American History

Students will analyze the power of the Presidency in the U.S. Using a timeline of events of the Korean War (all events and people will be hidden in pseudonym during simulation), students will determine how the President exercises his authority.

Students will use a historical document (NSC-68) and compare it with the Patriot Act to find similarities and differences. The purpose is to help students understand that in times of crisis, the government often infringes on civil liberties.

This lesson will allow students to create a visual representation of the perceived threats to Europe during the Cold War. By placing cities on maps and evaluating the surrounding topography, the students will analyze the Soviet War Plan.

Students will read and analyze an excerpt from Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points speech, delivered to Congress in January 1918. The classroom activity is both an individual and a cooperative learning activity.

The students will use American World War I propaganda posters to evaluate how individual citizens were encouraged to support the war effort. Students will work both individually and cooperatively during the course of this lesson.

A class debate: To what extent was the leadership responsible for the carnage of the First World War?

Activities that help students think and work like historians

Activities that help students think and work like historians

Students will use Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, Henri Barbusse's Under Fire, and letters written home by American soldiers to compare the experiences of different participants in World War I.

Individual capstone project for a unit on World War I. Students use primary sources to develop insight into the personal side of the Great War. Students will use archive based research to create a story about one particular soldier.