given in class.
Students are responsible for all material covered in class for your quizzes and exams. If you miss a day of notes there will be an extra of copy of notes in on both of the desktop computers in the back of the room.
Classroom Goals:
- Students will learn to communicate respectfully with each other in a variety of classroom settings.
- The classroom will become a community of learners.
- Students will develop a working understanding of social studies.