Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Quarter Two Biographical Essay

United States History Biographical Essay - OPTIONAL

2nd Quarter – Due Monday, January 3, 2011

Mr. Novick


Requirements:

Each student will select one American historical figure (see list below), and write a two-page (double spaced, typed) biography of that figure. Your essay must include the figure’s life story, major accomplishments or contributions to American history, and any obstacles he or she had to overcome. Each essay must include why you selected that figure as your topic and why you think your figure is important to American history, why he or she matters, is relevant. Your answer to this question should be about as long as your description of his/her life story.


The essay should be…

  • two pages typed, double-spaced
  • carefully proofread for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors by a friend, parent, or teacher (including me), and then rewritten into a final draft form (turn in only the final draft to be graded)
  • well-researched, using all of the resources at your disposal, including your history textbook, class notes and discussions, the history websites found on the class website, and each other
  • in your own words (with no quotations from sources)

All essays are due Monday, January 3, 2011.


Please select an historical figure from the following list:

  • John Adams
  • James Madison
  • Dolly Madison
  • James Monroe
  • Meriwether Lewis
  • William Clark
  • Sacagawea
  • Andrew Jackson
  • Eli Whitney
  • Sequoya

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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.