Sunday, August 29, 2010

1ST QUARTER READINGS, TOPICS, TESTS, ETC

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FIRST QUARTER TOPICS
The textbook pages in parenthesis after each subject matter should be completed by the conclusion of that lesson. Mr. Novick will assign more specific due dates for the readings when appropriate, in class.
  • General overview of themes in United States History: The Promise of the Declaration; Manifest Destiny & Expansion; Immigration & Diversity; Isolationism-Interventionism; Technology; Individualism-Group Identity; Exceptionalism-Globalism (textbook pages S1-S11 and political map of US)
  • European Exploration & Native Peoples (textbook pages 4-12; 19-29; 32-45)
  • Settlement, Colonization (13 English Colonies) & Rising Tensions (pages 46-106)
  • The American Revolution (pages 107-129)
  • The New American Confederation (pages 132-141)
FIRST QUARTER FILMS (TO BE VIEWED & ANALYZED IN CLASS)
  • "The Crossing," filmed by A&E television in 1999. A dramatic rendering of George Washington's amazing gamble at Trenton, NJ on Christmas Day, 1776.
  • "George Washington: The Man Who Wouldn’t Be King,” a biography filmed by PBS in 1992, seeking to identify the true strength of Washington’s character.
FIRST QUARTER EXAMS ON
  • Themes in American History; European Exploration (take-home essay test)
  • Colonization & the Road to Revolution (take-home essay test)
  • The American Revolution (take-home essay test)
FIRST QUARTER ESSAY TOPIC
  • 18th / Early 19th Century Biographies (5 pages typed, double-spaced): students choose one of the following historical figures as their focus for the quarter one essay: Thomas Paine; Samuel Adams; George Washington; Martha Washington; Thomas Jefferson; John Adams; Alexander Hamilton; James Madison; Benjamin Franklin; George Mason; Patrick Henry; the Minuteman; the Hessions; Louis & Clark; Absalom Jones; Tecumseh; Elskwatawa; James Monroe; Andrew Jackson; Dolly Madison
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CURRENT ASSIGNMENT

Civil War Take-Home Essay Examination due 2/28/12:
CLICK HERE

WELCOME TO UNITED STATES HISTORY!

WELCOME TO UNITED STATES HISTORY!
This 1851 painting of Washington crossing the frozen Delaware River in December of 1776 is beautiful and famous, but German-American artist Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze painted a false image of this historic event--to make a larger point. Can you guess what Leutze got wrong? And why?
History is like a road map. We can’t find our way somewhere new unless we know where we are now. History tells us where we are, how we got there, and with any luck, how to get where we want to go. It's everything that's ever happened to anybody--and it's the story of how people not unlike us said and did things that changed the world.

This class--called a survey class because we will survey some of the most influential people and events over the course of more than 500 years, all in just one nine-month school year--will focus, specifically, on the history the United States of America. It's been a wild ride these last 500 years, and learning the stories and trying to sort out what it all means for us today is so much more than names, dates, places--and tests. This is going to get interesting.

Questions? Email Mr. Novick at jnovick@roycemoreschool.org

The lovely Catskill Mountains (New York) in autumn. After the Revolution ended in 1783, locals began to move into these beautiful hills. The theme of westward expansion runs throughout American history.